“You’ll like this, whore!”
In my mind, I expect cold water to splash on me. Instead, I feel a warm liquid trickle down my skin. The masked man is still whistling. An awful stench corrupts the air around me. There is no mistaking that smell. The creep is peeing on me. I gnash my teeth. Whatever did I do to deserve this? The man raises his appendage and darts the last of his pee onto my neck. The last of it almost sprayed to my mouth. I shut my eyes tightly, willing this nightmare to be over. Yet, it only seems to be getting started.
The man then loosens my bonds. I feel my limp body sway to the side. If I had any strength, I would have run. I do not even have the strength to sit straight. I haven’t eaten anything in days. It is clear that I have lost track of time though I am certain I have been held for three days without food and an excess of water whenever the man wanted to cleanse me with his hose.
I feel myself being lifted. I do not resist. What is it that I am fighting for? What is my life worth? It is a tempting notion that everything will be better when I close my eyes for the very last time.
I am dragged next to the overflowing water drum. He bends me over so I can behold my reflection in the water. He then leans in so that his thick hot breath permeates through his mask and onto my ear.
“I’ve never fucked a girl while she is drowning. It’s a fetish I always wanted to try.”
The man squeezes my ass with his gloved hand. It is the most repulsive touch I have ever felt in my entire life. His fingers grope the wet middle of my legs. It is not my doing. The water has made me wet throughout and the freezing cold has forced my breasts to be perky. He grabs them and is pleased with what he feels. He takes off his gloves for a more sensual touch.
“And now the fun part!” He announces before plunging my face into the drum of water.
At first, I relax. I am ready to die, after all. But no sooner than my body feels deprived of its oxygen, my survival instincts kick in. I struggle but he holds me down. I gag. Air bubbles escape my lips and I swallow water. Even though I am disoriented, I feel the man yank down my pants. His hands grope me again but I don’t care. I just want to breathe. I just want to live. At the very least, I want to live long enough to see Erien, to thank him for the best days of my life, and to tell him goodbye.
God must have heard my cry because suddenly, the man gasped. He lost hold of me. I whirled away from the water drum in time to see him fly to the other end of the container. Another man was on him – attacking the masked man with furious punches. I could hardly believe it. It was the last place I had expected him. I never expected to see him again, and yet there he was.
“Carlos,” I whisper before I pass out with a faint smile on my lips.
I have never been happier to see the short beady-eyed guy who had been my boyfriend for a day. And at that moment I knew, if Erien did not save me, someone else definitely would.
Chapter 33
Alice
The soggy wooden floor sways beneath me. I am well below deck and the only light we have comes from a kerosene lamp. It is the worst place on earth to be; it smells like rotten fish, seaweed, and sweat, but I can’t be any happier. I am donned in an itchy woolen sweater that belongs to the Captain of Halo, the fishing we are on. I wear loose slacks that belong to Carlos White, my redeemer. And my feet are warm inside the heavy black fisherman boots.
The door opens and I look up to see Carlos descend the steep stairs to reach me. He has a steaming kettle in one hand and holds one boiled fresh fish in another. Fishermen can’t be bothered to use plates, I reckon, though Halo is clearly a poor boat. They can’t afford much.
Carlos is no fisherman, though. I hate him and love him at the same time. I love him mostly because he saved me from the awful man inside that container where I was being held. I love him because he has given me warm clothes to wear and fed me. I love him because he promises to take me back to Erien, though it is for a price.
Carlos is the one who had led me to Erien in the first place after all. Carlos had helped me escape my alcoholic mother, though to do that he had wanted me to sleep with him. That never happened. He’d run into Erien on the highway and nearly lost his life when he tried to confront my now-fiancé. I haven’t seen him since that day when I chose to follow Erien instead of being with him. I hate Carlos for trying to force himself on me. I hate him because he is a slob. I hate him because he knows exactly where I come from; a house full of fleas in a small town called Shoelace.
“Here,” Carlos says kindly when he passes the warm boiled fish into my hands.
I receive it and take a bite into the soft flesh of the black Catfish. It has neither salt nor pepper, yet I have never tasted anything so delicious. I gobble it down hungrily, the juices running down my hand. I get the steaming kettle and drink directly from it. There is a brownish liquid inside that cannot pass for coffee or tea. The liquid is terribly sweet as well, though just warm enough to sooth the cold out of my bones. If I close my eyes to the scattered cockroach legs inside it, I may even enjoy the sweet taste.
“Thank you,” I say.
My fish is half eaten but Carlos is staring at me as though he is hungry for it. I know he is not. He is warm in the same dark nondescript clothes my assailant had worn, and there is probably a lot more where this Catfish came from. No, he is hungry for something else. His gaze is locked upon my lips, upon the small dribble of juice at the corner of my lips. Carlos towers over me. He then squats so that we are eye to eye. I see it coming. His warm tongue glides over the corner of my mouth. I close my eyes until he removes his tongue from my face.
