Mr. X

by Clarissa Wild

  “It’s not like that,” I growl. “Yes, we had fun before.” Fun … whatever that means. Hanging out with her was fun, for a while, until it wasn’t enough anymore. It was never enough. I should’ve known this from the start. Our time together has never been anything but a threat to us both.

  “Come hang out with me then. I could use a distraction,” she says, putting up a smile. She’s doing her best to persuade me, but I’m not convinced she really wants that. She doesn’t want fun. She wants to forget. That’s what she always wants and why she does all those things. And I’m supposed to be the one to catch her when she falls.

  I refuse. I can’t do it. Not anymore. This has gone too far already. I should have cut it off when I had the chance.

  “No. I can’t,” I say.

  She frowns, so I turn around and start walking again. Instead of accepting her defeat, she stomps in front of me and puts her foot down. “You’re not leaving. You work for us. If I say you stay and hang out with me, you do exactly that.”

  I laugh and shake my head. “You don’t get it, do you?” I lean forward and grab her shoulder. “I’m. Not. Hanging. Out. With. You.” I tap her chest. “You don’t pay me. Your father does, and not at all for the reasons you think. So you can demand all you like, but it’s not going to happen.”

  “Why not? What changed? Stop being such an asshole! You know I need someone to talk to right now.”

  “I know, but I’m not the one to lean on. You shouldn’t, ever, lean on me. I’m not that kind of person.” I grab both her shoulders and push her forward.

  “Then what kind of person are you?” She folds her arms.

  “Me and my family … we are not your protectors. I am not a good guy.”

  She raises one eyebrow and lowers the other as she steps closer to me. Too close. Her hands are on my hips and the way she pouts as she looks up at me makes me want to cup her face and kiss her.

  But I can’t. I’d rather hurt her than be hurt myself. Life is cruel. I’m even crueler. I have my family to thank for it.

  “But you are. We used to hang out all the time … I don’t remember you being anything but good and fun.”

  “Stop living in the past!” I shout. “I can’t do it anymore. You don’t fucking know me, at all.”

  Tears spring into her eyes. “Don’t say that …”

  “You think I’m here to protect you? To be your friend? Wrong. You don’t even know what my family does for a living. You don’t even know why we are here in the first place.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  I lean in even closer. “Did you see the man that threw the egg?”

  She nods, holding her breath as I hover next to her ear. “My parents are with him. Do you know what that means?”

  She shakes her head.

  “He’s probably lost all his fingers by now.”

  Her swallowing tells me she finally gets the picture.

  I lean back and look her straight in the eye. “Run. Go to your friends. Go to the club. Do whatever you like. Live your life. But do not ever turn to me for comfort.”

  Shivering, she backs away from me, and then turns and bolts away.

  If only she could stay away …

  ***

  Friday, August 16th, 2013. 5:00 p.m.

  Gasping loudly, I shoot up from the bed, eyes wide open. I must have fallen asleep after our little lunch break. I have been running on nothing but fury these last couple of days. No wonder my body decided it was time to sleep. I didn’t think a short nap would hurt, but it turned into hours.

  When I drop my head to the side, my captive is no longer there.

  For a second, I stop breathing.

  The bed is empty. Jay is gone. Every trace of her is missing. Not even her scent is here anymore.

  Fuck. Fuck!

  I look at the shackles and notice they’re still there, firmly attached to the bed. She must have slipped out of the cuffs somehow. She wasn’t that skinny, was she? Did she fucking work on this while I was sleeping? I rummage in my pocket, and, no surprise, the key to unlock the door is gone. No fucking way.

  Scrambling off the bed, I grab some clothes and jump into them before running out the door with my gun locked in place. My cleaning lady is in front of a different door, fiddling with her key. I approach her. “Have you seen my girl pass by? Long, dark brown hair, chocolate eyes, you know what she looks like.”

  She nods. “I saw a girl running down the hall a minute ago, but I couldn’t tell who she was. Did your girl run off?”

