Hindrance

by Angelica Chase

  “Please shut up.”

  “Okay,” I said, sensing the seriousness in her voice.

  “It’s a sex club. Do you know what I’m saying?”

  Shocked at her admission, but willing to share, I admitted, “Yes, Taylor. I’ve had a Dom.” Well, actually two.

  “I know because he’s here.”

  “Who?”

  “Devin,” she answered in a hushed voice. I watched the sun drift beneath the horizon as the Ravenel Bridge lit up. The birds danced through the air in sendoff, as if to tell the sun goodnight. So many things had changed, and yet my love for this city remained the same. I stood still, admiring the harbor as I buried my emotion, playing immune to Taylor’s confession.

  “Taylor, nothing surprises me anymore. Seriously, we really need to clear the air between us, you and I. And why should I care,” I continued in vain, already speed walking toward my car.

  “I just thought it strange him being here.”

  “Well, he is a newly divorced man and needs a new sub.” The news of Devin and Eileen’s divorce was unavoidable. It had been in every local paper, and our scene at the club only added to the already wagging tongues. I had managed to keep the media out along with everyone else in my life, including my mother turned stalker who had been the only one who’d almost successfully broken into my solid barrier.

  Devin had actually done it. His divorce was finalized and his ex-wife was MIA, rumored to be vacationing overseas to avoid the embarrassment.

  Godspeed, crazy bitch.

  I got into my Mercedes and turned on the ignition as I spoke. “Let’s say for curiosity’s sake—”

  “I’ll text you the address.”

  “Taylor?” She’d already hung up.

  I broke every speed limit between Charleston and Savannah as I rode down U.S. 17. Whatever Devin had been hiding, I was positive it had to do with that damned club. I cursed my stupidity for the laws I was breaking to spy on a man I swore I was done with. I had to justify to myself over and over that I was attempting to get answers I rightfully deserved. I had suffered a lot for little satisfaction and remained even less knowledgeable than when we’d started our affair.

  If he was able to move on with another woman so quickly after he’d claimed he loved me, something inside of me had to see if for myself.

  I thought of every conversation we’d had, and searched our dialogue for every clue, but not one led me anywhere. Devin had grown up in Savannah, that much I knew. He’d mentioned a few places he’d wanted to take me, none of them being a sex club. As much as I’d been reluctant to admit it, and as subtle as it had been, I was Devin’s sub. His willing sub, as I had been Aiden’s. This both fascinated and infuriated me. Why wouldn’t he just admit to being this way? I’d granted his every wish, and denied Devin nothing sexually.

  Taylor’s apparently a member of the club, too. Hence the reason why she’s been so damn secretive. I should have guessed it. Was the entire world hiding behind a daytime mask? I knew I was. It simply made everything easier. My night demons were still haunting me, and as much as I tried to move on, memories played on a continuous loop. I needed answers.

  Arriving at the club an hour and twenty minutes later, I cautiously pulled in to The Rabbit Hole, noticing the parking lot was full. Staring at the oddly carved doors, I realized they reminded me of the movie Alice in Wonderland.

  Fitting name.

  I wondered briefly what the inside of places like this were like before the reminder of why I was here in the first place burst through the double doors. Devin was hightailing it out of the club and running to his car like his life depended on it. I slumped in my seat, knowing he hadn’t seen me, and relieved he was alone.

  Nope, nope, nope, nope, Nina. NO!

  I waited for him to start his car, knowing if I didn’t catch him as soon as he pulled out I would never catch him. He was in a hurry. I turned on my lights and pulled up behind him just as he was turning out of the parking lot. He sped out as I followed him as closely as I could without seeming too obvious. When I started to recognize the route, I slowed behind him considerably, giving him more space. And with his final turn, I stopped altogether. He was on Peach Tree Rd.

  The land. My land.

  I’d only been out here one other time, just after I’d obtained it, but I had come alone, spending my time sitting next to the water, soaking in the beauty, and hoping I could make some use of it, though no idea ever stuck. Now I felt the dread in the pit of my stomach as I killed my lights a quarter mile away in the dark night, praying my silent Mercedes remained that way. Rolling down my windows as I approached, I noted Devin’s car parked next to the small shed. It was lit from within, and I felt my stomach roll.

