by West, Sinden
“Aaron, you managed to break away from the claws of Azalea. I’m proud of you, brother.”
Aaron ignored him, switching his gaze to me. “Ready to go?”
Anger seethed in me at how he had been almost intimate with that Azalea woman, ignoring me, yet now he was acting like nothing was amiss.
“Paige has kindly invited Fenella and I back to your place for a drink,” Anthony interjected. I wasn’t sure why he seemed so determined with that lie.
Aaron raised an eyebrow at me. “Really?”
“Yes.” I picked up my glass and took a long drink. “Maybe you should invite Azalea as well.”
“We’ll meet you there.” Antony placed a hand on the small of Fenella’s back and ushered her along. I noticed her eyes on Aaron as she went.
Aaron was still watching me, and I wondered if he could sense the simmering inside of me. I carefully placed my empty glass down and began to walk away toward the front of the house where the cars were parked. He followed, not saying a word. The valet brought Aaron’s car around promptly and before long we were driving in the dark of the night.
I turned on the radio and some bubble gum pop song burst out, intruding on the quiet. Aaron reached a hand out and quickly turned it off. “You know I don’t like people in my house.” He didn’t even flicker a glance in my direction as he spoke.
“It’s just Antony. He’s been in your house tons of times. He’s your friend.” My tone was just as stony as his.
“The woman isn’t welcome.”
I gave a small laugh. “What if I invited that red-haired bitch? Would she be welcome?”
His eyes still remained firmly on the road. “Jealousy looks ugly on you,” he muttered.
My laugh turned into a sneer. “It’s not jealousy, you arrogant piece of shit. You made me look like an idiot standing by myself while you flirted with that—”
“What about your flirting?”
I promptly shut up as my heart began to beat faster and I clutched my purse harder with clammy hands. Did he know that I had practically offered myself to Antony on a platter? No, he couldn’t know.
“You shouldn’t be so friendly to that blonde boy. I don’t share my whores.”
I slapped him hard in an automatic action. I didn’t even need to think about it. He didn’t even flinch. It must have hurt, the flat of my hand against his already bruised face, but he didn’t even swerve the car. “You’re a soulless monster, you know that?” I taunted. “You suck the good out of everything and—”
This time he looked at me, his anger vivid. “What good did I suck from you, Rachel? What goodness have you ever had for me to take? You’re a killer just like I am. ” Before I could protest, a grim smile spread across his face. “What was his name again? That guy who hung himself above your bed?” I went to hit him again, rage fuelling me and not making me care about the consequences, but he blocked me easily. “Don’t, Rachel.”
I dropped my hand. “My name isn’t fucking Rachel, it’s Paige,” I said almost petulantly, like acting like a child was my last line of defense.
He ignored me as he turned the car into his street. Antony was already there, sitting in his car and waiting for the iron gates to open. Aaron pressed the keypad in his car, and waited while Antony drove in before following suit. I was still breathing hard. It felt good to feel anger, it was better than despair.
Aaron got out of the car without speaking any further to me, and I stayed there while he opened the front door and entered. Get control, Paige, Get in control. Why should he always have it? I forced myself to take several deep breaths before I exited the vehicle and walked into the house.
Fenella had a glass of pale wine in her hand already, and Aaron was pouring himself and Antony bourbons. My wine sat on the kitchen countertop, dark and red. Aaron caught my eye just briefly before looking away as I snatched up the glass and lifted it to my lips. Compared to the light champagne that I had been drinking earlier, it tasted heavy and dead in my mouth. I gulped it down all the same.
“Easy there, Paige,” Antony said with a smirk. “Any more and you might be dancing on the table top and giving us a striptease.”
I curved my lips up into a coy smile. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Beside him, Fenella frowned as she placed a possessive hand on his arm. She cleared her throat. “This is an amazing place. How long have you lived here for?”
I choked out a laugh, imagining the annoyance running through Aaron at her irritating questions. Maybe I would encourage her inane conversation and carry on the pretense that this was a normal house with normal people in it.
