by Sabre Rose
I start to protest, but at a warning glare from Cameron I shut my mouth and hold out my hand instead. Iris just stares at it and turns back to her book.
“Pleasure to meet you,” she drawls, her eyes scanning the pages.
“Ignore her.” Daisy pulls me away. “She’s always dull when Senior’s not around to pay her attention.”
Iris’s middle finger rises up the outside of her book.
“I’ll take you to meet Lily instead.”
“Sebastian told me to keep my eye on you at all times,” Cameron calls out. “Don’t leave my sight. If you need the bathroom or anything, let me know. You are not to leave this room without me, do you understand?”
“My god, you’re so ridiculous, Cameron. Where’s she going to go, huh? Don’t you think if there was a way out we would have all left by now?” She rolls her eyes and drags me across the room as I twist to catch Cameron’s eye.
“I’m just following orders.” He glares at me, attempting to convey some hidden meaning to his words. “Let me know, okay?”
“Here.” Daisy knocks on a door. “Lily has been here the longest,” she whispers in my ear. “In fact, I don’t even know how long she’s been here. It’s been years.”
The door opens, and blue eyes blink back at me with indifference. “What?” The woman looks between us, a glass of white wine held between her fingers.
“Lily, I’d like you to meet Mia. Mia, this is Lily.”
Lily’s eyes scan me from head to toe. “Pleasure to meet you,” she says with the same enthusiasm as Iris.
I lift my hand and offer a feeble smile and wave. Lily leans against the doorframe. She’s a beautiful woman but old enough to be Daisy and Iris’s mother. Her clothing and styling don’t have the same childish appeal that the two younger girls do, and her room is filled with far more luxuries. I wonder how many years she’s been trapped here.
“You Junior’s girl?”
There’s something about her that makes me want to salute or call her ma’am. Instead, I merely nod.
She narrows her eyes. “Don’t say much, do you? I suppose Junior’s scared any personality out of you already.”
I open my mouth to say something, but let it fall shut when my mind goes blank. There’s something oddly familiar about the woman. Something in the way she stands, something in her stance that I’ve seen many times before.
“Who were you?” I finally find my voice.
“Who was I?” Lily laughs and takes another sip of her wine, even though it’s barely past lunch. “What does that matter?”
“You look familiar.”
“You’ll get over it,” she says and then closes the door in my face.
“They are nice once you get to know them,” Daisy whispers before walking back over to the couch and patting the space beside her. “Come, sit.”
“I—” I look over at Cameron. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Cameron rolls his eyes and heaves himself off the wall. “Of course you do.” He walks down the length of the room toward a door at the rear. “Come on. I haven’t got all day.”
Opening the door, he allows me to walk in first and then closes it firmly behind him. I follow down a narrow hallway, through another room and then out another door controlled by a keypad. “He’s in there.” He nods to a door and opens it wide. “Don’t be long. They’ll get suspicious if it takes too long.”
The room is dimly lit and I peer through the darkness.
“Ryker?” I swallow the nervous knot of guilt at the back of my throat. I have no idea how he will respond to seeing me.
And then I see him. He’s sitting in a chair, legs spread wide and hands looped together as he waits. The sight of him causes my heart to leap in my chest and I quicken my steps.
“Mia?” he gets to his feet, shrinking the distance between us as he strides over and takes my face between his hands. “Mia?” His eyes dart between mine. “Are you okay?”
My nervousness melts and tears spring to my eyes. Pulling me close, he engulfs me in an embrace as he strokes my hair, smoothing it over my head and down my back.
“You’re okay,” he says more to himself than me. “You’re okay.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I hold on tightly. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
The warmth of his breath washes over me as his lips press to my scalp. Tearing myself away, I look up into those ocean-eyes, the ones that throw gray and green and blue all at once.
“I’m so sorry. I thought it was the only way I could get away. I thought that—”
He grips my face between his hands again. “Shh. It’s okay. It’s exactly what you should have done. And for a moment there, I even thought it worked.”
