~#~
After what felt like hours of sitting in the room alone in my misery, the door clicked behind me again. I had no more fight left as the footsteps approached. I’d expended all of my energy fruitlessly trying to rid myself of the restraints and all I’d accomplished was earning nasty welts around my wrists and ankles from the effort.
I kept my eyes fixed on my lap, wondering if Edward was back, maybe with the person that wanted to talk to me so badly that he would have someone drug me and tie me to a chair for two days.
Something china chinked against the floor, then scraped as it was pushed into view. I looked down at it; a plate with a ham sandwich on it, a bottle of water was put next to it. If I’d had enough fluid in my body, I would have salivated at the sight of it. My stomach grumbled loudly as my dry tongue unconsciously swept my cracked lips.
Turning my head as far as I could and looking over my shoulder, I saw a youngish looking guy hovering behind me nervously. He shifted on his feet, his brown eyes watching me worriedly; he looked almost scared of me.
“Eat then,” he muttered, nodding at the plate that was at my feet.
I laughed humourlessly, the sound coming out as a strangled cackle. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” I nodded down at my tied hands in example.
He frowned, gulping. I silently wondered why he looked so nervous. “Oh, but I’m not supposed to goes near you,” he said nervously, glancing over his shoulder towards the door.
I sighed and looked back to the front again as my stomach made another angry gurgle. “Just take it away then. Don’t leave it there to tease me that’s just cruel,” I muttered, sniffing as the tears started to fall again.
“Er, I’m not…. They tolds me not to go near you…. I’s been told,” he mumbled.
I sniffed and nodded, hanging my head, just waiting for the drugs to wear off so I could hear Sean’s voice again.
“Don’t cry. I don’t like it when pretty girls cry,” he said quietly.
I looked back over my shoulder at him, taking in his appearance for the first time. He was frowning, scratching at the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. His face was young-looking, maybe early twenties, but the way he was standing and shifting around made him look even younger, almost childlike. He didn’t quite look right, something about his brown eyes made me think that he was a little slow or something.
I decided to play it a little and see how far I could push this guy. If I could just get my hands free….
“I’m so hungry. Please, can you just untie my hands so I can eat? You can tie them right back up after,” I suggested, looking at him hopefully.
He made a strangled noise and looked back over his shoulder again as if the answer was out there.
“I don’t knows. I shouldn’t, Billy saids I was just to give you the food and wait for you to eat it so I could bring the plate back, that’s all.”
I nodded encouragingly. “It’ll be fine, just for a few minutes. I’m sure Billy won’t mind.”
He shook his head fiercely, his eyes turning a little scared as he winced as if frightened. I was immediately wondering who this ‘Billy’ was. He didn’t look like he was going to cave in; I was going to lose my chance if I wasn’t careful. “Maybe you could tie them up in the front then instead.
That way I can still eat and I’ll still be tied up, how about that? I’m sure Billy wouldn’t mind that, after all, I’d still be tied up, right?” I suggested, smiling kindly.
Please, please!
He frowned, cocking his head, seeming to think about it. Mentally I planned it all out. If he untied my hands I could grab the china plate, smash it and threaten to hurt him with it if he didn’t get me out of here. I didn’t want to actually hurt him, but I would if I had to. Maybe I could knock him out or something and then cut the ropes with a piece of broken plate and run….
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied uncomfortably.
Oh God, please! “What’s your name? Mine’s Tyler Houston. I’m seventeen, how old are you?” I asked, changing the subject, trying to get him to trust me.
“Thomas, I’m twenty last week,” he said, grinning proudly.
I smiled too. “Thomas is a nice name. We both have names that start with T,” I cooed. He laughed and nodded. “Thomas, I’m so hungry that my stomach hurts. Please can you tie my hands at the front instead? Please?” I begged, giving him my puppy dog face.
He chewed on his lip, his eyes darting around the empty room. “But if I unties you then you’ll hurt me, they told me you is a bad person. You want to hurt us, that’s why we have to ties you up,” he said, frowning.
