by DC Renee
She realized that when she whispered, “you,” staring into his eyes, they flickered for a moment, as if her recognition of him meant something to him. She really didn’t know him, only from what she thought were dreams but clearly weren’t. She needed to find out what was going on. Her logical side was arguing with the overwhelming fear building within her. She reminded herself to keep calm and try to figure out what he wanted with her. Maybe she could just answer some questions and he’d let her go. No harm, no foul. She tried to ease her own mind, although she knew that scenario was unlikely.
“Who-who are you? Wh-what do you want from me?” she stuttered, even though she had tried to sound tough.
“I think you know who I am and you are about to find out what payback feels like.”
In another time, she would have sworn his voice had a calming effect. But right now, all she heard was a bitter edge to his voice that only caused the hairs on her neck to stand up higher. She couldn’t help but survey him while her mind tried to process his words. He was tall and definitely built. She could see muscles straining through his black t-shirt. His hair was tousled and his lips were full. But, oh, those eyes. Yet they seemed empty, void of empathy, and for obvious reasons, the longer she stared the scarier they appeared.
“I don’t know you. I only saw you for the first time in my dreams last night. Er, when I thought I was dreaming. I don’t understand what you want from me. But I’m sure this is all a misunderstanding. If you let me go, we can part ways and then there won’t be any problems.” She tried to sound cool and collected as she realized that this guy clearly thought she was someone else. All they had to do was straighten things out and she could be on her way. Definitely freaked out, but at least she would be fine.
“No,” he stated simply.
“N-no?” she asked.
“You aren’t going anywhere.” Her instincts were now telling her to run, but obviously, she wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’m Kat, and you are?” she asked, hoping if she got him to see her as a person and not just some part of his “payback” plan, then maybe she could reason with him. But he didn’t answer, his straight face not giving anything away.
“You have the wrong person.” She tried to stay calm, but she could hear her own voice cracking. He seemed to flinch at her words before handing her a bag.
“Put this on,” he stated. “I suggest you get comfortable because you aren’t going anywhere.”
She peered in the bag and saw what looked like a sleazy version of a French maid outfit. What the heck was going on? The only plausible thing that ran through her mind was that Seth had cheated on her with this guy’s wife and now he was going to get revenge by sleeping with her. She wondered if he knew that she and Seth were over. Seth wouldn’t care one lick about who she slept with. And besides, what was he planning on doing? Raping her? She hoped he wasn’t counting on her being a willing participant in this revenge plot, especially dressed up in some kinky outfit.
“Look, I know you think you are doing the right thing here by getting revenge and all, but no one is going to care if you and I sleep together. And besides, I don’t even know your name, not to mention the fact that I’m not sure how I got here. I’m tied up at the moment, so I’m definitely not just going to go along with this plan of yours. Basically, it’s not going to work. You might as well let me go.” She should have dumped Seth a long time ago.
“No sex,” he said, cutting off her little rant.
“I’m not following. If you don’t want sex, then what the heck is this?” She pulled out the barely there outfit. And the panic she had managed to push down while she ranted at him was suddenly back. No sex meant she had no clue what was going on. And that meant it probably didn’t involve Seth after all. So whatever was happening was bound to be bad news.
He stood up, stalking closer to her, making her sink back into the bed with nowhere to go. He towered over her, sending chills down her spine, and not the good kind. “I spent five years of my life rotting in a cell, had my license stripped from me, my life taken from me, my body and mind far removed, and my reputation destroyed. All because of your lies. Now, Kat,” he spat her name with disdain, “it’s time for you to feel the humiliation you bestowed upon me. You will feel my type of restitution for your sins. And it starts now.” He reached toward her handcuffed hand and Kat couldn’t help but turn away, even flinching as his hands brushed hers. After he released the handcuffs, she brought her hands to her chest, rubbing her wrist. She momentarily debated whether she should lash out at him but knew the likelihood that anything good would come from it was slim. Maybe she should try anyway. Before she had her chance, he turned on his heel, spinning away from her. She felt the rage billowing from him as he stepped away. Fear gripped her while she still hadn’t registered the brief explanation he gave her, and she felt her hands shaking. He walked slowly and deliberately toward the door, and her mind was still not processing what was going on. Before he reached the door, he turned back. “You have two minutes to change into that outfit or I will change you myself.”
“Wait! Because of me?” she finally cried out, dumbfounded as his words started sinking in, but still not able to lash out at him, frozen in her spot. “What do you mean because of me? What did I do? I don’t even know you. I have never met you before today, er, last night. You have the wrong person. I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m not the right girl.”
His eyes burned with rage and she shrank back. “Two minutes,” he gritted through his teeth and closed the door behind him.
