“Not unless I caught a skin disease from your dickheads downstairs.” I tried to keep the words from spilling out, but my frustration was outweighing my filter.
“Want to try that answer one more time?” Kirk pulled me to a sitting position, and the room swayed and went dark. He caught me and held me by the shoulders—that was the only thing that prevented me from landing face-first on the floor.
I could hear him and the doctor talking to me, but they sounded muffled. Too far away to make out the words. I couldn’t get my body to do anything; my entire existence was stuck in the muck again.
My brain panicked, making it even harder to breathe. My eyes grew heaver, and I was certain I was going to die.
I felt a blood pressure cuff fasten around my arm and tighten. My tongue was dry and sticky, but I managed one word. “Thirsty.”
The doctor deflated the cuff but left it around my arm and walked to the sink. I struggled to keep my eyes open while Kirk held me upright. The doctor handed a small glass of water to him, and Kirk pressed it to my lips, letting me sip slowly.
Slowly the volume of their voices increased again, and the darkness that had been looming around the edge of my vision faded.
“I’ll test for drugs, too,” the doctor said.
“I’m not on drugs,” I said, as loud and insistent as I could manage, but I sounded drunk at best.
“How’d you get here?” Kirk asked.
I shook my head and managed to raise a hand to my face to rub my temple. “I have a pounding headache.”
“You’ll need to get her hydrated and let everything flush from her system, but if she gets worse, call me directly.”
Kirk pulled me off the table and set me on my feet, keeping an arm around my waist to stabilize me. On one hand, I was grateful he wasn’t letting me fall face first against the tile floor, but it also meant my naked body was pressed against his. I felt his heat rolling into me, another unwelcome intruder on my personal space.
The doctor dropped a black bag on the bed next to me. “Ross also had me grab this on my way up. Should be everything you need for a bit.”
Clarence then packed up and disappeared through a side door.
Kirk paused a moment, giving me enough time to recover from the dizzy spell.
“I just want to go home,” I said.
“If you’re well enough to complain, you’re well enough to walk.” He kept his pace noticeably slower as he led me, still naked, down the hall and back to the elevator.
Oh god, I thought, hoping he wasn’t planning on parading me through the lobby again. If I didn’t get dizzy again, I’d probably pass out from embarrassment—possibly a combination of the two.
He pressed “9” and my chest relaxed a little. Small victories, I told myself. If I concentrated on that, at least I’d have something positive to hold onto.
After we exited the elevator, he led me to another door—this time, he used a key to unlock it, and pushed me in first.
An apartment, small, but without a doubt, luxurious. A leather sectional couch filled the center of the room, facing a large TV screen. A desk with a small laptop faced the wall behind the couch, and beyond that, was a kitchenette, and a large pane window that faced out over the same view as Ross’ office above.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Still lightheaded and a little queasy.”
“I’ll get you some water, and I think I have some crackers. I’d tell you not to think about running, but I have a feeling that even if you did, you’d collapse before you got very far.”
I nodded, allowing him to lead me to the couch where I crumpled up into a ball and closed my eyes, hoping that would help the headache. But the pounding in my forehead didn’t ease. I heard a bag rustle in the kitchen, and cupboards and drawers closing. Every sound twisted in my head, seeming far louder and more annoying than normal.
Kirk returned and used his shin to push the coffee table closer to the couch. Then, he laid out a napkin with crackers and a bottle of water.
“I’ll put something more substantive together for you in a while if you can hold down the crackers.”
I nodded and reached for the bottle of water. “Pain medicine?”
“What hurts?” he asked draping a blanket over my body.
I wanted to glare back at him and repeat his stupid question. “My head is pounding. Ribs sore. Ankle. Wrists.” I could have continued the long inventory, but when Kirk stepped away, I figured he either got the picture or didn’t care.
He returned after a few seconds and dropped two red capsules in my hand. In any other situation, I’d think I was out of my mind for accepting some unknown drug from a criminal, but I popped them in my mouth and swallowed them down.
