Unleashed (Mr. Black Series Book 1) by Penelope Marshall Read Free Book Online

agony.
    “I have something for you,” I leaned in and whispered into his ear, my cheek slightly grazing his.
    “What is it?” he whispered with a slight smile.
    I pulled out a piece of bread hidden in the sleeve of my cumbersome black dress. The bread had a small sliver of cooked meat stuffed into the middle of it. I pulled small bite-sized pieces off and gently fed him by hand, waiting as he savored each bite.
    “How is it?” I asked softly.
    “You’re too kind, but if you get caught you’re gonna be in so much trouble with Amadi.”
    “Hush now, you need to build up your strength,” I said quietly as I glanced back at the door to make sure it was still closed.
    “Strength for what?” he asked. “This is it for me. No rescue teams are coming, or they would have already been here.”
    I wiped away some crumbs from the side of his mouth with the rag I had brought with me, and tilted his head back in order to slowly pour some water into his mouth. “Just tell them what they want to know,” I said as I ran my fingers through his matted hair. “I cannot stand to see you in so much pain.”
    “Even if I knew anything, I wouldn’t tell them. I’d rather die than betray my country. Plus, not talking to them is the only thing that is keeping me alive. But at this point, I’m sure death wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
    “Don’t say that. I’m sure you have someone waiting for you at home. A wife, perhaps?” I asked inquisitively. I had wondered for weeks if his heart was spoken for, and finally decided to ask him directly.
    “No, no one. A plant…but I’m sure that’s dead by now,” he said jokingly, but then cringed when it hurt to laugh.
    “I find that hard to believe,” I said with a slight smile, elated that he did not have a woman at home. I wiped some blood away from his face then playfully added, “A man as handsome as yourself with no wife? Surely you are toying with my emotions.”
    “I didn’t know you had emotions for me,” he replied.
    “Stop it, Elijah,” I scolded, slightly tapping him on the shoulder.
    “Fuck, that hurt!” he chuckled.
    “Oh, stop being a baby, and stop cussing,” I joked, rubbing his shoulder to appease him.
    “There was someone once upon a time…but I found her in bed with one of my friends,” he explained.
    “Hardly a friend, in my opinion,” she said.
    “Hardly a woman in mine,” he retorted. “How ’bout you? Anyone get to see what’s under all that material at night?”
    My demeanor changed immediately, offended that he would ask about the body I kept hidden underneath my clothing. “Rude pig! How dare you?” I exclaimed as I threw the rag onto the ground, stood up, and headed to the door. “Let me out!” I yelled, banging on the cold metal.
    The door opened, and as I walked through the threshold, I glanced back at him. My glare said it all. The guard slammed the door behind me.
     
    ***
     
    Elijah
     
    I wondered what in the world I had just done, as I laid back down onto the hard floor, aching in places I never knew existed. My only connection to the real world, and I ruined it with just a few words. Mulling over the conversation in my head, I slowly drifted off to sleep for what seemed like only a few minutes before I was suddenly awakened.
    “Elijah. Elijah,” Nasima whispered, as she rocked my body back and forth, bringing me back to consciousness.
    I opened my eyes, which shot wide open when I saw the woman that was rocking me awake. She had Nasima’s voice, but she was not Nasima.
    Is she?
    “Nasima?” I whispered.
    The woman was not wearing a head covering and the huge black dress that usually covered every inch of Nasima’s body. Her long, thick, braided black hair, which slightly grazed his face, hung down past her hips and smelled of wild lavender…a smell that transported me back to a warm summer day on the Indiana farm on which I had grown up as a child. The same farm on which I learned to shoot and hunt with my brothers.