by Claire Adams
“No, it’s all my business, baby,” I cooed. “Just tell me, it’s okay if you were scared and weren’t ready. I totally understand. Look at me? I got cold feet.”
“It was…well…it was just not the right time,” he muttered as he looked over at Cheese. I followed his gaze and saw that Brian was laying facedown on the carpet with a river of red slowly snaking down the side of his face, forming a growing stain on the carpet. I was distressed, but I knew that I couldn’t show any interest in what was happening or Dominic would turn his focus on Brian. What might happen then was anyone’s guess, but I didn’t dare risk it.
“I know you had your reasons,” I reassured him. “I just wanted to know if it was something I’d done. Was I good enough for a proposal?”
“You were fine, Ava,” Dominic said quietly. “In fact, you were more than fine. You were stunning that night. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
I watched him slowly sink into his memory of the night he should have proposed. The reality of that night was that we’d fought at the hotel before dinner, and I’d said I didn’t want to go out to eat, but he’d gripped my arm so tightly that I couldn’t get away and then dragged me down to the hotel lobby, where he’d ordered the bellman to get us a cab. Once inside the cab, he’d turned and let loose with a torrent of abuse that had the cab driver giving me worried looks in the rearview mirror. I’d waved him off once we reached the restaurant, and we’d gone in and had a delicious, but tense, meal. It was nothing like the romantic fantasy I was weaving, but the only advantage I had over Dominic was that he lived in a fantasy world rather than in reality.
“We were happy, weren’t we?” he mused.
“Oh, it was such a lovely night,” I fed the memory. “We had champagne on the dance floor and you whirled me around like I was Ginger Rogers to your Fred Astaire, Dom. It was magical.”
“Yeah, I did a good job, didn’t I?” he asked.
“The best,” I replied in a dreamy voice. “I felt like a princess.”
“You are my princess, Ava,” he said softly. “I don’t understand why you would want to run away from all of the wonderful things I have given you.”
“I don’t know, Dom,” I said sadly. “I think I just got confused. I got scared. It’s all such a big deal with my family, you know?”
When I mentioned my family, Dominic’s face went blank and I knew I’d hit the wrong note. Dammit!
“Yes, I know all too well how big a deal things are with your family,” he replied coldly.
“They’re not me!” I cried. I had to turn this conversation back around and quickly. “I’m not my parents! I love you! I want to be with you! I don’t care what they say or think, we’re meant to be together, Dom. You know that, don’t you?”
He looked back down at me as if seeing me with fresh eyes, and smiled as he said, “Yes, I know you’re not them.”
He walked over to where Brian lay, looked down at his unmoving body for a moment before he turned and faced me again. “But I also know that they raised you, and there’s no way for you to escape that fact, Ava. You are your parents’ daughter whether you like it or not, and you’re smart and resourceful.”
“What do you mean?” I was absolutely confused.
“What I mean is that you are adept at deception, my dear,” he chuckled. “Your father is the king of lies and deceit and you are the queen of the empire!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” I cried. “I’ve never lied to you. Not once.”
“Listen to her, Cheese!” he roared. “She lies to me about lying to me! What a piece of work!”
“Huh?” said Cheese looking back and forth between us, obviously confused. “She sounds sincere to me, dude.”
“Good lord, Cheese, you’re such a sucker,” Dominic scolded. “No wonder no frat house wants you as a member. You’re an idiot.”
“Hey!” Cheese protested. “I’m not an idiot!”
Dominic rolled his eyes and turned his attention back toward me, and suddenly a glimmer of hope peeked through the curtain of darkness. I knew what I could do to turn the situation in my favor and get Brian and I out of there, but first I had to get Brian to regain consciousness, and then somehow get him to play along with my little game.
“Dom, tell me how we’re going to get out of here, please?” I flirted and smiled at him. “I haven’t been alone with you in so long.”
“No, you haven’t, have you?” he smiled as he reached out and ran his fingers lightly down my cheek. “You must be so very lonely.”
“You have no idea,” I said. “It’s been the longest time since anyone has even touched me.”