“Thanks,” I said, on the verge of passing out.
I was afraid to let my eyes close. I had already woken in the middle of a nightmare once, and I feared that as soon as I closed my eyes I’d be dropped into something even worse. Or something even more confusing than having my captor care for me and wait on me.
“Get some sleep,” Kirk whispered. “You’ll be safe.”
“I’m lying naked in some criminal headquarters with a strange man caring for me,” I mumbled. “What’s safe?”
I drifted in and out of sleep, managing to eat a few crackers and finish off the bottle of water during my intermittent moments of consciousness. I rolled onto my back and draped my arm over my forehead, the pain meds had lessened the pain, but it still felt like someone had smacked me in the face with the back of a shovel.
“It’s not a breach.” I heard Kirk say.
I opened my eyes and peeked over the couch, but he wasn’t in the same room, so I dropped my head to the pillow and pulled my knees to my chest, tucking the blanket under my chin. I strained to hear the rest of the conversation, latching on to his mumbled words as they floated through the room.
“It was minor, and she’s definitely not a threat, but I’ll be keeping my eye on her anyway…. Milo doesn’t have to worry about it….”
Me? I wondered how I could possibly be considered a threat to this place. Especially since they definitely weren’t letting me go anywhere. I reached for the bottle of water and remembered that I had already finished it, so I closed my eyes again, hoping that sleep would give me a few more moments of peace. But the bedroom door swung open, and I started at the sound of something landing on the desk behind me.
The following silence lasted a few seconds before I heard him approaching. I wanted to tense up, but I tried to keep my body lucid enough to appear to be sleeping, and hoped he hadn’t seen me flinch. He didn’t stop, picking up my water bottle on the way toward the kitchen. A few minutes later, he replaced it with a new bottle and walked to the desk behind me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, knowing that as soon as I reached for the bottle he’d know I was awake anyway. I wanted to keep him on my good side.
“How long have you been eavesdropping?”
I took a long swig of water to wet my throat and give myself a moment to consider my answer. “I heard the door open.” It wasn’t quite a lie, but I hoped he wouldn’t press it.
“How do you feel?”
“My head is still pounding, but it’s better…” My voice trailed off again, the darkness coming for me again, but I had a bigger problem. My bladder felt like it was about to explode from all of the water—and yet I was still dying of thirst. And I had been putting off the bathroom issue for as long as possible. “I have to—” Just spit it out, he’s already seen you naked and felt up by a sadistic doctor. “I need to use the bathroom.”
“First door,” he said.
That was easier than I had expected. I rolled to my feet, but my knees gave way, and I caught myself on the couch arm. Kirk moved toward me, but I willed my legs to work before he got close enough to touch me.
“Leave the door open,” he called after me.
“Right because where am I going to go?”
He raised an eye
brow.
I flipped on the bathroom light—it wasn’t as if there were even any windows for me to escape through, so I wasn’t sure what the hell he didn’t want me doing in here behind closed doors.
Not in any particular hurry to get back to the living room when I was done, I stood in front of the mirror, taking in the bruises that circled my wrists and shoulders, and the massive purple spot that covered my right side.
I turned on the sink and scrubbed my hands, digging out all of the grime from under my fingernails. It was the most of their filth I could get rid of at the moment.
I cupped my hands and splashed the water over my face, then reached blindly for the hand towel.
I jumped when it landed on my shoulder.
“I take it I’m not allowed to wash my face without your permission either.”
Kirk grabbed my chin, yanking my head back. “Washing your face is fine, but your smug taunts are only going to lead to pain.”
He released me, and I rubbed the towel over my face before catching the stray droplets that had run down my neck and chest. I wished he’d stop looking at me. Even with my face covered, I could feel his eyes on me. I’d been alone with him and naked for—I didn’t even know how long.
