“What do you want? What are going to do to me?” I asked, like the scared little girl I was.
I continued to turn in a circle, seeing nothing but distain and hatred facing me. There was no exit. I would not be leaving without their permission. Somehow, I didn’t think they would grant me that leave.
Pain still shot through my arm. I held onto it with my better hand, cradling it against my body. It was twisted at an odd angle, my shoulder out of its socket. A strange numb tingling sensation flushed through my fingers.
“Please, let me go.”
I wished they would say something. Their eyes spoke volumes, that I was their prey, that they would delight in killing me, that perhaps I was food for their next feast. I heard it all loud and clear. But I needed them to say it with their voices.
“I will vouch for her.”
I spun around, trying to see who had spoken. They all wore tight lips. It had been a male, I was certain of that. None of them gave anything away.
“You can all relax. I know this girl.” He spoke again, holding authority in the voice that I couldn’t quite place. He was familiar, but so distant at the same time.
The woman who had popped my shoulder spoke next, barely two feet away from me in the circle. “We found her fair and square. She was intruding on our property.”
The bodies started to part, letting the owner of the voice through. He reached my circle. If I wasn’t seeing him with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Nor was I certain his presence was a good thing. In fact, it was probably worse.
The boy was Jet.
“I have already claimed her. She’s mine,” he argued. He stood directly in front of the girl, challenging her silently with his unwavering gaze. “I will take her now.”
“She is ours.”
“She is mine. Her name is Everly and she belongs to me.”
The girl turned her head in my direction, her eyes about to set me alight, given the chance. “What is your name?”
“Everly,” I croaked out. My mouth was so dry it was difficult forming any words.
“Do you know this man?”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to admit it. The last time I had seen Jet was when I was tied up in his warehouse. He was planning on killing me then, along with the rest of his group.
There was no saying he would feel differently now.
In fact, now he would have a reason to kill me. I had escaped his clutches. He would enjoy exacting punishment for that slight against him and his group.
“She knows me,” Jet replied when I didn’t. “Don’t you, Everly? We go way back.”
It was either chance everything with Jet or play the odds with the rest of the people assembled. The odds were not in my favor. “I know him,” I mumbled.
“I didn’t hear you,” the girl said loudly. She was enjoying the scene playing out far too much.
“I know him,” I replied, increasing my volume as much as I could. I couldn’t look at either of them after my confession. I stared at the ground instead, waiting for what would inevitably be my demise.
The girl sighed. “Fine. Take her. Get her out of my sight.”
Everyone started moving now the show was over. Jet strode over to my side. He gripped my better arm and pulled me along. “Come with me.”
Not having a choice, I staggered after him. The girl watched us leave, noting every step we took. I got the feeling she wasn’t one to be crossed.
By neither friend, nor foe.
Jet pulled me down another dark tunnel. We moved in near blackness until we reached a door. He pushed it open, needing to put his back into the movement. Once we were through, he flipped a switch and a single light bulb start glowing above us.
He pushed on the door, made out of heavy steel, until it closed with an ominous thud. The room held little more than a table and two chairs. Control panels containing rows upon rows of switches were the only decorations.
“You’re hurt,” Jet said as his gaze roamed all over my body. I felt naked under his scrutiny. Whatever was going on behind his dark eyes was a mystery to me.
“I think my shoulder is dislocated,” I replied.
He pulled a chair from under the table. “Sit. I’ll take a look at it.”
I eyed him warily. There was no way in hell he was getting anywhere near my shoulder.
He sighed loudly. “Do you want to be in pain forever? Or will you quit being so stubborn and let me help you?”
“How about you let me go so I can find someone who will really help me?” I replied, trying to get a grip on the fear surging through my body.
Jet laughed. “Like who? You think you’ll find a doctor up there? Ah, princess, you crack me up.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be a joke.”
He patted the seat, staring at me pointedly. “That arm’s got to be killing you right now. I can help take away the pain.”
“I’m sure you can. One knock to the head, right? That’s how your people operate?” I shuffled closer to the door, sizing it up. Would I be able to get it open with one arm? Probably not. I couldn’t take my eyes off Jet.
“That’s not really my style.” He held my gaze, refusing to look away. Finally, he sighed again. “Just sit down. If you don’t want me to touch you, then fine, I won’t.”
My legs weren’t going to hold me up for much longer. The likelihood of getting out of this room was zero at best. I really was all out of options.
I sat down. A whole new wave of pain and nausea gripped me with the movement. I winced, despite trying desperately to keep my expression indifferent.
Jet remained close, staring at me like I was his next experiment in how to inflict as much pain as possible on someone. Every time he walked behind me, I wanted to turn around to watch but my arm wouldn’t allow it. His mere presence sent tingles down my spine.
And not in a good way.
Finally, he spoke again. “I think you’re right. That shoulder looks like it’s popped right out. Perry gave you a good fight. I would have paid to see that.”
“She’s a sadist.”