“You mean you and the bodyguard didn’t get your groove on?” he asked with a surprised.
“Who? Me and him?” I said incredulously. “What on earth are you thinking?”
“Well, I figured that close quarters with a handsome, yet simple hunk might wear you down,” Dominic mused.
“Um, have you forgotten that he was hired by my father?” I asked as I rolled my eyes as far back in my head as I could. I had to channel my inner teenager to get this one right. I’d been a child in an adult’s world my entire life and I wasn’t sure I had it in me, but for Brian’s sake and mine, I had to try.
“True,” Dominic replied. “Daddy dearest would not like you mingling with the help one bit.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Brian’s fingers moving. The other two hadn’t seen it, and I was determined to make sure they didn’t notice him regaining consciousness. I shifted my focus and said, “Dom, let the room server go. He’s nothing. We don’t need him, do we?”
Dominic looked over at the teenager lying facedown on the carpet with a blindfold covering his eyes as if he’d forgotten he was even there. “Hmmm,” he murmured. “You might be right, but I’m not taking any chances, my dear. I’ve got a plan, and I’m sticking to it.”
“What kind of plan, Dom?” I asked eagerly. “Are we going somewhere?”
“Oh, we most definitely are,” he smiled. “You and me, that is, after we take care of the problem.”
“What problem?” I asked as my heart sunk into my stomach. I’d been lulled into a sense of false security because Dominic was calm, but the reality was that he was more dangerous when he wasn’t actively angry.
“Well, you see, my dear,” he smiled. “We can’t have the nosy bodyguard reporting back to your father and screwing everything up, now can we?”
“No, we most definitely cannot have that happen,” I said as I forced a smile and stole a peek at Brian. He was still out cold, and I was starting to sweat. Wake up, wake up, wake up.
“Good, I’m glad we agree.” Dominic smiled in a reptilian way as he moved across the room to Cheese and said, “Get him up off the floor and into that chair.”
“How, dude?” Cheese asked genuinely confused.
“I don’t care how you do it, just do it,” Dominic intoned. “And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me dude?”
“Sorry, du—Dom,” Cheese replied as he bent down and slid his arms under Brian’s armpits and hoisted him up off the floor. As he lifted, Brian’s head dropped forward. I kept hoping for a miracle; that Brian would wake up and take on our captors and free us from this nightmare. But he only groaned a little as Cheese propped him up in the chair and secured him to the back of it using another length of rope. I watched him as he tied it and realized that he had no idea how to tie knots. If I could get Brian conscious, there was still hope.
“What are you going to do, baby?” I asked sweetly.
Dominic walked around behind Brian, rested his hands on his shoulders, and said with a smile, “He will no longer be an issue, pretty girl. You will be mine and he will cease to be.”
My stomach turned as I heard Dominic discuss his horrible plan to ensure that we would have a beautiful future. He would make sure he got what he wanted even if he had to kill Brian in the process, and my brain spun as I tried to fi
gure out a way to talk him out of his disgusting plan.
“Dom, do you think that’s the best idea?” I asked sweetly. “I mean, he’s really kind of a nobody, and if you off him then he becomes somebody, right?”
“Ava, Ava, Ava, you’re so very naive. Sweet, but naive,” he chuckled. “You see, if I off this jarhead, then I will also make sure that no one knows I’ve done it. He will simply disappear into nothingness and no one will know what happened to him, so he will still be a nobody. Do you see, my darling? I’ve got it all planned out.”
“Oh, okay!” I said as brightly as I could and smiled a big, fake smile. “Well, if you’ve got it all planned out then I guess it’s done, right?”
“Yes, except for one thing,” Dominic smiled. I didn’t like that smile, it was the one he always used on me when he was about to punish me for some imagined infraction and then blame me for the pain he was forced to cause me. “I need him to be conscious so that he understands that I’m making the choice to end him. I need him to look me in the eye as I lead him out of this world and into the next one.”
