by April Lust
Desperately, I flung the door open and leapt onto the pavement. As I ran, I tried to dig through my bag. My fingers groped balled-up tissues, sunglasses, lip balm—everything but the keys. The panic inside of me grew as my feet stumbled blindly in the darkness. From behind me, I could hear Lucas’s feet slapping against the pavement in blind pursuit.
“Help!” I screamed loudly. “Help! Someone’s chasing me!”
Lucas let out a guttural laugh. “You’re just wastin’ time, baby,” he sang out, making me shiver. “Ain’t no one going to help you now!”
“Help!” I shrieked again. When I got to the stairs, I took a deep breath and ran up them as fast as I could. My legs were burning by the second landing, and I knew that Lucas was close behind. Finally, my fingers closed around a bunch of serrated metal—my keys! When I got to my door, my heart was in my throat. I reached out with a shaky hand and tried to unlock the door, but before I could even get the key in the lock, I dropped them between my feet.
“Shit!” I howled loudly. Groping blindly on the dark floor, my hand scraped over splinters and grit. Lucas’s hands landed on my shoulders when I was still looking for my keys, and with a sinking feeling, I knew it was all over.
“You know you can’t outrun me, baby,” Lucas said sweetly. Even with my back turned, I could smell his foul breath. “Now let’s have us a little chat inside.”
“Fuck off,” I spat. “Leave me the fuck alone, asshole!” I whirled around, preparing to slap him, when a gleam of metal caught my eye. Lucas held up a pistol. He shoved it in my face as he grinned at me.
“I don’t think you’re gonna be cursing at me anymore, baby,” Lucas said softly. “Now let’s go have us that talk.”
I shuddered. Lucas smiled at me coldly and shoved the gun closer to my face; up close, I thought I could smell the metal warming in his hand. “Fine,” I said, trying not to show how afraid I felt. “Come inside.”
Lucas stepped close behind me and hovered over me as I found the keys on the ground and picked them up. I closed my eyes and willed Carson to come out of nowhere and take Lucas. Maybe he’d followed me home. Maybe he was waiting in the wings, waiting to protect me if anything bad happened. I shuddered. I knew Carson wasn’t there. Why would he be? I was the one who had left.
When I pushed the door to my apartment open, Lucas pushed the gun into the back of my neck. “Walk over to the couch,” he instructed. I shivered. When I didn’t take a step forward, I felt his hand slap me on the ass.
“Don’t touch me,” I hissed.
Lucas jammed the gun into the base of my skull. “I’ll touch you however I want,” he said. “Now do what I fucking said, bitch.”
I shivered. Angry Lucas was new. I didn’t know whether I preferred him to Cajoling Lucas, but I had a feeling that he was probably more dangerous when he was angry.
“Walk faster,” Lucas grunted. I stumbled and almost fell but regained my footing. It took me an eon to cross the living room floor and sit on the couch. When I did, I looked up at Lucas expectantly.
“What?” I said, trying to sound casual. “What do you want, Lucas? It’s really late.”
His lips curved into a thin smile. “I’ve been waiting for you,” he said softly. “But you weren’t home, Caroline. Where were you? Out fucking that meathead boyfriend of yours?”
I shuddered. How did he know where I’d been if he was waiting for me the whole time? “None of your business,” I said calmly. “What do you want?”
Lucas sat down next to me, alarmingly close. I could smell the tobacco reek of his clothing. “Oh, Caroline,” he said slowly. “You’ll learn to be nice to me one day. At least I hope you will,” he added. “It would benefit you tremendously to treat me with just a little more respect. Whatever happened to being grateful to me for trying to help you?”
“You weren’t trying to help me,” I retorted. “You were trying to blackmail me with naked pictures. You knew I didn’t want to help, but you made me do it anyway.”
“You’re really stupid,” Lucas said. He hooted with laughter and I felt a cold chill wave through my body. “You think I’d really let you off the hook that easily?”
I looked at him numbly. “I don’t care about the pictures anymore,” I told him honestly. “You don’t have any leverage over me anymore, Lucas.”
“That’s what you think, sweetie,” Lucas said calmly. “You really think I have no other ways of forcing you to do things?” He waved the gun around in the air and I shuddered. “I have a lot of ways you haven’t even thought of,” he said softly. “You’re gonna have to trust me on that one, baby.”
“Get to the fucking point,” I spat. “What do you want?”
“I need some more help, from my favorite little actress,” Lucas said. “That would be you, if you were too stupid to get the reference.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The cruelty and sarcasm dripping from Lucas’s voice was enough to make me want to cry, but it had been such an exhausting night that I was basically running on fumes. I felt like part of me wasn’t even there in the room with him. Part of me was still roaming the streets. Or roaming Carson , a little voice in the back of my head piped up. Shut up, I thought. Carson isn’t going to come save you this time .
“What do you need?” I asked dully.
Lucas looked at me and frowned. “That’s not the kind of enthusiasm I’m looking for,” Lucas said in a bright voice. “You need to be a little better about asking me what I’d like you to do. Really put some effort into it, baby. After all, this is acting we’re talking about here.”
