by Pamela Ann
“I… Doug said—you—,” I stammered before my luck ran out and I was left without words. Embarrassed, I looked down, glowering at his black converse shoes.
Still not uttering a word, he stepped aside, opening the door wider and inviting me to come in. Reluctantly, I strolled inside, feeling more distraught than before. Images of what he could possibly do it me ran through my head—slitting my throat, shooting me with a gun, raping me the way Doug did, drugging me. The scenarios went on and on, endlessly.
“Thirsty?” I jumped at the sound of his voice.
Shaking my head, I declined his offer. I decided to lift my gaze away from the wooden flooring and started looking at the surroundings. It was a simple house with not much to maintain due to its sparse furnishings. It was also squeaky clean. Everything was shiny and dust-free. Did Hunter really live here, or was this one of those hideout homes notorious people used like in the movies?
“You don’t have spare clothes with you?” he asked in a soft tone.
Glancing at him, I met his eyes, feeling all sorts of emotions wash over me. He looked… amused. Did he find this—my situation—funny? I supposed he did. It wasn’t him who was being used to pay for someone else’s debt, after all.
“I didn’t have time. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s nothing.” He kept on staring, but this time, he didn’t send out the creepy vibe. It was like he was merely curious about me.
I made a small nod in between the awkward silence that stretched between us.
“Do you want to rest?”
Do I want to rest? Was the question a trap? Did he know what I had come here for?
“Rest? As in… sleep?” My puzzled expression earned a tiny crack of a smile from him.
“Rest. Unwind. Nap. Along those lines.” He actually wasn’t all that bad when he smiled a little bit. He almost seemed friendly—almost.
“I’d like that, actually.” I didn’t elaborate on how little sleep I’d been getting.
Hunter pressed his lips together before he cocked his head to the side, indicating I follow him towards the hallway where I’m assuming the bedrooms were located.
He showed me the room at the end of the hallway. It was a decent sized room containing a queen-size bed and a few other pieces of furniture. The room, just like the rest of his house, seemed squeaky clean.
“I have a toothbrush and towel in the bathroom for you. Since you didn’t bring any clothes, you’re more than welcome to borrow mine.” He was leaning against the door while I stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to think about any of this.
The last thing I’d considered was packing when Doug had barked at me to get ready and leave the house. I supposed I could borrow some of his while I washed the current clothes I was wearing.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like that a lot.”
“Sure,” he murmured before darting out of the room and going somewhere to get me clothes. He came back almost immediately with a few shirts, all in black.
Taking the items from him, I shyly thanked him, “Thanks.”
“No prob.” He paused before sighing. “I’ve got to figure some things out for a bit. Go sleep or whatever you like. I’ll knock on your door when dinner’s ready.”
“Okay,” I said as I watched him retreat before closing the door.
Dinner. He cooks? Huh. I supposed I’d pegged him wrong when I first met him. Then again, he did look creepy. I thought it was because of his eyes. They were too intense, as though they held many dark secrets. Or maybe it was the way he looked at me, like he was trying to reach into me, to my soul, and already knew my deepest thoughts. Who the fuck knew what went on behind those deep vivid blue eyes, though? Evilness lurked anywhere.
From what I’d learned these past weeks, you never really knew people. No matter how good they were or how close you were to them, one could never know what remained inside their hearts. Evilness lurked everywhere and preyed on the weak—the unprotected. Those that carried it liked to feel dominant and in charge of the situation. They enjoyed mentally, emotionally, and sometimes, physically eviscerating someone. Then, once you were under their vile dominance, escaping would become an idea—a dream that would never happen. Some become a shell of themselves while others become accustomed to the lifestyle, and as for the remaining, they died from it.
It was unfortunate this world was littered with all kinds of evil. It was even more unfortunate when it knocked on your door and graced you with its presence. However, it was truly quite tragic when evil didn’t give you warning and you never saw it coming—it would just strike you with its formidable strength. Unforgiving in its ferocity. Crippling you in its intensity until you were drowning from your own pain, or trying to stay afloat and sane.
Thinking about my situation was breaking me inside. I felt so alone. How did I get the strength to fight the urge not to kill myself and end this horrible luck cursing me? I had never asked for this. Never, ever had I thought God could be this cruel as to send me down a path just to challenge my will to see if I could withstand the battle He had handed me. It was pitiful because there was no challenge. I had been at a painstaking, devastating disadvantage from the very beginning. It simply wasn’t fair.
They said life was what you made of it.
But what happened if your life was taken from you? What would that make me?
Chapter 13
“Ana?”
The knock on the door made me spring to a sitting position on the bed. With my heart slamming so hard, I was surprised it hadn’t imploded upon itself.
I was clutching the ends of the sheet when Hunter entered the bedroom, stopping just enough for him to get through the door, looking at me with an odd expression.
“Yeah?” my voice was tiny, breathy.
“Dinner’s ready.”
Right. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Glancing back at him, I wondered for a second what he was thinking when he was looking at me like that.
He nodded, continuing to look back at me with an odd expression that somehow troubled me some more, before leaving the room. The look wasn’t threatening. No, far from it. It seemed like he was piecing something together, as if he was reading me and had seen something he wasn’t supposed to see.