I knew now that Dominic had gone completely mad. Up to this moment I wondered if it was just grief and ego that drove him to try and reclaim me, but now I knew for certain that he had descended into madness and that he really was going to kill Brian. I quickly worked to come up with an alternate plan that might give us a little time. If I could buy us time, Brian might be able to figure out a way to break free and disarm Dominic and Cheese. Cheese. Shoot. I’d forgotten about him and the fact that he was now holding Brian’s gun.
“Wake him up,” Dominic ordered Cheese. “I want him awake. Now.”
“But du- Dom, I don’t know how to bring a guy out of unconsciousness,” Cheese protested.
“Throw some water on him! Slap his face! Yell in his ear!” Dominic shouted. “Why do I always have to do everything around here?”
“Fine, fine,” Cheese grumbled as he went into the bathroom, filled a glass with cold water, then walked back out and dumped it on Brian’s head.
“Are you a complete idiot?” Dominic yelled as he began to pace the room. “You have to throw it in his face! He’s not going to come to if you drip it on the top of his head!”
“I’m not an idiot!” Cheese protested. “How in the hell am I supposed to know how to do this?”
I stole a glance at Brian as Dominic insulted Cheese and restlessly paced the room. Brian seemed to be breathing alright, but I couldn’t figure out why he was still out cold. The knock to his head hadn’t been that hard, and he was someone who had been trained to take a lot of abuse before his body gave out. Something wasn’t adding up.
And then I thought I saw him move. Or did I? I thought I saw the tiniest movement of Brian’s finger, but I wasn’t sure. Had he moved? Or was it simply my imagination playing tricks on me? It was agonizing to think that we were all going to die in this room, and I knew it was up to me to divert attention from Brian just in case he was conscious.
And if he wasn’t, well, I’d think of that later.
Dominic and Cheese were still fighting amongst themselves and as I looked over toward the door, I saw the poor room server still lying facedown on the floor. I’d forgotten about him.
“Dom, baby?” I called in the sweetest voice I could muster. “Don’t you think that it would be wise to let the poor little room server go? He doesn’t have anything to do with this and he’s scared out of his mind. I think he might have even wet his pants.”
“Jeez, what a baby!” Cheese laughed. “Pissed his pants like a little baby!”
I had hoped that the room server would be smart enough to pick up on my cue and actually wet his pants, and by the sound of Cheese’s reaction, I’d played my cards right.
“Shut up, Cheese,” Dominic ordered. “That little baby is going to go out with the meathead here. I want you to take care of him. Do you understand me?”
“Wait, what?” Cheese looked at Dominic with a frown. “Hey, I didn’t sign on for hurting anyone. You told me it was just going to be getting the girl back and then leaving.”
“Well, sometimes things don’t go as planned, now do they?” Dominic smiled. “And you have to adjust your plan to fit the circumstances.”
“Dude, there is no way in hell I’m killing anyone!” Cheese declared. Dominic looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked over to me.
“Ah yes, the big, bad frat boy turns pussy,” he laughed as he began to loosen my ties. “I had a feeling this was what would happen, so I made sure that I had a backup plan. Always have a backup plan, Christopher.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Cheese protested. “Seriously, you did not tell me that there was going to be real killing involved. I don’t want any part of that, Dominic.”
“Then if you will not participate,” Dominic said in a low, sinister tone. “You have become part of my problem, as well.”
He quickly untied my hands, pulled me to my feet, and then turned and punched Cheese so hard that he fell to the floor. Out cold. In an instant, Dominic was behind Brian with the gun pointed at his head as he smiled at me.
“I know you have a soft heart, Kitten,” he said. “But you’re here to do some work for me before I finish up the show with a bang. Get it? A bang?” His maniacal laughter filled the room, and I stood trembling as I looked at the gun pressed against Brian’s temple. Now that Cheese was out cold on the floor, I knew that getting him to turn on Dominic wasn’t going to happen, but I didn’t know if Brian would regain consciousness or if he could escape the restraints if he did. I felt my heart sinking as I realized that saving us was entirely on my shoulders at the moment, and that I couldn’t rely on anyone but myself.
