Then the mouth that offered her salvation vanished and Flick was left cold.
‘Where are you going?’ Flick asked, supporting herself on her elbows.
‘You want me to fuck you?’ he asked. ‘Right now, you want me to fuck you?’
Flick hadn’t meant for them to go that far. But he’d vanished so suddenly, she wanted to know what was in his mind. ‘You don’t?’
‘Your pussy been left hungry, Kitten? Your little boyfriend not doing it for you anymore? You come all the way out here to open your legs for me?’
‘I was brought here,’ she said, kicking off her shoes and walking on her knees to the end of the bed where Rushe leaned on the footboard. Flick snagged her hands into his jeans pockets. ‘I was brought here to help you.’
‘You’re a stupid bitch, you know that?’
‘Am I now?’ she asked.
‘What did they tell you? That I needed help, or I was in trouble?’
‘Yes.’
‘What kind of trouble?’
‘I didn’t ask,’ she said.
‘And you thought you could bail me out?’
‘He threatened to start shooting in my workplace, what was I supposed to do?’ Rushe growled at her. ‘Do my motives matter?’
‘Take off your clothes,’ he leered.
Flick shrugged her bolero from her shoulders and Rushe growled again.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Are you this easy for other men?’
‘What?’
‘I snap my fingers and you bend over to be shafted. There are plenty of men in this house who’ll tag team you; do you want me to line them up?’
‘No.’
‘When did your boyfriend last fuck you? Last night? This morning? But you’re still a hungry little whore.’
‘I’ve been here all night, Rushe,’ she said. ‘And you’ve been screwing around with the French chick.’
‘What of it?’
‘Have you had all the women in the basement? Is it tradition that all men here sample the prisoners?’
‘I’ve fucked my way through plenty of honeys in here,’ Rushe said. ‘None of them have been as easy as you.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘All of them put up a fight.’
‘I meant I don’t believe you’ve been having sex with any of the women in the basement.’
‘You trying to find a fairy tale ending?’ he asked.
‘No.’
‘Then—‘
‘Consent,’ she said. ‘You need consent. You would never force—‘
‘Fuck! Felicity, you’re going to die! Worry about that!’
He had never shouted at her, not like that. Rushe had never shouted at her with nothing but the naked truth.
‘Are you supposed to be in here asking for my parents’ phone number?’
All he could do was inhale and step back. ‘Getting in touch with your father is easy. I’ll make sure that you get a chance to talk to him, you know, to prove that you’re alive. During that conversation you have to impress upon him the importance of not handing over the money until you’re safe.’
‘My father doesn’t know if I’m alive now,’ she said. ‘Just how much money are you going to ask for? He’ll think twice about paying it, I’ll tell you that now. He’s a superior individual who really believes he’s smarter than everyone, including you and your buddy Victor.’
‘Victor is not my buddy, and the money isn’t an issue.’
‘The money isn’t an issue,’ she said. ‘They cut me off. I had to hock my jewellery to get a deposit for my apartment. I don’t have a car, or—‘
‘Kitten, the money isn’t a problem.’
‘Are you going to tell Victor my family screwed him over?’
‘Getting the money to Victor is easy,’ Rushe said. ‘But one of two things happens once he has it.’
‘I go out the back door – dead or alive.’
‘Why in the hell did you come back here?’
‘I didn’t have much of a choice,’ she said. ‘John made that clear.’
‘You’ll be a story. A woman who goes missing twice in the same month.’
‘No one missed me the first time. How long will this take?’
‘Victor wants a plan by breakfast,’ he said. ‘So you’ve bought another night.’
‘Lucky me,’ she said, falling back to sit on her feet.
‘You’ve been here all night?’ She nodded. ‘Alone?’
‘Skeeve tried it on in the car,’ she said. ‘Victor doesn’t want me touched, sexually.’
‘Who said that?’
‘John.’ Rushe didn’t comment, but Flick saw his mind working. ‘What?’
‘Victor trusts me right now but... there are... everyone has an agenda.’
‘You’ve told me that before.’
‘This is different,’ he said. ‘Everything here is scaled up and tension is high. No one trusts anyone and things are volatile.’
‘You’re different here,’ she said. ‘More cautious.’
‘There are more people here, more factors I can’t control. It’s tough enough to stay alive when I’m only watching my own ass.’
Flick’s lips curled up. ‘That must drive your forethought crazy.’
‘She smiles,’ he said, throwing up his hands.
‘Why are you sleeping with Simone?’
‘I’m not,’ he said, but he quickly burst her frisson of happiness. ‘Sex doesn’t have anything to do with sleeping. She’s a high-maintenance woman, good for nothing but a fuck.’
‘Yeah,’ Flick said. ‘I know your views on that subject.’
The door opened and John came in with a tray of food and a bag. Almost covertly observing them, John put the things down and left without a word.
‘Eat,’ Rushe said. ‘There are books in the bag. No one will bother you.’
‘That’s it?’ she asked when he headed for the door.
‘Now I’m gonna do my research on your family and find out what you’re worth in currency.’
