by J. C. Cliff
~Travis~
Noises of New York City bombard me from every angle. Car horns blare, people yell, and every other conceivable noise of city life overtake my eardrums as I flag down a cab outside the hotel I’m staying in. This is the last leg of my journey. I’ve already been to Kansas to set up trackers and such for the next unsuspecting victim of Blyss. Craig Reynolds wanted to meet me out of town, which is smart. With New York being a busy place, there isn’t anybody to recognize either one of us, and once I’m done here, I’ll be on a flight back to the facility by tomorrow at noon.
Finally, a yellow cabbie stops in front of me, and I open the backdoor and slide in. “127 Mulberry Street,” I say and shut the door behind me. Once I settle in, and the cab takes off, I then tell the driver, “Casa Bella Restaurant.” As the cab makes its way toward Little Italy, through the maze of cars and stop lights, I realize this is the first moment I’ve really had to catch my breath. I’ve been running full steam ahead, knocking out the duties on my list one-by-one. In the quiet of the cab, I find myself reflecting back, thinking of the last time I saw Julianna. My lips form a hard line at the thought; it wasn’t a pretty sight.
I hated having to go into her room, acting cold and callous, and I really loathed calling her a slave. However, I knew if I didn’t portray anything but a bastard, there would have been no one to protect her if she acted out while I’m away. With me being out of town, she would totally be at Nick’s mercy, and the man is merciless. Acting like a dick was for her benefit, and the only way I knew how to protect her, because going soft on her wasn’t working; it only fueled her independent streak more.
I remember the feeling I got as I watched her kneeling form tremble in fear and shock before my very eyes, and it made me feel like the son-of-a-bitch I really was. I had no choice though; my back was to the wall, and at the very least, it would make her obey, which would most likely save her life in the long run.
However, I wound up being able to kill two birds with one stone on her birthday. I absolutely had to break our little tryst. Both of us were getting way too comfortable with each other, and I found myself sailing off course, losing sight of my objectives. I have a plan, and I can’t afford for anything to get in my way, but damn if she hadn’t become addictive from day one. Everything seems so right when I’m with her and God did I wish I could’ve been her first.
My hands clench into fists at the thought of Nick taking her untouched body this very night. I experienced something primal and feral the day she became intimate with me, and it took everything I had not to rip my jeans off and make her mine right there for all the world to see. I wanted her so damn bad I could almost taste it. I have no doubt it would’ve cost me my life right on the spot. Hell, just our little interlude alone almost cost me.
I let out a loud sigh into the cab and glance at the buildings rushing by in the dwindling daylight, analyzing and thinking about my predicaments.
If I didn’t rein in her display of affections toward me, which were becoming more apparent each day, Nick would’ve had a coronary. I noticed she’d begun leaning on me with a dangerous familiarity, and if I’m not mistaken, possibly confusing her feelings with love. The irony is not lost on me. How could she be developing feelings for such a bastard like me? She’s a captive, for fuck’s sake. Does she have Stockholm syndrome?
If I were to entertain her feelings, it would be catastrophically detrimental to her life and mine. What the hell am I thinking? I’m running a medicated slave trade; there is no room for romance in this bullshit. I shake my head, dismissing the thought. No, this is Nick’s woman. He laid claim to her, and he would have her ass skinned alive if he had any insight to her feelings. I close my eyes in disgust. Her ass will most likely end up skinned anyway. Every time someone tries to defy Nick, he gets lost in this angry tunnel vision. He goes from fine to pissed in zero seconds flat, skipping right over annoyed.
Keeping her at arm’s length is for the best, I tell myself. The asshole I’d been over the past few days is how I should’ve been with her all along. She has too much fight in her to be trained any other way. I run my fingers back and forth over my chin and delve further into that very thought; wondering what makes this girl tick. I have to ask myself, how does she still have so much of a fighting spirit after having all those drugs onboard?
