Captivated (An Affliction Novel)

by Raven

  “Markus is my ride.” I informed him.

  “I can take you home.” He turned to Markus. “Don’t worry, dude. I’ll take her home safely.” Ayden assured him.

  “What do you want to do, Mindy?” Markus asked.

  “I still need to finish talking to you.” I reminded him.

  “We’re done. I have nothing to say. Ayden needs to talk to you anyway.” Markus insisted. He spun on his heels and as he passed Ayden, I heard him say, “Don’t leave her alone.” Markus’ tone was serious.

  Tanya rose up and skipped to me. She threw her arms around me and brought her lips to my ear. “Something’s different about Ayden tonight.” She paused and smiled at Ayden. Turning back to me, she whispered, “Be careful.”

  “You have nothing to worry about.” I gave her an assuring smile. “Take care of Markus,” I suggested.

  “Why? What happened?” she asked.

  “I don’t know yet.” I said quietly while squeezing her a brief moment before releasing her.

  She pressed her lips together with determination. I knew from that look that she was going to try to find out.

  I didn’t want to deal with Ayden right now as he was so eager to rekindle our ‘friendship.’ I so wasn’t having it as I was more than fine without him…even if it has only been a week since I started avoiding him. I lead Ayden back to the couch to sit down, making sure not to sit too close to him. Unfortunately, the loud music blaring around us made that impossible.

  “So, how have you been?” he asked.

  “Good” I stated. As I glanced around the room, I found what I was searching for; Dean. Once again, he looked only in my direction. He was seated at the bar near the entrance, but this time I was sure he was looking right at me. Sadly, his face looked different than the smile he had for me before. It was no longer playful; it was now twisted in pain. Just to see what would happen, I scooted myself right up to Ayden, practically intertwining our legs together. Dean looked away swiftly. After a moment though, his eyes found me again. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t focus any of my attention on what Ayden was saying. All I heard was his voice mumbling in my ear. And distracted as I was, I still couldn’t ignore the stench of stale alcohol masked by mint that crept out of his mouth.

  “Mindy?” Ayden asked.

  “Huh? What’s up?” I blurted absentmindedly.

  “Have you been listening to anything I’ve been saying?” he asked in a huff.

  “Have you been drinking?” I inquired.

  Ayden exhaled. “I only had one drink at the house party I just came from.”

  I glanced back at Dean then inched closer to Ayden’s ear. Agony spread over Dean’s face. “It’s too loud in here,” I said in his ear.

  “Let’s go for a walk then.” he suggested.

  I smiled and rose to my feet. Grabbing his hand might have been a bad idea, but I had to see if I could get another reaction out of Dean. And I did. We walked past him to get to the front entrance and his eyes blazed murderously at Ayden. They were like a dark sky, promising a threatening and ominous event in its wake. The shimmering array of stars glistened every time the flashing lights hit them. But it was a grim darkness that swirled around in his eyes.

  When we exited the building, it looked as if the streets were congested with people. We hardly had any room to walk on the sidewalks, so we had to walk on the street instead.

  “Let’s go somewhere quieter.” Ayden insisted.

  We crossed the street, cutting off a car that was creeping at about two miles an hour behind another. Honks filled the air. Not directed at us, but at each other.

  “I knew it would get like this,” Ayden said confidently. “I parked far. Do you mind walking?” he asked.

  “I don’t care.” I lied. My boots were killing me, as a matter of fact. I felt as if they were squeezing my feet with every step I took, my initial expectation of comfort making it unbearably worse.

  “Let’s cut behind this building,” he suggested, “It leads to the forest.”

  Just about everything near Georgetown had a forest behind it. Austin was only fifteen minutes away, but still not far enough to get away from the forests.

  “Where exactly is your car?” I asked.

  “It’s at the end of the forest.” He stated.

  I squinted at him from the corner of my eye.

  “It really is.” He chuckled. “Don’t worry…it’s not that far.”

