Reluctantly, I did, and it fell beside my feet.
“Kick it to me, slowly.”
I did it incredibly slowly, trying to recall if there was anything in the drawer behind me that could be used as a weapon, but the only thing with a point was a pen. Even if I got it to break skin, all I’d achieve is seriously pissing off a man with a gun and a grudge.
Guess he wasn’t going to risk bending over to pick it up, because he simply kicked it to the corner of the kitchen farthest from me, then continued moving towards me again. Standing before me, with a good six inches on me, his arm reached between my arm and my hip and pushed the drawer closed. “You’re not going to find anything to start a fire within this house. I even had the gas stove replaced with an electric. You see, I’ve learned from my brother’s mistakes. Non-breakable windows, bullet-proof even. There are no matches, no lighters, no flammables or anything else of questionable nature, that’s not under lock and key. Even the chemicals in this house are non-toxic, just in case you’re considering poison for something in the future.”
That just…sucked. And was going to make getting out of here really difficult.
He leaned forward and reached around me, entrapping me, gripping the edge of the granite counter tops. All I could do was lean back too, my own hands grasping the counters to steady me. I was waiting for him to snap or yell or hit me or something.
In that eerily calm voice of his, he asked, “How did you get loose?”
My jaw opened several times, debating what I should say.
“Did Veronica let you out?”
I nodded weakly, still afraid to speak, in fear he was about to unleash something nasty on me, like the calm before the storm.
As if she heard her name, Veronica entered the kitchen. She was dressed in a clean yellow slip and moved around the kitchen pulling groceries for breakfast, completely oblivious to the tension in the room.
“How?” he pushed.
Whispering, I answered, “I told her to get a knife.”
“You told her? And she did it?” Now he was pissed. He didn’t even wait for an answer. He pushed off the counter and used the momentum to turn himself towards Veronica, who had just closed the refrigerator, pulling out a container of eggs and a package of bacon. He moved so quickly there was no way to warn her, the power of the gun across her face so violent she collapsed to the floor unconscious, cracked eggs scattering across the floor.
I screamed for her, then quickly blurted, “Don’t! I tricked her. She didn’t know any better.”
Still angry, his head rolled dramatically my way. “How so?” he asked slowly, his words dripping with venom.
“I told her that you said to get the knife and cut me free, and that you’d be pissed if she didn’t follow your orders.”
He let out a long, annoyed sigh, his lower jaw jerking back and forth. Licking his lips and shaking his head, I yelped in pain when he snatched a bone-crunching grip just above my elbow and dragged me out of the kitchen. “Clever girl.”
He didn’t take me back to Veronica’s room. Instead, I got pulled into the master bedroom, the one I heard running water coming from just minutes ago. On the opposite side of the large room was another set of chains on a pulley. He threw me down on the furry rug atop the carpet and fastened the leather straps to my wrists again, pulling so tight I could feel the beat of my heart in the blood vessels.
Bending down, he brought his eyes an inch from mine, then darkly said, “Last pair. Break out of these and you won’t like how I tie you up next.” I didn’t even get a chance to think on that threat, because the next thing I knew, my world went black.
I moaned coming to, stretching my arms out, seeking the body that always kept me warm. “Nick?” I murmured, my eyes still closed. When I didn’t find what I was looking for, my body shot to attention.
In a flash it all came back. My body a little slower to announce its pain, I crouched over, finally slumping back on the floor. The left side of my face ached and my burns felt like tiny pins and needles were poking them. My body felt groggy, too sluggish to be natural. That freaking jerk drugged me again and I must have been coming down from the high. I had no idea what time it was, but the room was pitch black. Had I slept all day and night? I groaned right there on the fur rug, every muscle in my body so lethargic it hurt.
When his lamp turned on and his feet hit the ground, I could barely react. I was just too tired to bother. His knees landed next to my head and his hand reached out to brush the hair off my face. Trailing his finger across my cheek, his touch stung my skin, making me jerk out of his grasp.
