Save Riley

by Yolanda Olson

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?!” she shouted. “It’s bad enough that I’m a pawn in your sex games, but now you kidnapped someone else too?”

  I shrugged. The truth was that in a way I did feel as though I were out of my mind. It took so little to catch my eye but yet so much to keep my attention long enough to invest time into what I did. I considered it an art really; a sexually charged art in where I would test the limits of the female body and if they broke too soon or before I felt I was done with them then I would dispose of them. Depending on the conquest or the length of time it took me to break them, some would get dumped while others, the ones that survived the longest, would get quite poetic send offs.

  “I thought you would like some company is all. I actually resisted the urges I had earlier with this one. I think that says a lot about how I feel about our arrangement,” I replied clearing my throat.

  “Good for you,” she spat sarcastically. Apparently the water had given her all of her fire back.

  I crossed my hands behind my head and sighed deeply. I was obviously in a bit of a predicament. I assumed that by keeping little Anberlin, Riley would do anything, anything, to gain her freedom from this room, but it seemed that I was mistaken.

  “I have a proposition for you,” I said resting my hand on her ankle, which she promptly pulled away. I raised my eyebrows at her gesture and she hesitantly put them back within reach of my hand. “Thank you. As I was saying, I have a proposition for you.”

  “What?” she barked.

  “I will let you out of this room once you prove us to be equals. Perry will be your test. Either fuck her or kill her to prove it to me. I’ll give you all the time you need to make your decision Riley. And I will be watching,” I said, pointing to all four corners of the room in turn.

  Perry burst into hysterical tears. I got to my feet and snatched the silk wrap I had used to quiet Riley and roughly shoved it into Perry’s mouth.

  “I told you I don’t appreciate shouts and loud noises in my home. Now be quiet!”

  She closed her eyes and whimpered. I stared at her dangerously for a moment before I shook my head and turned around. Riley was on her feet and she actually looked like she wanted to fight me. I smirked as she stood there looking as fierce as an angry small creature who would kill to gain freedom.

  “Have a go, Riley. I’ll allow it this once,” I said in amusement holding my arms out to my sides.

  She stared at me for a moment, and I could see the contemplation creep across her beautiful face before disappearing. She sighed unhappily and sat down on the bed, crossing her legs underneath her. She looked up at me with defeated eyes and held up her wrists.

  “Please?” she asked.

  I nodded and made my way back to the bed and sat next to her. She turned slightly and kept her hands still while I undid the rope and set her wrists free. I watched her wrap her arms around herself and look at Perry with tears in her eyes.

  “Why are you doing this to us, Jax?” she asked avoiding my gaze.

  “I’m only doing to you what was done to me, Riley,” I explained quietly. “Eventually you will have to prove yourself to me to stay alive and this is the easiest way I could have you do it without breaking the cardinal rules.”

  She looked at me with a shocked look on her face. Always; they always think I woke up one day and decided to be this way, I thought unhappily. I didn’t enjoy being pitied for it.

  “You have your instructions,” I said getting to my feet. “Fuck her or kill her.”

  Seventeen

  I went back to the study and stepped over Evan’s body. History had taught me that I had at least two to three days to dispose of the body before it started to decompose and smell. I sat in my chair and turned the computer back on. After it came to life, I opened the program for the security cameras and typed in the password before picking the basement. I leaned back in my chair and watched the scene unfold in front of me.

  Riley had her hands on Perry’s sides trying to figure out how to get her down. She had already pulled the gag out of her mouth and she was telling her that she would find a way to get them both “out of this alive” but she would have to trust her.

  “I don’t want to die!” Perry shrieked over and over. Riley assured her that she wouldn’t kill her to get out of the predicament I had put them in.

  I leaned forward with childish anticipation as Riley wrapped her small arms around Perry’s legs and tried to lift her off of the hook.

  “Ow!” Perry screamed in tears as she slid out of Riley’s arms and her body jerked down on the hook.

  I laughed in amusement. Little Riley thought she was strong enough to get Perry down. But what happened next showed me just how cunning and devious she could be. She looked around the room desperately until she found something to stand on. Then she ran back to the bed and pulled something out from underneath the pillow that I couldn’t quite make out.

  “I’m not strong enough to lift you, so I’m going to have to cut you down. It’s going to hurt when you fall so I’ll apologize for that now,” she said to Perry who quickly nodded.

  I watched Riley climb up and brandish a razor? and lift herself to her tiptoes as she began to cut furiously at the ropes around Perry’s arms. Moments later Perry fell free from the hook and landed on her back. Riley jumped off whatever it was that she was standing on and quickly checked her for injuries, before helping her to her feet and taking her to the bed.

  “Where on Earth did you get a razor, Riley?” I asked into the cameras. She held up her middle finger in response and I laughed. “Actually, I would love to, but you have to earn that back. You know how.”

  I watched her wrap her arms protectively around the young girl and start to ask her questions. I couldn’t quite make out what they were since she was speaking in a low voice, but Perry would shake or nod her head in response. Eventually the questions stopped, and Riley held her close rubbing her arm reassuringly and looking around the room. I assumed she was looking for a way out, but I apparently had been quite incorrect on my assumptions with her as of late.

