Blyssful Lies

by J. C. Cliff

  My head tilts to the side while my forehead creases with growing confusion. For some reason, I vaguely remember something about an engagement ring from my past. I close my eyes briefly, clearing my thoughts and trying to bring the past into focus.

  I’m remembering things; bits and pieces of scenes and images as they flash by in my mind at lightning speed. After a moment, the confusion begins to settle, and the turbulence stills, the air becoming stifling. I can’t seem to breathe. The engagement ring is apparently the crux of me being able to regain my memory. The blow of knowledge hits me with such force I couldn’t process an emotional reaction if I tried.

  Travis stretches his hand out for me to take as a lifeline, concern etched in his eyes. “Breathe, baby.”

  I gasp in a painful breath and shake my head as I move just out of his reach. My eyes well with tears, my vision becoming blurry.

  “Are those happy tears?” he asks hopefully. “Tears that mean yes?”

  I shake my head again as I back up another step on shaky legs, my eyes growing wide with horror. The palm of my hand moves to my heart as I massage my breast bone. There’s a painful burn in my chest; it hurts so bad I want to faint.

  I can tell when the dawning of realization hits Travis and he knows now I remember everything. I can see the conflict in his eyes as a million emotions cross his features, none like I’ve ever seen him express before. His stone facade has completely crumbled, leaving behind a very vulnerable Travis on display.

  He makes one last-ditch effort to touch me, and I flinch away. I don’t want him to touch me, but he leaves his hand outstretched anyway, in hopes I’ll change my mind. Even though he’s not touching me, his hand is creating more physical pain for me, if that’s even possible. My gut twists in a wicked knot, and I can feel my lungs burning due to lack of oxygen.

  “Jules, take a breath!” Travis’ sharp tone startles me, forcing me to gasp for air.

  “Oh, my God!” My trembling hand covers my mouth in reaction. I find myself backing up until there’s nowhere left to go. When the back of my knees come in contact with the side of the bed, I realize I’m trapped; I can’t go any further. “I trusted you,” I whisper behind my trembling fingers, while shaking my head in disbelief. I think I’m going to pass out right where I stand.

  Hurt, anguish, fury, and fear mixed with despair overtake me; it’s emotional whiplash. Without warning, fight or flight instincts kick in, taking over on autopilot and overriding my emotions. I’m fairly certain I can twist my body around and jump on the bed in one swift motion while making a grab for the gun. I may not get very far, but I won’t know unless I try.

  So I make a move for it.

  Twisting my body around in one fluid motion, before my stomach even hits the mattress, my hand reaches under the mounds of pillows to find the hidden cubby hole that houses the concealed gun. Then, without warning, all the air in my lungs is expelled, forced out of my body as I feel every pound of Travis’ heavy frame slamming on top of mine. I don’t let go of the firearm. I hang onto it with a death grip as my fingers stay firmly wrapped around the handle of the gun, while Travis’ hands come up to wrap around both of my wrists as he locks them fiercely in his grasp.

  “Don’t!” Travis demands in a gruff voice, his strong tone reverberating throughout the bedroom. In a flash, he has me flipped over onto my back, and is straddling my waist with his strong thighs on either side of me, pinning me down with his solid body. Even now, with his heavily muscled frame hovering over me and his fiery eyes searing mine, his touch scorches my wrists, but it’s the burn of betrayal. The close proximity to him is ripping my heart out, and my lungs work overtime as I desperately and angrily heave in gulps of oxygen.

  I struggle with all my might to get free, and when I can’t, the growing anger boils over the top, allowing me to find my voice in spades. “It’s all been lies, Travis! You’re one big lie!” I spew while sucking in another deep breath, my adrenaline off the charts. “Tell me one thing. Which Travis is the real one, huh? The sex slave trafficker or the master manipulator? Oh, wait! Both! So…what’s the matter, you didn’t have the drugs to seduce me this time, so you manipulated me into a relationship instead?” I hiss, and then pause as I suddenly remember my nightly medicine, and my gut twists with a horrid emotion.

  I struggle against his hold with everything I have, fighting back. “You’ve been drugging me all along, haven’t you?! You’ve been pumping that aphrodisiac shit through my system every fucking night, all while continuing to lie to me! What else have you been drugging me with, Travis? What else?” I shriek. I’m out of control, wild, and I want to kill him.

  “No, God no, Jules! It’s not like that. I swear!” he shouts back, strongly affirming another lie as his grip tightens on me.

  “Yes! Yes, it is like that! You knew who I was the entire time, but yet you still chose to keep me captive. I just didn’t know it. You even know where my home is, who my father is, and that I was engaged to the love of my life!” I gasp out loud, as another epiphany hits me. “You…you even made love to me knowing all that you knew, and then asked me to marry you!” Anger like no other courses through my veins. “You seduced me with your web of lies and deceit. Who in the hell are you, anyway?! Is your name even Travis?”

  “Calm down, Jules…I can explain.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down. I have every right to be angry here. You used me!” My voice escalates with each word. “Did you even care?” My eyes narrow as I try calculating the lost time in my head, but I come up short. “How long have I been this way? How long did you hope to keep me this way?” I hiss. “What the hell do you want from me?”

