Captivated (An Affliction Novel) (7 page)

BOOK: Captivated (An Affliction Novel)
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When my head hit the ground, it hit something hard. A rock. My vision started getting blurry as if I were trying to focus a camera; but I was trying to focus
my
vision. But to no avail, it was getting darker. As my vision blacked in and out, I felt Ayden’s weight lifted off of me. Then everything went dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hen I woke up, my head was pounding. That wasn’t what woke me; it was the bouncing. I was being carried by someone through what seemed to be mute darkness. And it wasn’t Ayden. That person was much bigger. He saved me. It had to be what happened. The last thing I remembered was Ayden’s weight off of me. It wasn’t like he willingly got off of me; it felt like he was lifted. And I was definitely not being carried by someone graceful. My body was bouncing every step against his hard chest. With every stride he took, the shake would increase the throbbing in my head. Already having so much trouble keeping my eyes open, I hated it! I felt like I was in one of those dreams where you couldn’t scream when you were trying everything in your power to. I wanted to see him. I needed to see him. To thank him. I looked up, but my eyes were incredibly heavy. Even if I could keep them open, I still couldn’t see straight.

“Thank you...” I croaked.

I felt so pathetic. I didn’t think he even heard me. Even so, I still leaned my head closer to his chest and nestled it in between his peck and his bicep. That was when I noticed that his chest was bare. He had no shirt. Strangely, it didn’t bother me, and I thought nothing more of it. I was very comfortable there, even though I felt like I was laying my head on boulders. It was a safe feeling. I wasn’t even scared that I didn’t know that guy, let alone the fact that he was carrying me to who knows where. The night was now a peaceful quiet. I could clearly hear his strong heart pounding in his muscled chest. And it was out of control. Kind of as if it was trying to punch its way out of his rib cage. Was he scared about something? I wanted to ask him if everything was okay. Beyond what I could physically hear, I started to feel him. Not with my hands; I felt him around me. He was shaking. He was shaking as an anxious person would in the presence of something overwhelming to them.

But he never said a word. How I wish he would. At least then
, I’d be able to hear his voice. I felt myself drifting off again, but I didn’t want to. What if he left before I woke up? I wasn’t going to let that happen. Will-power needed to be with me. I couldn’t. I just couldn’t close my-

When I was able to open my eyes again, I was laying on my bed. The first thing I saw was the blurry sight of a forearm. And it had two markings on it. Tattoos? I couldn’t make out what they were, but I knew they had to be tattoos.

“What’s your name?” I whimpered out.

Still no answer. He had to have heard me. I was beginning to think he wasn’t answering on purpose. My vision started clearing up some more, but it was too late. In one quick movement, he was away from the bed and jumping out the window. I tried to call out to him. To beg him not to leave. But it was too late and he was gone. And there I was, lying motionless on my bed. Questions started pouring in my he
ad. One thing I knew for sure was, he knew who I was. He obviously knew where I lived. Who was that guy? I had to find out. No doubt about it. I had to find him. But for now, all I could do was rest.

“Mindy?” a worried voice called out.

I opened my eyes to the bright light slicing through my exposed window. As I gazed at the window, the figure of the person that saved me ran through my mind. How I wished I was able to see him. I hated myself for being so out of it last night.

“Mindy?” Markus was standing at my doorway holding my purse in his hand. His eyebrows were scrunched up and his brown eyes were wide in alarm. “You okay?” Markus asked.

“Yeah. Why do you ask?” I was confused with his question. Did he know what had happened? I slowly sat up and felt the soreness on the back of my head. My arms and legs were also sore, kind of as if I worked out for hours.

“Well, it’s one in the afternoon and you’re barely waking up. Not to mention your hair has leaves in it.” He placed the purse down on my nightstand. It had blotches of mud along the bottom of it. But how did Markus get it from the forest? He sat at the foot of my bed with his head down, something obviously was bothering him. It actually looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

“I found your purse on your porch. You must have dropped it there.” Markus said. He studied me, and worry was all I saw on his face. Markus wasn’t the type to show exaggerated emotions. During situations in the past, he was always the one to calm me down, yet I was sure he was still freaking out on the inside. Curiosity lit his features. “What’s up with the shirt?” he asked.

Confused by his questi
on, I looked down. Oh yeah. That was totally not my shirt. A smoky grey t-shirt was draped over me. A male’s large, smoky grey t-shirt. I gasped in shock. But I was sure I still felt the blouse I was wearing last night still on me. Pulling at the opening to the shirt, I peeked inside. Yup, it was still on. The top of my blouse was unbuttoned exposing my pink laced bra. The buttons must have popped open while I was running and crawling around that bush. I released the opening and patted it against my collarbone.

“No. It isn
’t.” I sighed blissfully. That was why my hero was shirtless. He put it on me to cover me up, even though I was unaware of my exposure. I smiled dreamily.

“Huh?” Confusion ran over his face. “And why does your face have some mud on it?” Markus closed the space between us and bent down to put his face closer to mine.

I leaped off the bed and kicked off the boots I didn’t take off last night, sending them flying across the room. “After Ayden tried to… Oh! Someone saved me Markus!” I exclaimed.

“What?!” He quickly sat up. “What did Ayden try to do? Who saved you?” he demanded.

