The large interior entry hall had no windows except for the window she spotted far back in the kitchen. The A-frame steepled roof, however, had large rectangular skylights that filtered in the bright sun in big shafts of light towards the floor. Stepping into the light, Zane stood with his hands in his jean pockets, giving her a lazy smile while his eyes danced bright with mischief.
“Zane,” she whispered, her heart beating faster unsure of his reaction to her trying to escape.
Smiling wider he simply watched her a moment longer as she held herself flat against the door.
Blue eyes went wide as if a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Would you like a tour of the house and the island, sweetheart?”
Shaking her head, she stepped cautiously forward, she had to try to reason with him. “Zane, please, let me go I don’t deserve this,” her voice sounded strained even to her, but she continued searching his handsome face for any sign of mercy. “Please let me go.”
Just like the broken shift in light Zane’s smile disappeared, and his face became unreadable. Stepping forward he slowly crowded her until she was pressed back against the heavy door, trapped between it and his large body. Nervously she blinked at his bright burning gaze.
“Sweetheart, you can either accompany me hand-in-hand on a tour or…” Zane let his last words trail off as he leaned closer until their faces were only inches apart. Everly’s heart felt as if it was slamming in her chest as she watched his eyes dip down and settle on her lips. “Or you can kiss me.”
Everything was so silent between them, only the sound of her frantic heartbeat like a war drum in her chest. Surely he could hear it, she thought.
“And sweetheart, I so very badly want to kiss you.” His low, silken tone wrapped around her and ensuring her he meant every word.
Oh God, he was insane, she was trapped by a madman. Could he not hear himself? Or see what he was doing to her? But the bright blue gaze didn’t waver.
Everly had no choice, she knew if she continued to plead for him to let her go he would kiss her and if she didn’t take his offer for the tour, he would also kiss her. Seeing her capitulation, Zane leaned back and held out his hand. Everly didn’t miss the look of disappointment that passed his eyes before he quickly masked it with his usual wicked charm. Placing her hand in his, Everly had to suppress the nervous shudder that ran through her as she felt his broad callused hand close around hers.
“Now, let’s start in the house,” Zane tugged her to follow.
On the first floor, there were four major rooms; the bedroom, the foyer that included the kitchen, the great living room, and an office. The living room was double the size of the bedroom and had a vaulted A-frame ceiling just like the main front hall. Instead of skylights, it had two large walls of tall windows on either end and a massive hearth style fireplace in the middle of the longest wall. A dark comfortable looking sectional surrounded the great hearth as well as a few wingback chairs near the tall windows. The office Zane merely pointed to casually as he whisked her up the stairs in the foyer, claiming they would get to that later. Upstairs were four identical bedrooms that were practically empty. Only two of the rooms had beds, beds that looked as if they were actually being used.
Still, with her hand firmly in his, Zane stopped them back at the front door. Letting go of her hand, he opened what looked to be a small coat closet and bent down and grabbed something. Turning back, he gently set her boots down in front of her. Everly just stared at the boots letting the implication set in. These were her boots, the boots she kicked off when she came home from the bank. They took them as well. Looking back up he gave her the same indiscernible smile as he waited for her to comply. Slipping on the boots, she couldn’t help but wonder what else did they take.
“Okay sweetheart, now this,” Zane handed her a camel colored corduroy jacket with dark purple embroidery.
Her body stiffened. Oh God, was this some other victim’s clothing? Stepping back, Everly gave him a horrified look. Earlier on the tour of the house, Everly saw a backdoor by the kitchen, she could run if…
Zane gave her a level look. “We always hated your thin flannel jacket but could never come up with a valid reason to get you a new one.” Stepping closer he held open the jacket prompting her to put her hands through. Reid’s intense face in the rain that day as he berated her jacket flashed through her mind. Her pulse calmed, slightly, as she accepted the jacket.
“Gloves,” he handed her a matching purple pair, these still had a tag dangling off. “And a hat.” Instead of handing her the hat, Everly caught her breath as he stepped closer. The heat rolling off his imposing body surrounded her bringing with it a subtle, clean smell of some sort of aftershave or maybe cologne. Pulling the plum colored hat gently down the crown of her head and over her wild curls Zane stepped back with a satisfied look.
Shouldering on his own coat, he grabbed her hand again before walking outside. The grip on her gloved hand was strong as Zane tugged her down the cabin stairs onto the gravel walkway. “That is the only land entrance and exit to the island.” Pointing down the gravel path to where the large black truck was sitting on, towards the large metal gate in the distance. The cabin sat on top of what felt like a small hill, Everly had to squint through the dense tree-lined road to catch a glimpse of the gate.
“Island?” She questioned softly, still taking note of the imposing gate as a possible escape route.
“Here, let me show it to you at the best angle.”
Following the narrow footpath around the cabin, Zane guided her through the thick grove of trees until they stopped at a small clearing. The clearing was more like a steep edge that dropped off into the lapping water below. Dark emerald waters lapped steadily against the rocks below them pushing back and forth until it faded into the light blue waters surrounding them. There was no other land beyond them, just endless rippling water.