“For the record,” he said calmly, “I prefer your body to be perfect. And contrary to what you probably believe, I don’t like to hit. So don’t make me do it again.”
My hand went up to caress the side of my face, to instinctively protect it from him. I just wanted to curl up and pass out again.
“I can give you a shot for the pain, but only if you’ll receive it willingly.”
My eyes rolled his way, inducing more strain behind them, increasing the ache to my face. “How do I know that’s what you’ll give me?”
His expression seemed almost annoyed with me, despite the calmness of his voice. “Because if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already. Now do you want it or not? Last chance.”
I nodded. I knew it was stupid, that nothing he said or did was trustworthy, but I believed him when he said he didn’t want me dead. He’d had so many opportunities by now, and for some reason he was going to the trouble of fixing my skin. Who the hell would do that just to turn around and kill you?
I flinched when the needle pierced my arm, but felt its effects soon enough. Honestly, I didn’t care what it was I just allowed him to shoot me up with. Whether it brought me relief, knocked me unconscious or freaking killed me, it couldn’t be any worse than my current reality.
My face stung from something cold. I reached to remove the source, a cool compress, and tossed it away. The curtains were pushed aside and direct streams of light filtered through and shot down onto the floor. I sat up, my fingertips softly exploring what I expected to be swollen, but my skin was too numb from the cold to feel any pain.
He didn’t come around for the morning hours, but Veronica did, once again forcing food down my throat that I had no desire to eat. She seemed to be functioning better with the bruise across her face, and it made me worry that she was used to being beaten by him.
As the hours passed, the drug wore off and my body began to ache, but it was nothing like the night before. Now it just felt like I was sore from a workout, and my face didn’t sting nearly as much either. Veronica kept refilling my cold pack, and with nothing better to do, I sat there keeping my face numbed all day.
At least something could still be numbed. I was half tempted to start putting it on my head to see if I could get that to shut down for awhile too. About an hour after Veronica fed me a sandwich for lunch, he cursed me with his presence again, a wicked smile spreading across his face.
“And how’s my lively little sex tart doing today?”
I glared up at him. “Don’t you have a job to go to or something?”
He smirked, ignoring my question about his personal life. “Bath time,” he announced, unlocking my wrists with a key he had in his pocket. The disgust on my face must have been priceless, because it earned me a bout of laughter. “Relax, Natalie. Veronica will take you in.” Lifting his eyes, he added, “Unless, of course, you’d like me to be the one to watch you.”
I stood to my feet and looked him square in the eye – the one that wasn’t winking at me. “No, thank you.”
He laughed again, grabbing my arm to lead me to Veronica’s room. She was already in the bathroom, which had an oversized shower area. He rifled through her dresser and came back with two slips. He handed a satin slip in kelley green to her, and a black satin to me, which had see-through lace on top that left very little to the imagination. Not fearing a use of attitude, my hands went
to my hips and I glared at him, refusing to take it.
Amused, he instructed, “Either you come out wearing this, or be prepared to go without.”
Veronica tugged on my hand, trying to pull me into the bathroom. I begrudgingly snatched the slip. Before I could turn away, he grabbed my arm in warning. “Behave, or I’ll be the one watching you shower next time.”
He released me and I stumbled back, letting Veronica pull me the rest of the way in. I closed the door behind us and moved to lock it, but it didn’t offer that function. Of course...
Veronica immediately stripped and stepped into the large walk-in shower, extending her hand back, inviting me to join her. There was something very innocent about the way she looked at me. Like a child, almost.
I was about to pull my slip over my head when I stopped abruptly. Each room has at least one hidden camera.
Oh, hell no!
