by Avery Duncan
Her head hurt enough that she had to force herself to stop thinking and start moving. The lights were off -- but they normally were. No use to waste energy during the day when they had natural light streaming in from outside. All of the doors were closed, and as she moved farther into the house and closer to their bedroom, Jamie started to believe that he wasn’t there at all.
Nothing was hanging off of the walls. No pictures, no designs or mirrors. It was so bare, like a white prison.
Her stomach turned, ready to vomit.
All she wanted to do was go back to the gas station, find Talon, and crawl into his arms. Of course, though, he would be too busy and not even talk to her. She would wake up the next morning with him already out of the bed, and she would realize that they hadn’t even said anything to each other.
When was the last time they had talked? A week ago?
The thoughts about Talon served as a good distraction till she got to the bedroom. Inside, she would either find Chris on the bed, or the room empty and waiting for her to raid. Technically, she wasn’t stealing or even breaking and entering. Her bank account, her own money, had paid for everything in the house. The only problem she had with taking her clothing was that it would be a constant reminder of her life in this house until she got new ones.
Just like it had been when she had been opening the door to the house, the knob was like burning ice under her palm. With an image of Talon imprinted in her mind, she pushed open the door. At least if she was forced to stay, if he hurt her, she would be able to think of Talon and remember him --
No one was on the bed.
No one was standing in front of the closet.
No one was in the pool that sat on the other side of large glass windows.
It was so quiet that her ears rang even more than before. Long white sheets brushed against the ground, the air current lifting them slowly and gracefully. She stared at them, believing that Chris would jump out and attack her. Was that hysteria she felt creeping down her back? Or just the trickle of sweat produced by the fear that was tunneling through her body?
Probably both.
She pictured Talon’s hands on her shoulders, around her waist, threading into her hair. God, she wished he were here right now. Then she wouldn’t be so fucking scared, like she was about to pee her pants. If Chris came up to her with his fist raised, Talon would snap it in half. And she wouldn’t even care.
A bitter laugh rose. Yeah, right. If anything, she would be the one trying to break his arm. Jamie knew that with Talon near her, nothing would ever harm her.
It was midday. The snow was all but off of the ground. That scene from the Human Centipede popped into her brain, the one at the very end when the evil scientist and the cops are in the pool room. Pool lights had reflected off of the walls, just as they were in her room.
Putting her hands by her sides, straightening her shoulders, she walked to her closet and flung open the door. A large Giovanni purse was leaning against the wall, on the floor, surrounded by shoes. A little laugh burst from her, edging near hysteria, as she pulled reached for the handles and put it on the bed.
So much déjà vu. It was just like it had been a week or so ago. God, had it really been that short of time since she had been…what, kidnapped? It seemed like a millennia, except this time, she had a man to go to. One that wouldn’t hurt her.
Nervous, anxious tears burned her eyes. She couldn’t be here any longer; it was too much like it had been before. Every piece of clothing that she grabbed onto felt like it weighed a ton, and it was so hard to put it inside the large purse. By the time she had her second outfit in there, Jamie thought her arms were going to fall off.
And then the sound of a door opening shot through the room and right to her head.
Jamie froze like a deer caught in headlights. For a brief instant, she tried telling herself that it was Talon, and that Jessica had told him where she had went. But Talon moved with a silent grace. Chris liked to slam things around.
Just as he was now.
“Oh god,” she whispered, grabbing onto the purse and closing it shut as quietly as she could. The metallic clasp was like a bomb in her eardrum.
Large, thundering footsteps came closer to the door, and then — they stopped.
Taking a shuddering breath, and praying that her heart wouldn’t explode out of her chest, Jamie pushed the shoes back into the closet and did the smartest thing she could think of — she climbed into the closet and pulled the door shut.
Hopefully he would make a beeline for the bathroom and she would be able to sneak out while he was in there. When his footsteps sounded close to her ear, she almost died of a heart attack. There was no way she was going to get out of it. Chris would find her and she would die and Talon would…most likely go insane.
It took all of her willpower to not slam the door into his face before she could open it. After meeting Talon, so much had changed about her. Just thinking about him had her blood boiling, strength from memories of him making her courageous, and a new resolution to face her fears.
It figures that her thoughts would vanish the second the door was open.
Now she was close to whimpering and crying and shaking from head to foot. Great.
Jamie raised her hands to her face, preparing to be hit. She flinched against the wall, tears already welling in her eyes. She had been so stupid to come here, to think that by getting clothes she wouldn’t be a burden. What if this were Talon, and she lost him somehow?
At the thought, her heart broke and the first tear fell. Even though Talon would never let himself die, it still tore her at the soul to even think about it and knowing that he would be hurt by her death…
“Jamie, what are you doing.”
The bored, almost condescending tone had her head snapping up. It wasn’t Chris, coming to beat the ever-living crap out of her. No, it was the man that hadn’t had the time of day to talk to her for a whole week, who had ignored her and left her in the mornings, and now had the look of a completely irritated man.
The tears dried, replaced by shock.
“Talon?”