  I don’t answer and pass her in a hurry, jumping steps as I storm down the stairs. I’ll catch that little bird. She can’t have gotten far.

  As I open the emergency door, I look around the hotel premises. The parking lot is empty, but there’s only one thing out of the ordinary. A girl dressed in nothing but a bathrobe, frantically opening up every car door she can find. My little bird.

  “There you are,” I say.

  In shock she turns around and shrieks. “Stay away from me!”

  She runs from one car to the next, hiding behind them as I step closer. “Fly all you want, little bird. You can’t escape this cage.”

  “Fuck off!” she yells from behind the car, and then she throws something at me. Dodging it, I look back and discover it’s a hotel slipper she probably found somewhere and put on her feet. I catch the second one she throws.

  “Stay away from me, you son of a bitch!” she yells.

  I’m lucky the parking lot is empty at this time, otherwise this would make quite a scene. I might have had to actually kill every witness. Even her, if she doesn’t shut up.

  “Now, how did you free yourself, little bird?”

  “Like I would tell you,” she sneers.

  I smile. “It seems the cuffs weren’t tight enough after all.” I check out her wrists and hands. There are bruising marks all over her left wrist and fingers. I guess she managed to wriggle herself out and take my key from my pocket while I was sleeping to unlock the rest. Clever girl. Must’ve hurt a lot.

  “You can’t keep me here,” she says.

  I take my gun from its holster and shake my arm, wrapping my fingers tightly around the trigger. “Yes I can. You can run, but you can’t escape me,” I say with a low voice. Trying to be calm is hard, but I don’t want to unnecessarily damage my property, or my car.

  “Get over here right now or I will shoot,” I say.

  “You won’t!” she yells, running away from the car.

  I aim for the asphalt right in front of her feet. She shrieks and jumps up and down, then bolts in another direction. There, I shoot as well. Each time she turns, I shoot in that direction, causing her to feel disoriented. From a distance I can see the panic flowing through her, the sweat dripping down her forehead, and her long legs dancing to the rhythm of my gunshots.

  “That’s it, little bird, flock to me and it will stop.” Each step I take makes her more skittish, more eager to run. She’s trapped, and she knows it. No matter where she runs, I will find her.

  “Come to me and you’ll be safe.”

  She shakes her head, tears forming in her eyes. “Safe? With you I’ll never be safe.”

  “I won’t harm you as long as you obey me,” I muse, flicking the gun to get her to come to me. However, she remains unmoving.

  “You want to hurt me,” she says, her voice croaky.

  “Hurt. Such a strange word. I see it as punishment. And another part of the spanking is lust.” I take another step. She backs away. I point the gun at her abdomen and watch her eyes dart to the metal. She shuffles backwards.

  I’m starting to lose my patience. “You will come back to the room with me. Now.”

  “No. You’re a monster.”

  I don’t have time for this nonsense. Grinding my teeth, I storm toward her. She launches her fist at me, but I evade it, and then poke her in the stomach with my gun. “There is no choice.”

  She shrieks. “Stop! What are you doing?” I grab her
arm with my free hand. “Let go of me!”

  Pulling her back toward the hotel, I check my surroundings carefully, always on alert. They could be anywhere, anytime, watching us, ready to shoot. They don’t care about her life or mine. We’d be dead in a second if they saw us. Goddammit, why did I let her escape? This is fucking dangerous!

  “Take your fucking hands off me!” she yells.

  I drag her to a corner in the shadows and push her up against the wall of the building. “Are you fucking insane?” I tell her. “I told you, you would die if you went out there.”

  “I went out there. I didn’t die.”

  “Don’t mock me,” I snarl. “Have you already forgotten what I told you? That I’m not the only one who came for your head?”

  “Yeah, well maybe I’d rather be taken away by them than spend one more second with you!” She spits in my face, so I push the gun further into her stomach as I wipe my face with my sleeve.

