The TV was playing in the background. Sitting in one of the hotel lobby chairs, I stared at the carpet. My boots rested against the glass table. It was a huge Oriental rug with intricate designs and had a perimeter of gold that reflected off the huge dome-shaped chandelier over my head. The lobby was as pretty as anything could get, with lots of chrome and marble and everything expensive imaginable.

I needed to make a decision, and I needed to make it now. For the past two days, my relationship with Cage was supposedly short term. But with absolutely zero mention of my release, I was getting skirmish. He couldn't really expect me to stay here much longer without some sort of resistance. I was quickly losing my patience with Cage Vickers.

It had been two days since that night. Two days since I was out of Ivey and in Chicago. Two days that I had not seen Fern, and two days that must have caused her unnecessary stress. It had been the two most insane, exciting, terrible, messy, unexpected days of my life and I was at a loss of what to do anymore.

"-home in Ivey-"

My ears perked up. The words came from the television screen where a news reporter lady with curly black hair in a navy blue blouse was speaking softly into the camera. Frantically, I turned the volume up and listened intently, my heart racing.

"-no news yet. The call was made by November Jone's 26 year old sister, Fern Jones. After going out to get dinner, the seventeen year old girl disappeared with no sign or trace of where she had gone. As I've mentioned before, the Chicago Crows with 23 year old leader Cage Vickers was said to have been spotted in Ivey the same night and are suspects in the disappearance of Ivey teen November Jones."

I stared in shock at the screen when a picture of me popped up beside the lady. It was my freshman school picture. With poofy hair, freckles, and no makeup, I looked unrecognizable. But oh no, this was being broadcast to the entire city of Chicago. The bad news was that I looked horrible. The good news...at least at that time, I still had two eyebrows.

More bad news? Now Fern knew where I was which meant making up a fake story was out of the question. I was trying to keep myself out of the Crows business but that seemed stupid now that it was publicly announced I had a connection to the Crows, which meant attention, which meant more stress for Fern and I.

The lady continued after shuffling her papers. "The Crows, famous for their crimes such as drug dealing, exploitation, and blackmail of European politicians, had numerous run ins with the law and yet remain anonymous. Cage Vickers, 23, was said to be the youngest reigning criminal king in American history. As many of you may know, Chicago Police Department has raised the bounty to five million for the capture of Cage Vickers and one million for the capture of an accomplice of the Crows."

An accomplice...like me.

Five million dollars...I could have bought so many chicken nuggets with that.

"Ivey Police have shed no light on the disappearance of November Jones. Runaway or kidnapped, all of our thoughts here at CM are with her and her family, and we all hope that she will safely return home. Jay, do you have anything to add?"

The camera cut to a fat man in a black suit. "Thank you, Vivian." He started. "The Crows are a very dangerous criminal organization that the Central Intelligence Agency has been searching for the past decade. November's car has disappeared, a silver Honda Accord with license plate 9R13RC last seen in Ivey. If you have any information, please contact your local police department." The screen flashed to a different view of the man. "Last night, 45 year old Betty May from New York, New York was found dead-"

The TV screen shut off.

Turning around, I saw Cage standing behind me, the remote in his hands. I didn't even hear him walk up. My tongue suddenly dry, I sat in silence as Cage took a seat beside me on the couch. He sat close enough that our knees touched even though there were at least five other available couches to sit upon.

"We need to talk." He said quietly.

I said nothing and waited for him to continue.

Cage was silent for a second, contemplating something. After a moment, he rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes, leaning forward. I drew shapes into the carpet with the heel of my shoes.

"November, I can't ever give you back the last two days and I don't think I can stop apologizing for what has happened. I hope you can understand that. And I also hope you can forgive me for what I will tell you next-"

"You're not letting me go." I finished bitterly.

He was quiet for some time. Just as I was about to leave, Cage took my hand into his own and uncurled my clenched fist. His hand was freezing cold and sent flutters through my stomach at the touch. For some reason, I didn't pull my hand back. His fingers traced over the pink scar on my palm. "I can't."

A lump rose in my throat. "You can and you should. I don't know how valuable my life is to you but I know it's not much. The only person that would ever miss me if I was gone is Fern. I know I don't mean anything to you, Cage. But I thought you'd at least have the decency to let me leave with my life out of the tiny amount of good left in you. And that's also exactly why you should let me go. I'm not worth anything to you, Cage! There is no purpose of me staying here. I'm not going to contribute to anything-"

The fire in his eyes burned brightly. "You don't understand, November."

Anger curled through my chest. "I don't understand what?"

"How much you mean to me." His voice was so soft that I barely heard it. But the sincerity of the words were very clear.

Stunned, I pulled my hand out of his grip and took a moment to process the words that just came out of his mouth. And then my brain started to mess everything up and I decided that Cage didn't mean anything the way I took it. "How much I mean to your business, you mean. I'm not going to let you drag me along, Cage, just because sometimes I can be of some use to your actions. An accessory, and nothing more."