She ran to it, knowing it would be locked but pounded on it anyways. “Please, you have the wrong girl. I didn’t do anything to you, I promise. Please, just let me go,” she repeated over and over, pounding with all her might, tears streaming down her cheeks. It seemed like hours before she collapsed against the door, knowing she was doomed. She stared at the ridiculous outfit in her hands. She wanted to fight, find a way out of here, but she was also terrified of the man. Whoever wronged him had clearly done a number on him. She felt a faint hint of pity for him before the anger and sadness took over. What was she going to do? She had to escape somehow, but she needed to figure out what was going on. She concentrated on recalling what one of the heroines in her books would do. Depending on the book, they’d probably be a deadly assassin and wouldn’t even be in this darn mess to begin with. That clearly wasn’t an option. Well, another would assess the situation and figure out the best course of action. She figured that she was logical enough to do that. So all she had to do was figure out where she was and get out when he wasn’t looking. “I don’t have a choice,” she mumbled to herself, trying to wipe the tears that were still trailing down her cheeks and looking down at the clothes in her hands.
“He won’t really make me wear this,” she said to the air surrounding her. And maybe when he came back, she’d slip by him and find a phone in one of the other rooms. Then, problem solved. She fought to find that false courage she relied on the night before. She gritted her teeth as anger was finally winning over the swirl of other emotions she was feeling. He wouldn’t do this to her. She wouldn’t let him. She would get out of here. She had to. As the determination seethed through her pores, she made a vow to herself. He may have heard her cry right now but never again. And he’d definitely never see her tears. No, screw him. Kat had survived enough crap in life that she knew she was going to survive this too, and Mr. Green Eyes wasn’t going to break her.
Chapter 3
Mason sat on the chair of the small breakfast table, listening to Kat’s pleas while she pounded on the door. As her voice broke, his chest tightened. “She put you there,” he reminded himself as he fought the urge to help her. Glimpses of the guy he used to be, the good guy, still peeked through his hardened exterior. Prison time, his revenge mindset, and his cynical heart had told him this was right. This was right. She deserved payback, she deserved humiliation. He heard her telling him that he had the wrong person, but he had seen the
look of recognition in her eyes when she first saw him this morning. She definitely knew who he was. She knew why she was here; she was just trying to play him, play on his sympathy, and hope he’d let her go. Nope, wasn’t going to happen. He had been meticulously planning this for some time and everything had finally fallen into place.
He had told her two minutes, but it had already been five. He knew he should have stalked into the room already to show her how serious he was, but now that she was really here, he needed a moment to himself to process everything. His plan was to break her down and make her feel the pain of humiliation. As hard as he was, he wasn’t a rapist, and he’d never prove her right. It didn’t stop a smile from playing on his lips at the sounds of her sobbing. This was turning out great already.
His mind focused on the event he believed was the catalyst to all this. He was working a shift in the ER when one of the doctors had called in sick. Mason had just finished setting the cast of a little boy who had broken his arm. He had seen so many patients that it was a wonder he remembered that, but the boy’s name was also Mason. He had joked with him about that to get his mind off his arm while he set it. He walked out with a smile on his face, thinking that broken arms were the better part of ER visits. He picked up the chart for the next patient and grumbled. A young woman, complaining of stomach and back pain. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was how often she frequented this hospital. He walked in and only spared her a quick glance. He noticed that in another time and place she could have been beautiful, but she clearly didn’t care for herself. Her hair was stringy, like it hadn’t been washed in a while, and she was visibly shaking and twitching. He was used to seeing drug addicts in his line of work, but her appearance still made him turn his nose up at her. He couldn’t comprehend why someone would want to do this to themselves. Broken bones, now that wasn’t usually someone purposely trying to hurt themselves. But drugs – that was a no-brainer – stay away. Not that he was a prude; he had tried his fair share of drugs when in college. But trying something to see what it was like and actually becoming addicted to doing it as part of your life, nope, not worth it. So he turned away from her quickly, even scowling a bit that she was doing this with her life.
“So, Ms. Gingham-”
“Kat,” she cut him off.
“All right, Kat, what brings you to the ER this evening?” he asked politely, not looking directly at her.
“I’m in pain Doctor and I just need some medication to make it go away. Percocet, Vicodin, Oxycontin, anything would be fine.”
If he wasn’t sure about her before, she just confirmed his suspicions.
“I’m sorry Kat, I don’t go around just prescribing such serious medications without justification. You’ll have to tell me where you feel pain and we’ll do a proper exam. If I feel you are truly in need of painkillers, then I’ll write you a prescription.”
“No, I need something now. It hurts. Can you just give me a pill for now? Maybe two?”
She was grating on his nerves and he wanted her gone. She was wasting his time and his resources.
“I’m required to ensure you are stable before I discharge you, but I’m also required morally to ensure that drug users, especially those trying to abuse the system, do not get high on my account. Now, if you’ll please leave the premises on your own, I won’t have security escort you.”
He didn’t bother waiting for her response and just stormed out. But that was nothing new for him. This kind of situation happened all the time. There was nothing special or memorable about her and he forgot about her the instant he walked out of the room. Twenty minutes later, he had the opportunity to take a five minute break. He was lost in thought as he walked to his office. He didn’t even register that his door was open when he walked in and stared at the druggie he had seen just a minutes ago.