Me, a bad person? That was irony at its best, the bad guys telling him that the innocent girl was dangerous! “I’m not a bad person, I promise. I won’t hurt you.” Well, not unless I had to….
He seemed to be weighing his options and I silently begged him with my eyes. Finally he rolled his eyes and a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as he stepped forward, his hands outstretched towards my back. I closed my eyes and smiled weakly. His fingers worked at the knot in the rope at my wrists. I felt the ropes being pulled away and I mentally prepared myself to move quickly.
As soon as the rope was off however, I realised that my plan wasn’t going to work. I literally had no control over my arms. They’d been tied behind my back for so long that the pain in my shoulders when I moved almost made me retch it was so bad. I cried out as my muscles protested and screamed when I tried to move. The feeling was rushing back into my hands way too fast, feeling like a thousand needles were stabbing into my skin as the nerves woke up again after so long of being asleep. I was useless. It would take a while for me to regain control over my limbs like this, even if I could reach down and grab the plate I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to get my fingers to actually grip it to pick it up. I was screwed.
“You got cut,” he said quietly. I whimpered as he moved my hands into my lap where they hung limply. I looked down at my wrists to see they were a mess, the skin was raw and bleeding, and they weren’t healing either because of the stupid inhibiter drug.
“Yeah, the ropes were too tight. Can you do them a little looser this time?” I begged, feeling my chin wobble as he picked up the bottle of water and unscrewed the lid. I tried to roll my shoulders to try and gain control in them, but it was useless. I’d been here for two days, if I’d been tied in that position for that long then it would take a while before I would be able to use them properly, there was no point in my even trying to carry out my plan, I’d probably just end up getting myself hurt in the process because I wasn’t cooperating or something. It was best I played along for now until I had a good opportunity to escape.
Thomas smiled kindly as he took hold of my hands, moving them forward, making pain zap through my neck and shoulders. He held them over the floor and tipped a little of the water over my wrists to clean them. It felt nice because the water was so cold, but at the same time the small pressure of the water made it sting even more and I couldn’t help but hiss through my teeth.
Thomas winced and stopped, putting the water down and taking hold of the bottom of his shirt. He patted them dry with his black t-shirt, looking at my wrists worriedly. “I don’t have a plaster,” he said apologetically.
I smiled at how nice he was. What was someone like him doing with mixed up with people like this anyway? “That’s okay,” I whispered, eyeing the bottle of water on the floor.
He followed my gaze and looked down at it, smiling as he picked it up and passed it to me. I greedily gulped some down, ignoring the burning in my throat. “You want to eat now?” he asked, picking up the plate and putting it in my lap. I nodded and winced as I moved, clumsily picking up the sandwich and nearly dropping it in the process because my muscles were so tight making my movements jerky. I took a bite, chewing slowly as he sat back on his heels in front of me, watching me curiously. “You don’t look like a bad person. Bad people are usually ugly,” he commente
d.
I smiled at that, usually in fairy-tales yeah that was how it works. Not here though, the bad people were shifters, and shifters were almost abnormally beautiful - take Thomas for example. I knew he was a shifter because he was so handsome, his skin was flawless and radiant, he was tall and perfectly proportioned. In this story the bad guys weren’t ugly at all.
“I’m not a bad person, honestly. Who told you that?” I asked, taking another bite of the stale bread and cheap meat, not even caring that it didn’t taste nice.
“My brother, Billy, he tolds me. And the men that came here with you, they all saids you were bad and that I wasn’t allowed to see you,” he replied, his eyes raking over my face curiously, as if he was trying to work me out.
So Billy was his brother, that’s probably how he got mixed up in this mess, family association.
“How come you’re in here then?” I asked.
He shrugged. “A lot of the men, they went away to pick up someone from somewhere. It’s just me and Billy here. He sent me down here to give you your food. He didn’t want to come down because of the air,” he explained, pointing at the air vent that was at the top of the wall.