“Is this the ocean?” Her voice held a note of fear and awe, all intertwined together.
She had only ever seen the ocean once, back when she was in Savannah on a date with Peter. They walked hand-in-hand that day, looking at tidepools and watching the sunset. She could still remember wishing they could spend every day like that just as she could still remember his beautiful deceiving smile.
“No, this is a lake,” Zane smiled. “Though it is easy to forget that since it’s pretty big.”
Trying to piece together the little facts she had, the plane ride, the drive here and now this, Everly was only coming up with more questions.
“Where am I?” She asked boldly. They seemed confident enough in their ability to keep her here, this was her chance to dig for any answers or information that may help her get out.
Turning to face her, Zane gave her a slow-growing smile as he stared at her with those cunning blue eyes. Was he weighing his options on what to tell her?
“You have no idea how much I wanted to show you this,” Everly nearly yelped as she felt herself being tugged forward against his wide chest. With her cheek pressed against his shirt, Everly could feel the rumbling words vibrate through him. “I can barely believe you’re here now.”
No, she wanted to scream. She wasn’t “here now” she was abducted and held captive by two insane men. But she didn’t, she didn’t say anything as he continued to rub her back softly forcing her to absorb the heat radiating from his clean smelling shirt in between his unzipped jacket. She just stood there stiffly. Eventually, he stepped back, holding her by the shoulders he looked at her, the golden eyebrows furrowed as he wanted to say something more. Swiping a hand through his curling gold hair, Zane looked out to the water before turning back to her, the look in his eyes dissipated replaced by his usual amused gleam.
“This, sweetheart, is Pitch Island, just like I told you when we would chat online. It’s at the US and Canadian border.”
“You mean when you tricked me online,” she clarified accusingly, daring him to say otherwise.
Giving her an unapologetic wink, he grinned, taking he
r hand again tugging her to follow. Incensed by his callused admission to his treachery, Everly tried to dig in her heels, she refused to go anywhere else with him.
Zane stopped ahead of her, his arm still outstretched behind him holding out hers. Looking over his shoulder, some of his golden hair fell in front of the one eye she could see. “Would you like for me to carry you, my sweet Everly? Because it wouldn’t bother me in the least.”
The excited spark in his eye told her he would do it, too.
Giving into the pull of her hand, she fell back in step behind him as he continued the tour. The island was about ten acres covered in dense trees, as if a bit of the forest just broke off from the mainland forming this small chunk of land by itself in the water. There were three large buildings on the island and one small boathouse. The second mode of entry and exit, Zane commented, to which she committed to memory was the boathouse. Although as she glanced at the endless water on the horizon, Everly wasn’t so sure escaping by boat was the wisest idea. The waters were cold and fathomless, and Zane mentioned that the lake was so big that it even had its own storms over the water. The road would be her only escape option.
“Next to the greenhouse, is the barn,” stepping over a small ditch they were now on the other side of the cabin. “We use it mainly for our trucks and…”
A loud beeping siren blared around them before silencing.
“What was that?” Looking around she couldn’t find where the noise came from.
“That was the gate alarm,” Zane explained as he escorted her over another small ditch in their path. “Reid is back.”
Back from where? Was there a town or civilization nearby she could run to for help? So many questions were going through her mind.
Tired of playing along she stopped firmly in her tracks this time forcing him to turn around and look at her. The smile on his lips faded a bit, but didn’t totally disappear as he read her expression, he still held her hand.
“Zane please,” she looked directly into his eyes, she needed him to see that she was serious. “Please let me go, take me back home. I don’t want to be trapped here, I’m not weak I’m not some weak child that needs your help. I was happy on my own…”
“Were you?” He asked softly, his smile completely faded leaving only the hard angles of his face and firm set lips.
Frustrated to the verge of tears she yelled. “Yes!”
Receiving no response just his unending stare she yanked back on her arm hoping to make a run for the gate. The wet leaves under the soles of her boots caught her backward momentum instead. Pitching backwards, she felt her balance slip from her grasp, she watched Zane’s face change to shock in mere seconds.
The grip underneath her arm and around her stomach stunned her nearly as much as the near fall. Looking up, she scrambled to secure her footing when she saw the glimpse of scruff from the dark beard, Reid. Setting her upright Everly turned towards him, instinctively she wanted to say thank you, but her pride refused. She shouldn’t even be here!
As if sensing her oncoming accusations, Reid spoke first. “Have you eaten?”
Back inside the warm cabin, Reid waved her to sit down at the large kitchen island. Letting Zane help her take her jacket off she handed him the hat and gloves. Reid began taking out various ingredients from the fridge when Zane came back sliding onto the barstool next to her. Wearing a hunter green and burgundy button-down flannel shirt, Reid had his sleeves rolled up just under his elbow. Grabbing an egg from the carton on the counter next to him, Everly watched the corded muscles flex underneath his tattooed forearm. Remembering the tattoos on Zane’s arm at the bank she wondered if they decided together on getting them.
