I shifted my eyes to look at his quickly. Too quickly, because there were two of him for a second. When he came into focus, I saw that he was dead serious.
I blinked, forcing my head to clear and scanned the room again. It was small with wood walls, as if we were in a log cabin. My vision went in and out of focus as I observed that the one solid door was shut tight. There wasn’t any furniture except a built-in desk and bookshelf, a canvas stool, and the cot I was sitting on with a single pillow and thin blanket. It was dark except for the bit of light coming in at the window. Branches with full leaves pressed against the glass.
There weren’t trees like that in the city.
Instantly, I broke into a sweat as my heart began to boom against my chestplate. “What are you talking about? What did you do? Where are we?” My voice was shrill and panicked.
In contrast, David was calm. So very calm. He smiled at me warmly. “We’re home, Laynie.”
The hair stood up on my arms, and goosebumps raced across my skin. I wanted to move away, but I was frozen in place, listening to his confusing, strange, dreadful words.
“I bought this place for you. I know it’s not as fancy as the places you’re used to, but we’ll make it ours. I didn’t have time to prepare it properly. I wasn’t expecting to bring you here so soon. But then I saw you yesterday, and when you said you were going next door, away from his prison guards, I had to take the opportunity. I didn’t know if I’d get the chance again.”
This was fucking crazy. I had to be dreaming. David, the guy I’d once thought perhaps I could marry, couldn’t be this crazy.
But even in my worst nightmares, I didn’t feel this pain in my gut, my head.
This was all a misunderstanding. It had to be. I was confused because of whatever drug he’d put in my drink. I wasn’t hearing him right. But why would there be a drug in my drink if I was misunderstanding?
I pressed my free hand to my stomach as another wave of nausea took hold. “What did you give me?”
He brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, gently. Sweetly. “Rohyphnol.”
I fought against the urge to gag. He’d roofied me. He’d fucking roofied me? “Did we…? Did you…?” I did a mental sweep of my body, trying to determine if I’d been violated. Would I know? Would I be able to tell?
“No, no!” He reassured me. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do that to you, Laynie.” He stroked my hair again, almost petting me. “I want you to remember it when we’re finally together.”
Sheer cold terror gathered at the base of my neck and spread down my spine. I couldn’t fight the reflex this time. I dropped the water bottle and bent over the side of the cot and heaved again, my body spasming, trying to rid itself of the toxin by purging an empty stomach.
Again, David held my hair, speaking to me in soft, soothing tones. When I was finished, he used the washcloth to wipe my mouth, holding my head firmly at the base when I tried to pull away.
“Calm down. Don’t fight me. I’m just cleaning you up right now, baby. I know you’re confused and disoriented, but trust me—I’m trying to help you.”
Every word out of his mouth made my skin crawl, made my stomach threaten to attempt another round of throwing up. My eyes were watering and my heart raced so fast, I worried I might go into cardiac arrest. Had the roofie been laced with something else? Cocaine? Meth? If I weren’t so weak, if the room weren’t spinning so fast, I’d try harder to push away. But even if I did have my strength, he was bigger than I was. Stronger than I was by a lot. There was no way to fight him and win.
I had to try another tactic.
I could reason with him. He was being nice. He didn’t want to hurt me, not really. Or he would have hurt me already.
Sitting up again, I focused as well as I could on his face. “Thank you. For helping me. But we’re not going to be together, David.” I spoke as gently as I could, copying his hushed tones. “I’m with Hudson. I’m married to Hudson. Hudson is going to want me back.”
“Shh,” David said, undeterred in his task of washing my face, methodically wiping the cloth in long lines over the corners of my mouth.
He wasn’t listening to me.
Had he ever?
Even back then, when I’d chosen Hudson, had he truly listened?
I put my hand over his, and tried not to cringe. “David, this is serious. You can’t do this. You have to take me back to my family. The police will come looking for me. Hudson is going to come looking for me.”