  I turned my attention away from the screen and looked out the window in front of me. They both assumed I was a monster; if only they knew what a monster really could do then they wouldn’t think that of me.

  I was a young man, barely fifteen, when I was abducted by my mentor and one of his captives. I had been drunk off my ass and stumbling down the streets of Narooma when he had his whore bait me into some “fun”. I had agreed because I was young and stupid, and a beautiful grown woman was coming on to me, so of course I thought I was going to just fuck her and go home. She had convinced me to follow her into his car and told me that he wasn’t a concern when I asked her who he was. She said he was a friend who would make sure that we would get back and forth safely. And I believed her. I was fucking stupid enough to believe that they would just let me have sex with her and take me back to where they found me.

  I scowled at how the memory was starting to come back to me and decided to tuck it away for now. I would tell Riley the entire story, but only if she followed my instructions with Perry.

  I leaned back in my chair and crossed my hands behind my head, letting my eyes go back down toward the screen. I raised an eyebrow when I saw that both girls had disappeared from the camera view.

  “What the fuck?” I murmured to myself. I leaned forward and proceeded to click on the different rooms.

  Not in the main room obviously. They can’t fit under the bed. Not in the Last Day storage room. Where the hell did they go?

  I peered closely at the screen once I was back in the main room and laughed. Apparently, when I left them in there I didn’t code the door when I left. They had gotten out and now it would be a game of hide and seek and I was sure to find them.

  Not that they really have anywhere to go, I thought dryly as I got to my feet. I walked toward the door and over Evan’s body, stepping into the hallway. I narrowed my eyes and looked around to make sur
e they weren’t there and when I was satisfied that they were not on the same floor as me, I went over to the breaker box in the furthest corner of the hallway and pushed the code in to open it. I flipped three switches; the one to open all of the doors (with the exception of those that led outside), the ones to seal all of the windows (so that they couldn’t escape), and the one to turn the cameras on every square inch of the house.

  I knew now that Riley wouldn’t harm the girl because she helped her escape, so my thoughts were that when I found them, I would fuck then kill Perry while Riley watched and then I would punish her severely for her transgression. It would be fun.

  For me at least.

  “Ladies! I’ve unlocked all of the doors to give you more of a fair chance,” I said into the intercom system that sat next to the breaker box. “I rather enjoy a good chase which is why I did this, but I also want you to know how this will end. Perry will be used and disposed of after I find you both. Now the question is this; will you do it Riley or would you rather that I did?”

  I turned off the system and closed the box. I stretched my arms over my head and walked into the kitchen. I pulled out a box of Weet-Bix and set it down on the counter. I smiled and shook my head as I went to the sink and reached into the overhead cabinet to retrieve my favorite bowl and then grabbed the box of cereal, pouring a good amount in before returning the box to its place. I reached into the refrigerator for the milk, poured about a quarter cup into the bowl, and put that back as well. I quickly unlocked the utensil drawer, pulled out my favorite spoon, and went into the living room.

  The reason I was smiling was because I could hear them shuffling as quietly as they could in the hallway above me. They were opening and closing doors, trying to find a place to hide unaware of the fact that I could hear them.

  So I took my normal place on the couch in the living room where I would like to sit before I “worked”. I grabbed the remote and turned on the television, watching whatever programming had come on at the moment and sat on the arm of the couch. As soon as I put my first spoonful in my mouth, I heard a set of footsteps approaching the doorway. I knew it wasn’t Perry because I didn’t know her footsteps yet.

  “Give up, have you?” I asked without turning around.

  “No,” she replied tentatively.

  “Then what is it?” I snapped.

  I was suddenly feeling rage start to surge through me and I was honestly afraid that I was going to hurt her. She needed to tell me what she wanted and then go hide. I needed the time to calm down.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Nothing truthful will come from fear or anger, Jaxton.

  “I’ll do it. I’ll do what you want me to do to Perry, but on two conditions,” she said in a shaky voice.

  “I don’t think you’re in a position to bargain, Riley,” I said, before eating another spoonful of cereal.

  “I’m not asking for anything difficult,” she pleaded.

  I rolled my eyes and placed my bowl on the table. I sighed and slid down onto the couch cushion so that I could turn and look at her comfortably. She was standing in the doorway wringing her hands with a towel wrapped around her body.

  “Name your conditions and know that I probably won’t agree to any of them,” I said.

  She nodded and looked over her shoulder quickly before turning her attention back to me. “I will not kill her; I won’t. I’ll do the other thing you want me to do, but you have to be in the same room watching and you have to let her go afterwards. If you give her what you gave me, whatever was in that needle, she won’t remember. Just give her more and she’ll never know she was here.”

  “I accept!” I said getting to my feet. “But only to one of your conditions and I’ve decided that you’ll have to kill her too.”

  “But why?” she asked frantically, glancing over her shoulder again.

  “Haven’t you guessed by now? I’m a monster. I don’t hide under your bed or in your closet. I don’t lurk in dark corners or only come out at night. I want you to be like me, Riley. I want to know that I’m not the only one that’s as damaged as I am. I want someone to share my torment with me, and I chose you.”

