by Krane, Kasey
Reese looked up and I was surprised to find she was smiling too.
“This is probably the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”
* * *
I really had no business being curious about her. In fact, it would have been a better idea to just walk away and stop trying to ‘uncover’ her.
I couldn’t help myself. She piqued my curiosity and I wanted to find out more about her.
Something told me there were several layers to Reese Deville and I wanted to peel back each one.
When we first met, she was nothing more than an object to me. An object of desire. Something I wanted to take away from Connor and possess for myself.
Over the course of the two days we were together—something had changed.
She was more than that now. She was a girl who secretly made me laugh. A girl I thought about when I was awake and fantasized about when I was asleep. My possession—that I wanted to keep out of everyone else’s reach. And there was that part of me that wanted to discover the truth about her too. Like the truth about what made her tick. What made her who she was.
Reese cleaned herself with the towel and slowly started putting on her t-shirt and jeans.
“Maybe I could have fought him on it, I don’t know,” she continued.
Clearly, something had changed in her too. Until now, it didn’t seem like she was interested in talking to me, but all of a sudden, she spilled all her thoughts out.
“I just didn’t care, I guess. I mean, I didn’t want to marry your uncle. But it’s not like I wanted to marry anyone. That is not the future life I hoped for. I guess what I’m saying is I just want to be alone.”
“I don’t talk to a lot of chicks about this, but the impression I have is that all they want to do is get married and get knocked up. Not always in that particular order either.”
Reese grinned and shook her head.
“Maybe they do, or at least the normal ones do. The ones who still have some hope. I don’t believe there’s any happiness to be found in marriage or a family.”
Why did I give a shit?
Yet, I found myself asking, “And why the fuck not?”
Maybe I took personal offense to what she said because I held my family in high regard.
“Because I’ve never witnessed one that’s worked.”
“Are you talking about your own family?”
“What family? Are you asking about my parents? Well, then, yeah. My biological father, the man who should have raised and protected me, couldn’t give a shit what happened to me or my mom.”
Reese turned her face away to stare at the wall. I thought maybe she was done talking to me about this, but apparently she wasn’t.
“My life with him was so shit that I was actually glad when Aldo found my mom and decided he was going to marry her. I thought my life was going to change.” At this point she chuckled coldly and turned to me again. “And it did. It changed completely.”
* * *
There was actually a part of me that didn’t want to find out about all the ways in which Reese’s life had changed after her mother married Aldo.
I guessed they weren’t good changes.
She had a bitter grin on her face as she ran her nails down her bare legs. Over and over again. She wasn’t being aggressive about it, but something told me she subconsciously wanted to scratch her past away.
“Aldo is not the kind of man who should ever be someone’s father. Or husband. He destroyed my mother’s life while she was alive, and mine along with that. He had complete control of us at all times.”
I didn’t have to ask her any specific questions to get a clear enough idea of what she meant.
Reese looked up at me and met my eyes.
“The two men who were supposed to be my role models in life; my biological father and Aldo have both made me believe that no man is ever capable of being faithful or good.”
She wasn’t smiling anymore. Instead, she glared at me from under her heavy lids. She looked intense, like she was capable of anything. For a moment I wondered if she was going to attack me. She didn’t. She just looked away and shook her head.
“But enough about me. You know my story now.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not your whole story,” I interjected.
She shrugged. “It’s enough for now. What about you? What about your story?”
“I don’t have one.”
She arched her eyebrows at that.
“You want me to believe that for a second? Neither of us are exactly normal people, Killian.”
I clenched my jaws tightly. Nothing in the world was going to make me bare my soul to her. I didn’t bare it to anybody and she meant nothing to me.
“What about you? Have you always dreamed of getting married and knocking a girl up? Taking a wife?”
I almost laughed out loud at that. Reese looked offended by the smirk on my face. Maybe it made her feel silly.
I stood up, grabbing the towel and bowl.
“I have shit to do.”
Her nostrils flared. Maybe she didn’t want me to leave just yet. I waited a bit to hear her say that, but she didn’t. She wasn’t going to stoop so low.
“You’re running away from the question,” she said instead.
I was already walking to the stairs.
“Remember to behave yourself, Reese.”
I went up to the door, locking it behind me. Outside in the daylight, I had to blink hard to adjust my vision to the light inside my house. I was still buzzing from being with Reese.
Not just because of how good the sex was, but because I hadn’t been able to tear away from her in time. That conversation was something else. I felt like she’d managed to get under my skin. If I was completely honest with myself, I was curious and concerned about her. That wasn’t a good thing.
I didn’t know how I would get her out from under my skin. But I wasn’t lying when I told her I had shit to do.
My father still expected results.
Fourteen
Reese
All of a sudden, it felt like so much had changed in the course of the last few hours. I still wasn’t sure of time.