I choke back a thwarted laugh. “Me too. Are you okay? Is your shoulder okay?”
“It’s fine. It was nothing.”
“Are you sure, because I—”
He looks deeply into my eyes, punctuating his words. “It was nothing. Don’t even think about it. What about you?” His hands skim down my arms and his fingers tangle in mine. “Has he touched you? Has he hurt you?”
I lower my eyes to the floor and Ryker curses, dropping my hands and running his fingers through his hair.
“Of course he’s fucking hurt you.”
There’s anger in his tone and I take a step back, aware that I’m not the girl he knew before. Before I was promised to Sebastian, but I wasn’t his. Not really. Not then. But now my skin has been tainted by his touch, my lips have been bruised by his kiss.
Sliding his finger under my chin, he tilts it upward so I meet his gaze. Studying me intently, his eyes widen with alarm as he takes in the dark bruising around my neck. He swallows, closing his eyes for a moment and his Adam’s apple slides up and down.
“Fuck,” he growls and turns to punch the wall, his shoulders rising as he attempts to control his breathing. I imagine it hurt his injured shoulder but he doesn’t seem to notice.
I don’t blame him for his anger. I should have fought Sebastian off. I put more effort into fighting Ryker than I have Sebastian, and yet, Ryker is the one I love. Because I know it without a doubt in this moment, I love him. And I want him to love me too. But with the way he’s looking at me, with anger so clear in his actions, I’m not sure if he still does.
“I’m sorry. I’m so weak.” Tears trip over my cheeks. “I should have fought harder, I should have—”
Ryker whirls back to face me. “No,” he breathes, alarm widening his eyes. “You need to do whatever you can to make things more bearable. Do whatever you can to survive this, you hear me? Don’t ever say sorry. I should be the one saying sorry. I hate myself for not getting you out, for not trying harder to come up for some way for us all to leave this place. But you—None of this is your fault. Don’t you ever feel guilt for what he’s making you do.”
I stare at him through tear-stained eyes. “But that’s the thing. Sometimes it’s just easier if I…” I swallow, not wanting to say the words but wanting Ryker to know that even though Sebastian has me trapped, even though I offered myself to him, Ryker is the one I want. But once he knows what I’ve done, once he realizes the things I’ve said to appease Junior, I don’t think he’ll want me anymore.
“Sometimes it’s just easier if I placate him,” I finish lamely.
Ryker takes my face between his hands again as though forcing me to look at him will cement his words. “I would do the exact same thing. I am doing the exact same thing to keep Everly safe. You need to do what you have to.”
His words are said with such conviction, I want to climb onto him and taste them as they come out of his mouth. I want to devour him and be devoured by him. Instead, I press toward him, begging to be kissed.
And he does.
He draws me close, his hands cupping my face, and kisses me gently and deeply. I grab him greedily, running my hands over his chest and his shoulders, only hesitating when he winces as I run them over the remnants of the wound I i
nflicted.
“Mia,” he moans, pulling himself away from me. But I’m too desperate for him to hear his warning. I need him. I need him to see me and only me and not the songbird-fuck-toy Sebastian has turned me into.
I kiss his neck and his jaw. I run my tongue over his collarbones and thread my hands into his hair, my movements feverish and frantic. His hardness presses against me as I do everything within my power to meld us into one.
“Mia,” he says again, his hands pushing my face away from his. “Mia, we’ve got to be careful.”
“I don’t want to be careful. I want you, Ryker. I need you.”
“Mia, we can’t. Senior’s girls will be wondering why you’re taking so long.”
I blink away tears. “Please, Ryker. I need this. I need to be seen. I need you to see me.”
“I do see you.” He kisses me passionately before pulling away. “But I won’t be a reason he hurts you.”
My hands drop to my sides in defeat.
“You already are.”