“Obviously. Now, what are you doing? Were you breaking into this house?” He looked around them slowly, taking in their surroundings with a sheen of disdain covering his eyes.
Her face turned a flaming red and she brought her hands to her cheeks, not knowing what else to do. He wasn’t moving from the doorway, nor was he making any move to.
“Actually, no…” she stuttered, wiping her cheeks. Talon stared down at her with mute concentration. She tried again. “I used to…well I do…live here…”
His eyes zeroed in on the pair of male loafers that were set next to her heels. An unreadable look clouded his eyes, and he looked at her with an even stonier silence. “Who lived here with you?” The abruptness of the question had her flinching.
“My boy…ex-boyfriend.” His eyes narrowed at the falter, and the emotion she saw flash through them had her knees buckling. She backed farther into the closet at the blatant fury within him.
“You had a boyfriend, and you let me —“
A door in the front slammed shut, signaling that another person had entered the house. Just as she thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did. Talon’s body went rock solid as tension flared between them, not just because of the fact that Chris was home but because of what he had been about say.
Her face had already been pale, but at the sound of him getting closer to their room, it became almost impossible to breath. As weakness overcame her, she stared at Talon and thought that, for a moment, he really wouldn’t do anything to protect her — but why should she rely on him? That was all she had been doing, even from the first moment at the mansion.
“What the fuck….who the hell are you?” Chris’s familiar voice shot through her. Killed her. Made her remember. Made her frightened.
Jamie pushed her hands through her hair and then looked around Talon, who had moved to the side. She stepped into Chr
is’s view and watched him as his eyes changed from shocked, to suspicious, then downright furious.
Talon stayed where he was, watching her with cold eyes.
“Fucking bitch,” he snarled, storming forward and grabbing onto her arm. The second his hand touched her arm, all of the faint gusto she had been building up crumbled and shudders wracked her body. Chris was going to hit her — she could feel it — and Talon wasn’t going to do a thing.
He simply stared at her. Quiet. Waiting. Like he was watching a boring game of golf and he wanted nothing more than to leave. Humiliation stung her while Chris jerked her to his side.
“You leave me for a motherfucking week! I come home and another man is in my room? In our room?” His malicious voice flowed into her ears like poison. Jamie tried to pull out of his hold, forgetting for a moment that Talon was there and watching this all happen.
It was just as it had been before. Except now? Chris didn’t care if they had an audience. No, it seemed to empower him because Talon sure as hell wasn’t doing anything to stop it.
And then she felt his hand in her hair, wrenching her back at a horizontal angle. The fear drained out of her in a slow trickle, replaced by anger. Fury. Humiliation. Shame. Jamie acted on instinct, bringing her foot down on his with enough force to make it crack. When he doubled over, hand falling from her hair, she took the opportunity to drive her elbow into his back.
His infuriated roar bounded off of the walls. Jamie flinched, but moved back from him quickly, despite all of her shaking. It didn’t occur to her that she could be hyperventilating till Talon’s hand fell on her shoulder. How did she know this? Because the sudden half of her panting left her light headed.
Jamie jerked, curling her hands into fists.
Chris had all but forgotten about Talon, focused on her instead. He braced his hands on his knees, catching his breath and still managing to scare the hell out of her. The hot, comforting feel of Talon’s hand dropped from her shoulder and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at his chest.
“Little whore. Where did you think you would go?” he sneered, taking a rough breath then standing up. “Think that bitch mother of yours would take you back?” He laughed, the sound sadistic and daunting. Jamie pressed her lips to keep from saying anything that would get her slapped. She was amazed that he hadn’t yet.
Was it because of Talon? No, Chris didn’t even seem to notice he was there anymore. He was so silent, almost blending into the background. How could he not have noticed? Was he that obsessed over Jamie? Her skin crawled.
And then, so fast, a dark blur shot past her head. Suddenly Chris was flying into the metal base of their bed. Jamie whipped around and met Talon’s eyes. They were still emotionless, still detached and almost bored, yet his body was rigid and ready to attack.
Everything after that happened so fast, it was more than a blur. It was as if Talon hadn’t moved, but when she looked back he was on top of Chris, driving his fists into the other man as if he were nothing but a punching bag. They were dealt so mercilessly that it looked like he was going to kill him.
Jamie cried out, Chris’s screams of pain mixing with her own.
She grabbed onto Talon’s swinging arm, but he just pushed her back with a soft shove before going back to beating the shit out of Chris. While she hated him with everything inside of her, Jamie had had enough violence to last her a life time and watching Talon work himself into jail wasn’t an option.
As the punching got worse, so did Chris’s high pitched cries. Ears grating, stomach roiling, eyes stinging, Jamie took a breath and then slammed into Talon, pushing him off of Chris with her body. At first, she felt a moment of triumph, thinking she had knocked him off with just her strength. But when his arms came around her, she realized that it had been because he had let her.
Even though, her eyes closed with relief as his comforting warmth surrounded her. She almost forgot that he had been about to murder Chris.
Behind her, Talon stood up to his feet slowly, all the while helping her to her feet. She could feel Chris staring at them, hating her even more than he had before. Fear shot to her stomach, at least before Talon’s hand came around her shoulder and soothed her nerves.