  “You’ll fucking pay for that,” I say through gritted teeth. “You have no fucking clue how much you need me.”

  “You must be joking,” she scoffs.

  “There are men after you. Men that are exactly like me; murderous sons of bitches. Nothing will stand in the way of their killing you. Do you hear me? Nothing. Not you, not me. They would kill us both in the blink of an eye.” I hold up my finger for her to see, press it to her forehead, and then make a gunshot sound. Her eyes blink rapidly and her lips part, but nothing comes out.

  “I’m the only one who can save you from them. The only one who knows how to protect you.”

  “I don’t want your protection …” she mutters.

  My finger drifts down her nose to her lip, dragging it down as I linger on her chin and nudge it up so she’ll finally look at me. Really look at me. So she’ll see that I’m the only thing keeping her alive.

  “Your life is in my hands. It doesn’t matter if you escape; they would still find you and kill you. It’s their job and they’ll do anything to get it done. Don’t you get it? There’s no going back. You are on the hit list. It won’t end. Not when you run. Not when I die. It will never end.”

  Her eyes grow watery when she finally realizes she has lost her freedom. Not to me, but to the world.

  “But I can’t …” she whispers. “I don’t want more pain.”

  “Pain is what you get when you don’t listen. Pain can be avoided if you do. Whether you want it or not, you are mine now. I saved your life. I will keep it safe, so long as you do what I say,” I murmur. “Anything. Everything.”

  The gun is still in her side, and when I move my hand a little, she gasps. Air leaves her mouth in short breaths. I can almost taste her panic. Her fear. Her downfall.

  A sigh escapes her mouth. Her shoulders drop, and her defensive stance disappears. She loosens her muscles and opens her eyes again. She’s defeated.

  “I don’t want to die. I’ll do anything.”

  I take a deep breath. “I am the one who keeps you alive. No one else. You live because of me. I can take it away just as quickly.”

  “I know.”

  “I could kill you right now if I wanted to. Nobody would care. Nobody would even know. You’d disappear.”

  She sniffs. “Please don’t.”

  My hand slides up her face to her cheek, caressing her. “What will you do? Run and die or stay with me and live?”

  “I don’t want to die. I’ll do anything. Please … I’ll do anything.”

  A slow smile builds on my face. “Good.”

  A tear rolls down her cheek as I lean in, tentatively waiting for her reaction. My approach is slow, but she doesn’t object. Her lips are ready for the taking, and so I plunder them with greed. They’re finally opening up to me, allowing me to take what’s mine. Her mouth, her tongue, everything. I probe her mouth with hunger, because I want her more than anything. I’ve always wanted her.

  But I also want her to pay. This is how I’ll have my revenge.

  “The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.” – John Calvin

  Chapter 13

  X

  Friday, August 16th, 2013. 5:30 p.m.

  She sits on the bed, her legs crossed and her hands on her lap, waiting for me. Waiting for my order. Finally obedient. It’s what I always wanted. What I always deserved.

  Except, now that I have it, it still isn’t enough. I want her, physically as well as mentally. I will do anything to have her completely.

  I sit down beside her on the bed. She stiffens and her eyes flash to me in fear. I raise my hand and lift a few strands of hair blocking her face from my sight. My finger slides across her cheek as I tuck it behind her ear. I lean sideways and whisper, “Are you hungry?”

  She sucks in her lip. “N-no.”

  Maybe she’s had enough strawberries for today. As I caress her cheek, my other hand crawls under her robe, sliding over her leg. She twitches.

  “Please, don’t.”

  “Why do you still resist me?” I murmur, nipping her ear, biting a little. She hisses when I bite down a little harder. A drop of blood oozes from the puncture wound. I lick it up and swallow her taste. She tastes like a whore. My whore.

  That little bird who danced and flocked to men like they were her only feeders now belongs to me, and only me. I will be the one feeding her now.