“Well.” I stood still. “I. I don’t know who saved me. And Ayden…he tried to force himself on me. But it’s okay! He didn’t succeed! Not even close. The guy that saved me probably whooped his butt too!” I sat down in front of him on the bed. I slouched my shoulders and looked down at the dirty carpet. It had muddy footsteps from last night, or this morning-whatever time it was. “I couldn’t see his face. I don’t know who he is.” I said.

“Whoa. Can you start from the beginning? Tell me exactly what happened,” he pleaded.

After explaining to him every detail of my experience, he sat back down, attentive and pensive.

I escaped being
possibly raped, if that was really Ayden’s intention. It was like escaping death. This situation could have ended up horribly, but it didn’t and for that I was grateful. I knew Ayden wouldn’t have tried that while being sober, it wasn’t him. On top of it all, someone saved me and I wanted to know who it was.

“I shouldn’t have left you with him.” Markus said half out loud. “How are you feeling?”

“Great! Markus, I feel great.” I said.

“Okay, Tony the Tiger.” He nodded his head. “Physically? Are you hurt?”

“I’m really sore.” I said while massaging the back of my head. There was a bump there. It was crusty. I must have bled when I hit that rock. Markus was already freaking out so I wasn’t about to volunteer the information to him that my head was bleeding at some point in the evening. I stretched out my legs. It felt both good and painful at the same time. Already used to running every night, I realized I must have ran really hard because I never turned out that sore.

“Mindy… Usually…and I’m assuming here, but girls would generally be freaked. You’re celebrating.” he muttered, looking at me like I was a little crazy.

“I’m celebrating because I survived before anything could happen! There are so many victims that don’t escape that. I am looking at the positive side to it. I’m lucky Markus, I am truly lucky and grateful for it. I’m sure Ayden got his butt kicked and I got saved. I have to figure out who my rescuer is. He knows who I am. And he knows where I live,” I pointed out.

“What about Dean?” he asked.

“Dean? You think it’s him?” I asked hoping that Markus would have the right answer.

“No. I mean, did you see him after I left?” he asked.

“Yeah. He was still in the lounge when I left.” Which reminded me about Markus flipping out. “By the way, what happened last night?” I asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” he assured me. He put his hands up to his face and exhaled loudly.

“You can tell me,” I said calmly. In my head, I was screaming. Demanding that he tell me what the heck happened. “Come on. How bad could it be?”

The smell of my morning breath crept up to my nose. Crap! Ewwww! I jumped up before Markus could answer me and ran to the bathroom. “Hold on! I
gotta
brush my teeth!” I yelled behind me. While I was in the bathroom, I washed the messy makeup off my face and quickly brushed my hair. After I cleaned up enough, I ran back to the room and sat down on the floor in front of him. I looked up at him with my lips pressed and with an assuring look.

“Dean. Heh. Umm…I think.” he struggled to say. He forced a smile and rubbed his hand down his face. “I think he killed someone last night. I saw the whole thing.” he quickly blurted it out.

Markus stared at me like he was studying my reaction. And I couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true. I knew Dean. I knew the true person he was on the inside. It was impossible for him to do such a horrible thing. That could not be real.

“Are you sure? What do you mean exactly? Did you actually see this happen?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m sure. Positive. But the body disappeared,” he added.

“You mean he hid the body?” I asked.

“I don’t know what the heck he did with it.” He rubbed his hand down his face and rubbed his eyes as if to make the images from last night more clear.

“What happened
exactly?” I asked. None of that made sense. A body doesn’t just disappear.

“After I left the club, I found him fighting some dude. And there was a chick running away from the fight. Look, I hid behind a wall and watched it all go down. Dean looked pretty pissed.” He paused. “I don’t want to tell you how he killed him Mindy. Just believe me when I say that it did happen. When you came up to me, I was looking for the body. But it was already gone. I don’t know how Dean hid it. It was impossible for him to do it in a matter of seconds...” he muttered unbelieving, “…
impossible
.”

“Are you gonna call the cops?” I asked, still not believing a word of it.

“How can I call them? There is no body. I have no proof. And no witnesses besides myself.” He sighed. “They’ll just think I’m crazy.”

“Did Dean see you?” I asked.

“Yeah.” he responded immediately.

“Did he say anything?” I asked.

“Not really.” He gave a nervous laugh. “He-uh…when he walked by me, he stopped and looked at me. I dropped to the floor and pretended I was looking for something. After that, he walked inside and you came out shortly after.” Markus said in a shaky voice.

“This can’t be real. What are we going to do?” I asked myself as well as him.

“I’m going to keep an eye on him.” Markus responded.

“What do you mean? Like, follow him around? ” I asked. “Just call the cops.”

“Speaking of...are you going to call them?” he asked.

“Oh. Ayden. Well, he didn’t really accomplish anything. But, no. I don’t think I’m goi
ng to call the cops.” And that was when it came to me. “Ayden saw who he was! He had to have, Markus!” I let out. I had to know who it was, so I could thank him.

“I don’t think he’s going to admit anything even happened. You’re not going to find out who it was through him.” he advised. After a moment in pause, “I’m impressed with you. The way you look at the glass as half full in this situation takes a lot.”

BOOK: Captivated (An Affliction Novel)
6.86Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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