She has always been very responsive to me, yet her behavioral traits never really mimicked the other women taking Blyss. It was odd how she seemed unusually coherent and in charge of her body’s sexual faculties and reactions, when she shouldn’t have been. Usually, when Blyss is at its peak level, those women would fuck a banana if I gave it to them. Yes, it is odd indeed.
I’m so immersed in my thoughts I hadn’t realized the cabbie has stopped in front of the restaurant and is eyeing me down, waiting for my payment. I blink hard, bringing myself back to the here and now. “Sorry, bud,” I mumble and toss a fifty at him. I step out of the back of the cab and make my way onto the crowded sidewalk. I’m always fashionably late by at least five minutes or so. I’m never on time, purposely planned this way. I need to control situations in my own way, and being the one to sit and wait on another party doesn’t make me feel in control.
I make my way through the crowd, fighting the city’s humid, smoggy air on the way. Off to my right, I see the restaurant’s sign illuminated above the crowd and work my way inside the Italian restaurant. Once I tell the hostess who I am, she guides me to my reserved table, and as expected, Craig Reynolds, Nick’s old colleague, is waiting for me.
When all formalities are aside and we’ve eaten dinner, we discuss business. I’m midsentence when I feel my phone vibrate in its clip. I hold my index finger up, indicating to Craig to pause and hold his thoughts.
Unclipping my phone from my waist, I glance down at the caller ID and raise both brows in surprise. Jared never calls me when I’m on the road. The fact Nick is there at the facility and he’s calling me puts me on edge. There is currently no one at the facility who can contend with Nick as his equal, and that thought alone makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Craig, excuse me please. I believe I have an urgent call and I really must answer this.” I don’t wait for the man to respond, I go ahead and swipe the screen to connect me to Jared.
“Jackson,” I answer, keeping my voice steady as I get up from the table and begin making my way toward the men’s restroom to gain some privacy.
“Travis, I think you need to get back here, quick.” Jared’s voice is urgent and panicky.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I think Nick has fallen off his rocker.”
“Dammit, Jared, this is not the time for allusive remarks. Don’t make me ask questions; spill it,” I order, growling with irritability.
Jared takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. I have to remember he doesn’t work well under certain pressures, and if I rile him up, it only serves to muddle his thought process further.
“Okay,” he says on a loud exhale, “apparently, Julianna found a way to trick the biosensors in the toilets. Her lab readings were off, indicating she was diluting her medicine. I discovered it this evening, and I wound up interrupting Nick from his dinner party to tell him. I didn’t want her going nuts on him the way she did on me, and I didn’t want her to blindside the guards either—”
I cut him off, “Jared, cut to the chase.”
“Yeah, okay. Nick demanded she get a shot, doubling the dose. He took her to her room, and well, you know…”
“Yes, Jared, I know. You can skip that part.” I know he’s off-kilter when he repeatedly says, ‘yeah, okay’, and I try not to make fun of him right now, because this shit is serious.
“Yeah, okay…well, she said something that pissed him off—pissed him off real bad.”
“Dammit, Jared!” I bellow. The sound echoes in the small hallway, and I realize I just yelled. I take a deep breath; I need to get a grip and lower my voice, but fuck, Jared irritates the livin
g Hell out of me sometimes.
“I’m trying here, Travis! I’m trying to convey this information the best way I know how!” I hear Jared curse in the background, obviously frustrated. Then he steals a deep breath through the phone line, and what he says next stops my heart. “Nick whipped her, okay?! He whipped her so bad it made me sick. This wasn’t his usual type of kink play, Travis. Nick was out-of-control angry, and he really did a number on her.”
I can tell he’s totally shaken; it’s in his voice as he continues, “I knew something was wrong when Justin told me to have the cameras shut down to her room. Of course I told him I’d take care of it, and then I shooed the guards out of the monitoring room, just so I could see what the hell he was up to.” My hands clench into fists as I rest my forehead against the wall when I take in this bit of news, and I hear my phone make a small cracking sound. My chest tightens at the thought of her perfect body being whipped.