  That’s when I heard the first scream. I jumped in my seat, suddenly paralyzed as I hit the brakes. Waiting and listening for another, I prayed to God it was a figment of my imagination.

  It wasn’t.

  Another scream, followed by another, ripped through the dark night and the serenading of the crickets. Even they seemed to quiet after the next piercing howl. I picked up my phone to dial for help and realized I had no signal.

  I had to help her.

  You can do this, Nina.

  My heel sank into the pluff mud and I left it there, swiftly relieving my foot of the other. Turning my head toward my idling car, I reassured myself that it was still there, the door left open in case I needed to escape in a hurry. Hearing another bloodcurdling scream, I walked toward the dim light. Fear shot through me in waves as Shel Silverstein’s words fumbled around in my head, Clooney the Clown a horrific internal monologue resounding through my frightened mind. My senses heightened with each step I took toward the cracked door. There was soft music playing in the background. I knew the song but couldn’t make out the words. It was upbeat and a little jazzy, and totally unfitting.

  I could hear the crunch of crisp grass under my feet and then another scream echoed in the night. Reaching into my purse, I fumbled inside and let out a way too audible breath of relief when I felt the cold steel.

  Another scream, louder, more desperate. Pain … this was pain.

  “Enough!” It was a loud boom of a familiar male voice.

  I recited the poem over and over in my head, the way I used to when I heard my parents fighting, and yet I knew that what I was about to see was far worse than what I used to hear. I took another step forward and a motion light came on, alerting my presence to those inside. Sweat from the humidity, along with adrenaline from fear, had me dripping, my now soaked blouse clinging to my torso.

  Terror raced through my every pore as I gripped my gun and took aim in front of me.

  A dark figure appeared out of the door, but I instantly knew who it was. He came toward me in a black blur, yelling my name as I squeezed the trigger with a scream of my own.

  Devin went down, gripping his shoulder with a string of curses as I pointed the gun at him.

  “What did you do, Devin?!” My voice was unrecognizable even to me; it was laced with fear and confusion.

  “Nina, fuck, don’t shoot me again.” He tried to stand, but slumped down again next to the shed door with a wince, still gripping his shoulder.

  “What the fuck did you do, Devin!” I roared as I moved closer, refusing to believe that my weapon would keep me safe. I was shaking and my gun looked like it was on vibrate. I pointed right at him as I approached the door with no choice but to either shoot him or go around him to get to whomever he’d hurt.

  “Is she dead?”

  “Nina, listen to me. Really listen, okay? Don’t open that fucking door.” Devin stood slowly on shaky legs, holding his shoulder as I pointed the gun at his head.

  “Step back!”

  He took a step back, his eyes pleading as he begged. “Baby, please listen to me. Don’t open that door!” The gentleness in his voice betrayed me, jogging my memory as tears fell at random, ignoring my need to be strong and in control.

  “What did you do to her?
” It was a hoarse whisper.

  “Nina, I’m begging you. Don’t go in there.” He took a step forward and my hand stiffened at my head’s command.

  “Step back, Devin!”

  He took another step and stayed silent, accepting that I wouldn’t leave until I was satisfied.

  I opened the door.

  The first thing I noticed was the blood splatter on the single light bulb that lit the small shed. I took in the sight in front of me as Devin slipped inside the shed, his hand up in defense. It wouldn’t have mattered. He could have taken me down easily because my eyes were fixed on the man in front of me wearing a red hood, and a coat of armor tattoo smeared in blood. A girl was violently shaking in front of him in a chair, her back to me as he pricked her arm with a needle, pushing whatever poison he’d meant to inside of her.

  “Ahhh, Nina. You’ve caught me at a bad time.” His eyes were fire underneath his red hood. Soaking in his blood-spattered chest, I took a shaky step forward again, lifting my gun.

  “Aiden … what the fuck are you doing?”