  “Anything, Jay.”

  She shudders. “Anything.”

  “But you will offer it to me freely.”

  She shuts her mouth as her body starts shaking. I grab a blanket from the back of a chair and wrap it around her body. “I’m not just a monster, I’m your monster. I take good care of what’s mine; you can trust me on that.”

  Jerking on the blanket, she draws it closer to her and pulls away from me. I guess she won’t hand it to me freely just yet. But she will, eventually. I’m not in the mood for fucking anyway. Now that I’ve released my seed onto her, I have a clearer mind on what to do next. I will make her my pet and I will have my revenge. They aren’t mutually exclusive. On the contrary; having her in my possession will take its toll on her. I can take pleasure and pain from her, and it will destroy her, just like I planned.

  I can’t help but chuckle a little.

  “Why are you laughing?” she asks.

  “It’s funny, because I always wanted you to be mine, but only on my terms. And now I finally have you.” I grab her chin and lean in, pressing a kiss on her lips. “I don’t intend for you to ever get away, you know that?”

  She frowns, but lets me kiss her anyway. Her soft, succulent lips make my cock stiff again. I love how she despises my taste and still lets me kiss her. My tongue traces the seam of her mouth and then dips inside to take her, making her gasp for air.

  Her hand suddenly shoots from under the robe, away from the blanket, and she throws herself on top of me. I’m thrown back onto the bed as we wrestle for power. Her hand is almost on my gun, and she shrieks with rage. With one hand I hold her down on my chest, and with the other I grab her wrist. She tries to jerk loose, pounding my chest with her fist.

  “Let me go, asshole!”

  I laugh seeing her struggle. “Jay, how many more times are you going to try this?”

  She rages like a madwoman as I pry her fingers off the gun and force them away. She is lying on top of me now, her hands behind her back, her eyes on me like a hawk.

  “Why do you keep insisting on fighting me?”

  “Because I can,” she snaps.

  “And then what? If you manage to take my gun, which you won’t, then what? Killing me won’t help you, I already told you that and you know damn well I’m right. You’ve seen the others. They will come after you.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Even if you know you won’t survive?”

  She slams her mouth shut and frowns heavily, almost making me laugh.

  “I told you, your only chance of survival is with me.”

  “Yeah, well if I hold the gun, I can protect myself just fine
.”

  I shake my head. “You can’t even protect yourself from your own mishaps, let alone me.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” She starts wriggling on my chest again. “Let me go!”

  “Only if you tell me you won’t try it again.”

  “Fine. I won’t. Happy now?”

  “No. On the contrary, I’m rarely happy.”

  “Oh, and why’s that?” she jests. “You always seem so fucking happy.”

  She’s still such a child sometimes. It reminds me of long ago when I might still have been a little happy and she was too. When I wasn’t as fucked up as I am now. Sure, I’ve always been pretty fucked up, but that’s normal, considering my family. But now … after what happened to me … yeah, you could say I’m fucked up like no other.

  I push her off me and help her sit up. I keep a close eye on her as I release her from my grip. She rubs her wrists, flashing looks at me like she’s warning me. It’s cute.

  “Whatever you’re planning, I hope you realize it won’t work,” I say.

  Making fists with her hands, she turns her head away from me.

  “You’ll never be able to take this gun from me. Hell, even if you could, you’d never be able to shoot me.”

  She snorts. “Yeah, right.”

  “It’s true. Not because you can’t shoot. Oh, I don’t doubt that.” Her eyes drift back to me, curious as to what I have to say. “I know you can aim at people. You just can’t shoot me. You’re still a rookie.”

  “Rookie?” she scoffs.

  “Jay, you have no idea what it takes to use a gun.”

  “Oh, fuck you … I’ve used a gun plenty of times.”

  Oh, I’ve seen her use that gun of hers all right. Like a trembling little girl. “As a means to threaten someone, yes, but have you ever killed someone?”

  Her silence tells me enough.