“My God, I almost projectile vomited all over the monitors, watching the entire drama unfold in real time. I couldn’t watch the majority of it, Travis; it was just that bad, and there was nothing I could do about it. Nick had already gone past the point of no return, and short of shooting a sedative into his ass, there was nothing I could’ve done to stop him.”
“Fucking hell,” I grate out through clenched teeth. “What the fuck set him off?” I slowly swipe my hand down my eyes and face, trying to calm myself down and failing miserably.
“I had found out she was finding a way to not take the Blyss. She tricked the computer system.” Jared’s tone turns to pure awe as he tells me, “Travis, I don’t know how she could quit like that cold turkey and not go insane. She would make any withdrawing coke addict proud. I truly see what you’ve been trying to tell me all along. When you said she had unusually strong willpower, I didn’t realize it was that of ten mules.”
“What’s going on right now? Where is she?” I swallow hard, not sure if she’s out of harm’s way or not.
“Nick has just left for home. Told her she couldn’t have any pain meds whatsoever. She’s lying in her bed crying, Travis, and she’s all but flayed open. I can’t just stand by and not give her something.”
The very thought of her writhing in pain twists emotions deep in my gut. Dammit! I turn and punch the wall beside me, spooking the hell out of a patron, but I don’t give a shit. Why the hell am I not there?! I feel my teeth grind against each other as I struggle to control my rage.
“Travis, are you there?” Jared asks, panicked.
I answer through gritted teeth, “Yeah, give me a sec.” Knowing I’m out of control, I take a deep breath. Now is not the time to lose my cool. What I need is for Jared to take immediate action for me. “Jared, man, dose her up with pain meds until she doesn’t even know her fucking name. I will deal with the fallout from Nick if he finds out.”
Jared breathes a sigh of relief over the phone. “Yeah, okay. I’m on it.” I shake my head at poor Jared. He’s just a mad scientist; he can’t handle the physical and brutal shit that comes with this business.
“Jared, once those pain meds take hold, I also want you to rub her back with that cream shit. Make sure she’s comfortable in every way possible, yeah? Apply some ice too, and keep her upper body elevated.”
“Got it.”
“Jared, don’t leave her until you know she’s comfortable,” I warn. My free hand swipes at the sweat beads that have formed along my brows.
“No worries, Travis, I promise to stay with her. I needed to call someone to tell me I wasn’t losing my mind for wanting to give her pain meds,” he continues after a brief pause. “I’m telling you, though…I have never seen Nick act like this before. It’s like he was obsessed, but it was more intense than that. He was a raging wildebeest who only saw red.”
I shake my head, glaring at nothing in front of me, thinking of killing the bastard who beat Julianna. “Look, I’ll reserve a seat on the next flight out just as soon as I hang up with you...and Jared?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for calling me, and I want you to keep this conversation under the radar; tell no one. You did the right thing. I want you to call me if something changes with her, and don’t leave for home until you’re sure she’s sleeping comfortably, got it?”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Travis.”
I hang up the phone and immediately begin searching the travel app on my phone for the next flight out. The latest nonstop flight out of here is nine o’clock this evening. There are times I want to shout to the stars for having technology such as this, and this is one of those times. I’m so wired; I don’t know what I’d do if I had to sit through booking a flight using dial-up technology.
I’m so engrossed in what I’m doing I don’t realize Craig has come up behind me until he asks, “Is everything okay back at the ranch?”
I glance over at him briefly, and then return my attention back to my phone, tapping into the device while taking the final steps necessary to book my flight. “Everything is fine, Craig. Sorry for the interruption. Just had to take care of a pressing matter, but the problem is now solved.”
Since this man is a friend of Nick’s, I don’t need to raise any red flags and have him alert Nick to anything. I booked the latest flight out, which will allow me to wrap up business and still have time to make it to the airport. I put my Stonewall Jackson face on and do what I do best: bullshit people. “There should be no more interruptions now. Shall we?” I give him a tight smile and gesture toward the dining area.