  We walked deep into the forest with only the moonlight to guide us where we were going. I loved being here at night. All the sounds were more precise; the tree branches bristling against each other in the soft wind, the stream nearby, crisp water flowing calmly and smooth, making me want to go sit in front of it to enjoy it all the better. The walk was so peaceful that I had completely forgotten about Markus’ panic attack and the events that followed. I looked up at Ayden with a hesitant smile. He was very pensive and I knew what that meant; here it came. Whatever was on his mind was soon to come out and ruin my peaceful walk. But we had to get it over with.

  “What’s on your mind?” I asked.

  He walked a little ahead of me and leaned against a big tree. Actually, it was enormous! Half the size of my bedroom! I stopped in front of him awaiting his answer.

  “Where are we right now Mindy?” he asked.

  “What?” How should I put this? “Ummm…we… Are. Friends?” It was an unsure answer because I wasn’t sure where it would take me.

  “You’ve been pretty distant.” He waited for some kind of answer from me. “Ignoring my phone calls.” He snickered. “And yet…you still want me.”

  “Wait a minute. I never said that.” I blurted and crossed my arms in front of my chest.

  “Your body did. On the couch. And when you grabbed my hand...” he cooed.

  Crap! That was totally not why I did it. Mixed signals. How was I supposed to fix that? I couldn’t just tell him that I did it to get a reaction from another guy, especially another guy that was on the list of guys Ayden hated.

  “It’s not what you think,” I replied. “I don’t have feelings for you Ayden. It’s over. It was never really…under.” I spat out. Thinking that was the end of that, I turned around to head back the way we came from. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Let’s head back.”

  He grabbed my arm.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Ayden demanded. He then yanked me up to him and held me tight up against his chest. I struggled to get free, but I couldn’t. He was too strong. At that moment, I hated being so much smaller than him because it made me feel completely powerless.

  “Stop it. Let me go, Ayden!” I hollered. He remained silent. And I saw that determination was written on his face. At that moment, I knew why he had brought me out here, where no one was around. It wasn’t because it was too loud on Sixth Street; it was because of witnesses. He pulled me closer and brought his lips down to mine. I caught another whiff of alcohol on his breath and I jerked my head to the side, away from his mouth.

  “Hold still!” he ordered. His grip on my arms got tighter. I wasn’t sure if he meant to hurt me by doing so, but I did feel the stinging in my arms nonetheless.

  “Help!” I screamed out as loud as I could. But I heard nothing. Nothing but the panting Ayden and I were giving off, mine from being panic-stricken and his…his being from something else.

  I was alone.

  All alone.

  My skin crawled at the thought, but then I gave off a louder scream. And in return…silence.

  “No one can hear you Mindy…” he drawled.

  He loosened his grip on one of my arms to reach for my head so he could force my face to be right up against his own. But I had other plans-I swung out my loose hand and punched him as hard as I could in the face. I had never punched anything in my life and the impact felt like I had broken something in my hand! Next, not wanting to lose momentum, I aimed my knee at his groin, but missed and hit his thigh instead. It still made him loosen
me up a little, just enough for me to break free. I ran as fast as I could through the trees and shrubs. My boots weren’t letting me get that far and I knew he was going to catch me. A sickening wave of terror hit me at the thought and at the fast stomping I heard from behind me. I was used to running, but not in boots! Ayden, on the other hand, was a running back on the football team. I wouldn’t be able to out run him for long, so I had to act. Quickly, I dove behind a bush. Luckily, the bush was mature, along with the rest of the forest, so it was more than big enough to hide me. I felt around the ground for something, anything I could use as a weapon. Among the mud and twigs, I found a rock the size of my fist. A little bigger would have been better, but it would have to do. I controlled my breathing while crouched down as low as possible. Gripping onto the jagged rock as tightly as I could, I listened for him. The twigs snapping under his feet were rapidly turning into thunderous cracking. Ayden was coming closer and I had to bite my lip to keep from screeching. The metallic crimson seeped out of my lip and traveled to my tongue. Ayden was much too close. He stopped just a few feet away from me and I quietly sucked in some breath. Without looking down at the bush covering me, he slowly crept in my direction. Did he know I was there? Was he trying to trick me?

  He came closer still.