It took me about three minutes to come out of the room, dressed in only his black shirt. It stopped mid-thigh and was loose-fitting all around.
Walking towards the kitchen, I found Hunter behind the counter, looking like he was preparing our drinks.
“I only have OJ and water. Take your pick.” He looked up before his gaze fell to his shirt on me then dropped to my foot before going back up again. His eyes felt like heated sensors, beaming their rays on me, his unwilling subject.
“I’ll have water,” I said, turning around to check out the dining table that sat across a vast window that spanned the entire wall.
The outside had a decent sized lawn with pine trees lining it all the way to the very end, seeming to be connected to the forest. It was peaceful. Serene. The polar opposite of what I was feeling.
When I heard footsteps behind me, I quietly strolled towards the table, joining him. He had laid out quite a meal—grilled steak and chicken, potatoes, some greens, and corn on the cob. “You made all of this?”
Does he expect me to eat a lot so I’ll have a lot of stamina for tonight? I thought as I stared at the food like it was my enemy. My stomach begged to be replenished, but if this was his intention, I’d rather pass out from hunger.
He shrugged, as if it was no big deal. “I wasn’t planning on cooking this much, but when you came in looking like you’d lost weight since I saw you last time, I thought you’d be hungry or something.”
I hadn’t realized I was shedding weight, though I wasn’t all that surprised. My appetite had never been the same after Doug abused me that night.
“I don’t eat a lot, but I’ll try to taste all of them.”
He simply nodded before we started digging in to the feas
t he’d prepared. I was surprised he cooked so well. The meats were seasoned nicely—not too salty, not too bland, either. It was the perfect median.
Dinner was eerily silent. The only sound that could be heard was our chewing and swallowing of food. Even Doug wasn’t this quiet. He usually made asinine comments about whatever he could think of, however Hunter seemed to keep his opinions to himself.
I barely glanced at him because I was still uncomfortable being here, and the fact that he hadn’t said much made me think of bad things.
When he cleared his throat, I accidentally met his eyes, and for a quick second, I felt those eyes strike something inside—unnerving me—yet I didn’t have the wherewithal to break away. It was as if he was absorbing a part of me. It was beyond unsettling.
He waited a second or two before breaking the odd reticence that hung between us. “So, mind telling me how you and Doug met?”
I stilled, pausing everything, including my ability to breathe. Did he not know the truth? I cautiously swallowed the saliva stuck in my throat. Should I tell him? If I did and Doug found out, would he lash out at me again? The thought terrified me. I had to play it safe, for my own benefit.
“My mom moved in with his father five years ago.”
“Huh?” He cocked his head, looking at me for a long time. Thinking. He seemed to be doing that a lot. I didn’t hate it, but I sure didn’t like it, either. Being gawked at by someone who was as good as a stranger didn’t bring out the good vibes.
“Your mom’s fine with you fucking around like that?” He didn’t mince at all.
“My mother’s dead, so I wouldn’t know.”
“Guess we both have something in common,” he murmured, looking away before getting up and striding towards the cabinets to get a glass. He opened a wine bottle and poured the red contents in it then went towards the fridge with the wine glass in hand, pulling out a bottle of beer. Walking back towards me, he placed the wine-filled glass in front of me before sitting back on his spot as he twisted the cap off his beer and took a long swig.
I watched his throat move back and forth, entranced at the movement.
“You want some?” He peered at me with those magnetizing slits of ice blue.
Looking away out of embarrassment, turning tomato red from being caught gawking at him, I murmured, “I’m okay.” I reached out for the glass with the red contents in it, placing it under my nose and then sniffing it before gagging at the strong, acrid smell. “Holy shit this smells awful! How can people drink this crap?”
He smirked. “You’re what? Twenty one? Twenty two? And you haven’t tried alcohol before?
“Eighteen,” I corrected him. Yes, I was naïve. More inexperienced than most people my age. Moreover, by that time, I had realized there was nothing to gain in being gullible in this world of horrors.
“You’ve got to be shitting me. Seriously?”
“Why, how old are you?” I threw him the same look he was giving me; mean and judgmental.
The tip of his tongue snaked out, licking the bottom of his lips, as he gave me a sharp look. “It’s none of your business to know.”
Really, he was back to being secretive? “You’re right.”
He cleared his throat, ending our discussion, before he stood up and pulled out his phone. “Finish eating. I need to make some calls. When I get back, I want you naked on your bed.” Hunter didn’t give me a second glance before striding away towards the side door that led to the garden.
I watched him walk away with my appetite completely diminished. How long did I have until he was done talking on the phone? Was he also calling Doug and giving him updates?
Looking away, I stared at the meal that was left unfinished, wondering when the last time I’d really eaten a real meal had been. It was the night before my mom died. From then on, I had been surviving on mostly sandwiches and light snacks.
The more I saw the “human” side of Hunter, the less I considered him creepy. I supposed, if I took out his intense blue eyes from the equation and his arrogant aloofness, he wasn’t so bad. In fact, he had showed me more compassion compared to Doug. If this was how it was going to be for the rest of the weekend, I would be relieved. Doug and his unmanageable temper had badly shaken me inside out. I wasn’t just scared any more, but terrified.