I was back to being alone in the basement. Killian left in a hurry and even though he claimed he had shit to do, something told me he wanted to get away from me.
I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d hit a nerve with him somehow.
Maybe it was the afterglow of having three orgasms in a row—which was still freakin’ unbelievable. But there was something about him, or maybe the way our conversation progressed, which made me reveal more about myself to him than I’d intended.
Why did he care about my story?
Why did I care to tell him? Even though there were only hints and I just scratched the surface, I had been more open and honest with my captor than I had been with anyone in years.
Maybe because this was the first time in a long time that somebody had bothered to ask. Besides, I had nothing to lose. He already had everything. My freedom. My body. Why couldn’t he have my mind too?
I’d put on my clothes again and resumed sitting in the corner, rocking myself back and forth, trying to make sense of everything that was happening to me.
I’d tried to run away a couple of times already. I had all these plans and I executed them, but each one failed. I was being an idiot by presuming I could somehow outsmart this guy.
He clearly knew what he was doing.
So maybe the answer didn’t lie in trying to get away from him. Maybe my best option right now would be to stay exactly where I was.
I hadn’t thought about a plan for what I’d do if I escaped. Where would I go? I didn’t have any money. I didn’t have skills. I didn’t really have an identity at all. Aldo had stripped me of all that a long time ago.
My only option would have been to return to my stepfather, and how would that look? What would he do to me when he found out what happened to Connor?
I was the one who pulled the trig
ger. I killed that man.
I disobeyed Aldo.
My throat was dry. I was rocking hard. If anyone saw my eyes right then, they’d agree I was losing my mind. The thought kept running through my mind—maybe Killian was my only chance of survival right now.
Besides, he actually wanted to talk to me. Other than the fact that the sex was amazing, Killian seemed genuinely interested in getting to know me. Would it be that terrible to try and get to know him too? Try to figure out what made him the man he was?
He had me locked up in his basement, with ample opportunity to really harm me. Instead, he brought food, towels and chocolate. We had both given to our desires because the attraction between us was definitely real.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to just wait it out here and see what happened next.
Maybe, maybe, maybe…
* * *
Maybe I could finally trust someone the way I trusted Charlie?
I pressed my eyes close and tried to picture him standing in front of me. Those familiar arms. That warm smile, his boyish grin. The way his dark hair fell over his eyes and he had to keep pushing it out off his face. But when I tried to picture his face, I couldn’t do it.
Charlie’s memory was fading, and the thought of that made my eyes fill with tears.
What had Aldo done to me over the years? He’d forced me to forget the one person who had brought me joy in this life. The only person I had been able to trust.
My mind went there—to that night when everything was revealed. I fought against it because I knew that the memory of that night would break me. I needed to stay strong and stay away from revisiting the past.
I couldn’t.
I could see myself sitting in bed, reading a book by my bedside lamp. I had my bag packed and hidden away underneath the bed. I was ready to go in two days. Charlie and me. Together forever.
And then, there was a knock on my door. I sat up straight, expecting it to be my mother. She sometimes came to my room, but never to check on me. She used to come because she wanted to hide somewhere while she cried, so Aldo wouldn’t see her and make fun of her.
Instead of mom though, it was Aldo who stepped in. Even before he spoke, he was shaking his head like he wanted me to see how disappointed he was with everything.
I just stared at him in silence. My heart raced in my chest. My palms were clammy. I knew something big was coming. This couldn’t be good. The only reason for Aldo to be in my room was a bad one.
“What are you doing, Reese? How could you be so stupid to think you could trick me?”
My eyes popped out of my head. I just wanted to know where it was headed. Where was Charlie?
“I…”
“Don’t you fucking deny it!” he barked at me, swiping his hand through the air, slapping me across my face. My head smacked to the side and I felt a red hot pain searing my cheek. I wanted to cry out and scream for help but I knew it would only make things worse.
“You think you can play me for a fool? You think you can run away with your little boyfriend? Do you know how stupid that makes you look?” Spit flew from his mouth as he spoke with a hiss. He gritted his big teeth. Sweat beaded his upper lip. I could see how worked up he was. How angry he was.
Every fiber of my being filled with dread. I wanted to hide from him, but there wasn’t anything that could save me. I could never hide from him. I should have known that.
“It’s over, Reese. Your little plan is finished. And it has cost you the life of an innocent boy.”
“What…where is he? Where is Charlie?” My voice cracked. I could barely breathe. Even though I asked the question, I didn’t want to hear the answer.
“Charlie is dead,” Aldo said. He clenched his jaws, like it pained him to say the words.
I shook my head violently. It didn’t make any sense. How could he be dead? I saw him in the morning. He kissed my cheek before I walked away from him. He told me how excited he was about our plan. Just two more sleeps and we would have been on our way.