I scanned all the nooks and crannies, my eyes not finding anything obvious. Hidden camera. I knew that for a man where money was no issue, anything could be turned into a high tech camera. Screw it. I grabbed everything that wasn’t attached and tossed it under the cabinet, even her toothbrush and soap dish. No peep show tonight. I paused when I noticed my reflection in the mirror. The swelling was gone from my face but the skin was discolored a bit, the swirls of pinks and purples not much unlike Veronica’s. And my hair was just nasty, my scalp matted down with God knows how many days worth of oil.
I pulled the slip over my head and stepped into the shower. I half expected him to come bursting in on us now, but he didn’t. My eyes did a double take as she leaned into the water to rinse her hair. Her chest and abdomen were covered in scars, just like the ones he gave me. Looking down at my chest for the first time in bright light, I realized they weren’t really there anymore. The pale, thin scar lines had done a better job of disappearing with just the one laser treatment. As I looked back at Veronica, I wondered why he was going through the trouble of improving my body when he left hers looking like a litter of cats attacked it.
I didn’t dare linger in the shower, in fear he’d just walk in on us. Once dressed, I viewed myself in the mirror again and groaned, feeling so exposed through the barely-there lace on top. Fucking bastard. I hadn’t even worn this sort of thing in front of Nick yet.
Yet.
God, how could it not be at the forefront of my mind that he was shot by the man who had me dressing provocatively and kept me chained in his bedroom? It’s all I should ever be thinking about anymore. I slid to the floor, tears breaking through once I allowed myself to worry about him all over again. And I knew that if he was alive, he was just as worried about me.
Veronica didn’t know what to do, other than stand there watching me. I gave myself a few minutes to really cry it out before standing up and trying to clean up my reddened face – I didn’t want him to see how easily he made me cry.
I found a hair dryer in the cabinet and blew my hair dry. Veronica watched in awe, like she’d never seen one before. What did they do to screw her up this badly? I pulled her in front of me and began drying hers too. Her eyes remained widened the whole time, staring at herself relentlessly through the mirror.
I wondered if she even recognized herself.
Before I could finish, he opened the door. I had prolonged this time for as long as he would allow, so I turned the dryer off and passed it to Veronica, who numbly placed it on the counter like she’d already forgotten what it did.
“Times up,” he said, leaning past me, noticing how clear the bathroom was of clutter now. With a wry smile, he pulled me away, stating, “Guess I shouldn’t have told you about the cameras.”
The last thing I wanted to discuss with him were the words nudity, shower and watching, so I kept my trap shut. After planting me on the rug in chains again, he said, “By the way, you didn’t find it.” He winked and left me there dumbfounded, but not before assessing my assets and whistling his approval.
I must’ve finally gotten a little sleep, because when I awoke, it was dark, nothing but a lamp lighting the room. Also, for some reason, Veronica was asleep with her head on my lap as I leaned against the wall. I never even knew she was there.
I felt so bad for her. She seemed so carefree lying there, completely oblivious to the horrors that happened to her every day. Was this what I was meant to be? Broken? I sat there stroking her hair while she slept, trying not to think about anything and everything and failing miserably at it.
He came in a little later, probably seeking Veronica out, and ended up sitting beside me on the rug.
“She seems taken with you,” he noted lightheartedly.
Annoyed, I looked him in the eye and snapped, “You speak of her like she’s a fucking dog or something. She’s a girl, probably not even eighteen. She could’ve been something great in life. Now she’s just a dumb piece of ass.” I knew I needed to rein in my attitude around him, but so much of what he did and said just pissed the shit out of me.
“What makes you think she’s any different in here than she was out there? Lots of girls like to screw around.”
“Are you saying you chose a ho on purpose?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Hell if I know. She was clean. That’s all I cared about.”
Clean. That repulsed me. Was he even clean? Did he go around spreading disease to all his sex slaves without a freaking care in the world? Or feed them birth control so they wouldn’t have to seed his hell spawn?
Bitterly, I asked, “How did you get her? Did you pluck her off the street when you saw her, or did you practically run her off the road like they did with me?”
