She tore out of the room, chunky bits of vomit still dripping off her as she slammed the door. A second later, the knob rattled and clicked, a chill permeating the air. Suddenly, throwing up on my attacker didn’t seem such a smart thing to do.
Sometime later, the door rattled as its lock came undone. Keith charged into the room, Regina and Sissy right behind him. Each woman held a baseball bat, poised, ready to take a swing at me.
“You threw up on her?” Keith demanded. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“It’s kind of hard to control my puke when someone’s punching me in the face and gut.”
“Not good enough,” he muttered. “You’re the lowest form of shit I’ve ever seen. Even the drunks at the bar know better than to throw up on a woman like that.”
“Okay,” I said, changing my tone toward remorse in the futile hope that it might keep them from striking me with their aluminum bats.
He eyed me with an intense calculation, slowly stepping around the bed to my side. He held nothing in his hands, unlike the women. Cheap whiskey clung to his breath.
“You’re an idiot. I shower you with love, I keep you nice and fed, and this is the thanks I get from you? Uh-uh, that ain’t gonna fly.”
He reached down and tugged on the hair on my scalp, jerking my whole head forward. His palm pressed down hard on my forehead, and a second later, he shoved me backward, the back of my skull crashing against the headboard behind me. Fire burned through me, numbing me to the two women approaching me with their bats. Cold metal struck my left kneecap, sending me further into a physical hell from which they probably hoped I never recovered. I tried to howl in protest, but Keith slipped something across my mouth. It took me a second to realize that the sticky adhesive attached to this material belonged to duct tape. I tried to fight back, but it was already too late. The other bat came down on my other knee, and I thought I heard a slight crunching sound made at impact. Tears rolled down my cheeks and another bubble of nausea found purchase in me.
“Bastard!”
“Puke punk!”
“Total fucking loser!”
“Eat bat and die, moron!”
“That’s enough, girls,” Keith said, a soothing tone reaching my ears. “We don’t want him to end up back at the hospital, now do we?”
“Why? You think he’s going to talk?” Sissy asked.
“Not with that duct tape over his mouth now.” Keith grabbed me by the chin and lifted my head up, probably well aware of the fact that this put me through a lot more pain. “Tyler isn’t dumb enough to do that. He knows what will happen to him if he speaks out of turn again.”
“Then what did you mean?” asked Regina.
Keith looked at me, the swelling around my eyes making it hard for me to get a good look at him. He stroked the side of my face that didn’t hurt from Regina’s earlier assault. A light grunt fled his nostrils.
“Just that I think He’d wind up at the morgue. I’m not sure anyone would be able to identify him once we were done,” said Keith.
I mumbled through the duct tape, my words unable to reach him.
“Would we go to jail if he died?” Sissy asked.
Keith laughed. “Oh, Sissy. You don’t have a thing to worry about. The cops can’t touch us.”
“Do you want us to stand guard?” Regina asked.
“Nah. Just get rid of that awful puke stench fouling up the air.”
I closed my eyes, pretending to sleep until I heard them file out of the room and lock the door. As I wound my way back to slumber, I held onto one last thought.
Asses. You’re going to pay for this. Just you wait.
CHAPTER 11
A PRISONER OF SHADOWS
Keith’s Apartment,
Time and Date Unknown
Antiseptic spray burned my nostrils and lungs as Regina disinfected the bedroom with 409. I tried not to inhale the fumes, but to no avail. She squirted some cleaner in my direction as if deliberately trying to poison me. A mist drifted into my eyes, stinging them. I choked and fought back against tears, wishing I was strong enough to break the bindings around my wrists and ankles so I could get the hell of out there.
As I lay there, awaiting my next torture, my ears picked up on a faint buzz coming from Regina’s direction. I found her head-banging with earbuds plugged in. Whatever she listened to, it kept her happy, her focus off me.
Then she twirled around and caught me staring at her. Her cheeks filled with a scarlet hue, as if she really hadn’t expected such a captive audience.
“You saw nothing here, Tyler. Do you understand me?”
“Whatever.”
“I mean it. I almost got in trouble because you wouldn’t stop throwing up. You made a real mess for me. I won’t ever let you forget it.”
I shrugged and rolled away from her.
“This won’t even matter soon enough, will it?” I asked, casting a glance over my shoulder at her.
I didn’t expect an answer. But as she crossed over to my side of the bed, the confused glimmer in her eyes gave me one.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
A tilt of my head sent my gaze skyward. “I’m probably going to die here. Heaven knows Keith wants me dead because I screwed up so badly.”
“Well, yeah, maybe,” she said, her voice uneven. “Keith isn’t happy with you at all.” That she couldn’t look me in the eyes suggested I may have tapped into a human heart after all.
“If you know something I don’t, I’d be more than happy to hear it,” I told her.
Regina flung her head upward, locking gazes with me once more. This time, there appeared a cold calculation in her stare.
“He loves you. Just because he’s mad at you right now doesn’t mean he’ll hate you forever. The two of you have been through so much together. I just don’t see him throwing all of that away just because the two of you have had a spat.”