  “What I’ve always done, Nina.” He leaned in to whisper in the girl’s ear and she nodded. He picked up a knife and I tilted my head, as if to challenge him. He opened his fingers in surrender and released her bound wrists then handed her a towel. I saw her cover her face in it as she stood slowly. I cringed and gasped at the gaping skin on her back and the oozing blood. She leaned in and Aiden whispered again, wrapping her in a thick, pink robe, which quickly became soaked with blood.

  “Get the fuck away from her,” I croaked, too weak to move, knowing I couldn’t carry out my threat if I had too. Devin slumped against the side of the building, clutching his shoulder and staring at me.

  “Nina, please, please, leave.” I looked to Devin only briefly as his eyes implored me to go. Aiden kept his eyes on the girl, looking her over as if he was proud of his handy work.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  The girl finally turned toward me to leave the shed, giving me a small smile as I choked back the bile threatening to make its presence known. She was completely destroyed from the head down. Small cuts and gashes encompassed the entirety of her body, and what I couldn’t see I could make out through the fresh stains on the robe. As she came closer, I could smell the urine soaking her hair. I took a tentative step back as not to touch her. Blood was clotted and crusted around her nose, and her neck was lacerated from burns—either by rope or something more painful. My whole body cringed in sympathy.

  As she got closer, I asked, “Can I help you? Take you somewhere? To a hospital?” I offered. Her lips were swollen and her cheek was purple.

  “I’ll see you soon, Aiden,” she voiced back at him, ignoring me completely. I stood there in shock, completely dumbfounded as I heard a set of tires pull up and then speed away with her departure.

  “Aiden?” I didn’t know if I was talking to him or to myself.

  I looked at Devin who shook his head as he returned my stare. “Nina, please leave.”

  “I really never wanted you to see this,” Aiden said, ignoring Devin altogether and flipping my attention back to him. “But I don’t like to hide. I’m not a fan of denying who I am. But seeing your face now, I know it would have never worked between us.”

  “She needed help! Medical attention!” I screamed at the both of them. Devin, now standing next to me, reached out for my hand.

  “Nina, put down the gun.”

  I pointed it at Devin and cocked the hammer. “Tell me what the hell is going on, or I swear to God you both will need medical attention.”

  Aiden chuckled as Devin watched me closely. I was definitely a loose cannon. There was no way to undo what I had just witnessed.

  “You ruined her,” I whispered to Aiden.

  “I liberated her, and myself. Nina, it was consensual.”

  He took off his hood and I physically cringed, even though I knew it was Aiden. The confirmation shook me to my core. Aiden eyed me without a hint of remorse. He picked up a tool from the small bag he had on a table next to the chair and began to clean it as he spoke.

  “I have cravings you can’t meet, and only women like her can supply what I need. Needs you couldn’t possibly understand … or,” he paused, giving me a wicked grin, “maybe you could. I think that’s one of the things that attracted me to you—your inability to keep your morality when you were hungry. Maybe that’s why I was so drawn to you in the first place. But there’s a big difference between you and me, naughty girl. I own my darkness. You resent yours.”

  I bit back another wave of nausea as I stared Aiden down. He was completely calm.

  A chameleon. A shrink. A master fucking manipulator.

  “But you’re—”

  “I’m what!” he snapped, ready for my reaction. “I’m what, Nina? A fucking figment of your imagination? Yeah, I can play that part. The caring sensitive lover, tortured artist? I’ve got that down pat, too. A slack bar owner with no ambition, an old soul with comforting words of wisdom? I am all of these things and I am this, too: the man who likes to play with his food before he devours it. I am not ashamed of this. It’s a part of me. But unfortunately, I have to hide it from the narrow-minded like you, and him, and the rest of the world. You are my hindrance.”

  “I’m calling the police,” I said, backing away as far as I could from both of them.

  “Please, by all means,” Aiden snapped. “And what will you tell them?”

  I had nothing. The girl had left on her own and promised to see Aiden again. This was wrong, so fucking wrong. I looked to Devin who was trying his best to remain standing. He was growing pale with his blood loss, and I knew I needed to get him seen. At the same time I wondered, who the fuck was he?