“You had something there,” he says.
“You swore to protect me,” I counter, locking my gaze into his dark beady eyes.
“As I have… Henry will not be bothering you again- Oomph.”
The boat sways again and Carlos falls on his ass. On better days, I would have laughed. Not so now. I am not safe here. Carlos spreads his feet in front of him to make his fall look deliberate but I am no fool. He rises quickly to leave so as to save face.
“When will be back ashore?” I ask, desperate.
“In less than a day. You are sure my money will be there when we land?”
“Wealth than you’ve ever imagined.”
I have promised to give him unimaginable wealth if he gets me back to Erien without harming me. He is keeping his promise so far, though I know it is a struggle. He always shivers when he is near me. He wants me badly. But he wants his money more. Erien can give him that.
Carlos takes his leave. He can’t stand my presence without wanting to touch me. I still want to ask him more questions even though the feel of his tongue against the corner of my lips had left me feeling strange. Still, I can’t lose another chance to talk with him.
“Why are you here, Carlos?” Last I had seen him he was alone in the middle of the highway and not on some fisherman boat near Hawaii. I give in to the odds, “Did you follow me?”
He sniggers. “Had I known you would be the one, I don’t think I would have agreed. It was an offer I could not refuse, you see.”
“What, manning a boat?”
“Not really. The boat came with the job. I was meant to drown you until I heard who you are – saw who you are. The man who tried to hurt you, Henry, doesn’t care at all. He is not interested in ransom, after all, his boss pays him well.”
“His boss?”
“Jamie,” Carlos told me.
I feel my blood run cold. I shake my head to clear my thoughts. The name sounds familiar until it hits me; of course, that Jamie with his cheesy smile and plastic models. My heart twists in pain. I should have known. Henry is a familiar name. He was one of Jamie’s shadows. I should have known. I was in the way of their camaraderie because Erien always put me before Jamie. I should have known.
“Why?” I whisper to myself.
Carlos answers me. “You have to understand. A man can’t have a girl like you around… and not feel… and not feel things.”
&nbs
p; “Things like what?”
“Extreme emotions; hate, love, jealousy…”
I stand up, my fists clenched. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I love you, Alice. I saw you grow up, become a woman- I can’t.” He chokes on his emotions.
I bite my lip. This is not supposed to happen. He is making things worse.
“I knew it was trouble when you left me for that random guy! He was naked for god’s sake- Do you want me to take my clothes off too? Is that what will make you follow me?”
“Oh God no!”
“Alice, I really do love you.”
Carlos pulls off the black sweater over his head. He remains clad in a black shirt with a visible white vest beneath it. He then loosens the belt around his waist. I cringe at the thought of seeing the wrinkly wiener between its legs. I have seen it once and I am not keen to relive that trauma.
“Please don’t,” I plead.
He is about to shove his pants down when, out of nowhere, the Captain appears at the door. Carlos is startled. He quickly pulls his pants up.
“What do you want?” He growls.
“We will be at the shore in thirty minutes,” the fat captain with an overgrown beard says.
It takes a moment for Carlos to register what is being said. My heart skips with joy because I get it instantly. I rise and run past the boat Captain and him. The wet and rotten wooden floorboards creak beneath my weight as I run up the steps and onto the opening.
A heavy wind filled with the scent of the sea reaches my nostrils. Suddenly, I feel sea sick and hold onto the rail of the boat for support. In the distance, I can see the beach. Home is so near and yet so far. I am startled. I had to be abducted from that manse for me to realize that it is now my home? God knows what would have happened to me if Carlos was not a familiar face and it did help that he is still a little in love with me because if he was not, I would be swimming with the fishes by now.
I can’t wait to see the look on Jamie’s face when he sees me. He will pay for what he did to me. Erien will make him pay dearly. I know it!
Lost in reverie, I do not hear Carlos come to stand behind me.
“You will not forget?” His gruff voice startles me.
“Forget what?” I look at him over my shoulder.
“Forget that my kindness has a price.”
I knit my brows. “Erien is generous to all his friends, and yes, you will be rewarded handsomely for seeing me safely back.”
“Good.”
I turn back to gaze at the advancing shore. I smile. I can’t wait to tell Erien how much I love him. I want to tell him that my biggest fear was not dying but never seeing him again. I want to tell him— SMACK.
My body topples over the railing. My scream gets stuck in my throat.
SPLASH.
I hit the water with a disturbing splash. My world is inverted as I fall in the water head first. My hair traps my face like a net. I feel like I am going to die and all I can think of is how Carlos pushed me over the railing. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that bastard.