“You better fuckin’ believe it. He is dead. I made sure my guys double checked the scene. It’s all official. You’ll see it in the news. Drunk teenager drives into a tree.”
“No!” I cried out like I was physically hurt.
I slipped off the bed to the floor in a heap of a mess. Aldo didn’t make a move. He just stood over me, watching me. I didn’t dare to look at his face but I assumed he was pleased by my reaction. This was what he hoped for. To really hit me where it hurt.
He had staged Charlie’s murder to look like a car accident. To kill me without actually doing it.
I sobbed bitterly. I could barely even hear his voice when he spoke. My boyfriend was dead. My best friend had been killed. Along with all my hopes and dreams for a better life. It was all my fault. I did this. Charlie would be alive right then if he hadn’t associated with me. If he hadn’t fallen in love with me.
How would I ever wake up in the morning after this? How was I supposed to go on living my life?
“Why? Why would you do this to me? Why would you kill him?” My shrill voice bounced off the walls of the room. I was sure my mother could hear wherever she was in the house. But there wasn’t a darn thing she could do about it, and maybe by that point she didn’t even care.
“You know the answer to that question, sweetheart. You’re my daughter now. You belong to me. Which means you have to do exactly what I say. You have to make all this worth my while,” he growled, throwing his hands around the room. He was talking about my bedroom, about all the luxury he thought he gave me.
I didn’t care about the room. Or the house. The money. None of it was mine. I didn’t want any of it. Neither would he actually give them to me.
“And I hope this is a lesson for life. I hope you see what I can do to get what I want. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for anyone else’s life, would you?”
I couldn’t stop sobbing as I kneeled on the ground. My face was in my hands. My body shook with terror and grief.
Then I felt Aldo’s hand on my head. He started stroking my hair the way he would have stroked a dog.
“All you have to do is behave yourself, sweetheart,” he said.
* * *
And the memory of those words brought me back to my reality in Killian’s basement. I gasped when I remembered those exact words. I wasn’t just imagining it, and neither was my memory playing tricks on me. Aldo had really said it, the same way Killian had said it too.
Both men had warned me to behave myself if I wanted to live. If I wanted to be safe.
Maybe that’s what was happening to me? Killian was just another version of Aldo.
I had been nothing but an object to Aldo. One of his many prized possessions. Something he could use to trade with. It was the same reason Killian kept me here. He wanted to use me too. To trade me. To do what he wanted with me.
I stood up with a jerk, wrapping my arms around myself because I needed to feel my warmth. I gasped for air as I tried to breathe.
What was I thinking? How did I convince myself this was a good thing? That Killian was my only hope?
I knew I had to get away.
Even if I died trying, even if there was no hope for me on the other side, I had to get away.
I couldn’t allow myself to be held prisoner by a man who was just another version of Aldo.
He was hot. He knew how to use his fingers and tongue on a woman’s body. He had an inexplicable sex appeal that I couldn’t shake off. However, none of that should have translated to willingly being his prisoner.
I wasn’t going to wait around to find out what his ulterior motives were. I needed to get out of here, fast.
Fifteen
Killian
I went back to the woods, just to get away from Reese and all her questions. I couldn’t afford to reveal anything about myself. She’d gotten deep inside my head enough already.
My father expected me to find Connor and I knew I needed to get to the bottom of w
hat happened to him. But I couldn’t really concentrate on that while Reese filled my mind. She had stirred something in me.
I knew she had it tough with Aldo. I had seen the fear and frustration in her eyes that night when she was introduced to Connor. But it wasn’t until she started speaking about him that I learned the full scope of it.
She’d mentioned how Aldo made life miserable for her mother too. About how her biological dad had been an asshole and an unworthy father. I knew I wasn’t supposed to feel sorry for Reese. I wasn’t supposed to feel anything for her—but I couldn’t help but wonder how a girl like her had endured all of it.
She looked so delicate on the outside. Untouched and beautiful. A girl who was meek and quiet. Yet, she had gone through a life of turmoil and torture. I knew how important it was to have the support and strength of family.
I had a father I looked up to. Brothers like best friends.
A mother…
She was dead.
But at least I had experienced what having two strong parents felt like.
Reese had none of it.
Yet, she survived.
It was no wonder that she had such a warped view of love and marriage. Marrying Connor would have screwed up everything even more. How could she have survived that?
I knew I did her a big favor by facilitating her escape, but I didn’t realize how huge it was until now.
What was I supposed to do?
Not only had I imprisoned her in my basement, but I also fucked her. I also spoke to her and had gotten to know her a little better. I did everything I shouldn’t have done and I didn’t know how to stop.
To top it all off, Connor’s body was still nowhere in sight.
I trekked through the woods. Up and down the side of the highway. I literally searched fucking everywhere and I hadn’t found one shred of evidence that would lead me to him.