Ryker turns away and punches the wall again. When he runs his hands over his face, his knuckles are smeared with blood. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
I laugh coldly. “It’s not possible.”
“I’m going to figure out a way. It kills me to know what he’s doing to you, what you have to go through. I’m going to stop it. I’m going to set you free.” He kisses me once more. “Hold on, okay? Just hold on and I’ll figure this all out.”
Cameron knocks. “We should probably get her back.” His voice is muffled through the door.
“Look at me,” Ryker pleads. “I promise I’m going to get you out. I’m going to figure out a way to make sure you and Everly are safe.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Ryker.”
The door creaks open and I step toward Cameron, Ryker’s eyes following as I leave, a perfect storm of torment.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
MIA
Lily is sitting out with the other girls when Cameron and I walk back into the room. She looks over me curiously, narrowing her eyes in suspicion but she doesn’t say anything, she merely takes another sip of her wine. There’s a magazine spread over her knees and she flicks through the pages without reading or looking at anything. The woman screams boredom. I wonder about the life she escaped to, and the man she risked Senior’s wrath for. Is he lying in the dirt somewhere, or trudging through life wondering why she disappeared?
Daisy asks if I want to watch a movie and leads me to the large pile of DVDs stacked onto one of the bookcases. She chatters idly as she flicks through the options and I smile and nod, hoping I respond in the way she wants me to while my thoughts are stuck on Ryker. In the end, she chooses a romantic comedy that she inserts into the player and we sit back on the couch.
Iris groans. “This one again?”
Daisy crosses her arms and pouts. “I like it.” Turning to me, a smile spreads back over her face. “Want me to braid your hair? I could French braid it. Oh, or I could do it up in one of those plaited crown things. She’d look good with it like that, don’t you think, Iris.”
“Nope.”
“You don’t think she’d look good?”
“Nope. I don’t give a shit.”
Daisy rolls her eyes as Iris gets up from the couch. “Ignore her. She’s in a bad mood because Seb chose Lily over her last night.” She pokes out her tongue in the direction of Iris’s retreating back, then looks back to me. “Our Seb. Not your one. So, do you want me to?”
“Want you to what?” I’m slightly confused by her constant chatter. She’s held prisoner in these rooms and yet she acts like nothing is wrong, wanting to watch romantic movies and do each other’s hair.
“Braid your hair.”
“Oh yes, sure. If you want.”
Leaping from the couch, she calls, “I’ll be right back,” before disappearing into her room.
“Don’t judge her,” Lily says from across the room. “She finds happiness where she can.”
“I wasn’t judging her,” I protest, but Lily looks at me in a way that says she knows I’m lying. “Okay,” I admit. “Maybe I was a little. But I just don’t understand how she can be so accepting of all this.” I wave my hand around the room. “Aren’t you all seriously bored just sitting here waiting for Senior to show his face? Not to mention the things he—”
Lily cuts me off. “Wine helps.” She lifts her glass.
“You’re the only one drinking.”
“I’m the only one allowed when Seb’s not around. I have a different set of rules than they do.”
“Why? It hardly seems fair.”
Lily laughs. “I get more because I’ve given more.”
Daisy skips back over, unburdening herself of hair ties and brushes and ribbons and clips.
“You’re not going to regret this.” Picking up the brush, she strokes it through my hair. “Your hair is so thick. I’m rather jealous. I’ve always wanted thick hair and instead I got landed with this frizzy mess.” She leans down with a strand of her blonde hair between her fingers and shoves it in my face. “I wanted to be a hairdresser, you know, before.” She laughs, but there’s a tightness there that wasn’t previously. “Iris and Lily are super sensitive about letting me do their hair so I never get a chance to practice. Oh, maybe you’ll be my tester, the one I can practice on. Do you like getting your hair done? Some people love it. They’re like cats, I reckon. They love affection. They’re touchy people. It’s like being patted, I think, but some others just hate it. It makes their skin crawl. Iris is like that. She goes spastic if I try to do her hair.”