My jaw twitched. Lucas waved the gun in the air, then pointed it at me. He winked at me and cocked it, pushing it close to my face. I shivered. Another chill of fear went through my body. I wasn’t sure whether or not he would do it; he said that he needed me, but I didn’t doubt that he could be prone to reckless behavior if provoked. “Fine,” I said. I tried to smile at him. My whole body was shaking with fear. “What is it I can do for you, Lucas?”
“That’s better, baby,” Lucas said. He dropped the gun in his lap and clapped his hands together in enthusiasm. “You’re gonna help me pick out some jewelry,” he said in the same enthusiastic tone. “Now you should be real good at this, from all the practice you had before.”
I shook my head. “I’m not doing it,” I said flatly. “I’m not getting arrested. You and your demands can go fuck yourself!”
Lucas slapped me across the face so quickly I didn’t even have time to see his hand flying towards me. I reeled back on the couch, folding at the waist. Tears came to my eyes, and I blinked them away. Lucas’s hand made hard contact with my cheekbone and I could already feel a bruise welling under the surface of my skin.
“You’re gonna do exactly what I want you to do, baby,” he said smoothly. “Or else your boyfriend is gonna die.”
“Bullshit,” I said, glaring at him. “I just left Carson’s. You couldn’t have gotten to him if you were waiting for me.”
Lucas smiled. “I knew you’d say that,” he countered. “But you don’t think I’m as stupid as you are, do you?” My stomach tied itself into knots as Lucas reached in his pocket. I didn’t want to see what he’d come up with, and I was almost relieved when I saw that it was a phone. “Have a look at this,” Lucas said in the same calm tone. “Tell me if that’s what little boyfriend wasn’t wearing earlier today.”
Lucas slid the phone across the couch to me. There was a photo of Carson pulled up on the screen and enlarged. He was wearing the same thing that he’d been wearing earlier in the evening, before we’d had sex. I shivered as I remembered the way he’d pulled his shirt over his head once we were in bed.
“That could have been another day,” I said. “You’re bullshitting me, Lucas.”
Lucas shook his head. He pointed to a timestamp in the corner of the picture. “Nope, it’s from about an hour ago,” he said. “Your little boyfriend has a nasty habit of going outside to smoke.”
I bit my
lip. “You’re still lying,” I said. But when Lucas looked at me and smiled, I knew that he wasn’t. “What do you want? Just let him go, please.”
“Oh, is princess in a position to make deals now?” Lucas laughed. “I don’t think that’s true, baby. I don’t think you really have any idea what’s going on,” he added. “And don’t try to fool me into thinking otherwise.”
I shook my head. “Just stop with the bullshit,” I pleaded. “Please. Please let him go, Lucas.”
“I don’t think a man that dangerous should be allowed outside,” Lucas said. He lifted a hand to his chin and rubbed it with two fingers. “You saw the work he did to my face,” Lucas added. “I was out for days after that happened. And you just watched him do it!” He tutted. “Shame, Caroline. I would have thought you would have been a little more grateful to the man who saved your ass.”
“You didn’t save shit,” I mumbled. “I hate you, you fuck.”
Lucas slapped me again, so hard this time that I saw stars. The tears that had welled up in my eyes sprang free and rolled down my cheeks. When I opened my eyes and looked at him, his eyes were glowing with rage. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, sweetheart,” he said in a cold voice. “I get to make the rules around here. You get that?” He waved the gun in my face and jammed it into my chest, right above my breasts. I was heaving with every breath and feeling the cold metal press into my skin was terrifying in a whole new way. “You listen to me,” he repeated. “You do exactly what I tell you to do. And then I might, I might let him go. You understand?”
I bit my lip. When I didn’t answer, Lucas lifted his arm, and I braced myself for the inevitable slap. Instead, he laughed. “See, now I can make you do exactly what I want,” he said. “I guess training you wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought.” He kept the gun pointed into my chest and I resisted the urge to push it away. “Now you’re gonna do exactly what Lucas tells you to do.”
“Fine,” I said, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. “I’ll do what you want. I promise.”
Lucas grinned. “That’s a good little pussy,” he said. “Or else your new boyfriend is gonna die, Caroline.” He drew a line across his throat with his pointer finger. “And you wouldn’t want that on your conscience, baby. Trust me, it ain’t no fun.”
I swallowed hard. “I’ll do it,” I repeated. “Just keep away from him. Let him go. Please, Lucas. Please.” I opened my eyes wide and made a pouting face at him. Lucas leaned closer and closer until our noses were inches apart. I could smell the reek of his breath wafting into my face and it took all my energy not to screw my eyes shut.
“That’s right,” he said softly. “Meet me tomorrow. I’ll pick you up here, and we’ll go on a little shopping trip together.” He dragged the edge of the gun across my chest, poking me in each breast. I shivered and bit my lip so I wouldn’t cry out in pain; he was pressing hard, and it hurt. “Dress nicely, honey. I’m gonna have a fun little time looking you over before we go. If you don’t look good, maybe we’ll take a few more pictures as some incentive.”