“She’s feisty. Much like yourself, princess.”
“I want to leave.” I wasn’t going to be pulled into inane banter with Jet. He was too dangerous to predict.
“I’m sure you do.” He paused, his intense black eyes never leaving me. “I’ll tell you what… if you can get up and open that door, you can go.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. I’ll even escort you back up to the surface myself.” He leaned against the wall, gesturing at the door before crossing his arms over his chest.
It was a trap.
It had to be a trap.
I never took my eyes off him as I rose to my feet. He didn’t move when I went to the door, only his lips when they quirked into a smile. He nodded me onwards.
My better arm reached out and grasped the door handle. I put all my effort into pulling the door open. A whole new round of pain shot through me.
The door didn’t even budge.
I tried again.
Same thing.
I pulled the door one last time, having no effect whatsoever on it. I hit it in frustration, resting my head on the cold surface. I would have kicked the damn thing if my legs weren’t hurting already.
“Now can I pop your shoulder back in?”
Jet was still leaning on the wall, but his hands had moved to rest in the pockets of his black jeans. He was enjoying every moment of my torture. I don’t know why I expected anything else.
I resumed my seat, plopping down on the chair without any trace of hope or fight left in me.
I was done.
“Just get it over and done with,” I said, not entirely sure I was talking only about my shoulder.
Jet pushed off the wall and approached me slowly, like he didn’t want to startle me. Too late for that. “Take off your top.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I shot back. Was he trying to increase m
y humiliation?
“I need to see your shoulder to know which way I need to pull it. Do you want me to help you do it?”
“No. I can do it myself.” I started on the buttons of my blouse, still not entirely convinced it was actually necessary. Surely there had to be only one way to put a shoulder back into place?
I finished on the last button, hating what I had to do next. Not only did I not want to sit here in merely a bra, but I didn’t want to move my arm either. But to take off my blouse, it had to be done.
The pain was instant. I tried to slide the sleeve down but it wouldn’t obey. My arm was hanging limply at my side, thwarting my attempts to move it.
“Here, let me,” Jet said as he took another step closer. He gently grabbed at the fabric as I stiffened in fear. “It’s okay, I’ll try not to hurt you. Despite what you think, I don’t take pleasure in seeing you in pain.”
He started sliding the sleeve along my skin, barely touching the sorest part. He left it halfway down before moving to my other shoulder. I stiffened again. “If you don’t take it all off, I’m going to have to bend your arm. Do you really want that?”
I really didn’t.
“Fine,” I conceded.
Jet started again, slowly and carefully removing my blouse. His fingers skimmed across the skin on my back, sending an unexpected shiver down my spine.
He either didn’t notice or chose not to mention it.
Finally, he moved around to the front. Crouching in front of me, he pulled down the remainder of the fabric to free my arms from the sleeves.
It was cold in the room with no top on. The exposure made me feel even more vulnerable and I didn’t think that was possible before.
Jet folded my blouse and placed it on the table before moving around to my left arm again. He knelt down onto his knees, examining it carefully.
“Perry did a good job on you.”
“Maybe you should buy her a drink sometime.”
“Maybe I will,” he laughed. He grew serious again as he placed his hands on me – one on my shoulder and the other on my arm. Just the tiniest movement sent out waves of pain. “I’m not going to lie, this is going to hurt like hell. But once it’s in, the pain will die away. Are you ready?”
No.
“Just do it,” I ordered.
“Feel free to scream. It will probably make everyone outside pretty happy to hear it.”
Before I could reply, his grip tightened and he gave a forceful jerk to my shoulder.
I had never felt agony like that before.
I screamed out before I could stop myself as the tsunami of jolting pain shot through every nerve in my body. It rushed over me as my vision blackened around the edges. Bile rose into my mouth, threatening of the vomit that would come soon enough.
As much as I instinctively fought against the movement, Jet held on equally tight. He pushed at the bones in my shoulder joint, kneading them into place against their will. They argued against every movement.
With an audible pop, it was over. All the straining of my muscles and ligaments relaxed, back where they should rightfully be. I could even move my arm a little.
The relief was instant, washing over me to drown out the nausea. I rubbed at my arm, welcoming back the full flow of blood again. Twitching my fingers had never felt so good.
“Am I great, or am I great?” Jet said happily, taking the seat across from me. His thumbs absentmindedly rubbed over the fabric of my blouse on the table.
“Thank you,” I murmured. I never thought I would be thanking Jet for something.
“You are welcome.” He leaned back in the seat, a lot more comfortable here than I was. “So now for the string attached to that little act of miraculous healing. I want to know something.”
“Know what?”
“Tell me how you escaped from my evil lair.”
I would rather have told him anything else. I picked up my blouse and carefully threaded my arms through the sleeves. I managed to get it on with one hand and started on the buttons. I moved slowly and deliberately, partly to delay answering.
A lie was in order.
There was no way I was going to tell Jet about Oliver. I didn’t want him being connected to me in any way or they would only find a way of hurting him, too.