Sitting in First Class, I wait on the tarmac as the airplane loads, and gather my thoughts about what to do with Julianna. She is going to spend her entire life repeatedly battered and bruised if someone doesn’t step in to save her. I can’t in good conscience let that happen to her. Her lively personality and self-expression will be torn to shreds. Whatever bit of positive thinking she could extrapolate from her situation. Nick will take it and squash it like a bug underfoot. Nothing will be left of her. She’s been so strong these past couple of weeks. I’ve never seen anyone be able to hold up the way she has under such pressure.
I think about the way she always looked for the good things in me. She was able to bypass my hard exterior, which is not an easy feat for anyone to accomplish, but she did it anyway. When she treated me to her smile and laughter, it felt like a precious gift; sure, she had a few breakdowns, but who the hell wouldn’t in her situation? But the majority of the time, she accepted the cards dealt to her without complaint, and that had always intrigued me.
I found myself truly enjoying her company and wanting to be with her every spare minute I had. I want to get to know the real Julianna, and I still want to see her true personality bloom, and be able to watch her come to life, unhindered by the oppression and despotism she’s found herself in. With her artistic background, I can only imagine the mixture of complexities that make up her characteristic qualities. I have the deep-seated desire to know and understand her intimately.
Nick doesn’t deserve her. Hell, he doesn’t deserve any female for that matter. I can’t believe he whipped the shit out of her; the hot-blooded, arrogant bastard. He gets too sidetracked in that demented, controlling, overbearing mind of his to put aside his selfish needs for one moment. He is a pure sadist, even though he doesn’t think he is.
Julianna deserves to be put on a pedestal and appreciated for the beautiful, delicate flower she is, not just for her attractiveness, but for her inner beauty as well. Most men don’t realize the majority of their success and happiness is thanks to the strengths of their woman. That type of a woman is paramount to a successful relationship, and I can see all of those qualities in Julianna.
She may be a feisty little thing, but I could tell just from the couple of weeks I observed her, when she decides to give her heart away, she’ll be all in. She’ll hold nothing back. Julianna screams faithful and has a willingness to please, but only if she feels respected in return. What makes me feel even worse is I could see she was beginning t
o put her faith and trust in me without question. Even though I was partly behind her captivity, she surprised me at every turn. Her spontaneity and loving personality seem to come so naturally to her, especially when she feels safe.
Hell, I cannot even begin to imagine how her fiancé must’ve felt when Nick got a hold of him. Even if her dad got her out of the facility, it would be next to impossible for her to get back together with her fiancé. Unfortunately for her, there is no going back for either one of them. Nick would sure as Hell have Adam killed, and God only knows what he would do to Julianna. Not to mention the fact it would be easy as hell to track them down. Neither one of them has any training in combat situations or knows the first thing about disappearing. They would stick out like a sore thumb to someone with the resources Nick has.
What I’m really struggling with at the moment is why I feel the need to step in at all. I’ve never meddled in anyone else’s business before, so why now? What is so different about Julianna that I can’t let this go? Let her go? I have seen some pretty intense shit go down with captive women over the years, and I have never stepped in before. Well, I have, but it was only to serve due justice to the bastards. However, I have never been so selfish as to take someone’s girl and run.
I have never been so conflicted that it consumed my every thought before. I have spent the last two weeks churning the same questions over and over in my mind, and I cannot seem to come up with any conceivable and clear cut answers. If Nick keeps her, he will eventually destroy her, but who the hell am I to consider having ownership of her? The sad fact of the matter is…I wouldn’t give her back her freedom either.
I let out a heavy sigh and rub my temples. The thought of burning all my bridges, which have taken years for me to carefully construct, and then walking away from it all, watching it self-destruct in one fell swoop has me warring with myself. Am I willing to risk everything I have ever worked for? There will be no going back for me if I choose this path, and I will be forced to forever close this chapter in my life. If I take Julianna, it’s going to cause more than just crumbled structures in my wake. I will most likely be causing an all-out war on many fronts, and signing my own death warrant.
