by J. C. Cliff
I guess Jared enjoys driving nails into people’s coffins, because he just drove the last one in, and it stung like a mother. This has all been an act? Is Travis a green-eyed snake charmer, who never felt a damn thing toward me? This was all an act to brainwash me?! Well, let the games begin, I think, but before I can even begin to formulate my plan of retribution, I feel like puking all over again. My breathing picks up, and I swear I’m going to have a coronary from the roller coaster of emotions I’ve been through over the past two days. Shit, in the past five minutes alone, I’ve felt comfort, terror, rage, jealousy, confusion, and wrath, but now, another one comes right on their heels.
I feel so betrayed, and tears sting in the back of my eyes. Travis tries to console me, and suddenly, I find myself back at rage. I try pushing him off me, but he doesn’t budge. “Just go away; get off me!” I start sobbing harder and pound my tiny fists into his brick wall of a chest. I sneer at him, shouting, “Go away! Don’t touch me!”
The way he’s looking at me, he acts as if I’ve hurt his feelings. It’s in his eyes…it’s always in his eyes, but those beautiful green orbs are manipulating liars. I close mine tightly, shutting him out, bracing myself against his false pretenses and brainwashing schemes. I’m all alone and have nowhere to run except into the deep recesses of my mind, where I can plan what needs to be done in order to save myself. He’s damn good at this game—damn good.
But what they have failed to realize is I am Julianna Oakley, and I have not yet begun to fight.
CHAPTER TWELVE
~Travis~
Son of a bitch, why couldn’t Jared keep his damn mouth shut? Between him and Nick, they’re going to destroy everything I’m trying to build with her. Any headway I made with her over the past forty-eight hours has officially been shot to Hell. Her tiny fists pounding at my chest are knocking down the door to my soul. She’s willing me to go away, but what she doesn’t realize is that I don’t want to leave her alone. I don’t want her to feel hopeless and afraid. Though no one can tell, my nerves are damn near shot.
Jared’s never challenged me in front of a captive before, and even though everything he said is true, he didn’t need to rob her of the last bit of hope she had. Shit, to see the pain of betrayal flash across her eyes cut me to the core. I have to ask myself for the hundredth time—why? Why have I felt the need to be protective of her? Why do I treat her differently than the rest of the captives here? The question plaguing me the most, though, is why can’t I resist keeping my hands off her? I could have easily strapped her down on this table and barreled through the things that needed to be done today. I have restrained many a woman here in this very room before, and they ended up no worse for the wear, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do that to Julianna. I’ve had enough of seeing her tormented for one day, and to see the pain in her eyes staring back at me is too much to bear.
“We’re done here, Jared.” My tone brooks no argument. “I want ten in five,” I order him, and he knows I mean ten milligrams of his best sedative in five minutes. Despite what he gave her, it wasn’t nearly enough. She’s running on an empty stomach now, and I don’t like it. Once I get Julianna settled in her room, I’ll make her eat some crackers.
I move to lift her up into my arms and she starts fighting me again. This shit stops now. I grab her by the shoulders and shake her firmly, letting my stern voice command her to obey. “Settle the fuck down!” She stops in her tracks, frozen, fear written all over her tear-streaked face. “Don’t.” I shake my head, getting a grip on my anger. “Don’t do this. Is this what you want? Did you already forget Nick’s words from yesterday? Trust me, he doesn’t bullshit around. I let you have this little temper tantrum because I understand it’s only your second day and you still have a lot of unanswered questions, but you better start settling the hell down. Shit’s going to get rougher on you real quick if you don’t. Do you understand?” I demand an answer from her with unmatched force. She better get her shit straight, or I won’t be able to help her.
She whispers a shaky, barely-audible, “Yes, sir.”
“Now, I’m going to carry you to your room, and you will not fight me, understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
I scoop her into my arms and fix her robe, unconsciously protecting her modesty. She buries her head into the crook of my neck and wraps her arms around me. Fuck, she feels good. I nod to Jared, who silently opens the door for me so I can make my way out of the clinic.