“Yeah, well, if he really loved me he wouldn’t have my feet bound to the bed like he has.”
Every syllable struck at her noticeably. She set the disinfectant down and began stroking her arms, shuddering.
“Something I said troubling you, Regina?” I asked, perhaps pouring it on just a little thick.
She snarled at me, proving me right about the way I asked that question.
“Keith told me not to listen to you.”
“You know he’s lost all faith in you, right?”
“Liar. Keith knows I’m as faithful as they come.”
“You just told me he said for you not to talk to me. I’m pretty sure he’s going to blow a gasket if he finds out that you disobeyed him.”
She flew at me, fists clenched and raised. “You’re not planning on telling him, now, are you?”
“No, because you’ve already told him, Regina. The first time he busted you for not adhering to his wishes, he already figured out you were someone he couldn’t really trust.”
“Not true!” Her voice went up an octave. “He wouldn’t leave me alone with you if he didn’t trust me.”
“Then perhaps he demoted you to clean-up crew.”
She scoffed at this. “Why don’t you shut up before I make you?”
I looked at her through my swollen eye, the pain still flaring. Still, I managed a grin regardless of how much agony I was in.
“Oh, have I upset you? I’m so sorry,” I said, not really meaning my apology. “By the way, if you’re going to beat me up, make sure you do it right. I didn’t even swallow any teeth the last time you laid your fists on me.”
She charged at me again, ready to pummel me. I braced for impact, but heard her knuckles smack against someone else.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing now, Regina?” Keith growled.
“I was just trying to make him shut up,” Regina remarked, her hand stuck in Keith’s.
“Goodbye, Regina.”
He whisked her out of the room right away. A second later he returned, slamming the door behind him. He lea
ned against the door, a grimace stretching his facial features. He spent a moment stroking the stubble on his chin.
“You have really left me in a bind, Tyler,” he told me. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you pulling a stunt.”
I offered him nothing. If he was trying to bait me, I refused to play into his hand. He squinted at me while seeking out a good provocation.
“What’s the matter, Tyler? Run out of things to say? I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Just kill me already,” I told him as I looked into his eyes and saw no chance of him ever letting me go now. Whatever his obsession with me, it appeared I was stuck in this place for the rest of my life, unless I found some way of breaking free.
He crooked his head slightly. His hands hung at his sides, his lips in a neutral position. With the door shut and no other way for me to escape, it seemed he had the perfect means with which to get his way. His fingers made their way to his belt and he unfastened it one notch at a time.
“I don’t want to do that, Tyler. Don’t you see how much I love you?”
The belt fell to the floor, his pants sagging in the front. His fingers drooped to the zipper on his blue jeans. The copper teeth pulled away from one another and his pants dropped out of my sight. His boxers displayed weird, comic book-like symbols. The air in the room grew another layer of iciness as only the sound of our breathing permeated the room.
“I’m fully aware,” I said, gnashing my teeth.
“Doesn’t sound like you are, actually,” he said. He rolled his shirt right off his body, revealing a flabby gut and a hairy chest. On his left breast was a heart tattoo that somehow managed to remain visible despite the forest of hair growing around it.
I thought to reel away from him again, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off him while he seemed intent on pummeling me.
“I got this for you, Tyler,” he said, pointing to his heart tattoo. “I wanted to show you my heart tattoo. Do you like it?”
The tattoo seemed brighter than anything else in the room, almost glowing. As I stared at the marking, I almost missed him slipping out of his socks and boxers and climbing into bed with me. I felt the heat of his body and the tension in his penis, the sheet I wore serving as the lone barrier between me and his body.
“How can I convince you that I’m not Tyler?” I said, fear constricting the airway in my throat. “It’s like you want me to be him so badly.”
“You are Tyler. You must be. What, do you believe I would just abduct someone from another timeline to replace the man I love?” Keith’s lips spread into a sheepish grin as he stared up at the ceiling.
“So that’s how you brought me all the way here to Colorado?” I growled at him. “Whatever device you used to bring me here, stop using it. I’m going back home to Washington, and you can’t prevent me from going back.”
Keith cackled. “Oh, Tyler. I was making a joke. Seriously. I don’t have a device. I know the hospital stay has upset you, but you’ll be back on your feet before you know it. You just have to trust in the process.”
“No,” I said, the fire in my voice rising. “I saw a news report the other day that mentioned the real Tyler Jonson being killed in a car crash.”
Keith blanched at this. “What are you rambling on about now?”
I shrugged. “Something about him getting into a car crash on I-25. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
He sat on his legs for a second, his knees burrowing into the blanket by an inch or two. His buttocks fell back against his heels. His hands rested on his lap, his dick engorged and ready to do unthinkable things to me. I drew a deep breath, wishing I had the ability to remove the bindings around my feet. With him sitting there poised to strike, I had no choice but to hope he’d leave me be.
“Tyler, honey, you didn’t die. Maybe you feel sorry for the person who did, but you’re right here with me, still alive, still breathing.”
“For the last fucking time, I’m not Tyler Jonson! I’m Austin Teph. You kidnapped me and brought me to Colorado against my will. I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t love you. I don’t know why you picked me of all people to play your game of denial with, but I’ve had it with you!”