I nodded thoughtfully. Because of the air? What was that about? I dismissed it though, Thomas probably just misunderstood or something. “So, where are we?” I asked, trying to get the information from him in a friendly way as I ate my sandwich.
“My house. It’s a farm,” he said, nodding proudly. “Me and my brother, we runs it on our own. We have cows and we grow wheat,” he said, grinning proudly.
A farm. Now if only that information would actually be helpful, but basically it was no use at all, how on earth many farms were there across England, I could be anywhere! I finished the sandwich then and he slid the empty plate off of my lap onto the floor. I knocked back the rest of the water, not bothering to save any for later; I didn’t want to risk them taking it off of me and me missing out.
He picked up the rope and I winced, weighing my options. He said there were two of them. What were the chances of me overpowering Thomas with my arms in the state that they were in right now, then getting my feet restraints off, and making it past yet another shifter before escaping.
Pretty damn slim I figured. I should wait for a better opportunity.
“Bathroom. Can I go to the bathroom first?” I pleaded.
He frowned again; his nervousness was back again now. His defences back in place. “I don’t think you is allowed to the bathroom. I’ll have to ask Billy,” he said, taking hold of my hands again.
“Please? I’m desperate. I’m gonna pee myself if I don’t go, I can’t hold it,” I lied, begging him with my eyes. I just wanted to get a look at where I was, try and get my bearings a little.
He sighed, his eyes flicking to the door. “There’s a bathroom down the hall, I guess you coulds use it if you promise not to tell them I let you,” he said, looking at me worriedly.
I nodded eagerly, but to my dismay he immediately wrapped the rope back around my damaged wrists. The roughness of the rope immediately chaffed and made the pain come back again so I let out a little whimper and shut my eyes. At least he was doing it at the front this time, so my shoulders would have a chance to relax.
When he’d bound my wrists, he immediately started untying my legs. Once he’d pulled off the rope on my second leg, my body seemed to act without my permission. My leg shot out, my foot connecting with his face making him fall back against the wall with a loud crash. I whimpered, shocked at my own actions. Why the hell had I done that? I didn’t even know if I could stand and I’d just blown the relationship I’d established with someone who could be an asset to me when I was in better condition. But it was too late to think about it now, I couldn’t take it back.
Barely a second had passed before I pushed myself up from the chair, immediately I almost fell over because my legs were numb and wobbly. Thomas gasped and looked at me with wide eyes, cowering against the wall as if I was going to murder him. I frowned, trying to regain my balance.
What on earth had they told him about me? I didn’t stop to ponder it, instead I stumbled awkwardly, gripping the chair for support as leant down and grabbed the plate from the floor, fumbling with it and dropping it before I managed to clutch it between my two hands.
Adrenalin was the only thing keeping me on my feet as I half ran, half stumbled towards the door. I could hear Thomas getting up behind me so I pushed myself faster, stepping through the door and gripping hold of the heavy metal door and slamming it shut just as he got to it so it slammed in his face. There was a key hanging in the lock so I twisted it, ignoring Thomas shouting and banging on the door the other side. He was screaming at me not to hurt his brother, that he loved him and he was all he had.
Again I wondered what on earth they’d told him about me for him to be so afraid, he was a shifter for goodness sake, I couldn’t hurt him even if I tried! “Be quiet then! Just shh and I won’t hurt him, but if you keep shouting and banging then I’m gonna kill him!” I lied through the door.
The banging stopped immediately and I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew I wouldn’t have much time but hopefully I’d had just enough to get out and find a road, maybe flag down a car and get them to call Sean for me.
My eyes flicked around the dusty, dingy looking hallway. This seemed to be the last room, there was only one way out and I would probably need to be quick. This Billy guy had to be somewhere, what if he’d heard Thomas shouting and banging? I fumbled with the plate deciding not to break it here, on the off chance that Billy hadn’t heard the commotion that Thomas had made then I didn’t want him to hear a plate break and get suspicious.