By the time I make it to Julianna’s door, my rage has calmed slightly. The microchip detector device has the door clicking open. I walk into her room, head over to her bed, and gently lay her down. She rolls her body to face away from me, curling into a ball, wanting nothing to do with me. I climb onto the bed beside her and gently shake her shoulder.
“Julianna, let me get you dressed and comfortable. I don’t want you in this bathrobe.” She ignores me, and I let out a long sigh. “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” I get up to grab sleepwear from her dresser, and then move back to the side of the bed. She must be going into some sort of shock, because she lets me dress her without a fight. She’s a lifeless ragdoll, her eyes damn near blank, and that just pisses me off. When I’m done dressing her, I lay down next to her. I pull her emotionally- and physically-spent body into mine, wrap my arms around her, and spoon her. We stay in a mutual silence for a few more minutes, because really, what can one say at this point?
I hear her stomach rumble, reminding me she’s completely empty. “Julianna, I need you to eat a few crackers. I don’t like that you don’t have anything in your stomach.”
“Is it not enough you’re drugging me, but you want to make me sick, too?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, confused.
She lets out an exasperated sigh. “Crackers are full of gluten. Remind me to never depend on you for survival should anything ever happen to me.”
I curse at myself internally, promising myself to look that shit up and what it means to be gluten-free. “I’ll call the cafeteria and have them bring you something.”
“No, I can’t eat. My stomach is in knots. I know my own body, and it can’t handle it...please, no,” she begs.
I relent to her wishes, cooing and shushing her until she’s calm again, but after a couple minutes of silence, I hear the door open to the room and feel her tense. I see Jared round the corner, making his way toward us. Julianna whips her head around to stare up at him with a death glare, and she shakes her head frantically. “What are you doing here? I can’t do this! I can’t do this…” she begins to panic and chant, “…I can’t do this...”
I speak over her chant and look to Jared. “Just leave me the sedative on the nightstand table here beside me. I’ve got this.”
“More drugs? What? Is not doubling my dose enough?” she cries, and I feel her anger rising above her panic. I hold onto her more tightly and wrap my legs around hers, pinning her down. Her emotions are running all over the place. Jared comes near, looking like he’s going to ignore my instructions and try to give it to her himself, but it’s too close for her comfort, and she starts to struggle. I wind up having to shift my entire bodyweight over hers to keep her from killing him.
“I’ll just place the sedative...here...on the nightstand...Travis.” He eyes her warily. He doesn’t like violence of any kind; the man has never handled it well.
“Sounds perfect, thanks, man,” I say sarcastically, seeing how that’s what I’d asked him to do in the first place.
He looks at Julianna and hesitates, as if he wants to say something to her. He shifts on his feet, and not knowing what to do with his hands, he slips them in his pockets. I see his hesitation, and I nip it in the bud. “Jared, get the fuck out. Now.”
“Yeah...okay.”
As soon as he turns on his heels to leave the room, I feel her body start to relax. I turn my attention back to Julianna and begin softly stroking her hair. I hate to see the pain and anger on her face. I know she hates me right no
w, and she has every right to. I am the manipulative bastard Jared painted me to be.
“Don’t touch me!” she hisses, jerking her head away from my touch. “Don’t worry, Travis, I can see through all of your deceptive ways now. You should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the Master of Manipulators.”
I never give anyone free reign—especially not captives—to talk to me like that. So why the do I find myself allowing her to? On top of that, why the hell do I feel the need to explain myself to her? “Julianna, it’s not like that.”
“Oh, really? Tell me, Travis, ‘cause I’m curious. What is it like then?”
I sigh and close my eyes briefly, not answering her question because we could go round and round all day with our arguments. “I’m tired of fighting. We’ve had enough of it for one day, don’t you think?”