My stomach heaved and I thought I was going to be sick. Just the mention of Lucas inspecting me was enough to make me want to puke. I hated him. I hated him more than I’d ever hated anyone, and having to sit still while he poked a gun into my tits was absolute torture.
“Promise you’ll let him go,” I said finally. “Promise you’ll let him go if I do it.”
Lucas leaned back on the couch. He dropped the gun, and I sucked in a huge breath in relief. Keeping his eyes trained on me, Lucas licked his lip. “What was that, baby? You better ask again, real nice this time.”
Hot tears squeezed out of my eyes and dripped down my cheeks. “Please,” I begged, closing my eyes tight and balling my hands into fists in my lap. “Please, please let him go. Please promise me that. Please, Lucas.” I looked at him to see an amused look on his face. “Please,” I repeated. “Please promise me that you’ll let him go.”
Lucas smiled. “I don’t know,” he said. “It depends on my mood. I’ll have to see how I’m feeling tomorrow, baby. How do you feel about that?” He started laughing as if whatever he’d said was the funniest remark in the world. “Sometimes I’m feeling awfully generous,” he added, laughing even harder.
As Lucas laughed, I sobbed harder and harder. Something horrible was going to happen to Carson, and it was all my fault. I had to help him, even if it meant going to jail myself.
Chapter Twenty Four
Carson
“Christ,” I muttered. “My head is fucking killing me.” When I reached out for my phone, my hand hit cold stone instead. “Shit!” I cried out, shaking my injured hand in the air. It was dark and no matter how I groped for the lamp, I couldn’t see a goddamn thing.
When I reached for the switch on the wall, my hand groped air. The more I moved, the more pain shot through me. Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t at home.
“Fuck!” I cursed loudly, swinging my hand in the air. It connected with concrete and pain bloomed in my arm. When I tried to stand up, I realized that my legs were tied together and I was fastened to the wall behind me. As my eyes adjusted, I could barely make out a few shapes. Given how dark the room was, I decided that it must be at night. What happened? I wondered, shaking my head. Sweat was beading on my forehead and dripping down. It itched like mad, but I couldn’t reach that far. There was a rope around my chest tying my arms down; I had useless, T-Rex little stubs. Think, Carson, think , I ordered myself. What happened ?
I closed my eyes and desperately tried to remember the night before. There was Caroline, lying next to me in bed and looking horrified. I remembered fighting. For a moment, I forgot why. When I remembered, I felt blacker than ever. She hates me , I thought. She’s never going to talk to me again after that .
I remembered that I’d made my way through a six pack of beer before unsteadily leaving the apartment for the dive bar down the street. I’d been so drunk that I was staggering on my walk there. Then, things started to get fuzzy. As I tried to remember, pain flashed through my head. It was more than the normal hangover pain; judging from my complete lack of memory about the night before, I was starting to feel as though I’d been drugged.
I again tried to recall what had happened. I’d started slamming whiskey at the bar, until someone asked me for a cigarette. I’d gone outside, lit up…then what? With a sinking feeling, I realized that someone must have drugged me, then lured me outdoors and beaten me to a pulp. I winced as I tried to run my hands over each other; I could feel that they were bruised and swollen. My head felt like someone had hit me with an anvil.
I knew I had to get out of here. I didn’t know who attacked me, but I could have made a guess: Lucas. That fuck waited until Caroline had left, then waited for me. I shuddered as I imagined what he was doing with Caroline. Even though she’d left me and told me she never wanted to see me again, I still felt responsible for her well-being. I couldn’t stand the thought of that monster hurting her and making her feel unsafe. I’m coming, Caroline, I thought as I twisted against the ropes that held me. I promise I’m coming.
I strained and twisted at my bonds until I was sweating all over. My body ached—I could tell that whoever attacked me had taken a few blows at my chest—and my mouth was uncomfortably dry. Closing my lips, I worked my tongue against my mouth until it was wet with saliva. I closed my eyes in frustration and tried to move in a rhythm that strained at the ropes. But ten minutes later, I wasn’t any looser or freer than I had been when I’d first woken up.
“Damnit!” I yelled loudly, trying to move my legs. Something clattered on the floor and hope rose in my chest. If I leaned over and stuck my arm down, my fingertips could graze the floor. I did it again and again, searching for anything that I could use to free myself. There was nothing there, and I cursed out loud as my feet kicked at the empty air. The room was starting to feel airless and hot and I was sweating so much that the ropes were clinging to my damp body. I knew that in order to get ou
t, I’d need to find something to free myself. Only problem was that the room was incredibly dark.
I thumped my head against the wall in frustration. It hurt but the pain almost felt good, it felt like something to keep me tied to reality. I hated myself for having been cocky before. I clearly hadn’t won. Lucas was up to no good, and he needed to keep me out of the way. That automatically made me think that he was planning something nefarious. If he didn’t need me out of the way, why would he have gone to such trouble? Shaking my head, I realized that he probably wouldn’t have even needed to hurt me if he’d known that Caroline and I had fought. She’d probably go off with him willingly. She’d probably do whatever he wanted.