David took a deep breath in and blew it out slowly, as though trying to keep his temper. “Laynie, we can talk if you feel up to it, but not about Hudson. He’s got you confused. He does that—he tricks people. He’s tricked you into thinking you’re in love with him.”
“I am in love with him,” I said forcefully, as though volume would help.
David reached for something at his back and swiftly whipped out a handgun.
I shrieked, instinctually moving away from him, but he grabbed me by the hair, pulling hard, and put the muzzle of the weapon at my throat.
“I didn’t want to use this, but I knew you might not be cooperative,” he said, the tenderness gone from his voice. “It’s the spell he has on you. Like I said, you only think you’re in love with him. It’s going to take time to get over that, I know, and it might even hurt a little going through the process, but I’ll be here to help you through it. And when we’ve broken his spell, we’ll be able to really start our life together.”
I was too terrified to talk with the gun at my throat. And even if I wasn’t, I had no idea what I’d even say to that. I thought I knew crazy. I thought I was crazy. This was a whole different sort. I took in shallow, tiny breaths, afraid too big of a movement would set him off. Afraid I’d accidentally knock him and his finger would slip on the trigger.
He loosened his rough grip on my hair and cradled my head to his face, his mood turning again. He pressed a firm kiss against my temple.
“I hope you can forgive me for leaving you with him for so long, Laynie. He tricked me too. He made me believe you loved him, like he made you believe it. But then I found out about the tricks he played on people, and I finally got it. It never made sense why you chose him—you weren’t into his type before. He wasn’t right for you. You’re too strong and beautiful to be with someone like that, someone who put you in the shadows. As soon as I realized what he’d done to you, I started working on a plan to get you out of there. It took a long time because I had to get it right. He’s smart. I had to make sure I threw the blame in other places so he wouldn’t know it was me who saved you. That way he can’t find us because he’ll be looking in the wrong place.”
The entirety of the situation began to sink in, pieces clicking into place.
“You sent the letters,” I said before I’d even made the conscious decision to speak. I hadn’t put it together, my head too dazed to realize it was connected.
“I did!” he exclaimed proudly. “You never guessed, did you?”
I shook my head slightly, trying not to set off another round of pain.
He must not have noticed because he asked again, sharply this time. “Did you?”
“No,” I whimpered. I really hadn’t. He hadn’t even been on our radar as a suspect. “I didn’t guess it was you.”
It still didn’t make sense—how had he found out about Hudson’s past? The details he’d used in the letters were vague, but I’d been at Celia’s long enough, listening to her talk with my husband, to realize there were some firm facts wrapped up in the threats.
“I was good. I was patient. I wanted to do it right for you.” He kissed my temple again, stroking my hair like a treasured possession.
I dropped my head, the adrenaline and confusion finally running out, leaving me with nothing but fear. Bone-chilling, teeth-chattering fear. What if he’d been too good? What if Hudson couldn’t figure out who had me?
What if he didn’t find me? What if he didn’t know where to look?
&nbs
p; What if there was finally something he couldn’t fix?
David lifted my chin up with the muzzle of the gun. “Say thank you, Laynie,” he said sternly, the same authoritative way I reminded Mina.
“Say thank you!” he shouted when I hadn’t responded fast enough.
“Thank you,” I choked out.
“Good girl. Such a good girl. You were always such a good girl,” he nuzzled his nose through my hair as he praised me.
I started to cry.
Honestly, I didn’t know how I’d held it in that long. I’d been teary, but now I was really crying. The full force of the situation had set in, and the enormity threatened to drown me. I was shaking as violently with sobs as I had from retching earlier.
With the gun still in his hand, he twisted my face so he could look in my eyes. “What’s wrong, honey? Is it your stomach still? Does your head hurt?”
“My babies,” I said, not sure if he could understand me, my voice came out so strangled. “My babies, David. I have babies.”