My stomach grumbled, and I dropped the towel to stare down at the traitor. I had much higher priorities than food. Not to mention I still felt a little nauseous.
“Do you think you can eat?” Kirk asked.
I rubbed my eyes and shrugged. I did, but I wasn’t telling him that, and I wasn’t going to ask him for food.
He walked me back to the couch, apparently suspicious that I’d somehow disappear through the floor or a wall, and left me there as he went into the kitchen. I leaned against the arm of the couch, listening to the sound of his footsteps as he moved around. Now that he and I were alone, the odds had evened out.
Aside from the fact that he was still bigger, stronger, and even if I managed to get away from him, there were eight floors and who knows how many people between me and freedom, unless I could find a fire escape.
And clothes.
I squinted at the door—it had a double cylinder deadbolt, so it required a key to get in and out. Yet another inconvenience that didn’t bode well for me.
Kirk handed me two more pills and sat down a new bottle of water, and a sandwich wrapped in a napkin. Either he didn’t do dishes or he didn’t trust me with a plate. As he leaned over, I noticed the keys dangling from his belt loop. All I had to do was manage to get them off and figure out which one opened the door without him noticing.
He returned to his desk, giving me a few minutes to eat in silence, but my mind was so busy trying to process everything else, I could have been eating cardboard on rye. And the pounding in my head wasn’t making anything easier. I left the empty napkin on the table and nestled back under the blanket. “You think Gabe drugged me?”
I heard the squeak of his chair move then the couch shifted as he leaned his arm against it. “I’d guarantee it. Unless you make a habit of taking drugs that make you pass out.”
“I’ve never even smoked pot.” I met his eyes, barely managing to keep my own open. Whatever I had been given was a stubborn enemy, and now that my stomach was full, it threatened to pull me back into the darkness.
“Do you remember anything from last night?” he asked.
I shook my head. Every time I got close to a memory, the thoughts seemed to pull away. “I remember having lunch at a coffee shop to check my email,” I mumbled. I realized the words were coming out, but I wasn’t sure why I was saying them out loud and I couldn’t stop myself. “I think I went home. I had plans to meet some friends for dinner, but I don’t remember if I even made it there. I can remember being on a sidewalk….” Some things were becoming clearer, so I hoped that by the time the drugs wore off I’d at least remember something helpful.
Although helpful to what effect, I wasn’t sure. Figuring out how I got here probably wasn’t going to get me out.
“It was dark and a car came around the corner with bright lights. I put my hand up to block the light. And I think that’s the last thing I remember.” My words started to run together. Whether or not I had anything else to say, my tongue was giving up the battle. I curled against the arm of the couch and felt the blanket brush gently against my skin as Kirk covered my bare shoulders.
The movement a contrast to the chaos I felt inside, but still a reminder that nothing I knew mattered anymore. Fear was supposed to be completely set apart from anything gentle and comfortable, but here I was lying on a soft couch wrapped in a warm blanket. My brain couldn’t comprehend why, after I’d been kidnapped, and not a single person had shown an ounce of compassion for my well-being, I was currently being treated with gentleness.
Deep inside my gut, I knew it didn’t bode well, and I still had no idea how to escape the dark fate that threatened to suffocate me within these walls.
Bait and Trap
I opened my eyes then jerked up to look around the room. It took my brain a few seconds to recognize the surroundings before my shock melted into disappointment. “It wasn’t a dream….”
“Sorry,” Kirk said.
My heart thumped in my chest, and I twisted to see him sitting at the desk behind me.
“You’re feeling better?”
The fog and nausea had definitely lifted, but I wasn’t sure that made anything better. “I think it wore off, but I still have a headache.”
I looked around trying to find a clock. I had no idea how long I’d been here, or how long I’d been sleeping.
“It’s only been about three hours since I gave you the last pain pills, so you’ll have to wait a bit.” He said as if recognizing the questions in my head. “It’s almost seven o’clock and I have to go take care of a few things before we head up to the Outlook tonight.”