“I managed to get out of my bindings and then made a run for it,” I replied.
“I don’t believe you.” His eyes drilled into me. I thought for sure he could see right into my thoughts to see the truth play out for him like a movie.
“Well, that’s the truth. It’s not up to me to convince you of it.”
He shook his head. “I saw your bindings. There was no way you could have got them undone. I checked them myself.”
“What can I say? Your lackeys were careless. Maybe you should train them better. And get your eyesight checked while you’re at it.”
I finished with the buttons, feeling a lot less exposed with my shirt back on. A black bra rimmed in lace was not exactly appropriate attire these days, but it was all I could find when I went searching for clothes on the hill.
Jet nibbled on his bottom lip as he studied me. He tended to do that a lot, I noticed. Perhaps it was his delay tactic, purposely leaving silence lingering so I would fill it.
I’d played that game. I wasn’t going to do it again.
He leaned forward once more, his arms crossing over on the table. “I think you’re lying. But, you know what? I’m going to let it slide. You intrigue me, princess. You’re an enigma in a sea of opaqueness.”
“How poetic,” I replied dryly. “Now it’s my turn. Who are these people? Why were they so happy to kidnap me? Are they part of your gang?”
“So many questions, such a pretty face.”
“I answered yours.”
“No, you lied with my question. That doesn’t count,” he said petulantly. It was exhausting just trying to keep up with the conversation. “But I feel all warm and fuzzy today. So I’ll give you a free one. The people here are what society would call mole people. They live underground.”
“I’ve met some before. They didn’t want to kill me.” I remembered back to Kelly and the way she had so openly embraced her brother. She definitely didn’t want to harm me. These people were nothing like her.
“You’ve probably met people that just live underground. That doesn’t make them mole people.”
“What’s the difference?”
Jet smirked, enjoying having all the answers. “Mole people are organized. They have lived down here long before the Event. They have a whole society that is unknown to the vast majority of the population.”
I still wasn’t exactly seeing the difference, but… whatever. If he wanted to revere the fabulous mole people, I wasn’t going to argue. “So how do you know them?”
He shrugged. “Just do.”
“Wow, that explains everything.”
His smile spread across his face as he studied me. I hated it when he looked at me so intently. That familiar sense of being naked and exposed ran through me.
“You’re quite something, aren’t you, princess? They picked on the wrong girl today. Still, I’m certainly glad to see you again.”
“The feeling’s not mutual.”
I earned a chuckle for my comment. “Can you keep a secret?”
The thought of keeping a secret for my captor was not welcome. I didn’t want to know anything apart from if he was going to let me go or not. I got the feeling I already knew the answer.
“Promise not to tell anyone?” Jet continued, even though I hadn’t said a word. When I didn’t move, he threw his hands up with frustration. “Oh come on, you’re going to want to hear this.”
“Fine, what is it?”
“Not a what, but a who. Come with me.”
He stood and went to the door, waiting there for me. I begrudgingly stood and trailed after him. With his hand on the door handle, he tried pulling it open. It didn’t move, just like it hadn’t when I tried. “Oh, we
seem to be trapped.”
Panic flooded me. Being stuck in a room underground with Jet until we both starved to death was a horrible way to die.
Jet suddenly slapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh, no, wait. I forgot to unlock it.” With a sly smirk that I wanted to smack off his face, he twisted a small piece of metal under the knob and the door pulled open with a tug.
If only I had seen the lock earlier.
“You knew it was there. You knew I wouldn’t be able to open the door,” I said accusingly. He had played me, utterly and completely. A ball of anger filled every part of me.
Jet shrugged me off, like it was no big deal. “You could have found the lock.”
“It’s tiny.”
“That’s what I was counting on.” He stood back so I could walk through the door. “Ladies first.”
“I don’t know where we’re going,” I replied. I really wanted to punch him repeatedly.
In the face.
To remove that smirk.
When it was clear I wasn’t going to move, Jet gently grabbed the wrist on my better arm and pulled me along. The darkness of the tunnels again took me by surprise. While I stumbled along, Jet walked confidently, never slowing his pace.
We wove through the tunnels, turning so many times I wasn’t convinced we weren’t going around in circles. The descent of the floor told me we were going downwards. Deeper into the heart of the earth we moved. Hopefully to return to the surface one day.
In the distance a light played. We headed directly for it like two moths to a flame. The orange glow flickered, as if it was caused by fire like the torch they had earlier. Obviously nobody had heard of flashlights underground.
I still wasn’t convinced Jet wasn’t leading me to my death. I could hear other footsteps in the tunnels so I knew we weren’t alone. If he left me for a second, I had no doubt one of them would see to it I got a swift execution.
Or perhaps a long one, so they could enjoy it more.
It was difficult keeping my fear at bay but the constant movement helped. Jet never eased his grip on my wrist or the pace he set. At times I had to run just to catch up again when I stumbled.
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