‘I thought you didn’t want to meet my family.’
‘I don’t have to,’ he said.
‘Do they know?’ she asked. ‘The people here...’
‘That I’ve fucked you? Yeah.’
‘Should I be scared?’
‘You can’t follow instructions so I’m not gonna answer that.’
‘What about Shiv?’ she asked.
‘I plan to have you out of here before he’s back. Victor has him out collecting.’
‘Are you ever going to explain to me what’s going on here?’
‘Kitten... just hope you don’t find out everything in surround sound and full Technicolor.’
‘I was right about being a liability for you,’ Flick said. ‘Wasn’t I?’
‘Yes.’
‘Tonight, when you’re inside Simone think about me down here, alone.’
‘You better hope you’re alone,’ he said. ‘But you’re likely to get a visit from Simone before I do. She’s supposed to look after you girls. But she’s more concerned with having every man in the building.’
‘No more bareback then,’ she said, and that empowerment tickled up her spine when his eyes travelled down her body.
Flick pushed up to her knees again and let the straps of her dress fall from her shoulders.
‘Do you remember?’ she asked. ‘What that night was like? What it felt like to slide into me?’
‘Don’t,’ he asserted. ‘Don’t play with fire.’
‘I liked being burned by you the first time.’
‘Your boyfriend worth any money?’ Rushe said. ‘Will he pay for you? How many times have you had sex with him? If I tally up the going rate—‘
‘I don’t have a boyfriend,’ she admitted, and the flash of surprise in his expression was a rare show of an honest reaction from him.
‘Are you lying—‘
‘I lied then,’ she said. ‘I thought if I implied people would
be looking for me that it might aid my release.’
‘And you never corrected me?’
‘Are you upset that I lied, or that you’re the only man I’ve been intimate with in a long time?’
Rushe immediately left his place near the door to march back to the end of the bed.
‘How many men have you had sex with?’
‘What?’ she asked, surprised by his ferocity.
‘Tell me!’ Rushe grabbed her arm and dragged her to the end of the bed. When Flick tried to pull her arm away, he didn’t release her.
‘That’s none of your business!’
‘I swear to god, Kitten, if you think you can get away without being poked and prodded—‘
‘Two,’ she breathed.
Releasing her Rushe stared with wide eyes, scrubbing his hands over his face. ‘Including me?’
Flick nodded. ‘Two total.’
‘I knew you were tight but...’ Turning his back on her he walked away then walked back and slammed his hands on the footboard of the bed.
‘Why are you angry? I wanted to have sex with you.’ Hooking her hands into his jeans Flick lay her weight on him. ‘If you feel guilty—‘
‘I don’t give a fuck,’ he said. ‘Damn right I dominated your tight, little cunt. I’d do it again. I’d have fucked you senseless if you were lily-white.’
‘Then what’s the problem?’
Rushe’s fingers bit into her shoulders when he shunted her back onto the bed. ‘The less experience the higher the price,’ he said. ‘Do not answer questions. Do not mention inexperience. Do not let them know about your sexual past. Your inexperience and your family history make you primo goods, and I’m considered a previous owner. I’d rather see you dead than watch them put you through that.’
‘Simone wasn’t impressed.’
‘She’s threatened,’ he said.
‘Because of you?’
‘No because you’re...’
Rushe didn’t finish his thought. He didn’t leer but he did look her up and down.
‘What?’
‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Be a good girl. I’ll be back eventually.’
Flick could do nothing but watch him leave, and he wasn’t as weak as she was, he didn’t look back.
Chapter Seven
People brought food periodically, but she felt like months must have passed. Despite her new sumptuous surroundings, Flick found herself pining for the shack. For the forest air, and the lake she could swim in.
This place had no natural light and she was going stir crazy. Flick had read the books and was rounding for a second pass at them all, but her mind kept wandering. Rushe could be miles away, or he could be right outside the door.
Preoccupied with her aversion to the idea of Rushe with any other woman, Flick tried to come to terms with her internal confession that she had no right to think that way, and she certainly had no right to object to any of his actions.
Somehow none of this seemed real, and though the women in the basement had been mentioned Flick hoped it wasn’t true. She found believing that Rushe could be involved in such a thing was almost impossible.
When she’d been vulnerable and in need he had stepped in to protect her, more than once. Yes, he was crude and domineering, but he wasn’t cruel, and Flick knew he was a better man than he gave himself credit for.
If Rushe, or Victor, or anyone, contacted her parents and demanded ransom, Flick imagined she would only fulfil the Hughes’ expectations.
Nothing about her was the same as them, and it never had been. The people they associated with, and the sphere they associated in, had always been a mystery to her. Flick grew up immersed in the fictional worlds she escaped to in books. Being a reader and a loner Flick had always been content with a mind of her own.
But, Flick didn’t fit in at social events, fundraisers, and Country Club functions. Her parents had been at a loss with her from a young age because Flick didn’t accept the easy way just because it was straightforward. She had always been more comfortable alone, away from society. However, even she had to admit that this was a doozy of a pickle she found herself in now.