Chapter 34
Erien
The manse is vast but I have searched every single room in it to no avail. Each door I open, I expect to find Alice seated there sulking to herself. I don’t find her, instead, I stumble upon two girls making love, a bunch of guys I don’t know playing poker, and some of Jamie’s entourage having a blast at Karaoke. At another time, I would have joined them but now I just feel like murdering them all. I walk the entire manse. Still, I cannot find Alice. She is not even in the garden.
I am starting to lose hope when I decide to check a final room - Jamie’s bedroom. I wonder if he will have the audacity to lie to my face. I kick the door open and there he is. He is sprawled on the bed with a scantily clad blonde in his arms. They are laughing at a video they are watching on the small television in front of them. I can hear heavy breathing sounds come from the speakers. This infuriates me. If anything Loli said is true, I am going to kill Jamie.
“What the hell?” Jamie says when I burst in.
The blonde girl parts her mouth in a crude smile. She licks her lips even as I come fast toward them. Is she too dumb to see that I am in a rage? She would be running to the opposite end of the room if she had any sense. Of course, she doesn’t have any.
I reach them and smack the small television off the bed. It topples over the bed and crashes to the floor. This somehow amuses Jamie beyond and he bursts in laughter. The girl laughs with him.
“The laptop did nothing, Erien. It was only you doing everything,” he says.
Jamie rises from the bed and pats me gently on the back. I cringe from his touch. I don’t get time to confront him because the noise from the small television – the laptop – stirs my attention. The grunts coming from it are quite familiar. Oddly, it sounds just like me.
I turn to look at the screen. My stomach curdles and I feel a piercing pain in my gut that I have never experienced before. It is a mixture of anguish, pain, disgust, and another emotion I cannot quite put my finger on.
Jamie comes next to me and stands with his hands akimbo. I am appalled to see that he has a hard on from the blue movie he is watching. There I am on the small screen. I am in the bathtub and Loli is beneath me. I am grunting and she is moaning. And there is my naked body thrusting myself into Loli’s mouth. From the angle of the home video, it is clear to see the white powder we were just from snorting.
“God,” Jamie laughs, “Who knew you could be so violent in bed?”
“You… You rotten carcass!”
I grab his neck and lift him from the ground. The rage flowing in me is so strong that I can feel my silver eyes turn a dark grey. Jamie writhes in my grip. The veins on his neck pop and his face is sickly pale as he struggles to breath. With one twist, I can end his life but then I will never know where Alice is. In my moment of reverie, he escapes from my grip.
“Fine. Fine,” he says. “Not everyone likes to watch themselves even though I do. I am weird like that.”
Jamie takes the laptop and closes the video. Previews of a hundred other videos, all set in the manse pop up. On multiple of the video suggestions, there are clips of Jamie having intercourse with a number of girls in different odd settings and positions that I never knew possible, and on other clips, his male entourages are having a violent orgy. Jamie is mesmerized by it all, his eyes glued to the laptop screen as if he is seeing it for the time. He licks his lips. That does it for me.
With full force, I throw Jamie to the floor where he crashes his lower back against the laptop so that it cracks in half. He twists in the sudden pain that overwhelms him even though it isn’t enough to remove the stupid smirk on his face. The blonde girl suddenly gets better sense and makes for the door. She leaves the door open but that doesn’t perturb me. This is my house and I will do as I please. It doesn’t matter that Jamie’s minions are always near. I will deal with them accordingly after cutting off the head of the snake.
Jamie stares at me. His eyes are glassy with pain even though his lips are wide with a toothy smile.
“Why would you do this?” I ask.
I really thought he was my friend. A cold fear grips me. How many rooms in the manse are wired, and my room, did he record all the love I made to Alice. How dare he publish such a lewd video for the whole world to see? And I am in it. Jamie seems to read my mind.
“How do you think we stay rich, man?” he says. “This is the most lucrative business in the world, and you’re such a great cast!”
Jamie shows off his pure white teeth. One kiss from my fist and his lips turn a bloody red. He spits out the blood and coughs. His eyes keep darting to the door. It is as though he is expecting someone to come and save him. No one will save him. I am stronger than all of them put together. I walk to grab him but he raises his hands in surrender, then he gives me a grotesque smile.
“Think of it Erien. Just a couple more videos and you will be a sensation. Your wealth would hav
e doubled by now if it wasn’t for that stupid Alice. She was always in your room so I couldn’t get any camera there. She would make a pretty vixen. I hear the way she screams when you fu--”
I kick Jamie in the head. His body rolls over like a rag doll. I wonder where Jamie gets his courage from when he is so weak. If he knows what is good for him, he would keep his mouth shut.
“You’re a fraud! You aren’t aristocrat! You are a sick conniving bastard!” I bare my glistening teeth at him.
Alien Romance Box Set: Alien Heart Complete Series (Books 1-4): A SciFi (Science Fiction) Alien Warrior Abduction Invasion Romance Box Set Page 16