My words were savage, but what else could I do? No amount of attempting to reason with him had worked. He wanted to make a mess of things for me? Well, two could play at that game. I hated having to stoop so low, but I’d exhausted all other options already.
“Just shut up and let this happen.” He cast a nasty sneer my way.
“Bite me,” I countered, taking silent joy in the shock that emerged on his face immediately after. Then, with swift consideration, I added, “Or rather, don’t bite me.”
His lips were mere inches away from mine. “You think I need your permission?”
“You’ll never get it from me anyhow,” I said, forcing myself to breathe again.
He looked me in the eye. I saw the hungry lust he had for my body, the raw desire that made me feel like I wasn’t wearing any clothes. I tried my best not to flinch, but his acidic breath made it impossible not to.
“I fear nothing, Tyler. I have everything I want; well, most everything. Life is good. There’s nothing to worry about,” he told me, holding up a thumb.
Except for that damn traffic accident that killed the real Tyler Jonson.
“What about the fact that I’m not gay?” I asked. “Surely you’ve noticed that.”
“After the accident you’ve had, it’s not surprising that you’re playing hard to get.” He offered a shrug. “You’ll come around eventually.”
Oh, dear lord. He’s not going to give up, is he?
I blinked at him, monitoring the pace of my every breath. Every muscle in my face strained to not show even the slightest inkling of dread to my enemy. With his fury just a few unspoken words away, I saw little choice but to appease him.
It doesn’t mean I’ll surrender to his sexual desire, however.
“Are you scared, Tyler? Why? We’ve been together before. You really seem tense this time around.” His fingers danced about my bicep as if seeking to tickle me.
“I’m not afraid of anything.”
“Liar.”
“Do I have a reason to be afraid, Keith?”
“That depends on how mouthy you get.”
I knew my choice of words wasn’t the smartest, but what else did I have to lose? He had me right where he wanted me. Nothing I said to him would make much of a difference now.
He rolled over and shifted in bed, throwing an arm over me. The steam of his breath grazed my face, making the hairs on my arms stand on end.
“I love you, Tyler. It hurts how you’ve rejected me these past few days. I mean, it physically hurts me. I’ve barely been able to eat much of anything lately because I’m been ralphing in the toilet.”
I stared straight ahead and up at the ceiling, trying not to make any acknowledgment of what he’d just said. Sure, it meant I ran the risk of a physical assault, but a silent protest seemed to be the only thing I could do that wouldn’t result in more injuries.
He reeled away from me, his back striking the mattress a second later. A sniffle tumbled out of his nostrils, and it didn’t sound like his sinuses had suddenly flared up either.
“Are you ever going to let me go free?”
“I’d rather not,” he said, sounding sane for the very first time since I’d met him earlier. “I want you to love me, Tyler. I want you to want to be by my side for the rest of our lives.”
“Okay, first of all, there are some things you need to accept, Keith. I am not your Tyler. Whatever happened between you two, you can’t keep punishing me for your past mistakes.”
He drew a deep breath, relaxing his fingers. For all I knew, he might have been trying to trick me into letting my guard down.
“I just want things to go back to the way they were before our last fight,” he said, his voice distant.
“You can’t take things bac
k once they happen,” I told him, almost in a whisper. “Own up to what you did. There’s still time to make things right.”
“You’re something else.” He rolled off the bed, went to reach for his boxers, and slipped them back on. “I guess I’ll have to just wait until you’re ready to admit what we have is real.”
“Look. There’s nothing between us. I don’t know you. I’m not your dead lover.”
His lips twisted into a half-pout just before he slipped his shirt back on.
“You may be right. I have a lot to think about.”
Seeing my chance, I went for it.
“So,” I began slowly, so as not to appear too pushy, “could you let me out of here?”
He looked down at his legs as he threw on his pants, fastening his belt a second later. Once his buckle secured the leather strap, he looked right at me.
“Never.”
I watched and listened as he closed and locked the door behind him. I had never felt so defeated.
CHAPTER 12
A BEDROOM RESCUE
Austin’s Bedroom,
Keith’s Apartment,
Time and Date Still Unknown
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed since Keith walked out on me. Pressure built up on both my bladder and colon. Furious at my situation, I flopped back and forth against the bed until the duct tape surrounding my wrists and ankles finally gave out. I crawled out of bed, my legs weak but not atrophic. A little dizziness crept into my skull when I stood up, but I fought past it. Help awaited me just beyond the front door to Keith’s apartment. I just had to make my way there.
The knob to the bedroom door didn’t budge more than an inch, the lock still in place. I tried to find something that might help me get out of there. The only thing I noticed was a broken mirror on a dresser. I grabbed it and took it to the door, slipping it under the crack that just barely allowed the mirror access. I wasn’t sure what good this would do, seeing as how I could barely twist the mirror to go in my chosen direction. The poor lighting in the room made it impossible for me to see much beyond the door. Still, it looked as though there were no lights on in the other side. The vast darkness suggested that nightfall had hit Monument.
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