Without Regret (Pyte/Sentinel #2)(7)
Author: R.L. Mathewson

A loud girlish screech was followed by the double doors slamming open as two men catapulted into the room.

She automatically tried to take a step back, but the two men by her sides wouldn’t let her move an inch.

What happened next absolutely stunned her. One of the men, the larger of the two and half naked, flipped over the man who only twenty minutes ago had been ogling her br**sts and proceeded to give the smaller man a wedgie any high school bully would be proud of.

Clearly he was psychotic.

Her brows arched up as she considered the new man joining their group. He was tall like the other men and had a good sized build. Actually, he might be just a tad bit more muscular. But unlike the other men who kept their faces clean shaven, hair styled, and clothes clean, this newcomer had about a week’s worth of whiskers, a large angry pink scar on his neck, his short dark hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it about a hundred times, and from this angle it looked like his navy blue boxer briefs were wet.

Oddly enough she couldn’t stop looking at him. There was something about him, something that had her palms sweating, her heart beating faster, and her mouth going dry. This wasn’t right. She’d never reacted to a man like this before. Oh god, they really had drugged her food or drink last night. That was the only explanation she had for suddenly finding herself attracted to a cult member.

Definitely drugs, she decided. Really, it was the only thing that made sense. There was no way she should be attracted to a man that if described on paper would completely repulse her. Hell, none of her ex-boyfriends ever made her feel this way and they were all normal sane men.

Although, it was sort of a comfort to know that her body was capable of feeling this way over a man. She’d always been worried that there was something wrong with her sexually. All her old boyfriends, both of them, bitched and complained that she wasn’t as hot for them as they were for her. It wasn’t their fault or the fault of all the guys she’d gone out with that they never really appealed to her.

For some strange reason she just never found herself attracted to a man. Even when she was a young girl she never did the boy crazy crush thing. While other girls were mooning over some boy band she’d been busy learning about computers and programming. As she grew older she became a little nervous when she still hadn’t lusted after some guy and acted like a love sick teenager. She knew she wasn’t g*y and that she was in fact attracted to men, but it was never more than in an observatory kind of way.

Over the years she dated guys she liked, guys who were nice and interesting, but never because she wanted them. Her last hope had been sex. She’d hoped it was the key. She thought once she had it she would want it again and again and finally feel something more for men, but it hadn’t worked out that way. Instead she ended up getting dumped after numerous complaints about her performance or lack of enthusiasm in bed. It wasn’t her fault she’d been bored, uncomfortable, felt awkward and spent the entire time wondering if there was anything good on television.

Her eyes, as if they had a mind of their own, ran over the man as he continued to assault the smaller man.

She just barely stopped herself from licking her lips.

What in the hell was wrong with her? Why was she imagining tearing his boxers off and throwing him to the ground? More importantly why couldn’t she have felt like this for Trevor? He was a sweet guy and a classic hotty. As she checked out the psycho’s biceps she wondered what drugs they had her on and where she could pick them up for her next date.

“Chris?” Eric, the cult leader, said. “Chris, I said I need to talk to you.”

Isabella forced herself to look at Eric. It wouldn’t do to get caught mooning over one of her captors. Also, she needed to think and looking at that man was not helping. Since it was obvious that whatever drugs she’d been given were still in her system and still affecting her she knew she had to get her ass in gear and get out of here before they gave her another dose and she did something really stupid.

“Are you ready to talk?” Eric asked. After a minute she realized he was talking to her.

She shook her head, trying not to look nervous. Eric let out a long suffering sigh. “I didn’t think so.” He turned his attention to the two men on the floor.

“Chris!”

The man either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him.

Isabella wasn’t about to find out which. She needed to keep her head clear and she wouldn’t be able to do that if she looked at him again. These were some scary drugs they gave her if she was fixated on a psycho cult member.

A deep timber voice said, “I think we need to talk, Eric.”

She just barely stopped herself from closing her eyes and savoring the warm vibrations that voice gave off.

She really needed to get out of here. This was too weird even for her.

“I’ll be right there,” Eric said, but he was looking at her.

“Do you need anything right now?”

“C-can I please use the bathroom,” she said, forcing her eyes not to shoot over to her bag, the bag that still held all of her possessions, and was currently sitting on a chair by the broken doors.

He nodded as he gestured for the two men to take her.

Eric gestured towards the door the other man had just gone through and she had to fight back the urge to go after him, but she quickly pushed it aside and moved forward. A few feet away from her bag she stopped and made it a point to look embarrassed.

“I-I need my bag,” she said quietly.

All three men frowned. Eric asked, “Why?”

Looking pointedly at the other men, she leaned in closer to Eric and whispered, “I need my bag,” she stressed on a hiss.

“I don’t understand. Why do you need your bag to use the bathroom?” Eric asked in perfect male confusion.

Oh, this was going to be all too easy.

She did her best to look embarrassed.

He shrugged, picking up the bag and opening it. As he peered inside he asked, “What do you need? I’ll get it.”

“Tampons, but I’m not sure what size yet. Can you see if I have Supers, and Super Plus, of course it is kind of early in my cycle so I might just be able to get by with a Regular if you can find it? They should be in the bottom of the bag in the zippered compartment,” she said, hoping she sounded as well as looked innocent considering she was lying her butt off. Not only didn’t she have any tampons or any of the necessities a woman with PMS needed in her bag, but she also didn’t have her period.