The Outlook. How vague could anyone possibly be? “You wouldn’t happen to be willing to tell me what going to the ‘Outlook’ entails?”
“Dinner.” His quick and simple answer didn’t seem contrived, but it wasn’t comforting either. I hoped he meant real food and wasn’t using it as a vulgar euphemism.
“And what’s for dinner?”
He gave me a sideways glare. “I have no idea, probably steak, maybe chicken. That’s what they normally serve during business dinners.”
I exhaled and relaxed a little. At least I wasn’t going to be the main course, and hopefully a business dinner meant there would be more talk than paying attention to me.
Unless I was the business they were attending to. God, I begged my brain to shut up. So far, all of its ideas and conclusions had simply landed me in more trouble.
“What? You thought on top of everything else that we’re going to cook you for dinner?”
“No,” I scoffed. “I thought you were just using it as a sexual metaphor.”
He pressed his lips together. “You haven’t even been cleared yet. You just have to sit, silently, and look pretty. You’ll kneel on your knees at my feet, keep your hands in your lap, and your eyes on the floor in front of you.”
Now that I was breaking free of whatever had polluted my system, the full reality of the situation set in, tightening in my chest. I pictured myself, at some fancy dinner where everyone at the table wore suits and I sat naked on the floor next to Kirk’s feet. “I can’t do this.”
“If you want to stay alive you will.” His tone was even, as if my begging didn’t faze him in the least.
I jumped off the couch and backed away from him. “What you want me to do isn’t living.”
He took a quick step toward me, and I stumbled trying to keep my distance, grabbing my hair and slamming me into the opposite wall. With little effort, he pinned me there with only one arm and his bodyweight. “Make your choice.”
I kneed him in the groin, and as he stooped backward, I jumped toward the door, remembering too late that I needed a key to open it.
I spun around, but as soon as I did, my back hit
the wall beside the front door. He pressed against my body so I couldn’t leverage another attack and pulled the keys off of his belt. “You want out?”
I bit my tongue, tasting blood. I knew it was a trick question. There was no right answer and even if I did answer, he already seemed set on his path. He slid the key into the lock. I heard every pin slide and click into place, and then it squealed as the bolt released.
He jerked open the door and shoved me out into the hallway. I stumbled and before I caught my balance, the door closed behind me.
Oh, fucking hell. I looked up and down the hallway. You got the escape you wanted.
But I knew it couldn’t be that easy. I started for the elevator, waiting for one of the other apartment doors to open. I was already in the fucking cage. No redemption here.
I would have sworn that anyone on the floor could hear the thumping in my chest as my bare feet slid across the carpeted hallway. I didn’t dare break into a run, because I was just as scared of what was ahead of me as what was behind me.
The more I thought about it—the more I thought about Gabe—what was ahead of me was far more terrifying. Running for the door was the stupidest idea yet.
The elevator dinged and I pressed myself against the wall. It wasn’t going to help anything, but at least I didn’t feel exposed on all sides. My useless limbs trembled and my throat tightened as the elevator doors opened and a huge man with chestnut skin stepped off the elevator. He smirked when he saw me.
“Disobedient slave looking for a home?”
God, no. I shook my head and slid against the wall, back toward Kirk’s room. I bumped against a man’s chest and jumped away. I hadn’t even realized that Kirk had opened the door, let alone stepped out into the hallway.
The dark-skinned man reached for me and I ducked backward managing to make it past Kirk, but then I heard the deadbolt of the door next to me release.
Not another. I dashed back toward Kirk. The enemy you know…. The phrase flashed through my mind. I didn’t know whether it had any weight, but in the current situation I’d take the one who let me sleep relatively unharmed on his couch and gave me food and water instead of trapping me on a table in the dank basement.
Irrevocable: A Sins of Ashville Abduction Dark Romance (Irrevocable Duet Book 1) Page 3