Let Me Go (6 page)

Chapter 8

As Mason walked
through the door, the sweet aroma of food almost knocked him back.
He knew how to cook, but he hadn’t really cooked since before he
was locked up. And he most definitely hadn’t had a good home cooked
meal in forever. He looked around the place and it was spotless,
just the way he liked it. He was always fond of a clean house, but
he would be the first to admit that it became an obsession of sort
after he was out of jail. He was constantly trying to wash away the
memories of being locked up, even in his home. But he also might be
exaggerating the extent of cleanliness he needed for the sole
purpose of torturing Kat. He took a second to study Kat before she
turned and from her profile, she was smirking.
What the hell was
that?
Oh, he needed to step up his game for sure.

“I hope you like baked chicken and
vegetables,” she almost sang as she turned to him. This was really
starting to freak him out. She wasn’t supposed to be happy. He
straightened his back and walked to the table without saying a word
or acknowledging her.

She set the plate in front of him and was
about to sit herself when he looked up into her deep brown eyes. He
saw a slight spark of fear, which pleased him, but then he also saw
uneasiness and even a bit of something he couldn’t put his finger
on that he didn’t like. “You sit and eat after I am done. We are
not equal. You do not speak to me like I’m your friend. We are not
friends. You are here because of what you did to me. Think of it as
if you are paying me back. You may stand behind the counter and
wait for instructions.”

He was waiting for her to cry, breakdown,
maybe even scream at him, but all she did was purse her lips into a
thin line, nod sharply, and walk around the counter. While he ate
in silence, her eyes bored into him.

“Do not fidget. And bring me a Coke.” He
spoke to her after he was halfway done. He would never admit to her
that she was a damn good cook. Turns out there would be some more
benefits to this little arrangement than he originally thought.

A moment later, he felt her near him as she
set the Coke down beside his plate. “I didn’t do whatever you think
it is I did. And you might have convinced yourself otherwise, but I
have nothing to repay you for. I am essentially your slave. You
might be able to boss me around because I’ll be the first to admit
you could probably take me down with one hand and I don’t want to
find out what happens if I don’t follow your absurd rules. But you
are right about one thing. I am not your equal. I am so much
more.”

She turned on her heel and walked out of the
room before Mason could even process what the hell had even
happened. He just sat there for a minute with a full fork halfway
to his mouth, while his jaw almost touched the floor.
Who the
hell was this woman and who did she think she was?
He couldn’t
believe that she had the nerve to talk back to him. And her words
confused him. Of course she had been the one to put him in jail,
how dare she sit there and play him like she didn’t know.

He threw the fork down with such force that
little bits of food splashed over the plate. He stormed after her,
flinging the door to her room open, and marching toward her bed
where she was now cowering against the headboard.

“You think you can talk back to me, run
away, and I’ll be Mr. Understanding? Look at you, shivering here
like a scared little cat. You have the balls to attack me while I’m
eating, but when I come to confront you, you can’t even say a word.
Remember what I told you if you step out of line. You lose your
privacy privileges. I should rip the door off its hinges right now.
I should watch you in your most private moments so you feel only
shame instead of whatever the hell little courage you felt a few
minutes ago. But I have a better idea for now. Thanks to your
little stunt out there,” he pointed toward the kitchen, “I’ve made
a little mess. You will clean the entire kitchen from scratch,
using only a toothbrush.”

“But it’s all clean!” she interrupted,
puffing out her chest a bit, finding another bit of courage. This
only encouraged him more.

“Oh and that’s not all. You will start now.
You won’t go to sleep until it’s done. You will still be expected
to have my breakfast ready at six tomorrow. All the regular chores
will be done tomorrow, but to add to them, you will clean the
bathrooms with a toothbrush as well. You will reorganize my entire
room and clean my closet and drawers. I’m sure you have noticed
they need a little bit of tidying up. You will rearrange my books
by category and in alphabetical order. And if I don’t like the way
you arrange my things, I’ll make you start over and do it a
different way. You seem to think this is all fun and games. You
think you can clean up the place for a few days and I’ll feel
you’ve redeemed yourself and let you go. I suffered for over five
years thanks to you and considerably worse than you are suffering.
I lost my reputation, my job, my friends, and my life, all thanks
to you. This isn’t a walk in the park, Kat, this is your new life.
And believe me, I will do everything I can to make sure you realize
you are not the little wifey while I’m the overbearing husband. You
were right about one thing, you are my slave, and I am your master.
You think I don’t realize you are playing some sort of game? You
want to be nice to me, by all means, it makes my life easier. But
don’t you for another minute forget that I am not Mr. Nice Guy. I
will not tolerate your little outbursts or tantrums. I am going to
my room, but I expect you out in the kitchen immediately, on your
hands and knees, scrubbing. I will be checking on you. Now go!”

He walked out of the room, his shoulders
tensed, seething as his shoes pounded against the floor all the way
to his room.

He had to be stern with her, tough even, but
why did seeing her frightened expression get to him? He saw her
desperately trying to hold in the tears and he secretly commended
her on that stubborn streak because it wouldn’t do her any good
even if she did cry. She should be thanking him; this was her way
of repenting for her sins. He had planned on assigning her all
those extra tasks to ensure she wasn’t happy in this little
situation anyway But something about the way it all happened gave
him a bit of an uneasy feeling, like he was punishing her for
speaking. She didn’t even really have any attitude when she spoke,
she just said it as if it were the facts. She said it like she
didn’t know what he was talking about, so therefore, she wasn’t his
slave. Whether or not he believed her little charade didn’t matter,
because she was still responsible. He wasn’t going to soften
anytime soon.