  She stared at me and slowly took two steps back for every step I took forward. Something suspicious was going on, I could tell just by her demeanor. Upstairs, I heard the sound of glass being smashed.

  “Little bitch!”

  I wasn’t referring to Riley, of course. I was referring to Perry and not because she was trying to escape, but because she was breaking my windows. I knew she couldn’t get out through any of the windows; they were reinforced for bars to drop into place if the glass was ever broken for any reason.

  Regardless, I shoved her roughly aside and started to make my way up the stairs when I heard Riley running up the stairs behind me.

  “Run!” she shrieked.

  I stopped running and Riley wound up running right into me. I knew that for someone as small as her it would be like running into a brick wall and I didn’t have the heart to turn around and knock her down the stairs, so I let her do it to herself. I heard her gasp as she ran into me then the sound of her body rolling down the steps followed by the sound of her head smacking roughly against the floor.

  I turned to look at her for a moment, before deciding she would be less trouble as a heap on the floor and set off down the hallway to find Perry.

  Eighteen

  I was standing on the balcony watching the ocean waves rolling slowly against the shoreline. A few hours had gone by and I was waiting with all of the patience I could muster. I really wanted to shake them both awake, but with Riley, I didn’t know if she had injured her head internally when she landed so shaking her wouldn’t be a good idea. Especially since I wanted her to be lucid and aware of the present she had tied to the bed next to her.

  I closed my eyes and breathed the ocean air in deeply and smiled. It might not have been Bondi Beach, but it was still beautiful and I loved being by the water again.

  Behind me Riley groaned on the bed and I opened my eyes. I turned my back to the ocean and to the darkening night sky. I leaned on the balcony railing and waited. She would notice her present in 3...2...1...

  “Perry? PERRY! Oh my God! Are you okay?” she asked, shaking the young girl furiously.

  “She won’t wake up that way,” I said softly. Riley spun around so quickly that she almost fell off of the bed.

  “What did you do to her? And what is this?” she asked, holding out the bottom or her lace see through lingerie that I had dressed her in. To say that I loved looking at her body would be a gross understatement.

  “That’s for my viewing pleasure and the closest you’ll get to clothes because of what you’ve done,” I replied with a half-smile. “And I didn’t do anything to her that I haven’t already done to you.”

  “You mean ... you ... Jaxton, did you?” she asked with wide eyes.

  “Calm down Riley. I simply checked to see if she was still a virgin,” I said holding up a hand to steady her.

  Riley climbed off of the bed and pulled every blanket, sheet, or quilt available over Perry to cover her. She hasn’t noticed the ropes yet, I thought slightly amused. She came toward me with fire in her eyes and her fists balled at her sides.

  “You’re incredibly sexy when you’re angry,” I said with a grin.

  “Let her go, Jaxton,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “No.”

  With an angry yell, she came at me and started to pound her little fists against my chest in a furious anger that I remembered so well. That’s how Anberlin tried to fight me off. I quickly grabbed her wrists on her next go at me and pulled her body against mine.

  “Are you kidding me?” she shrieked angrily.

  Riley’s violence toward me had me aroused and now she knew it. I grinned at her and turned her around. I held her tightly against my body, placed my head on her shoulder, and wrapped my arms tightly around her waist.

  “I can’t help that you do t
his to me,” I said with a chuckle. I inhaled deeply taking her scent in and becoming damn near intoxicated off of it. “What would you give me to save Perry’s life?”

  Her body was trembling adding to the intoxication that was starting to consume me. All I wanted was Riley; from the moment I saw her, from the moment I finally got the nerve to speak to her. She was everything I wanted and knew that I needed desperately.

  She mumbled something that I couldn’t quite make out. I turned her body gently so that I could look into her haunting blue eyes, but she refused to look at me.

  I gently lifted her chin with my hand, “Riley? What would you give me?”

  A single tear escaped down her right cheek as she whispered her answer again, “Forever.”

  I stared at her. I was convinced I heard her incorrectly because no one in their right mind would agree to be with me for the rest of their life. I narrowed my eyes and glanced past her at Perry who was still unconscious on the bed.

  “Why?” Why for her?” I asked suspiciously.

  “I’m not doing it for her, Jax. I’m doing it for you,” she said quietly.

  “What?” I asked in confusion.

  “I know I’ll never get out of here alive. I accept that, but I also feel that if I am to spend the rest of my life trapped within these walls, then you shouldn’t be bringing others into this place. You ... you can do with me whatever you want, but you have to let Perry go,” she said her voice soft and shaky.

  I shoved her away from me roughly. She fell to the balcony floor and looked up at me in confusion. I didn’t believe her even if I did intend to keep her with me forever; she would have to be accepting of the fact that I would not let Perry go. Not alive anyway.

  “Get on the bed and do what you bargained for then,” I said crossing my arms over my chest.

  “Not until you promise you’ll let her go,” she replied, shaking her head.

  I leaned down and grabbed her by her arm. Squeezing it tightly, I yanked her to her feet and shoved her onto the bed toward Perry.