  I swiped the moisture from my face, envying women who suffered unrequited love. At least they would never have to see the monster their object of affection would become.

  How do you know when you’re falling for a manipulative psychopath? The answer is: if they do their job, you won’t. He told me he was a chameleon. He’d told me. As if he read my mind, he snapped his tool kit shut and fixed his gaze on me.

  “And now you’ve seen all my colors.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Aiden,” Devin hissed. I looked to him and for the first time clearly saw his worry for me. Even though he was wounded, he stepped between Aiden and me.

  Aiden chuckled, and not even the devil himself could have sounded more menacing. “Ahhh, Devin, so guilty as well. And so busy trying not to let your dark side show you let me have a second helping of her in the process. Imagine my surprise when after finding out about us, you didn’t confide in the woman you were so desperately trying to keep away from me.”

  “Now she knows you’re the fucking boogeyman. Is that why you strung her along? You wanted this moment?” Devin was visibly shaking with rage. “Or is it because I wanted her?”

  “The latter, maybe. You’ve found so much pleasure in ruining my fun. Though I could see why you were taken with her. She was a lot of fun.” Aiden winked at me and I felt the bile rise.

  “As of this moment, I’m done. I’m going to the Governor and giving him a chance to expose this mess or I will. You’re still just that sad, little fucking boy that blames his useless father for his fucked up life. You’re a coward like he was, and I’m done trying to help you. Instead, I think I’ll end you.”

  Aiden leaped for Devin and I trained my gun on him, stepping forward. “I’m really fucking close to pulling this trigger.” Aiden stopped his advance and looked at me, as if to reassess the situation.

  “You know, Nina, you have always been the wildcard. I liked that about you. You gave me a power few women of your stature would allow. It gave me hope.”

  So many emotions ran through me, our time together, the way he looked at me, touched me. Jesus, how would I ever know the truth from a lie ever again? Fuck, this was insane. How in the hell could I’ve not known something was wrong with this man? He played me so easily and
had skills beyond measure.

  I’d been fucking Hannibal Lecter.

  I let out a sad, hysterical laugh, shaking so badly I couldn’t grasp the world I now lived in. I re-gripped the gun as hot tears fell down my face. I knew this was the end of the road for what was left of my sanity. I couldn’t handle anymore. I tilted the gun at Aiden, who was finally taking me seriously.

  “Stay away from me, both of you.”

  “Does this mean I don’t get to meet the family?” Aiden said comically. He made a disappointed tsking sound and closed his kit as he wiped his chest, cleaning off the blood before slipping on a t-shirt.

  “Nina, listen to me,” Devin said, watching Aiden with disgust. “We can leave. He won’t do anything.”

  “He’s a fucking monster!”

  “Nina, let’s go.” Devin held his hand out to me, but I couldn’t take it. “Fuck you.” It was half scream, half cry. “Jesus, you knew this? You knew he was doing this?!”

  I began to back out of the shed with the gun pointed at both of them as they stood perfectly still, Devin’s composure falling, Aiden indifferent. I moved with my eyes glued to the door as I walked backwards to the car, prepared to shoot my way out if I had to.

  Once in my car, I sped away, driving erratically for miles before stopping outside of a busy McDonald’s. Suddenly exhausted from the adrenaline rush and not having any idea how to process, I simply screamed until I was hoarse and then everything went black.

  I came to with a tap on my window. It was Cedric. Shooting up in the seat, I looked around me, recognizing where I was. I was safe, and Aiden was insane.

  Aiden. Oh, GOD, AIDEN!

  Rolling down my window, Cedric eyed my gun in the passenger seat.

  “You didn’t check in. I was worried.”

  “Well, I had a reason.” With the flick of his chin, he asked permission to join me in the car. I nodded, feeling my heart crack with thoughts of Devin. Was he okay? Did they hurt each other? Should I care?

  “Pick up your gun?” He gestured at the shiny metal and I placed it in my lap. “Okay, Nina, tell me what happened.”