“Oh, no, no. I was never going to hurt them. I only said that to confuse Hudson. And to scare him. I’m sorry it scared you too.”
I grabbed onto his shirt, tugging at it, trying to make him see. “I can’t leave them. They need me. They need their mother.”
His face softened, compassion etched deep in his features.
“Oh, baby,” he said, stroking my hair with the gun. “I’m so sorry for that. I wish we could take them with us because I know it would make you feel better, but... they’re his kids too. Even if I thought we could somehow get them away from him, which I don’t believe we can—you know how tight a hold he keeps on his possessions—we can’t have any part of him with us. I can’t allow that. He’s too toxic. Even his DNA is toxic.”
My chest shook with shallow breaths. I couldn’t get enough air, couldn’t bring it in deep enough to reach my lungs. I was on the verge of hyperventilating. Tears streamed down my face. Every new thing he was saying, every crazy new thing made me feel more desolate. More terrified. More out of control.
Was this really happening? How could this nightmare be my life?
David brought his hand to my cheek to swipe my tears with the pad of his thumb, the gun so close to my eye as he did that I inhaled with an audible whimper.
“I know it hurts to be without your children at this moment. But we’re together now. You’ll get over them. We just have to get them out of your system. We have to get Hudson out of your system, like the rohyphnol. It needs time.”
His compassion was waning. His tone was more stern. More rigid.
“But I’m going to help you,” he promised. “Every step of the way. I’ll help you forget about him.” He cradled my face with both hands, as well as he could with a weapon in the grip of one of his fists. “Oh, Laynie. I’ve waited so long to be with you again.”
I knew what he was going to do, and still I didn’t want to believe it. Because if he did this, it would only be the beginning. He would want more. He would do more.
But as much as I tried to ignore it away, it was happening—he leaned down and covered my mouth with his.
I tried to pull away, but he held me more tightly in place.
I pressed my lips firmly together, but he kept roughly working at them.
When I finally let out a cry, begging him to stop, he stuck his tongue forcefully inside.The more I squirmed, the more aggressive his kiss got, the deeper he stroked his tongue, defiling every square inch of my mouth.
I was quivering when he finally broke away, on the verge of vomiting again, too scared to even do that involuntary action for fear he’d get mad with the gun still in his hand.
He held me tight against him, nestling my head under his chin.
“I’ve missed your mouth so much,” he whispered, poisonous lust dripping in his words. “I’ve never forgotten what it feels like to have your mouth on me. You were so good at taking my cock all the way down your throat. It’s going to feel so good when you do that again.”
“I can’t! I can’t!” I shook my head vehemently against his chest. I’d choke if he brought his thing anywhere around me. I’d die. I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t.
My neck suddenly jerked back as David sharply pulled a fistful of my hair, much harder than he had the first time.
“Ow! You’re hurting me!” I clawed at his hand, but then the gun was back in my face, and I froze.
He raised up with one knee on the cot so he was hovering over me. “He’s convinced you you’re a princess now Alayna, hasn’t he? That you’re too good for sucking cock? Well, you’re not. Do you hear me? You’re still Laynie from the bar. You’re not too good for having it down your throat or in any other hole I think you should take it in, you got that?”
I’d delayed answering before, and he was more mad this time than he’d been. More unpredictable. Fighting him wasn’t possible, begging hadn’t worked, crying had no effect on him.
I had to say what he wanted to hear. It was my only choice.
“I get it. I do. I understand.” I felt the grip on my hair loosen slightly and took that as a sign to continue. “I didn’t mean that I was too good for…” I couldn’t say it. “I meant…” I thought quickly. “I’m too sick. The drug is still in my system, like you said. And I want to be completely well when we’re… when we’re... together.”
He studied me as though not sure he was convinced, then suddenly he broke into a smile. “My good, good Laynie.” He sighed, releasing my hair and returning to the petting from before. “I’m so happy to hear this is as important to you as it is to me. You’re already getting over Hudson.”