I stayed pressed against the wall as I inched forwards, praying my legs wouldn’t give out on me.
My whole body ached and felt weary but I couldn’t think about that now. I pushed myself to the end of the hallway, coming to a set of old wooden stairs with a door at the top. I winced and prayed they weren’t creaky ones or something that would give me away. I held my breath as I slowly climbed; keeping the plate tightly against my stomach so I wouldn’t drop it. When I got to the top I pressed my ear against the door, listening. I could hear a TV or something on, maybe SpongeBob or something playing. Taking a few deep breaths I prayed that there was no one in the room, that I would open it and find it empty.
The Gods must have been with me because as I awkwardly twisted the door knob and peeked into the old lounge room, no one shouted or jumped on me. The room was empty. I didn’t take time to look around; instead I decided to just leave. I held my breath and sprinted across the room, into another, the kitchen, without even checking that it was clear. When I caught a glimpse of something from the corner of my eye I skidded to a stop, my heart jumping into my throat. A phone. There was a freaking phone!
I ran to it, picking it up excitedly. Maybe I could call Sean, get them to trace the number, then I could hide somewhere and wait until he got here. That was the plan anyway, but my plans were quashed when I put it to my ear and heard no dial tone. I pressed the receiver a couple of times before looking at the wire to see it had been cut in two. I groaned, I guess they wouldn’t want someone calling and blowing their plans!
I put it down quickly and just decided to go with the flagging down a car plan from earlier.
Shuffling around the huge oak kitchen table, I reached the door and pulled the little blue curtain to the side so I could peek out. There was no one outside as far as I could see. This was clearly a farm like Thomas had said. I could see outbuildings everywhere, dirt roads, a tractor sat idle near the barn that seemed to be filled with hay. I couldn’t see a car that I could try and steal. Looks like I was on foot.
I twisted the handle, pulling the door open slowly, looking out cautiously for Thomas’s brother, but I didn’t see a soul. Not wanting to be here for a second longer than necessary, I peeled out of the kitchen door as fast as I could, deciding to head right and just prayed that it led to a road or something.
<
br /> The wind felt so nice in my face that I gulped in lungful’s of clean air as I ran, heading towards the trees that I could see about a hundred yards away from me. I was going to make it; I was seriously going to make it! The smile stretched across my face, as I pushed my weary legs faster, praying I wouldn’t fall over because my hands wouldn’t be much good to me tied up like this, I was liable to break my face if I fell.
I didn’t look back at the farm as I ran, ran for my life as fast as I could. Maybe I should have done, maybe I should have covered my tracks so that they couldn’t follow me, but I was too pumped up to stop running.
I didn’t stop as I reached the woods. I ran inside, tripping and stumbling as I raced around trees, heading further and further in so I was a safe distance from the house. When my lungs felt like they were on fire, I stopped, leaning against a tree, trying to catch my breath. My eyes darted everywhere as my heart beat erratically in my chest. Taking the plate that I’d brought with me, I slammed it against the tree, paying it would break into a jagged piece. It clattered to the soft earthy floor so I dropped down to my knees, searching through for a big enough piece to do the job I wanted. When I found one, I propped it between my knees and moved my bound hands back and forth over the sharp edge, cutting into the rope. It too way too long, a lot longer than I anticipated but I couldn’t stop now, it was half done.
From somewhere nearby I heard shouting. I had no idea how long I’d been running, but they couldn’t have caught up with me that quickly, could they? I held my breath, sawing the rope against the jagged plate harder and faster, praying it would break so that I could defend myself. Maybe Billy had gone down to see what was taking Thomas so long, maybe it was just the two of them following me and I could somehow hit them with a rock or something? My eyes searched the ground for a rock as I worked my hands. Suddenly my wrists popped open as the rope split. An involuntary whimper of relief escaped my lips before I dived for the palm sized rock that I’d spotted. I pushed myself up and ran in the same direction, needing to put more distance between me and my pursuers. My stomach was twisted in a knot as I heard more shouting.
Bond Mates Page 36