“You! What are you doing in my office?” he spat out in disgust.
She turned to face him with what looked like a pad in her hand. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was his prescription pad.
“Give me my prescription pad. And how did you get in here? How did you open my desk?”
“You, Mr. Doctor, you think you are so high and mighty because you have a nice degree and a nice job. So you turn your nose up at me when all I need is some medicine. So, if you won’t give it to me, I’ll get it my own way. Picking a lock, no problem. My mom taught me much more than that.” Her words were all edged with anger. He almost flinched at the hatred she clearly had toward him. He stood there for a moment in shock. This situation wasn’t unheard of in his profession; it just had never happened to him.
She tried to push her way past him, with his blank pad still in hand.
He blocked her. “No way,” he said as he grabbed her arm. “Security!” he yelled. Within moments, she was being escorted out. He wasn’t sure if they were going to call the police, but he didn’t really care, since she hadn’t gotten away with his prescription pad. “Mark my words, Mr. Doctor,” she sneered as the guards grabbed her. “You’ll pay for this. You think you have won, but you haven’t. You’ll pay.”
Her words didn’t haunt him; he figured it was just part of his job. Sometimes you had great days, and sometimes, they were shit. He had forgotten about that incident by the end of the day and didn’t remember any of it until he was accused of rape months later. It’s funny how clearly situations come back to you when something triggers them. He had explained this to his lawyer and they had presented it in court. But the prosecutor used it against him. He claimed it was proof that Mason could have easily taken advantage of her since he knew she was vulnerable and under the influence of drugs. That no one would believe her because of her history. He even argued that the rape was Mason’s payback for her attempt to steal his prescription pad. What a load of crap. But apparently it worked.
Even with the memory so fresh in his mind, he couldn’t picture her face clearly. He hadn’t really paid much attention to her back then, but even with his hazy memory of her, she seemed to look different now. She had cleaned up her act, clearly no longer on drugs. If he allowed himself to drop his defenses, she was actually quite striking. Her shiny brown hair was long and straight, with a slight natural curl toward the bottom. Her eyes weren’t brown but weren’t green either, more like a mixture of honey and hazel. A very intriguing color indeed. And her body was much healthier now. She was curvy, no longer a lanky malnourished drug addict. Clearly the last six years had been good to her. He cringed a bit, thinking of how the last six years had been the opposite for him.
He snapped out of his reverie when he heard shuffling from inside the room. It had been ten minutes, although he had only promised two. Time to see if Kat had followed his instructions.
Chapter 4
Mason opened the door expecting trouble, especially since he had untied her, but he wasn’t scared of her. If she wanted to punch him or try to attack him, he knew he was stronger and more aggressive and could easily pin her down. But what he saw surprised him. There she was, sitting on the edge of the bed, outfit still in hand. Her head was down and her hands were in her lap as if she had been praying. When he opened the door, she looked up at him through her lashes that were still wet from her tears. Nothing else about her demeanor betrayed that she had just raged for minutes against the door. Her face wasn’t wet and her eyes weren’t bloodshot. Oh, hell no, this wouldn’t do. She didn’t realize who she was messing with, but he’d make sure she did.
“Not a wise choice, Kat.” The hard edge to his voice made her flinch. Excellent, he thought to himself, frightened is good.
“What do you want from me?” Kat pleaded. Her voice took on a pained tone.
“I already told you. Revenge.”
“Revenge from what?” she asked, still sitting in a monk position, clearly trying to hide the fear in her eyes.
“You try my patience,” he gritted through his teeth. “I gave you two minutes to change and you didn’t. Strip,” he demanded.
“No,�
�� her voice shook.
“Oh, how sweet. You think you have a choice,” he sneered. “You have two seconds to strip or I’ll do it for you.” He stalked closer to her as he spoke. She didn’t respond and didn’t make a move to follow his orders. “Very well then,” he announced right before he reached around and grabbed her neck, squeezing a little before jerking her forward. “I don’t think you understand the gravity of this situation. When I give you a command, you follow it. Strip,” he gritted and squeezed a little harder.
“Pl…please, stop. You’re hurting me,” she stuttered while her body shivered. Mason understood it wasn’t from being cold. Good, he thought, be afraid; you’ll break quicker that way. A slow smile spread across his face at the thought of finally getting revenge, but he guessed it looked sinister from her point of view because she gasped before speaking. “I’ll…I’ll change.” He nodded and released her with a hard shove. She fell back and wrapped her arms around herself as if that could offer any protection. He chuckled at that thought and saw her eyes go wide with fear. This was pretty fun. She hadn’t made a move to strip and he could feel himself scowling at her.
“Please…please turn around,” she stammered.
“Nothing I haven’t seen already.” He laughed, but even he could hear his menacing tone. He saw her cower a bit and felt like everything was finally going according to plan.