I nodded, but he was wrong.
I’d never be over Hudson.
And I was getting out of there. To be with my husband where I belonged.
At this rate, though, the way David was moving, and if the thick bulge in his pants was any indication, I was going to be forced to suck him off—or worse—before I got the chance.
Unless I made my own chance.
Cautiously, I forced myself to put my hand on his chest. I couldn’t bring myself to caress him the way I knew I needed to in order to make it truly convincing, but I managed to pat him a few times. “David,” I said, making my voice light and amiable. “David, it is important to me. Us being together. I didn’t realize you’d worked so hard for me. I want to make it special. I want to...clean up for you. Get pretty. Um. Shave. And...uh…do my hair up.” I was improving. I had only a semblance of a plan, but I didn’t have time to scheme.
His lips hovered over mine. “Don’t you know? You don’t need to do any of that for me, Laynie.” He pressed forward, about to kiss me again.
I pushed back on his chest as his mouth brushed over mine. “But I need to! I need to wash Hudson from my body. Like you said. He’s toxic. I need to get him off my skin.”
I hated myself. Hated every word I said. It was almost as terrible to say them as it was to imagine what could happen to me for not saying them.
Almost.
I somehow managed not to flinch as David nibbled on my bottom lip. “Okay,” he said, then kissed me anyway, like he couldn’t resist himself. He prodded my tongue with his until I moved it, and he could suck it in between his lips with a moan.
My ploy hadn’t worked. He was getting more invasive, more predatory. Another wave of sickening panic washed over me. If I threw up now, would he back off, or shoot me?
But then he broke away. “Okay. Washing Hudson off of you. That’s smart. That’s just like you. Always thinking.” His gaze drew down my body lasciviously. With a groan, he stood up, adjusting himself with one hand, tucking the gun under his belt with the other.
My entire body sighed with relief.
David glanced around the empty room. “I don’t have much here. I didn’t have time to prepare for you.”
That was my opportunity. “I know! You had to take me when you could. That’s fine. But maybe we could go to the store. Just to pick up a few things.”
I held my breath and prayed.
He moved his head back and forth, seemingly torn. “I wish we could, Laynie. You can’t go anywhere though. Not in public. People are going to be looking for you. Remember?”
“I’ll be careful. I could wear a disguise.” He continued to shake his head. “Did you drive far enough from the city? We have to be in the middle of nowhere, right? No one is going to pay attention to the news out here. Not city news.”
I was reaching. Grasping at straws.
“Laynie,” the stern voice was back. “Something you need to learn now is that when I say no, you don’t argue with me. That’s another bad habit you’ve gotten into. Hudson must have let you walk all over him. With me, though, I’m the boss, and I don’t want to remind you of that over and over.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. Deflated. “I’m sorry,” I added, afraid he’d pull out the gun again.
“It’s all right. This time. It’s only your first day back with me, and you’ve been gone a long time. I understand you’re a bit disoriented.”
Disoriented, yes. Defeated, no.
I tried another angle. “Then can you go? I could give you a list.” Maybe I could figure a way out while he was gone. Another idea hit me. “I could type it into your phone!”
He bent down. “You know I can’t give you my phone, sweetheart. There’s no signal up here, anyway. But I can get you a pen and paper. I do have that.”
Then back to escaping while he was gone. I didn’t know where we were, and I didn’t have my cell, so it was going to be tricky. From the birds chirping outside, the trees I could see through the window, and the lack of traffic sounds, I had a feeling we were somewhere in the woods. Getting lost in the middle of the wilderness wasn’t the best of options, but anything was better than staying with David.
He walked over to the built-in desk and opened a couple of drawers, until he’d found a notepad and something to write with.
I threw my feet over the side of the cot and sat up all the way, resisting the urge to run or attack him while his back was turned. He’d move faster than I could, I told myself. And he had the gun. I’d wait until he left.
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