by Julia Derek
When no one said anything, I thought that maybe I had been shot after all and died instantly. Maybe this was the way it felt when you were on your way up to heaven, everything so quiet and still. I figured I’d end up in heaven, not in hell. I might not have been a saint all of my life, but I didn’t think I had been so bad I deserved burning in hell for eternity. But why was my heart still beating if I was dead? It was slamming like a jackhammer on steroids against my ribcage.
“That should do it,” I heard the thug’s gruff voice say then. Heavy footfalls crossed the floor and the door slammed shut. A key entered the lock and turned. There was the sound of him walking away from the room and then the sound of someone coming toward me. But I was so terrified still that I remained on the floor, curled up into a ball, trembling.
“Elisa,” Chase said softly and I felt hands on my hands. I realized then that my hands were wrapped around my soaked head.
“It’s okay,” Chase whispered. “He’s gone. We’re alone again. It’s just you and me here.”
Tentatively and very slowly, I removed my hands from my face and head and opened my eyes. Chase had crouched down next to me and was gazing at me, a worried expression on his face.
“Are you okay, Elisa?” he repeated. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” His face tightened as he said those last words.
“What…what happened?” I asked, my voice fragile to my own ears. “What did he shoot at? Did he shoot you?”
I searched him for signs of blood, but I couldn’t see any.
“No, he only shot at the windows. Well, that first shot was a couple of feet from my leg. But the rest was him peppering the black shutters with tons of bullets.” He smirked. “His idea of better circulation and air conditioning…” Moving so that he was facing me, Chase put his arms around my back and gently began pulling me into a sitting position. I relaxed and let him do most of the work; this had all been his idea after all. Besides, I was honestly too weak right then to do much of anything.
He leaned me against the side of the bed and put a finger under my chin, looking into my eyes. For once they were warm and gleaming, not cold and detached like he was dead inside.
“How are you feeling?” he asked gently. “I saw how he pulled you up by the hair and dropped you to the floor. That must have hurt so much.” He clenched his teeth, which made a muscle twitch in his jaw.
“Yeah, it did, but I think getting that soda poured over my head might’ve been worse …”
His face softened and he smiled warmly. “Do you feel nauseous or confused?”
“No more since I woke up in this strange room and saw you staring at me.”
He chuckled. “You must be feeling a lot better … Can you still see me clearly?”
I hadn’t intended to be funny with my answer—I was much too shaken still to be cracking jokes. I was just telling the truth; I really wasn’t any more nauseous or confused than when I’d woken up this morning. “Yeah, I can see you fine.”
He exhaled, looking relieved. “Well, it doesn’t seem like he gave you a concussion at least.”
I managed a shrug. “Yeah, let’s hope not. My head’s not hurting as much anymore.”
“What about the side of your face?”
He ran his fingers along the left side of my face so lightly I could barely feel it.
“It just feels kinda numb,” I replied. “There’s no blood anywhere, is there?”
“No, no blood. You’re just really red there, but not swollen, so probably nothing’s broken. I think you’ll end up with a big bruise, though.”
I snorted. “Lucky me.”
I reached to touch the part where the thug had pulled my hair, but instantly removed it again when I felt how sticky and disgusting it felt from the soda he’d poured over me. Asshole.
“What happened?” I asked quietly, letting my arm drop back to the floor. “You were supposed to take him out.”
Chase leaned in and put his cheek next to mine and whispered, “Yeah, and if he’d been a little more thrown to find you passed out, I would’ve. Seeing you lying there didn’t seem to faze the bastard one bit. So I tried playing up that you were in seriously bad condition. I hoped that would make him stop pointing that damn gun at me the entire time and pay you more attention. He literally kept looking at me from the moment he came into the room.” Chase’s face was so close to mine that I could feel him tense with anger. “He must have amazing peripheral vision to have been able to spot you on the floor at the same time.”
“But instead he told you to go into the corner?” I asked, putting a hand around his neck so I could get my mouth closer to his ear.
