Dirty Break (18+)

In Which Lessons are Learned

"You must have done something terrible."

Lydia was awoken by Conor the next morning as he came in with a plate of food, a small pile of clothes, and a much too upbeat attitude.

"In a past life? Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I think I might actually have been Hitler to deserve being kidnapped by the O 'Gradys."

"Very funny, not what I meant though. I don't know what you said to Leon when he came in here last night but he hasn't spoken since, apart from to ask me to bring this in to you and get you ready to leave."

"Where are we going?"

"It's not my place to say, love."

"Aren't you the heir to the O'Grady family? Why are you doing what Leon tells you to do?"

Conor laughed and set the plate down next to her.

"That's not going to work, Miss University. He's not my boss, but I know what - and who - I should and shouldn't listen to. If you get home all safely after this none of us want you to have too much information - its dangerous to us all. You've got ten minutes to eat and then you need to go for a shower. We're leaving in 45. And, Lydia - I really wouldn't keep Leon waiting today. He looks as though he's waiting for something to challenge him."

Honestly, she was too exhausted - mentally and physically - to challenge anyone about anything. The lust last night had given way to anger and then to a feeling of nothingness. She sat up in bed and eyed the plate of food she'd been given. It was beans on toast - she supposed beans kept forever and bread could be frozen - which honestly seemed like the most comforting of food right at that moment. She picked up the plate and started shovelling the food in, not caring that Conor was staring at her.

"Yeah, Leon never was very good with pets, Showered them with attention but often forgot to feed them."

She should be insulted, but she simply carried on eating as Conor left the room with a promise to return with coffee and some clothes. When he came back ten minutes later she had finished and gratefully took the steaming mug from him although she was usually an earl grey type of girl.

"You can take it with you into the bathroom if you want. Time's ticking."

A bath sounded like Heaven, and gave her the shove she needed to get out of the bed and follow Conor, mug in hand. He showed her into the bathroom which must have been internal as there were no windows anyway - good choice for a safe house she supposed. He placed the clothes on the closed toilet seat, instructed her to lock the door in deference to the other men walking around the house making preparations and left. She closed and locked the door, and as she set the hot water to running, making bubbles with some shower gel she found, the tears came. A bath was always cathartic to her. She'd religiously taken them when she'd done badly on a test, fallen out with a friend or a date had gone wrong - and it was just what she needed to sort her own head out. When the water was three quarters full she got in, relishing the burn on her chilled flesh, and ducked her head under the surface. She was going through a thing, that much was obvious. But she could get through it. She needed to stop baiting her captor, help in whatever way she could and then get the fuck out of dodge as soon as she could and that's all there was to it. She couldn't think of any other outcome as possible, and she certainly needed to stop thinking about how sexy Leon was when that was the absolute only thing he had going for him. That was the plan. Satisfied with the curative powers of a bath she lifted her head out of the water and laid back for a moment to enjoy.

*************

There was a pounding noise, and then all of a sudden she was coughing up bath water and struggling to sit up.