*****

Kat scrubbed her palm against her eyes to
keep the tears from coming.
No crying
, she reminded herself.
Well, that went well.
She was trying to be nice, but when he
had stalked into her room, she was terrified. She reasoned that he
wasn’t as horrible as he wanted her to believe, or he would have
done unspeakable things to her by now. At the same time, though,
she really didn’t have a clue who he was and whether he was just
holding back. Maybe he really was capable of some pretty demented
things. She shouldn’t push her luck too much just in case. She
needed to find out what he thought she did to him and make him
understand that it wasn’t her. Either that or figure out some way
to escape, which seemed the highly unlikely choice of the two.
Something about him brought out the feisty in her, like she almost
couldn’t help it. She reminded herself she would need to shove that
down to ensure she didn’t wake his beast if he had one. And now,
thanks to that stupid moment of assertiveness, she had no choice
but to go grab a toothbrush and pray that the night wouldn’t be too
long.

Chapter 9

Kat had gotten
about two hours of sleep after scrubbing every damn inch of the
already sparkling kitchen with a freaking toothbrush. Even with it
being so clean, she went through several toothbrushes. And now she
was up and making him breakfast while another day from hell was
starting. The minute she saw his face with a smug smile on it, she
wanted to run to him and gouge his eyes out, but she reminded
herself of the fury she had witnessed the day before and calmed
herself.
Kindness, kindness, kindness
, she chanted to
herself before plastering on a fake smile.

“Good morning,” she said as she set his
plate down.

He looked at her, staring for a moment as if
she had grown horns. She knew he wouldn’t expect her cheeriness
after last night.
Point for Kat.

“If you want me to continue using a
toothbrush, I’ll need more. I used three for the kitchen and that
was because I had just cleaned it. I’ll need more for the
bathroom.” She tried to sound as nonchalant as possible and he
continued to look perplexed.

“Uh…guy…mister. Oh, whoever you are. Are you
listening?” And there went her snappy tone. He didn’t even say
anything and he still elicited that reaction from her. Even in her
frustrated state, she was smart enough to not outright ask for his
name, not after his threats before.

Mason seemed to snap out of whatever reverie
he was experiencing.
Maybe he finally realized his plan was
backfiring
, Kat thought to herself, but then his eyes narrowed.
The dumbfounded look he was sporting at her apparent cheery
disposition was slowly turning into a scowl. The only thing
betraying his angry glare was the slight flicker of admiration in
his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

“Mason,” he said, as if it was just another
command.

“Huh?” she responded.

“You’re Kat. I’m Mason, but you can call me
Master.” He spoke to her as if she were dumb and it was obvious to
the world what he had said.

Kat was taken aback by that, so much so that
she opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.
Point for Mr. Green Eyes, er, Mason? Or was that her reward for
being nice?
Maybe this kill him with kindness thing might
actually work. Maybe it was just a slow process. First the name and
then friendship and then he’d have to let her go, she told
herself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mason.” She finally
found the words as she walked toward him and extended her hand. He
just looked at it and grunted.

“We’ve already met. First time was years
ago, but you wouldn’t have called me Mason then. You would have
addressed me properly. But no thanks to you, I’m not that man
anymore.” He paused, but Kat had heard the tinge of regret and even
sadness. She wasn’t the person responsible for whatever happened to
him, but she couldn’t help the tiny part of her that actually felt
sorry for him. For whatever reason, her traitorous good nature won
out over her hatred of him. She wasn’t sure why, but deep down she
sort of believed he might have actually been wronged. That maybe
whatever someone did to him made him snap, and she was just at the
wrong place at the wrong time and got stuck in the middle of it.
Her empathy for him, however, didn’t prevent her from wanting to
get the heck out, and she didn’t forget that. It certainly wasn’t
going to keep her from trying to get under his skin and convincing
him to let her go.

“I’ll be gone again all day.” The rough edge
to his voice was back. “And I expect you to be done with your usual
tasks as well as at least one of the additional ones I assigned
last night.

Before he reached the door, she called out,
“Have a good day,” but he simply continued walking and shut the
door behind him.

She knew that for a fraction of a second, he
had let down his defenses. She wasn’t even sure if he knew it or
realized it, but he did. If she could get him to let go of his
hatred for just a little longer, she knew she could get to him.
Besides, she specialized in helping people. She just had to figure
out how.

Before getting to work, she thought about
his name. Mason. She kind of liked it. And to be honest, he looked
like a Mason. It suited him. Too bad she hated him. Too bad he was
a kidnapping asshole.

*****

Kat was just about to turn and put dinner on
a plate when she saw the bag on the counter from the corner of her
eye. She peeked at the contents quickly and, lo and behold, it was
toothbrushes. She wasn’t sure if she should be happy or upset. On
one hand, he had listened to her and gotten her what she asked for,
but on the other hand, that meant she would be utilizing the damn
toothbrushes for cleaning more often than she hoped. Her back was
killing her, her knees hurt, and all this damn labor, every day,
was taking a toll on her already.

“Thank you,” she said and nodded in his
direction. She knew it was no use asking if she would actually be
using them. He’d tell her yes.

She set the dinner plate down and stood up
to go behind the counter and wait for instructions. The room was
silent for a few minutes before Kat decided to take a chance.

“Were you at work?”

He didn’t respond.

“What do you do?”

He didn’t respond again. He just kept
eating.

“Look, I get you think you know everything
there is to know about me. You think I’m some evil person that did
something to you in a previous life, but I’m telling you that’s not
me. I also know that no matter what I say, you are not going to
believe me. If we are both going to be stuck in this damn
situation, we can at least be civil to each other. We could try to
get to know one another. I don’t know anything about you. Heck, I
didn’t even know your name until today. I don’t know who you are or
even the man you said you used to be. Somehow I doubt you used to
be the kind of person who would mastermind this kind of
scenario.”