“Ava, listen to me,” Dominic murmured softly. “We are going to dispose of all of these problems, and then you and I are going to go out for dinner and discuss our future.”
“Yes,” I said in a weak voice as I nodded. “Okay, we’ll take care of the problems and then have dinner.”
“Good girl,” he said smiling. “You are always so appealing when you say yes to me.”
I stood rooted to the spot where he’d left me as I scanned the room. He wanted to kill three people and then go to dinner? It was a sure sign that he’d gone completely off the deep end, and I knew that I was our only hope, but I had no idea how to stop his evil plan. What did I have that he wanted? What could I offer that would keep him from killing Brian and the other two? Suddenly it came to me, and I knew exactly what I had to do. I only hoped that Brian would forgive me once we were free.
“Dom?” I asked quietly.
“Yes, Kitten?” he replied in a distracted voice as he scanned the room for the tools he’d need for properly disposing of the bodies. “What do you want?”
“You,” I said with a giggle as I dropped my skirt and lifted the hem of my T-shirt. “It’s been so long!”
Dominic turned and looked at me as I continued my striptease, and I smiled seductively as I nodded towards the bedroom and begged, “Just a quickie? Please? Please, Dom?”
“Ava, you’re going to have to wait for that,” he lectured. “This is neither the time nor the place.”
“But I’m so incredibly horny!” I cried as I undid the hooks on my bra and slipped the straps off my shoulders. “It’s been ages!”
“I thought lover boy here was keeping you busy,” Dominic said in a bored tone.
“Him? Oh no, he isn’t someone I could have sex with! He’s the help!” I laughed and silently begged for Brian’s forgiveness.
“This is true,” Dominic chuckled. “You were definitely raised better than that!”
“So? Please?” I begged as the bile rose in my throat. “You know how I love it when you take me hard and fast.”
“Oh, do I,” he flashed the sinister smile and I could see that he was thinking about moving into the bedroom with me. “You like it rough, don’t you, Kitten?”
“You know just how I like it, Dom,” I whispered as I fought to keep from
screaming. The thought of his hands on my body made me want to vomit, but I knew that the only way we were going to get out of this was if I distracted Dominic well enough to take control of the situation. “Please? Just a little? Now?”
Dominic quickly scanned the room and saw that the three problems were neutralized at the moment, and he smiled that awful, evil smile as he walked over to me. I was nearly naked and trembling, but he read my fear as desire and wrapped an arm around my waist as he walked me backwards toward the bed. In his other hand he held Brian’s gun, and I knew that I would have to find a way to make him put it down or else I’d be forced to go through with this awful act.
“Dom, I need you touch me,” I whispered into his ear as he held me against his chest. “I like it when you hold me down and touch me, you remember, don’t you?”
“Mmmmm,” he murmured. “Indeed I do. You like it when you have no control, don’t you, Kitten?”
“Oh, yes,” I breathed into his ear. “Oh yes, you remember!”
“Lie down,” he ordered in that soft, sinister voice. “I want to see you spread out before me. I want to know that I own you, all of you.”
I swallowed hard, nodded, and lay down on the bed on my back, trying hard not to expose the depth of my hatred as I looked up at him. I tried to recall Brian standing over me and the way his eyes shined when he saw me naked for the first time. I tried to remember the feeling of his hands on my body as Dominic lightly trailed his fingers down my torso. There was nothing sexy about this, but I was determined not to let Dominic hurt Brian - no matter what it took.
“You always liked it when I stroked your skin,” he purred.
“Oh yes, I love the way your fingers feel,” I sighed. I couldn’t close my eyes or look away because I was scared that he’d sense how much I hated him if I did. More than that, I was afraid that if I didn’t focus on him, my mind would realize what I was actually doing, and my body would rebel. I whispered, “Hold me, Dom? Please? I haven’t felt your arms around me in so long, and I’ve missed them.”
Dominic ignored my plea and continued caressing my skin. There was something about his touch that frightened me, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the past or the present. Either way, my mind was spinning as I watched him.