Chase nodded. “Exactly, facing away from you two. I was too far away to jump him, especially the way he kept glancing over his shoulder every fucking second. Of course I tried to see what the hell he was doing to you and that’s how I saw that he picked you up by the hair and dropped you down.”
He pulled away from me and looked me deep in the eyes. He clenched his fists and his face darkened as he muttered, “You don’t know how furious it made me.”
“No, I think I do. I heard you and the shot. I’m glad you didn’t push it.”
Chase shook his head. Then he stood and extended his hand to me. “Can you stand up?” I nodded and took it and he pulled me up from the floor.
“Thanks,” I said. Pointing to my messed up head, I added, “I think I need another shower. Or at least wash my hair.”
“Yeah, you do.” He smiled with compassion and touched his own cheek. “You’re pretty sticky … Go take that shower. I won’t start eating until you’re back.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to wait for me. I’m sure you’re super hungry.”
“I am, so hurry up and get ready.” He gave me a light push. I was about to enter the bathroom when Chase cleared his throat and said, “Um, are these yours?”
I stopped and turned toward him, staring at the black little bundle in his hands. I stiffened as I recognized what they were.
Why is he holding my panties?
Chapter Six
Several thoughts rushed through my head. How had my panties ended up with him? Had he picked them off the shower curtain rod? Why would he do that? Only a total pervert would do that, right? Was my boss a pervert? I shivered with discomfort at the thought. I really couldn’t handle any more nasty surprises right now. No, I decided. I didn’t think that Chase was a pervert. Surely my panties had just fallen off the rod and he’d gotten them from the floor with the intention of asking me if they were mine, not really thinking about it until now.
Even so, the fact that he was holding my friggin’ panties in his hand was just too… too horribly mortifying. I may no longer despise him and have found that I liked him instead, but I still didn’t want him to be holding my panties and asking me about them like this. My cheeks were burning and I was sure I looked like a tomato by now, so the answer should be obvious to him.
Yes, those are my panties.
I opened my mouth to tell him this, but I couldn’t make myself say the word I should have said. “No,” I said instead, making my voice light. “Where did you find them?”
“When I went to the bathroom earlier, I bumped into the bathtub and something fell on my face as I looked up. The thing continued down to the floor and only then did I see what it was. I thought they were yours, so I brought them with me. I didn’t want to just leave them on the floor. But before I got a chance to ask you, that thug came, so I just put them in my pocket.”
They fell on his face? How the hell did they end up on his face? Oh, my God, this was just getting more and more embarrassing… My cheeks were flaming by now. I pretended to cough to gain control of myself again.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking sincerely confused.
I held up a hand. “Yeah,” I squeezed out between coughs. “I just… swallowed some dust.” I turned around and walked into the bathroom. “Gotta drink some water.”
I closed t
he door behind me and walked up to the faucet and moved the lever so water poured out. I looked into the little bathroom mirror above, rolling my turquoise eyes at the pathetic image that stared back at me. The way my damp, blond hair stuck to my skull made me resemble a drenched cat and my cheeks were still a deep red. I shook my head at myself. Was I an idiot or what? Why hadn’t I just told him they were mine and been done with it? I was such a child. Go back out there and tell him they’re yours, Elle, I told myself in my head. It’s either that or keep walking around naked under your skirt. But I couldn’t make myself leave the sink.
I sighed. Just the thought of discussing the panties that were probably still in his hand was just too much. My face would turn blood red again and I couldn’t blame that on having another cough attack. Again I thought of how he’d said they’d fallen on his face. His friggin’ face…
Oh, my God. How the hell did they end up there? He must have been bending down somehow for that to have happened. I wondered if they had scared him at first, like maybe he thought they were a bat or something, before he realized they were only black panties. The image of Chase yelping when my panties landed on his face was so comical that I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.