  “I wasn’t using you, Jules! This…”

  “Just shut up and let me speak,” I yell, interrupting while I shake my head. “What you have to say doesn’t matter. You know why? Because they’re all lies. One. Big. Fucking. Lie!”

  “Stop! Think about this, Jules. You’re being irrational. You’re not thinking this through!”

  Both my brows arch with incredulity. “I’m not thinking this through?” My voice rises to a soprano. “From where I’m at, I see things pretty clearly. Tell me, what were you hoping for, Travis? That you would marry me, so when I got my memory back I would be captive yet again? Caught in a catch-22?” I scoff at him. “Why even bother? I mean, you’ve been so successful with the drugs and the lock-and-key method. Why did you even bother with the bullshit romance, huh? Tell me!” I scream. “Why didn’t you just pick up where we left off in the dank dungeon in that hotel? I’ll tell you why—because Nick acquired a toy that you didn’t have.” My eyes go narrow, displaying vicious hate. “I’m caught in the crossfire between two sex offenders.”

  I know I’ve lost my mind now. I’m jumping from one emotion to the next, one epiphany to the next, and I can’t turn it off. I hiss in a mocking tone, “Trust me, Jules. I’ve got you, Jules. Jules, please marry me, even though I will drug you every night, and I promise not to sell you until I grow tired of you!”

  His grip on my wrists tightens to the point of pain and I wince. I can’t even move an inch. I watch as his jaws clench and his eyes narrow. I’ve hit a nerve. Good, because I’m going to hit more than that once I’m out from under him. I hate him. I hate every part of him. God, I’m such a fool.

  “You just keep deceiving me, placing me in one pitfall after another. Now what? What’s the next snare, ambush, setup, or whatever you want to call it? Do I get sold now? Am I used goods? Are you bored with me yet?”

  “Listen to me! Stop!” he bellows so loud it’s like a sonic boom piercing my eardrums, effectively shutting me down. I watch him closely as he closes his eyes tightly and takes a deep breath through his nose, trying to calm down. When his eyes open, they’re full of dogged determination. I can tell he’s trying not to speak through clenched teeth, but his jaw muscles are working overtime. Exasperation and desperation leaks out past his lips with every word. “I can’t tell you everything, but I will tell you this…
”

  “Tell me what, Travis? That you’ve warped my mind, twisted my perceptions every which way, so much so I don’t know what’s true or false, right or wrong, up or down?”

  “Fucking hell, Julianna! Enough!” My ranting dies in my throat. I’ve never heard that loud of a decibel emanate from the depths of his lungs before, and his glare is murderous. I swallow hard; effectively shut down once again.

  His nostrils flare, his chest heaves, and he is oh-so-pissed off now. He’s beginning to scare the crap out of me, but he’s not the one who has the right to be pissed. Nevertheless, he’s intimidating me terribly, and this time, he does speak through clenched teeth. He bares his canines like a rabid dog, and in a strong, sonorous voice, he speaks with conviction. “I have never needed anyone. Never! That is, until you came along. I fucking need you!” His words are accentuated by squeezing against my wrists at the same time he tries to reassure me with each of his words.

  He’s stunned me stupid, and silence ensues for a moment as I watch his eyes transform into a soft plead. “My walls come tumbling down when I’m around you, Jules. You leave me exposed like a fucking minnow in a shark tank. God, baby, you’ve got to follow your heart on this, not your head. I need you to think about all we’ve shared over the past few weeks.”

  He gestures with his eyes, flicking them back and forth over mine. “This…this wasn’t a game or a façade; I swear.” His voice changes from angry to a softer tone. He sounds as if he’s swallowed a mouthful of marbles, and his emerald eyes become misty, something I’ve never seen happen to this strong man ever before. “I promise you…I was exposing the real me; I gave you all of me. I held nothing back.” He shakes his head while hanging his head in defeat, closing his eyes for a moment. “I know whatever I say at this point you won’t believe it, but I’m not lying to you about this…about us. You’ve got to give us time to work this out, Jules. Let me prove myself to you.”

  He chokes on his last words, his voice gritty as sandpaper. “From the first moment I saw you, I felt a connection. We belong together, baby. I’m begging you. Don’t…don’t shut this down.”

  My heart stupidly clenches for the man as his eyes mist over. “But I have a life, Travis. Well, I had a life…” I trail off on a choked sob. I’m so confused; I don’t know what to believe anymore. These men have ripped my life apart. Do I even have a life to go back to at this point? In the brief silent moment that transpires between us, we silently stare each other down with untold emotions.

  I startle at the sound of someone clapping their hands behind Travis, and I feel Travis tense, obviously not expecting the presence either. The sound stills my heart, and I can’t see who it is because of Travis’ large frame blocking my view. He holds stock still, as if he’s in a trance, while our eyes stay locked on each other’s’. He stays frozen in his position on the bed, thereby continuing to keep me pinned down, and the look on his face tells me this isn’t going to be good.