But then her head exploded.
Chapter Four
Blood splattered, warm and metallic. It hit my lips and my tongue. It mingled with my wine, and maybe there was brain in there as well, but I couldn’t process anything, I just stared at my wine because it was better than looking at Fenella’s corpse.
“Down, now!” Aaron shoved me to the floor and my glass slipped to shatter on the tiles just as I hit them. More gunshots, more broken glass, Antony was yelling, and Aaron had black guns in his hands. Where had they come from? He tossed one to Antony, whose face was red with Fenella’s blood. The whites of his eyes in contrast to the crimson were bright and bulging, making him look primal and bloodthirsty.
More glass shattered, and maybe I screamed but I wasn’t sure because everything was so surreal. I tried to crawl across the floor but it was slick with blood and I slid in it as my white dress turned a nasty red. Fenella’s half of a head and remaining eye stared and bitter vomit rose in me, burning my throat and suffocating a sob. I had to get away from her and escape that terrible staring eye that looked too innocent to belong to such a victim of violence.
“Paige, get out now!” Antony yelled at me. “Go out the back. Go to the beach!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I managed to get to my feet, my sights set on the door leading away from that corpse. I slid in blood, grasping onto the countertop and leaving bloodied handprints in my wake. All I could think of was that Aaron was going to be pissed at the mess.
“No, Rachel!” Aaron called to me from where he crouched with his gun ready. “Stay where you are! Stay down. Don’t go out there!”
But Antony had told me to go, and I needed to get away. Antony looked out for me, Aaron didn’t, not really. I was listening to Antony. I fled. It seemed too easy to escape and all I heard behind me was “Fuck, Rachel!” from Aaron, and more gunshots.
I sprinted past the pool and my fingers fumbled for the code on the lit keypad. It hissed in acceptance and began to buzz as my red hands pushed it open, leaving their mark so Fenella’s blood would now stain everything in this house that she had so admired in her last moments. I hit the beach running, my heels thrown off and lost in the sand as I sprinted toward the water. Being clean and away from here was all that I could think of. The dark water was getting closer and closer, and I prepared myself to dive down deep, hidden and protected by the waves. I was nearly there. The boat lights in the distance twinkled prettily, heralding safety. My feet hit the water, just a little further and I would be safe and away from the terror.
But a hand gripped my ankle and I was flung face first down into the water. Salt stung my eyes and water went up my nose, and filled my mouth. My hands managed to find sand and I pushed myself up, gasping for desperate breath, but a firm hand on the back of my head pushed me down again. I struggled, panicking as I choked on the water I was held in.
I was going to drown.
I was going to die.
After everything, I was going to die here, now.
By the hair, I was painfully pulled out of the surf, choking and spluttering. “C’mon, now,” said a voice. That grip never lessened and my scalp burned. Fingers dug into my arm as I was pulled to my feet. I managed to twist my head to look at my rescuer, or killer.
“Ryan?” I croaked, my mouth raw with salt and sand.
“The very one, baby.�
�� He grinned with that mouthful of perfect teeth, but there was nothing friendly there, nor was there the lust of before. His icy blue eyes seemed to be filled with mirth as well, as if this all amused him. There were shouts, gunshots, but it all sounded terribly far away, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him.
“What’s happening?” I rasped, staring at him. The joy on his face made me feel more fear than Fenella’s mangled head had before.
He lowered his head down, almost like he was going to kiss me, but instead he whispered, “Payback.” His arm swung around my throat, pulling me to him, and holding me tighter. “Just try to relax and it won’t hurt too much.” Then he was crushing my throat and I struggled, and soon stopped when I realized that I couldn’t breathe anymore and everything went black.
In the darkness, Finn and I were hiking along a trail. It was a bright blue day, but everything was darker than it should have been. I lifted my head to the sky, expecting to see rain clouds on the horizon but there was nothing.