I decided that I might as well step into the bathtub to rinse off all the Diet Coke that stuck to my face and hair, not just put my head under the shower head. When I had finished cleaning myself, surely I would have gathered the courage needed to tell Chase the panties were mine. Really, what was the big deal? It was just a pair of panties!
I removed my clothes and stepped under the shower. The warm water felt good against my skin and head. I stood there for a while, just letting the water spray all over me, relaxing. When I had soaked my hair thoroughly, I grabbed the bottle of shampoo I’d seen earlier and poured a generous amount into my hand. Bad quality shampoo or not, the idea of having even one drop of soda remaining in my hair was worse than rubbing this crap into my head. I gave my scalp a thorough massage, going very, very gently over the part where the thug had pulled my hair. I was grateful he’d taken a big enough chunk that it hadn’t broken at least, leaving me with a bald spot. Then I rinsed off the shampoo and applied a big glob of balsam to my hair. While I let it do its job, I lathered myself up with plenty of soap. As much as I had sweated today, it was good that I was taking another shower now. I reached for my blouse that I had thrown over the sink and rinsed off the soda that had ended up at the top of it, mostly around the collar. Because it was such sheer material, the blouse should dry quickly, especially if I used a towel to dab at the wetted parts. I’d put it back on either way, as there was no way I’d sit wearing only a bra and skirt in front of Chase.
I chuckled again; the line had to be drawn somewhere.
When I felt the blouse was clean enough, I turned off the spraying shower and stepped out of the bathtub. I went to open the little window to let out all the steam that had gathered in the bathroom, and so I could see myself in the bathroom mirror again. The window may be small, but it was big enough to get plenty of fresh air in. I had closed it sometime after having taken my first shower since it quickly got cold after the steam had left the bathroom. This time I was not about to linger though, just to teach Chase a lesson. Instead, I’d hurry up and join him as soon as possible. I wrapped a towel around myself and grabbed another that I used to soak up as much water as possible from the top of the blouse.
It was easier than I’d thought to get the moisture out. Within a minute of pressing the towel against the upper half of the blouse, most of it was almost completely dry again. I contemplated hanging it over the windowsill to air-dry the rest of it while I put my skirt and bra back on, followed by untangling my hair with the ratty comb I’d found in the medicine cabinet above the sink. But before I could do any of this, a big, ugly rat ran over my feet and disappeared behind the toilet.
I screamed out loud and jumped back into the bathtub, not knowing what to do or where to go. I had torn down the shower curtain in the process, which now lay over the side of the bathtub and continued down to the floor.
Where had that rat come from? Where had it gone? Was it still behind the toilet? Or had it crawled under the shower curtain? It had been so big. Would it come in here with me in the shower? Oh, God, I’ll die if it does. I hated rats more than anything else in the world. Were there more rats? I was terrified. I couldn’t take any more horror today.
The bathroom door opened and Chase came charging in. He stopped in his track when he laid eyes on me, cowering naked against the wall in the bathtub. As I had made my escape, the bath towel had slid off me.
“Elisa,” he said and looked like he didn’t know what to do, whether to stay or to leave. Or where to keep his eyes. “What happened? Are you okay?”
I didn’t care that I was totally naked in front of Chase. All I wanted in that second was to be carried out from the bathroom and away from the big rat that was somewhere in the vicinity, maybe more than one rat, about to jump all over me.
I tore myself away from the wall and ran over to Chase, hugging him tight where he’d come up next to the bathtub.
“Take me out of here, Chase,” I begged into his ear. “Please take me out of here right now.”
I felt his strong arms wrap around my body, one around my back and the other grasping under my legs, lifting me up and walking me out of the bathroom. He took me to the bed and put me down there gingerly. But as he was about to let me go, I clung to him, refusing to let him leave me unprotected on the bed.
He must have sensed how fragile I was in that moment, because he kept holding me close, stroking my hair and whispering calming words into my ear.
“It’ll be okay, Elisa. Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. You’ll see. We’ll get through this. You and me together. One way or another, we’ll get through this.”