The kitchen island faced the back wall, allowing her to look out the long kitchen windows that overlooked the water Reid was working on the counter next to them with his back towards her as he cooked. Again, her eyes were drawn to the dark patterns embedded into his arm. “You aren’t really a teacher, are you?”
The question came out louder than she intended, the quiet warmth of the kitchen momentarily disrupted. But Reid never stopped his movements even as he answered. “No, but I like to think I make a pretty good one.” Stirring something into a large silver bowl, she watched him raise his head as if to really consider his own teaching merits.
Zane snorted in response.
“You weren’t very nice to people,” she whispered.
Zane laughed out loud this time, smiling easily at his brother’s back, knowing he could feel it. “That was a polite way of saying you were an asshole.”
Reid slowly looked over his shoulder, shooting Zane a dangerous look before grabbing another egg.
“I was never mean to you, despite the fact you were frightened of me,” his voice softened, threading his gravelly voice in velvet.
The soft roughness of his voice challenged her to find a time where he was cruel to her as he was with her classmates—she couldn’t.
Frowning, she sat straighter in her chair, that was beside the point, the man was a criminal. “Well not for good reason as it turned out,” she bit back.
Everly could only hear Zane’s “touché” under his breath as she continued to stare at Reid’s broad back as he prepared the food. Was that a smile? Everly could swear she could see the rise of his cheeks as if he was smiling. Not once had she seen Reid smile, she had started to doubt he even could. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she wished he would turn around and smile at her. Anything to confirm he wasn’t a complete monster, just something to waylay the constant fear eating at her.
Turning to Zane, she caught his curious gaze. “How did you get Mrs. Hornsby to leave?”
“That didn’t take much,” Reid answered as he poured something onto the skillet in front of him. “Since her husband worked from home and watched their twin boys, that was simply a matter of pulling a few strings. That forced him to go into work, resulting in her having to stay home.”
His matter-of-fact, clinical tone bristled her every nerve.
“How can you be so nonchalant with up-heaving that poor woman’s life just so you can pretend to be my teacher?” Clutching at the metal counter’s edge, she ignored the fact that she was yelling at two men who had her trapped on their remote island cabin.
Finally, he turned around, his hard face completely impassive to the storm of emotions she was feeling. Setting down the plate of food in front of her, Reid meet her gaze. His face may have been indifferent, but his cold eyes glittered like a winter storm.
“I needed to see you for myself,” his answer was dark and calm.
Tears welled up in her eyes, angrily she tried to blink them away as she stared at the steaming food in front of her. They could not be reasoned with, she understood that now. This type of unyielding wall wasn’t foreign to her, she encountered it her whole life growing up. A wall built on stubborn, selfish pride but instead of her father on the other side wanting to keep her trapped in their family’s traditions it was these two keeping her trapped for their own delusional pleasure. There was no use reasoning with them, escape was her only option.
“Where’s mine?” Zane grumbled at Reid, looking at her plate of scrambled eggs hungrily.
Looking up she watched Reid drag his gaze from her where he had been watching and shoot Zane a look that told him he could make his own.
“Do you rob banks often?”
Setting some familiar pill-bottles in front of her, Reid gave her a stern look. “No. Eat and take your vitamins.”
It was prenatal vitamins. The same vitamins that sat on her kitchen counter by her microwave in her apartment. There was nothing they didn’t think of, that only made her swallow nervously.
Shooting Reid, a lethal glare at his brusque tone, Zane gave her an understanding smile. “No, we only did that because we were bored out of our skull waiting on another job to come in.”
Still confused she gave a skeptical look, not sure if he was being serious.
Holding up his hands, Z
ane laughed and leaned further back into his chair while hooking one of his feet to the bottom rung of her own chair with uncomfortable familiarity. “I’m serious. Once I finally got out of the military, we started working on this damn cabin,” he waved his hand around him. “We worked nearly two years straight. And sweetheart, I have to tell you when I say we were bored I mean we were going batshit-stir-crazy. By the time we decided to take the bank job for some old military friends of Reid’s, we were at each other’s throats nearly every other day.”
Avoiding Reid’s monitoring stare, Everly nibbled on the piece of pineapple after finishing her scrambled eggs. The military—that made sense. Reid’s straight formal posture, Zane’s controlled precise movements, both trained soldiers. That made them even more capable of keeping her here, right where they wanted her. Another thought struck her, were they going to do more jobs like the bank job? Looking to Zane he had his usual friendly approachable expression, she knew she could ask him anything and he would tell her without question. Reid on the other hand, looking at him she flinched a little at his tense jaw and hard features. Everly couldn’t be sure if that was his usual expression or anger from her earlier question. Taking another bite of her fruit, she snuck him another glance. The hard gleam in his eyes softened a bit as if reading her mind. He wasn’t angry he was simply waiting for her to inquire more, waiting and wanting her to.
Back to Black: A captive ménage romance Page 7