“Neither. I bought her at auction.”
Curious, my head whipped his way. I hated talking to him like he was a decent human being, but I was sure he held answers no one else could give me. “Auction? Is that how I got stuck with your brother?”
His face tightened. He didn’t like my tone of voice when I said the word brother. Still, he let it go and answered, “No. My brother put in a special request for a girl with your features. He never knew I knew this, but you’re very similar to a girl he had a thing for in college. Someone he wanted, but who didn’t want him in return.”
Special request. Mother fucker. The police were right. I fit the profile for that creep, so he could play out some sick fantasy with a girl that knew what a piece of shit he was even at a young age. And if he was angry with her, it explained why he was always so rough, why the bruises took up permanent residence during my six month imprisonment. My head slammed back against the wall, the sharp pain a welcomed distraction. “You said your brother didn’t know how to handle me. Was I supposed to be like Veronica?”
He chuckled. “You mean broken? Yes, to some degree. Though different handlers get different results.”
My stomach soured. I knew that was supposed to be my fate. “Why wasn’t I broken?” I asked quietly, remembering Veronica asleep in my lap. “Did my handlers really die?”
“No.”
No? NO? You mean those shitheads that led me to believe they’d loved and cared for me since birth were still alive? My jaw tensed so much I thought the pressure would snap the bone right off.
“You were stubborn and my brother was impatient. It took six months to strip and begin replacing your memories. He refused to wait any longer, so the stuff about your new life wasn’t all there yet. Then, instead of taming you, he just threw you in the basement.” He caught my rolling eyes. “What? Still think you can’t be tamed?”
“Why even bother?” I asked rudely. “Why haven’t you just thrown me back to the brainwashers?”
Something about that amused him, and his lips curled into a sinister grin. “And lose that spark inside of you? You have no idea how delicious you’ll be to me tamed. Because whether you love or hate our relationship, you’ll have emotions coming out of you that I just can’t get from the broken girls.” His eyes fiery, he looked ready to devour me right there, and my insides squirmed in a bad way. “No, Natal
ie. I don’t want you broken.” He quickly snatched my wrist and I cried out as he gripped it too hard. The next thing I knew, his other hand forced mine to grab his cock through his jeans, and I felt firsthand how stiff he was. “That spunk inside you has me throbbing with anticipation, and it’s driving me fucking nuts.”
It was scary the way he looked at me, and I worried he’d alter his ways to accommodate raping me right this very second. So I did the only thing I could. I turned away, refusing to fuel the fire by letting him connect with my eyes, which he always seemed to seek out. Laughing, he released me.
“You’re wasting your time,” I said tiredly. “I’d rather be brainless like Veronica. I won’t give you want you want. Not willingly.” Raping me was bad enough. I didn’t think I could handle the traumatic mental damage that would come along with it if I was sound of mind. Just break me now.
“If you say so,” he replied condescendingly.
I sat there with my mouth shut, completely uncomfortable. I was sitting in a slip that gave a clear picture of my breasts to a man that was proving to be just as sadistic as his brother. Maybe more so, because he was able to hide behind good looks and twisted concepts.
“Veronica,” he called firmly, waking her from slumbering in my lap. “Come.”
Oh, no. She obediently climbed onto his lap and began necking him.
“You want to get in on this, Natalie?”
My stomach did a flip-turn. That question had zero humor behind it. I most definitely did not want to get in on that. I ignored him and kept my gaze straight ahead. Sighing his disappointment, he dug for something in his jeans. That all too familiar snap made me jump when he popped open his knife. Veronica, however, was completely oblivious. Hadn’t she learned to recognize that yet? To fear it?
“You remember this game, don’t you?” he teased darkly.
“Just cut her,” I said heartlessly. “I’ve seen her body. There’s no point in stopping you. You’re just going to do it again in twenty minutes anyway.”
NEARLY Trilogy Page 22