I don’t know how much time had passed before I loosened my grip around him and allowed him to pull away from me a little, but finally I did.
He looked me deep in the eyes as he removed himself from me. There was so much feeling in his gaze right then that I felt myself melt under him. I didn’t think I’d seen anything as beautiful as Chase’s face in that moment, the way he was looking at me like he would let nothing bad happen to me ever. As though he knew what I was thinking, what I wanted him to do, he bent down to kiss me lightly, tentatively. Feeling his soft lips against mine was exactly what I needed in that moment. They were so soothing, so pleasant that I wanted them to stay there forever. Soon his tongue found mine. The way it circled mine, just barely touching it, sent shots of electricity straight up my legs, all of them crashing into my core in the most wonderful manner.
I soon craved more of him, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to make him deepen the kiss, use more force. I wanted to taste more of him, yearned for the escape it allowed me. I could feel him hesitate for a brief moment, but then he gave up fighting me and kissed me the way I wanted him to do, with a passion I couldn’t remember having ever experienced before.
As his tongue explored my mouth, my fingers dug into his hair and I pulled it hard, trying to make him kiss me yet deeper. I got what I wanted. His hands moved down my naked body, caressing every curve of me, pausing at times as if to memorize certain parts of me.
I let go of his hair and let my hands slip down his neck, pulling at his black dress shirt. I wanted him naked on top of me. I wanted to feel his strong body weighing down on mine.
“Take it off,” I mumbled. “I want to feel you on top of me. Naked. Take off all your clothes.”
“Are you sure?” he whispered into my ear. “What if they come back?”
“I don’t care. I need this right now. I need to be with you.”
He removed himself from me and began unbuttoning the remainder of the buttons on his shirt, holding my gaze all the while. His features had turned dark with desire. I truly didn’t care if anyone came right now; I needed to feel Chase’s arms around me and I wanted him naked, naked against my
own naked body. I was convinced it was the only thing that would make me feel safe again, being entwined with him, feeling him on me. I helped him pull off the shirt, running my hands over his hard chest and shoulders, caressing his strong arms, squeezing his lean muscle. My fingers went back to the hair on his chest and I played with it a little before I continued down to the belt in his dress pants. When I couldn’t unbuckle it quickly enough, he helped me and soon his pants were on the floor. The big bulge hiding behind his boxer briefs had me so enthralled that I forgot about my need for him to lie on top of me. As I pulled them down and saw his big erection, I couldn’t resist taking him in my mouth it was so impressive. I sat up all the way so I could taste more of him, take him deeper down my throat. I used one hand to massage the lower part of his shaft and the other his balls. Stroking my hair, he moaned with pleasure as I kept sucking him, working his amazing cock with my mouth, enjoying the salty taste of it. Hearing how much he clearly liked what I was doing to him turned me on so much I could feel myself get wet.
“Oh, God, you’re killing me, Elisa … If you keep that up, I’m gonna come any second.”
I removed him from my mouth and gazed up at him from under my eyelashes.
“Lie on top of me,” I whispered. “I want to feel you on top of me now.”
Not saying a word, he lay down on me, placing his elbows on either side of my head while looking down at me. I parted my legs so he could fit between them and then he was against my erotic center, his cock big and hard and ready for me. I sighed with happiness, relishing in the sensation of all of him on top of me.
“What do you want, Elisa,” he whispered, his eyes black and gleaming with excitement. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Just stay like that for a while,” I replied. “Just lie on me…”
I wrapped my legs around his butt to get him closer. He moaned when I squeezed my legs together, then grabbed my face and kissed me hard. I wrapped my arms around his neck to encourage him. As our tongues embarked upon a violent, tantalizing dance, his hands soon moved down my body and found my breasts. He squeezed them, played with my nipples. I felt myself get wetter by the second. I was pretty sure it was not only the way he touched me, but the fact that any second one of these thugs could show up and who knew what would happen then…