  “What a wonderful, heartfelt speech, Travis. I’m impressed. I never thought you to be the romantic type,” the deep timbre of a man’s voice states in an eerily ominous tone, and it’s a voice I don’t recognize. This man definitely didn’t barge in on us to borrow a neighborly cup of sugar.

  Travis’ nostrils flair and I watch as the muscles in his jaw tense up while his hands squeeze the life out of my wrists. The surprise visit, and Travis’ reaction has my heart beating wildly in my chest as I hold stock still in growing fear. Judging by the look on Travis’ face, he wasn’t expecting this visitor. He is never caught off-guard, and the mere fact he is has me really freaking out. Since the intruder has taken us by surprise, what will happen if Travis can’t get the upper hand? Is this one of the bad guys he’s been talking about?

  Searching for any type of guidance of what to do, my eyes stay locked on Travis’. He narrows his as if he’s trying to have a silent conversation with me. My forehead crinkles as I try desperately to read his mind. He imperceptibly nods at me, noticing I’m on the verge of freaking out. My muscles tightly coil as I hold my breath, but he keeps flicking his eyes to my right hand, which holds the gun hidden beneath the set of pillows. I swallow hard as I look to him, with fear and worry evident in my eyes. I’m not sure I have it in me to do this. To kill someone…it’s so final.

  I hear the safety clicking off of a gun behind Travis and my gut clenches; fear grips me by the throat, wanting to pull me under. I know that sound, I’ve practiced taking off the safety of Travis’ gun more times than I care to count; it has been drilled into me. Travis compresses my wrists a few times as if he’s talking in Morse code. I know now is not the time to turn into a coward, or all of my training would’ve been for nothing. I can see now why Travis was so diligent in indoctrinating me with self-defense skills, because he knew the seriousness of the impending dangers.

  Anger bubbles from within like a pot of boiling water, and I’m at a roiling boil. I’ve been apprehended so many times, and I’ll be damned if I get captured again and placed into the wrong hands. With Travis, at least he’s a known entity, and if the way he’s been treating me wasn’t an act, I’ll take his kind of capturing any day over the other.

  “Two for the price of one; Yes, Nick will be pleased to hear this,” the infiltrator says with a contemptuous tone. The man wreaks of pure evil, and it’s then I realize he’s not only come here for me, but for the both of us, and Travis’ life is on the line here too.

  I WANT YOU…

  TO LEAVE FEEDBACK ON

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  *~*~*

  To connect with J.C. Cliff and for more information on her upcoming releases of The Blyss Trilogy, please visit:

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/BLYSS.TRILOGY

  And https://www.tsu.co/JCCLIFF

  Twitter: www.twitter.com/Cliff3J

  Book 3 of The Blyss Trilogy

  (Target release date: April 2015)

  My Loving and supporting family are the best a wife and mother could ever hope for. My crazy clan keeps life interesting, and I’d be lost without each and everyone of you and your unconditional love.

  My Editor Kayla Robichaux: You’re editing skills continue to save the world from my southern slang and quirky humor! :-) You truly are an amazing individual, and I’m honored to call you a friend.

  www.facebook.com/kaylathebibliophile

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  www.hottreeedits.com

  Tanya Drummond with Submit & Devour: I don’t even know where to begin with regards to properly acknowledging you and all your hard work. I’m flabbergasted that you believe in this trilogy, to the point of sacrificing much of your personal time and energies while expecting nothing in return. You’re beautiful.

  You took me under your wings like a momma bird and kept me sane. Every time I wanted to throw the towel in, you told me no. You have made me laugh during some of my most stressful moments, and that is priceless. You are like a warm cup of tea on a cold winters night, a priceless friend. I never would have gotten this far without you, nor would I want to.

  Soni Patton: Thank you for your continued support, keen eye, and literary skills. You’re the best!

  Sommer Stein: Ahh Sommer, you hit the mark with this design. You are top notch, and I’m thankful to have you!

  Laurie Szoka and Mary Brown: Thank you for keeping me going with your friendship, and words of encouragement, and most of all your friendship of unconditional love. I love you guys.

  Theresa Alberts and Jennifer Juers are still the best beta readers in the entire USA, and I pray I will always have you both helping me as long as I decide to write books.

  A special thank you to: Dawn Costiera, Kristine Marie, Jamie Vest, kiki Amit, for helping with beta reading as well. You all are special to me.

 
; Thank you to all the bloggers who have opened their hearts and their Facebook doors to me. Especially, and in no order, Rosie Snowdon (For the Love of Books), Kellie & Seena (I love Story Time), Myra Espino (Ms. ME28), Pepper Penn (All Romance Reviews), KC (Reading is my Superpower), and Clare Flack. Forgive me if I left anyone out. If you seriously know me, you would know I am a true blonde, and I live off sticky notes.

  I have enjoyed PM’ing with all of you, and laughing at all your silly antics as you read Blissful Lies. I hope to do much more of that. I am humbled by the mass majority who have enjoyed Blyss and Blyssful Lies, and continue to support this story. I appreciate all of you, and the kindness you’ve extended to me. God Bless.