“Why is it so dark?” I asked Finn who walked ahead of me. He turned and grinned at me, but it wasn’t Finn, it was Ryan. With one rough push, he shoved me over the edge, and I fell, tumbling and turning as I plummeted down to the rocks below. My body shattered, and all I could feel was the cold…I was so fucking cold…
I woke up with a gasp. I was sitting but my hands were pinned above my head and tied to whatever it was that I was leaning against. My arms were stiff. How long had I been like this? I still wore the dress, and it was damp and no longer white. A shiver went through my body — I had never been so cold in my life. I yanked at my bindings, desperate to free my hands so I could hug myself and warm my skin, but there was no give.
The room was dark, but a sliver of light came from under the door and I heard voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying as much as I strained to hear. I laughed crazily; it was a weird sound. This was ironic; how many times in one’s life did they end up trapped, kidnapped…whatever the fuck was going on. This is what happened when you hung around with bad people, I reasoned as another maniacal laugh escaped from me. This is what happened when you were born to —
The door swung open, letting in shards of light from beyond where the silhouette stood in the doorway. He stepped inside, heavy boots making a surprisingly light noise on the wooden floor. I shivered, not because of him, but because of the cold. I wouldn’t be shivering in fear anymore; what was the point? It never moved them and they would never take pity on me. I was done being the weak, pathetic maiden. Whatever they were about to inflict on me — let them. Would they be worse than Aaron or his uncle? And where was Aaron? Dead? My mouth twisted slightly at the thought, but then I straightened and lifted my chin to meet the eyes of Ryan.
He crouched down beside me. “Cold?”
I didn’t answer.
“It’s a shame about your pretty dress,” he continued. “I would have preferred to have you naked, but I think that there’s something poetic about having you wearing something cold in a freezing room, the cold taking over your whole body, you shivering, turning a nice shade of blue…” He ran his hand over the bodice of my dress, and I didn’t even flinch away. I’ve had worse. Whatever you do to me, I can handle it.
He grinned. “Look at that, it’s nearly dry. I guess I can take pity on you now.” With both hands, he took a firm grasp of the sequined bodice and ripped. It came away from me with ease to reveal the torsolette that I wore underneath. It wouldn’t rip as easy as the flimsy dress; the torsolette was boned and tough, nearly like a metal armor plate, and designed to torture the wearer into having a perfect body shape through constriction to the point of barely being able to breathe. Ryan’s hands searched behind me, putting him uncomfortably close as his hands searched for the hooks. His grin grew wider as he had success, pulling the undergarment from my body. Goosebumps littered my skin and my whole body shook with the shivering. I had to clamp my teeth shut to stop them from chattering. He left my skirt on and didn’t touch me further, but his eyes raked over me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t lust in his eyes now. If I didn’t know any better I would say that it was joy perhaps, or maybe pleasure, and that made me doubt my prior determination to be strong. Men I could normally deal with; their lust I could handle…but this Ryan, he was something different.
“Are you going to tell me what I did to you or are you going to make me guess?” I rasped out, my throat sore as I tried to sound tough and unnerved.
He tilted his head, smiling. “You? Nothing. You just have bad taste in men and that, baby, has put you in this unfortunate predicament.”
“You’re talking about Aaron?”
“Aaron,” he confirmed. “You’re clever. I don’t care what anyone says,” he mocked.
I stared straight back at him for a moment, and then I laughed. That crazy sound made his smile slip slightly as he looked at me curiously. “You want to let me in on the joke?”
I let out a last laugh. “Aaron’s not my boyfriend, you idiot. He won’t care about anything that you do to me. He only cares about himself.”
“Oh, Paige. Have you no self-esteem? He’s coming for you, I know it,” he said smugly.
I shook my head at him. “You don’t know shit.” I couldn’t stop the shaking in my voice nor the clattering of my teeth. I was so fucking cold.
His smile stretched, and then his fist rammed into the side of my face. My teeth sliced through my lip with the impact. It felt like a truck had hit me and for a moment I couldn’t remember how to breathe.