  “Mindy…” he continued on, “…come on, baby. I was just having a little fun.” The sound of twigs breaking rang through the silence. But it wasn’t from his feet. He swiveled around and slowly crept towards the sound. A deer perhaps?

  Now was the time to surprise him. If I hit him in the back of the head just hard enough, I could knock him out. I thought. Or would I kill him? I didn’t want to hurt him that bad. Something had to be done because sooner or later, he would find me. And maybe do horrible things to me. I began to steadily breathe again, though my eyes got watery. The hand I had clenched around the rock got shaky and damp from my nervousness. I released it and wiped the sweat off my hand to get a better grip on the rock. Should I run? And if I did run, how quickly would he hear me? But if I was to sneak behind him, I was sure to make some noise and I would be too far to hit him. I stood up as determination took over. He was bending over a bush, searching for me. That bastard! He’d never leave alone until he had me. I rose to my feet and ran as fast as my legs could possibly take me with my arm in the air ready to swing the rock at him. Right before I was in arms reach, he swung around and spotted my weapon. Instinctively, he tackled me, as if I were carrying a football and I was his opponent.

  When my head hit the ground, it hit something hard. A rock. My vision started getting blurry as if I were trying to focus a camera; but I was trying to focus my vision. But to no avail, it was getting darker. As my vision blacked in and out, I felt Ayden’s weight lifted off of me. Then everything went dark.

  hen I woke up, my head was pounding. That wasn’t what woke me; it was the bouncing. I was being carried by someone through what seemed to be mute darkness. And it wasn’t Ayden. That person was much bigger. He saved me. It had to be what happened. The last thing I remembered was Ayden’s weight off of me. It wasn’t like he willingly got off of me; it felt like he was lifted. And I was definitely not being carried by someone graceful. My body was bouncing every step against his hard chest. With every stride he took, the shake would increase the throbbing in my head. Already having so much trouble keeping my eyes open, I hated it! I felt like I was in one of those dreams where you couldn’t scream when you were trying everything in your power to. I wanted to see him. I needed to see him. To thank him. I looked up, but my eyes were incredibly heavy. Even if I could keep them open, I still couldn’t see straight.

  “Thank you...” I croaked.

  I felt so pathetic. I didn’t think he even heard me. Even so, I still leaned my head closer to his chest and nestled it in between his peck and his bicep. That was when I noticed that his chest was bare. He had no shirt. Strangely, it didn’t bother me, and I thought nothing more of it. I was very comfortable there, even though I felt like I was laying my head on boulders. It was a safe feeling. I wasn’t even scared that I didn’t know that guy, let alone the fact that he was carrying me to who knows where. The night was now a peaceful quiet. I could clearly hear his strong heart pounding in his muscled chest. And it was out of control. Kind of as if it was trying to punch its way out of his rib cage. Was he scared about something? I wanted to ask him if everything was okay. Beyond what I could physically hear, I started to feel him. Not with my hands; I felt him around me. He was shaking. He was shaking as an anxious person would in the presence of something overwhelming to them.

  But he never said a word. How I wish he would. At least then, I’d be able to hear his voice. I felt myself drifting off again, but I didn’t want to. What if he left before I woke up? I wasn’t going to let that happen. Will-power needed to be with me. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t close my-

  When I was able to open my eyes again, I was laying on my bed. The first thing I saw was the blurry sight of a forearm. And it had two markings on it. Tattoos? I couldn’t make out what they were, but I knew they had to be tattoos.

  “What’s your name?” I whimpered out.

  Still no answer. He had to have heard me. I was beginning to think he wasn’t answering on purpose. My vision started clearing up some more, but it was too late. In one quick movement, he was away from the bed and jumping out the window. I tried to call out to him. To beg him not to leave. But it was too late and he was gone. And there I was, lying motionless on my bed. Questions started pouring in my head. One thing I knew for sure was, he knew who I was. He obviously knew where I lived. Who was that guy? I had to find out. No doubt about it. I had to find him. But for now, all I could do was rest.

  “Mindy?” a worried voice called out.