Stacking both of our plates together, I headed towards the sink, pouring the wine down it before I placed the dishes in it.
Deep in thought as I made my way back into the bedroom, I knew I needed to do something. Sure this arrangement had happened because of Doug’s debts, but one thing was certain, Hunter wanted me.
I could certainly play that to my advantage, couldn’t I?
Standing in the middle of the bedroom, I waited patiently as I thought of a way to approach him with my proposal. What I intended to do was gutsy. Actually, It was beyond brave to even consider bringing it up with a drug dealer who made Doug fearful, which was one big thing to take into account. Although, I also knew, if I didn’t take the risk, I might not get another chance like this one.
Chapter 14
Sitting on the bed stark naked, I nervously fidgeted with my fingers, not sure how he expected me to be when he came in. After ten minutes of wondering, my answer came with an expressionless face.
There was no hi or any sort of greeting as our eyes met. He didn’t need to spell it out for me nor did I have to ask him what he wanted from me because his eyes said enough. I was his for the weekend.
If Doug was scared of this man, then I should be ten times as scared. However, that’s the funny thing, I didn’t feel scared when he snapped his fingers for me to stand in the middle of the room. I felt challenged, which was a first for me. No guy in the short amount of time I had engaged with them made me feel challenged. So why this guy? Why Hunter when he could very well be worse than Doug?
Because he had something in him. I just hoped to God I would find out it was something good.
Standing in the middle of the room, his crystal eyes raked over my naked body, scrutinizing every curve and crevice with the power of his gaze as he commanded me to open my legs a little farther apart with another snap of his fingers.
“You like fucking?”
His question threw me off, making me look at him in a weird way. “What do you mean?”
He finished circling me for the last time before stopping right before me, expressionless. “Sex. Do you like it?”
That was an interesting question, one I hadn’t considered before. “I don’t know,” I responded as truthfully as I could while my eyes dropped to his black converse, wondering where his questioning would lead.
“You don’t know?” He paused. “That’s not good enough.”
Slightly nervous, it took all of my courage to look him in the eye again. “What do you want me to say? I’ll say it.” Doug’s words rang in my ears, making me hope I hadn’t pissed Hunter off. It was hard to tell if he was or wasn’t since his face barely gave anything away.
Something about what I had said to him made his eyes sharper for some reason as he considered me for a minute. “I don’t like parrots in my bed, Ana.”
Parrots? I wasn’t one, but I was scared and wanted to please him. My heart started to thud as I contemplated what to say next. “I just want to please you. Doug—”
“Doug. How does he fuck you, Ana?” he interrupted, making me look at him with confusion before his question sunk in.
How…? The only way he ever did, by forcing himself on me. But I couldn’t say that out loud, so how was I supposed to respond to him? “Whatever he wants, I do it.”
“So he fucks you like that…” He trailed off without looking away from me. “Does he make you come every time?”
“No.”
“Ah.” He nodded before I felt his thumb brush a nipple. Then the tip of his tongue snaked out and licked his bottom lip while he captured my pebbled nipple with his thumb and forefinger, softly rubbing it back and forth. “How many men have you enjoyed?”
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br /> Licking my lips, I wasn’t sure if I should tell the truth, but what was the harm? This was Doug’s friend, right? How much had Doug told them about me? Before, I was almost sure most of them knew, but Hunter’s questions had made me think otherwise. Also, if I did answer him properly, would he report it back to Doug? I might have to be cautious about what to tell him from here on. He could use it against me, just to piss Doug off if this weekend didn’t please him.
“I’ve only had one…”
“Virgin.” He brightened up.
I huffed, shaking my head, ready to dispel what he just said. “No, I’ve had sex. With Doug. I’ve had sex. Of course I have.” My frown deepened as I watched him with his eyes barely giving me hints. Barely.
He smiled, somewhat. It took me off guard because it made him almost human, reminding me less of the Arctic persona that he always sported. “I know you’ve had sex, Ana. I’m saying your body is a virgin to orgasms.”
Okay. I couldn’t argue with that, nor did it feel like he wanted me to, therefore I kept quiet while I watched him being mesmerized by my breasts.
His other hand reached out to cup the untouched one, making my body warm from the weird response at his touch. “Get on the bed, open your legs, and hold your ankles as close to your ass as possible before closing your eyes.”
What?
“Now?” I timidly asked just to make sure.
“Go,” he whispered with a sharp tone that made me immediately move to do as I was told.
I ungraciously crawled into the middle of the bed, got on my back, and opened my legs before my hands reached to lock onto my ankles, bringing them as close to my ass as possible. Closing my eyes, I felt humiliated, exposed, like a sex thing that these men used and discarded on a whim.
Was Doug planning on making sex in exchange for debt a common thing? I would probably end up killing myself if he did this to his other friends, too. What would happen to me if he used me like that? I hadn’t thought of it that way, but the more I considered it, the more I knew it possible since Doug was twisted in the head. A messed up mind. Dealing drugs. A helpless girl. The equation could be endless.