"Fuck, no." Cage growled. "November, listen to what I am saying...because I've never said this before and there isn't another damned person in this entire universe that I can ever say this to again-"

"Are you gonna tell me a really cool secret?" I interrupted nervously. I didn't want to hear where Cage was going with this because I was afraid. Not because of what I suspected he was going to say next, but I was scared of how I was going to react to it. "'Cause I can't handle the responsibility."

"November."

"Yeah?"

"I won't tell you a really cool secret." Cage smiled. "But I will tell you the truth. What happened two nights ago was a mistake. But it's a good mistake...because I met you. And now I'm stupidly addicted and I know it's wrong and you hate me but I can't hate you, November. I can't hate you. I can't hurt you no matter how risky you are to my life because of what I do and what I've done."

He flicked the tip of my nose with the tip of his thumb, sending a storm of heat through my face. Cage suddenly shifted so that I was facing him and he was facing me and oh my God, my leg was on top of his leg and we were so touchy touchy-

Cage raised his eyes to my face, showing more emotions than I had ever seen in his dark eyes. My stomach went up with butterflies when the tips of his fingers began to trail down the top of my chin down to my neck, a teasing touch that made me blush furiously. Cage leaned in even closer, his breath running against my skin. "I'm sorry I bit you." His thumb rested against my bottom lip. "Can I make it up to you?"

I kissed Cage Vickers.

Well, it was more like he kissed me. And the kiss really wasn't a kiss because it could barely be considered a kiss...I forgot where I was going with this.

His lips gently brushed against my bottom lip, making my heart flutter hard and lose any coherent thought I was trying to gather in my mind. Cage's mouth was warm, unlike his hands, and grazed softly against my lips, moving downward in a trail of soft kisses until they stopped at the base of my throat. At that point, I was just trying to calm myself down enough to think clearly but oh God, his lips were so distracting-

"November, you've ruined me." Cage's voice was hoarse and barely audible. I felt every word against my skin. He pressed a kiss onto my collarbone, making a curl of blithe run down my spine. "I won't confess my love to you...yet. But I will tell you-" Cage moved down, kissing the top of my chest. The feel of his teeth grazing suddenly made my heart beat all the faster. "-that this is incredibly hard. To have you so close and not take you right here..."

My heart felt like it was trying to beat out of my chest. I wasn't scared of Cage...I was scared of how much he affected me, and not in the negative way either. How much...I needed him as well. But my feelings for him were completely irrational. We'd known each other for two days and I already felt addicted to this life. Their life. The life without limits.

I should have been in my bed, looking at college applications. Instead, here I was on the couch with a very wanted and dangerous criminal, nearly moaning under his touch.

Suddenly, a sharp stab of pain went down my arm. For a second, I was speechless. Cage moved back, his face expressionless. When I looked down, to my utter horror, I saw a small drop of blood seep through my skin, right below my shoulder. And then I looked back at Cage, catching the empty sedative needle in his hand, and finally put the two things together.

"You bastard-"

Cage stood up, pulling his gun out. He began to put a magazine of bullets into it. "I need you to cooperate, November." He explained loudly over my angry cursing. I was calling him every name I could think of, slowly losing my temper, consciousness, and dignity all at once. "And I know you wouldn't do that willingly. We need to go. And I need you to come with me-"

"Cage!" I tried to kick him but he skillfully dodged it. I was angry at him, but I was angrier at myself. How could I have fallen for that? Cage Vickers wasn't a romantic. He had no feelings, no emotions, no humanity. He couldn't love anything or anything, he was too corrupt. Stupid, stupid, stupid me. Hurt, anger, and embarrassment ran through my stomach, making my slow black out even worse.

His hand grasped my wrist and pulled me up. My legs already felt like jelly. I had no choice but to lean against Cage to stay upright. It was the same sedative they'd given be before we left Ivey but the effect was slower. Disgusted, I tried to shove Cage away and run but I was too weak to do it. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. Cage wrapped his arm around my back.

"It's the only way I could get you to come with us." Cage whispered softly. Or at least I think he whispered it. Every noise felt like it was distant. Heath and Nick entered the room. My head involuntarily rested on his shoulder.

"Cage, it wasn't." I tried to speak but it was hard. It was like falling asleep very quickly. The slow pull to darkness was intoxicating and I couldn't fight out of it. I don't know if Cage heard me or not. Limping against his arm, I struggled to stay awake. "Why?"

"I'm sorry." was his offhand reply.

It was an act. I was angry. Mostly at myself. Not because I really did have feelings for Cage, but that I could have also believed we had a chance or that perhaps my feelings might have been returned. As I slipped into the familiar blackness, I found myself remembering how his lips felt against my skin.

He was what everyone said and what I'd been telling myself for the past two days: A monster who had mastered the art of manipulation.

How silly of me to think Cage Vickers could be anything else.