In her life, she had never been far from her parents, or rather from her mother, and she was always with her sisters. Her life had consisted of going from the family home into a limo, into a ballroom, or a hotel somewhere. Her sisters, Lucia and Vivian, embraced the spectacle, but Flick had always felt like just a part of her parents’ entourage. The women were allowed to study, though her sisters didn’t embrace it as she had. But Flick never got far, she lived in her parents’ home, and was escorted to class by her limo driver. After graduating, none of them was expected to work.
The life of a Hughes woman was showing up and looking pretty. Lucia, Vivian, and her mother Beverley, were always better at that than Flick was. Occasionally she got to stay with her paternal grandparents, but it was always on a weekend that coincided with a social occasion, and so was part of the Hughes beast too.
Liberating herself from the family last year had been Flick’s first comprehension of freewill. Up until that point, choosing which book to read in the vast Hughes-approved library was about all the choice Flick had.
The Hughes clan were all one well-oiled machine. Her sisters and mother went on shopping sprees, but Flick would stay home to read and to study.
So long as the money Rushe demanded for Victor wasn’t off the charts, Flick figured that her parents would pay it, but one thing was for sure... If her family had to pay for her life, then they would own it.
Flick would have no choice but to go back home with her tail between her legs and fall in line as she was told to. Her confession to Rushe about her financial position was accurate, and with no way to pay her father back, she couldn’t object to the demands placed on her thereafter.
Maybe Rushe had been right after all. He’d have to be her dirty little secret, the fling that would keep her warm at night as she lay in bed beside whichever CEO her father chose for her.
Eventually turned out to be an accurate assessment. Flick had eaten six meals before she saw Rushe again, and she’d established that they fed her twice a day.
So when the door opened mid-way during the fourth day Flick sat up expecting another meal, but it was Rushe – with John at his back.
‘I assume we’re going somewhere,’ she said.
‘We sent your father a message,’ Rushe said. ‘He wants confirmation of your health.’
‘Isn’t that nice,’ she said. ‘Do you want me to write him a note?’
‘No, you’re going to get up and come with us now.’
‘You sound confident,’ Flick said.
‘I’m bigger than you are, move.’
Rushe produced some cuffs, and Flick shook her head. Cuffs were nothing to the other restraints that she’d experienced in her time recently; they hurt less. But the prevalence of these metal handcuffs in this place disturbed her. Handcuffs were quick and easy to put on, they were clean, and could be reused.
‘How many women are you holding in the basement?’ she asked.
‘That’s nothing to do with you,’ Rushe said.
‘It’s not right.’
‘Worry about yourself.’
‘I think enough people are doing that already.’
‘Move.’
Rushe’s menace reminded her of the night they met. But his anger shone out, and Flick wasn’t sure who it was aimed at.
Knowing that options were thin on the ground, Flick got up and held her hands out. Rushe came to her to put on the cuffs then in his usual manner he grabbed hold and dragged her out of the room. John fell in line on her other side, and these two men led her in the opposite direction from Victor’s office.
‘Don’t you feel guilty?’ Flick asked. ‘Those women are suffering, and you men have the power to do something about it.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ John said.
‘Don’t you have a sister, or a mother? Would you
like to think of them down there suffering? Haven’t either of you ever cared about another human being?’
Rushe halted her with a yank, and John opened another door. This time the room was different from every other one she’d been in.
The floorboards were bare, stained, and blackened in places. Wallpaper curled down from patches of stagnant mould, and empty bookcases covered a third wall. The window in this room had been covered with black plastic.
But in the centre of the room was a wooden chair. Opposite it was an open laptop on a small table.
‘Skype,’ she said.
‘There’s a video link,’ Rushe mumbled. ‘They’re waiting for your call.’
‘Wonders of modern technology,’ she said. ‘Gone are the days of letters cut from magazines, and pictures of the hostage holding today’s newspaper.’
‘Stop talking, or we’ll gag you again,’ Rushe said.
‘Then how will I tell my parents... actually a gag might be a good idea. You’d be doing me a favour.’
John pushed Flick into the hard chair. He produced a balaclava from his back pocket and pulled it over his head, remaining behind her the whole time. Flick was going to ask Rushe what he was doing messing around with the computer, when the warm metal of a gun barrel touched the side of her neck.
‘Now wait,’ she beseeched Rushe, who took up position behind the computer. ‘If you shoot me you don’t get your money.’
Her father flashed up on the computer screen and Flick stopped.
‘My God,’ her father, the great Charles Hughes, said. ‘You look awful.’
‘Thanks,’ Flick said, because she’d actually been taken care of here. Her father was the picture of refinement, put together with short, neat, grey hair, and his hand-tailored, three-piece charcoal suit.
‘Felicity, your mother and I are beside ourselves. How did you get into this mess?’
The answer to that one was quick and simple. ‘My cab broke down.’
Looking past her father’s frown Flick saw the rows of hefty books that lined the wall behind the desk in his office, his business office, much – she imagined – what this room she sat in now may have looked like in its heyday.
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