  I opened my eyes to the bright light slicing through my exposed window. As I gazed at the window, the figure of the person that saved me ran through my mind. How I wished I was able to see him. I hated myself for being so out of it last night.

  “Mindy?” Markus was standing at my doorway holding my purse in his hand. His eyebrows were scrunched up and his brown eyes were wide in alarm. “You okay?” Markus asked.

  “Yeah. Why do you ask?” I was confused with his question. Did he know what had happened? I slowly sat up and felt the soreness on the back of my head. My arms and legs were also sore, kind of as if I worked out for hours.

  “Well, it’s one in the afternoon and you’re barely waking up. Not to mention your hair has leaves in it.” He placed the purse down on my nightstand. It had blotches of mud along the bottom of it. But how did Markus get it from the forest? He sat at the foot of my bed with his head down, something obviously was bothering him. It actually looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

  “I found your purse on your porch. You must have dropped it there.” Markus said. He studied me, and worry was all I saw on his face. Markus wasn’t the type to show exaggerated emotions. During situations in the past, he was always the one to calm me down, yet I was sure he was still freaking out on the inside. Curiosity lit his features. “What’s up with the shirt?” he asked.

  Confused by his question, I looked down. Oh yeah. That was totally not my shirt. A smoky grey t-shirt was draped over me. A male’s large, smoky grey t-shirt. I gasped in shock. But I was sure I still felt the blouse I was wearing last night still on me. Pulling at the opening to the shirt, I peeked inside. Yup, it was still on. The top of my blouse was unbuttoned exposing my pink laced bra. The buttons must have popped open while I was running and crawling around that bush. I released the opening and patted it against my collarbone.

  “No. It isn’t.” I sighed blissfully. That was why my hero was shirtless. He put it on me to cover me up, even though I was unaware of my exposure. I smiled dreamily.

  “Huh?” Confusion ran over his face. “And why does your face have some mud on it?” Markus closed the space between us and bent down to put his face closer to mine.

  I leaped off the bed and kicked off the boots
I didn’t take off last night, sending them flying across the room. “After Ayden tried to… Oh! Someone saved me Markus!” I exclaimed.

  “What?!” He quickly sat up. “What did Ayden try to do? Who saved you?” he demanded.

  “Well.” I stood still. “I. I don’t know who saved me. And Ayden…he tried to force himself on me. But it’s okay! He didn’t succeed! Not even close. The guy that saved me probably whooped his butt too!” I sat down in front of him on the bed. I slouched my shoulders and looked down at the dirty carpet. It had muddy footsteps from last night, or this morning-whatever time it was. “I couldn’t see his face. I don’t know who he is.” I said.

  “Whoa. Can you start from the beginning? Tell me exactly what happened,” he pleaded.

  After explaining to him every detail of my experience, he sat back down, attentive and pensive.

  I escaped being possibly raped, if that was really Ayden’s intention. It was like escaping death. This situation could have ended up horribly, but it didn’t and for that I was grateful. I knew Ayden wouldn’t have tried that while being sober, it wasn’t him. On top of it all, someone saved me and I wanted to know who it was.

  “I shouldn’t have left you with him.” Markus said half out loud. “How are you feeling?”

  “Great! Markus, I feel great.” I said.

  “Okay, Tony the Tiger.” He nodded his head. “Physically? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m really sore.” I said while massaging the back of my head. There was a bump there. It was crusty. I must have bled when I hit that rock. Markus was already freaking out so I wasn’t about to volunteer the information to him that my head was bleeding at some point in the evening. I stretched out my legs. It felt both good and painful at the same time. Already used to running every night, I realized I must have ran really hard because I never turned out that sore.

  “Mindy… Usually…and I’m assuming here, but girls would generally be freaked. You’re celebrating.” he muttered, looking at me like I was a little crazy.

  “I’m celebrating because I survived before anything could happen! There are so many victims that don’t escape that. I am looking at the positive side to it. I’m lucky Markus, I am truly lucky and grateful for it. I’m sure Ayden got his butt kicked and I got saved. I have to figure out who my rescuer is. He knows who I am. And he knows where I live,” I pointed out.