Iris dumps herself on the couch beside me. “Fine, I’ll watch it again but if you cry…” She doesn’t finish but behind me Daisy lets out a little squeal of excitement as her fingers begin to tug in my hair, twisting the strands into a braid.
Iris sits with her arms folded across her chest, dressed in a lacy pink dress that seems about as far from her personality as you can get. Her skin is deathly pale and thin lines of scars run up her left arm. She notices me looking and adjusts her position, moving her left arm under her right. Each time I look over to Lily, she’s already studying me quizzically. I guess if they’ve been locked away in this room for months, maybe even years, seeing new people is a rarity.
I lean toward Iris, lowering my voice so as not to ruin Daisy’s enjoyment of the movie. “When was the last time you went outside?”
“Keep still!” Daisy orders, tugging my head back into place.
“Outside?” Iris’s voice has a slow drawl to it. She turns back to the screen. “Can’t remember.”
“How long have you been here?”
She glances over to Lily before answering. “I’ve lost count. Something like three years.”
“I went outside last week,” Daisy pipes up. “Master took me to see the horses. Have you seen them? They are so cute! There’s this one black one with a stripe down its nose. It’s super adorable.”
“We just let her prattle on to keep her happy,” Iris whispers loudly, exaggerating a wink in my direction.
“I do not prattle,” Daisy huffs. “I’m making conversation. It’s a heck of a lot better than sitting in my room hurting myself or drowning myself in wine. Some of us still have standards.”
“My standard is two bottles a day. Three if I’m lucky.” Lily tips her glass in Daisy’s direction before taking another sip.
Iris snorts. Daisy tugs on my hair. I keep quiet.
Once Daisy is done with my hair and the movie has finished, Iris elbows me in the ribs, whispering and casting quick glances at where Cameron stands near the entrance. “So, what’s happening between you and Cameron?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, don’t act coy. You were suspiciously long in the bathroom. We all noticed, didn’t we?” She turns to the others for support.
Lily looks down at her magazine. “Don’t bring me into this.”
Daisy’s hands twist
nervously in her lap.
“I—It wasn’t—It’s not what you think.”
“And what is it exactly that we think, hmm?”
Lily looks over at Iris sharply. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Don’t make that noise. That ‘hmm’ sound. It reminds me of the bitch of the manor.” She shudders.
Iris leans close. “Katriane and Lily hate each other with a passion. And I mean hate. They actually got in a physical fight once and Seb had to pull them apart. Or so I’ve heard, anyway. It was long before my time.” She shrugs. “But back to you. Cameron, huh?”
“I can assure you there is nothing going on between Cameron and I. Nothing at all.” I glance at him nervously, but he’s distracted with his phone.
“Good,” Lily says, looking over at me. “It would be pure stupidity if there were. Junior wouldn’t tolerate it. It would be the end of Cameron for sure. If you have any sort of affection for the poor man, you’ll leave him well enough alone.”
I clench my teeth together, annoyed at her presumption and also annoyed that it is true. She just has the wrong man.
Iris leans back, stretching into the air. “If I had to choose one to fuck, it would be Ryker. That man barely smiles but I bet he knows how to use his mouth in other ways.” She winks at Daisy and they burst into laughter.
Lily doesn’t say anything, but her lips narrow into a thin line as she studies the page of her magazine.
“Have you seen him, Mia?” Daisy asks. “He’s not good looking like Junior’s good looking, all dark and groomed and gorgeous. He’s rough and ragged, someone you could imagine picking you up and tossing you over his shoulder.”
“Or running your hands through his beard,” Iris says dreamily.
Lily gets up from her seat. “I think that’s quite enough. Imagine if Seb came in and heard us talking like that. We wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.”
Daisy laughs, but it fades when the truth of what Lily said sinks in. I smile and nod through it all, even as the threat of nausea tugs at my gut.