“Hmph...that’s easy for you to say. You have the luxury of being tired of fighting and the ability to just stop. I don’t. I’m the one with my future on the line here. I could be sold at any minute to God knows who, and wind up God knows where! I could become a slave to some kind of vile creature who’ll abuse my body, shattering my soul to pieces. How would that make you feel, Travis?”
“I want to give you more sedative, Julianna. I really don’t like seeing you this upset and stressed.”
She bursts out with bitter laughter. “You are unreal; you know that, right? You have a great way of twisting things around so I see the skewed benefit of what’s being falsely portrayed as being best for me. It’s the ole ‘what’s in it for me?’ mentality.” She shifts her head to the side to pierce me with her icy-blue glare.
“Just save your bullshit for someone else and cut to the chase. Tell me I’m an out-of-control pain in the ass because I miss my home, my father, my fiancée, and my life, and that you’re sick of my fighting and complaining, so you want to drug me, because you don’t feel like hearing it anymore. Go ahead, you’re going to drug me anyway. You always get your way. Just next time, do me a favor and don’t insult my intelligence,” she says with conviction.
I keep my face unreadable, the usual stone wall I so easily erect, while I lay by her side. I stay silent as I stare her down, waiting for her to calm down. When she’s had her say, I twist my body around and reach over to the nightstand, grabbing the syringe full of sedative. I twist back around and move my legs over hers, straddling her hips and leaning over her with a somber stare. “Despite what you may think, Julianna, I do have your best interests at heart.”
She scoffs. “Please, don’t say another word. Don’t patronize me,” she says in a cold and bitter tone. I nod my head once in acknowledgment and gently grab her arm.
I can feel her heated stare as I rest the sharp needle on the outside of her shoulder. She doesn’t flinch or put up a fight, thank God. Before I pierce her soft skin, I glance back into her baby blues, silently communicating the fact I do care for her wellbeing, whether I understand why or not.
She almost-imperceptibly shakes her head. I let out a small sigh, knowing she doesn’t buy it, and there is nothing I can do or say at this point that won’t be perceived as a lie or an ulterior motive. Even though I’m wearing my emotionless mask of stone, my heart is suddenly overcome with a sadness I don’t recognize. I’m not sure why it bothers me, but it does.
I curse and shift my gaze back to her arm. It’s going to take some time to regain her trust again, but mark my words, I will get it back. I break the barrier of her skin, injecting the liquid sedative into her body. I can only hope Jared used a large enough dose this time, knocking her out quickly. I turn and place the needle on the nightstand and lay back down by her side.
I pull her into me again with a tight embrace and spoon her worn out body against mine. Shit, she feels good. At least she’s letting me hold her without a struggle; that’s a start. I nuzzle over her neck to whisper into her ear and am caught off-guard by her scent; she’s simply intoxicating. “I’m so sorry. I’m...just...so...sorry.” I find that’s all I can say to her at the moment.
She remains wordless, and in a few short minutes, I feel her body start to relax and go slack. Jared must have finally listened to me, letting go of that bodyweight-to-drug ratio bullshit, and gave her a decent dose of sedative. I find myself continually murmuring calm words into her ear while I stroke her arm. At this point, I’m probably saying those words more for myself than for her. I let another ten minutes go by, making sure she has truly passed out. I slowly ease away from her side and stand up to stretch.
Glancing around the room, I shake my head at Nick’s opulent display in decorating this one. None of the other captives’ rooms are this nice. Don’t get me wrong, they’re nice, but they are not decorated to the degree this one is, with its expensive paintings lining the walls, bookshelves filled with books, fine linens, and high-end quality drapes and furniture. Hell, even her shampoo and lotions were shipped in from God knows where. All I know is I saw the bill for that shit, and it wasn’t cheap.