She turned her eyes away from Chris, listening to his intake of breath. “The next time I see you...”
Talon snarled and bent down, hand shooting out to wrap around his throat. The veins in his neck and face were bulging within seconds. Talon snarled, “If you want to continue this, I’d be more then glad to. But I don’t think my fiance would handle seeing you scream like the fucker you are. Come after me, you’ll lose something...” His eyes, as dark and deadly as evil itself, flickered over Chris’s body. “Important. But if you even touch her, you will die so slowly, so painfully, that you’ll feel it in the afterlife.”
He shoved Chris away from him and he slammed against the wall, the sound crashing around the room like an explosion.
Talon bent down, seeming to forget about Chris, and grabbed her purse. He set it on the counter and looked straight at her. “You won’t wear anything from this place ever again.” His command broke no argument, so she nodded and tried to keep her lip from trembling.
He took her from the house by her arm -- not by her hand, but her arm. Not personal. Not caring. Nothing but business.
When they got to the bike, she didn’t have enough pride to argue with him about riding on it. Quiet, shaking, and in turmoil, she held on for dear life as he started the bike.
The whole time, tears streamed down her cheeks.
~*~
“You fucked me while you were with another man?”
Jamie’s face drained of color at the anger, betrayal, and disgust in Talon’s voice. She hadn’t been with Chris, hadn’t since he had started the abuse. Was it right to consider a man who took pleasure in harming her, her lover? She hadn’t thought so. The only salvage she had found during hours of pain was that she hadn’t considered them an item, had detached herself as much as she could from him.
“I wasn’t with him... I was leaving him, before I met you.” Even to her own ears, her voice was soft and watery. She prayed he couldn’t tell that she was about to cry.
Going by the look in his eyes, it was a lost hope.
He sneered at her, shedding his jacket and throwing it at the chair. “Should I really believe that?”
Jamie stared at him, broken and at a loss for words. What could she say to him? Everything that Chris had done to her, and then have him call her a liar? It seemed to be the direction that things were heading in. Her heart was torn in two as he turned away from her.
“I don’t know why you wouldn’t,” she whispered, falling against the bed.
He had taken them to their rooms after picking her up off the bike. Her heart had fluttered dangerously in her chest before he had set her down and walked away from her without so much as a second look. Lucian had laughed when he’d seen her, Vladimir had grimaced, and Jessica had looked so pitiful that it had hurt Jamie to look at her.
She had made her way to their room slowly, not expecting him to give her the time of day.
At first, she had wished he would come to her. Now, though? She wanted to shove him out of the room, lock the door, and cry herself to sleep. Talon didn’t look like he planned on giving her a shed of mercy, and she didn’t expect any. After everything that she had done to them, why should he?
It was just as Chris had told her, over and over again. It wasn’t the people around her that were the problem -- it was her.
You’re nothing but a stupid idiot, his voice whispered in her head. Look what you’ve done? Pissed off the only thing good to you, the only thing that wants to support you. She flinched when the mental punch collided with her face.
Talon was tense. Silent. She waited for him to yell at her, to come after her like he had to Chris. What had happened to her belief that he wouldn’t hurt her? Jamie choked on her tears and moved farther onto the bed, grabbing the pillow and wr
apping herself around it.
The brief thought that if she pretended he wasn’t there, he would leave, crossed through her mind. It wasn’t until a second later that she felt the bed dip and his hand settled on her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” she begged, turning her head to look at him. “You almost killed him, Talon. And then you yell at me. What do you think I am? A whore? Trust me, I got called that enough by Chris. I know you might think that’s what I am, but even if I was, it hurts too much hearing it from you.”
Her broken plea was met with silence.
Jamie took a shuddering breath, raising shaking hands to her face. Her cheeks were wet. “If you’re going to accuse me about things you don’t know, I would like you to leave. If you don't, then I will.”
“No you won’t,” he snarled, tightening his hand on her shoulder. She started to move away, hating herself for crying in front of him, for letting him touch her, for letting him near her after what she had seen him do. “If you leave me, there won’t be anyone that will help keep you from me.”
His voice had her shivering, and not with fear. She stared at him with wide, watery eyes. “Don’t say stuff like that.”
“Why not? It’s true, Jamie. If you ever leave like that again... God. Just don’t. I’ll kill anyone, I’ll do anything, to get you by my side again.”
The utter possession in his voice made her gasp. When she looked into his eyes, everything stopped. Her tears. Her breath. Her heart. The fear and pain.
His hand cupped her cheek gently, his other coming around her waist to pull her up and into his arms. “I can’t risk losing you,” he whispered, his silvery eyes tracing over her face like ghostly fingers. She felt as if he were trying to memorize her, trying to learn everything he could about her just through staring at her.
Her hands fisted in his shirt. “You hurt me,” she sobbed, pushing him away yet pulling him closer at the same time.
Talon stared down at her, his emotions warring openly in his eyes. For the longest second, she thought he wouldn’t reply to her. When he did, though, his voice was void of emotion. “Those things he said -- what was he talking about? What did he do to you?”