“Oh, Paige, Paige, Paige…did I hurt you? I’m afraid that there’s only a world of hurt in store for you.”
I spluttered, and my blood flew, and then I fucking laughed again, to which he looked surprised. “You’re one fucked up girl, you know that?”
“You should know.” I did my best to sneer, even though every part of my face hurt.
He laughed, and hit me again. Warm blood spurted from my nose and down onto my breasts, and I wondered if I would ever look the same again. I heard bells; it was the strangest, surreal sound in that dark room of cold and pain.
Ryan held up a finger to me, it had my blood on it. “Just a moment, baby.” I watched through hazy eyes as he pulled out his phone and stared at the screen. “It would appear that your white knight’s coming for you.” He flicked his eyes up to me, a triumphant smile on his face. “See? I was right. I’m always right, and now it’s time to go.”
He stood and placed his phone back in his pocket. “I’ll see you again, Paige. That’s a promise.”
I struggled to speak. “What—”
“What was the point?” he cut in. “I just wanted to fuck with him before I go in for the kill.”
So many questions ran through my head but I couldn’t manage to form words, all I could do was stare up at him helplessly. As if in slow motion, he reached down and grabbed my hair in a painful grip. A weird sound came from me just before he propelled my head into the wall behind me. Pain burst through me, and then he did it again and I heard something crack. Again and again, my head was rammed into the wall and all thought escaped me, or maybe it was life.
Chapter Five
I sat up, clutching at my neck and expecting to feel the leather of a dog collar. But my neck was bare. A nightmare, it was just a fucking nightmare, thank god. I sucked in deep breaths as I tried to control my breathing and return my heartbeat to normal. God, that had felt real — the smell of leather, the chafing…
“Your pretty necklace is tucked away safely in the bedside drawer.”
My eyes flew open in fright. A woman dressed in scrubs smiled at me as she pulled open a drawer and retrieved a flat, silver necklace that I had never seen before in my life. “Did you want to wear it now?”
I didn’t answer. Who the hell was this woman? Where the hell was I? Floor to ceiling windows dominated this room, and beyond them was a stormy ocean.
“I introduced myself to you the last time that you woke up, Rachel, but it’s okay that you don
’t remember. Head injuries and trauma can cause havoc on your memory. I’m going to call the doctor to come by to examine you again and explain your injuries.”
Rachel?
“Injuries?” I parroted as I reached up and touched bandages on the back of my head.
“They didn’t need to operate, so you’ve still got your lovely hair. Some of its shaven at the back of course, but you can hardly notice.”
“Am I in a hospital?” I croaked as my eyes roamed around the room. It was white, everything was white, but it was hardly like any hospital that I’d ever seen. A green cushion on the white couch and an abstract grey painting with just a dash of pale green were the only color.
The woman chortled. “Hardly. Don’t you recognize it? You were initially at St Catherine’s but once the doctors were convinced it was safe, your boyfriend had you moved here. Myself and another nurse have been looking after you.”
“What happened to me?”
Her cheerful smile faded and was replaced by a sympathetic one. “There was an assault, but let’s wait until you’re feeling better before we go into that.”
I sunk back down onto the pillows. I wanted to get up and find out what was going on, but it took energy to even think about moving. “Is my Mom here?” The weirdness of this situation was overwhelming, but no doubt Mom was at the helm and driving everything. It would all be okay…except the nurse was calling me Rachel. That was the name that we used with him. Mom said that we weren’t going to use that name anymore, not after those horrible things that he did to me. We were going away, she said. We were starting fresh…what was going on? The last thing I remembered was being at the motel with that slimy doctor, but I wasn’t hurt that badly. He said I would be fine and nothing about head injuries.
“I don’t know anything about your Mom, Rachel. I’ve only spoken with Aaron. Anyway, let me call the doctor.” She patted my hand kindly before turning toward the door. A wide smile spread across her face. “Speak of the devil.”