I pull my cell from my back pocket and call Jared. “She’s out; let’s get this shit over with.” I turn around, take in her sleeping form, and my heart melts a little more at the sight of her innocence and helplessness. Her blonde hair is splayed across the pillow, and it takes everything in me to not lay back down beside her so I can stroke her silky tendrils. It isn’t until I hear the door open that I realize I’ve silently stood watching over her; for how long, I have no idea.
Jared cautiously enters the room, and I can’t help but grin. He visibly relaxes when he sees for himself that Julianna is indeed knocked out cold. “We should’ve done it this way from the beginning,” he says all-knowingly. I ignore his bullshit and grab the bag from his hand, placing it on the bed beside Julianna.
I start spreading out the bag’s contents, placing them on the bed. Jared shifts on his feet, and I look at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I, uh...I need you to move her for me, just in case...you know...she wakes up and sees me.”
Laughter fills the quiet room as I shake my head at him. “Truly, Jared, I think you should have the honors since I’ve told you three damn times this morning her meds were too low. Did you short-change the dose again? Scared you didn’t give her enough?” I tease him.
“Oh, no, man. I didn’t mess around this time, but I’m somewhat fond of my face, you know? I’m going to be black and blue for a week as it is.”
“Chicks dig that shit, Jared,” I say as I wink at him, “so it might get you laid.”
“Really? You think so?” he asks earnestly.
I shake my head, ignore his question, and finish pulling the rest of the items out of the bag. The man is so smart he lacks common sense. Here’s a man who created the perfect drug for getting women to have uninhibited sex, but he’s only able to view it as one big scientific experiment full of mathematical equations and chemicals. It’s never dawned on him to use it for his own benefit—besides to earn some type of science award and make himself rich. The women here, in his mind, are mere lab rats. Hell, as horny as these women are, I’m sure he could get laid at least ten times a day.
“You want her on her back?” I ask.
Jared moves, hovering over her body as he whispers, “Yes, please.”
“Hell, Jared, she’s out cold. You could probably have a fiesta in here, and she wouldn’t wake up.”
“Yeah, well, you weren’t on the receiving end of her roundhouse kick, were you, Travis.” It wasn’t a question. He’s a little sore over being taken down by a lightweight, not to mention a girl a foot shorter than him.
I move over Julianna and gently roll her onto her back. Her limbs are lifeless. I brush her hair out of her face and stroke her cheek. She distracts my train of thought, as I find myself taking a moment to gaze down at her angelic face. Jared promptly interrupts me, bringing me back to the present. “Hold her arm out for me, Travis. I just need a couple more vials of blood, then I’ll take the cannula out of her arm.”
I silently do as he as
ks, watching him work. Once he has the needle removed from her arm, he tapes a Band-Aid over the site and holds it in place for a moment. He scans over her fine features, finally acknowledging, “She sure is a pretty one. I will give her that, but damn if she isn’t Hell on wheels to deal with.”
“You’ll get no argument from me, but next time I say to up a dose—“
“Yeah, yeah, Travis, I hear you loud and clear,” Jared says as he retrieves another needled syringe. This particular syringe holds a microchip implant that gets injected into the back of her hand, between her thumb and forefinger. Technology hasn’t advanced far enough yet to make the microchips trackable, but they still hold many uses.
I watch Julianna for any signs of stirring as Jared wipes down her hand with an alcohol wipe before injecting the chip into her hand. She didn’t even flinch a muscle, and that sucker was a large-ass needle. “One more shot to go,” he whispers. That would be the birth control shot. When Jared is finished, I grab the tracking device and wrap it around her left ankle, locking it in place. Finished, Jared cleans up and puts everything back into his black leather bag.
I turn to face him, saying, “I’m going to stay here for a little while to make sure she’s settled. I’ll catch up with you in a few.”
Jared nods his head. “No problem, she will undoubtedly sleep until dinnertime. You should probably make sure she eats, since she has nothing in her stomach. She’s still going to be fairly drowsy this evening and will most likely sleep through the night without needing any more drugs.”
