Let Me Go (9 page)

The one thing Benny never got tired of
reminding her was that Mason was a good guy.
Sure, a guy holding
a girl against her will as a slave was definitely a great guy.
The sad part was that she actually believed Benny, to some extent.
Mason hadn’t physically harmed her. He wasn’t nice by any means,
but he wasn’t really all that mean either. They barely spoke. They
had their usual little spats, where he would go off on her, and
then she’d give it right back to him and escape to her room. Other
than taking her life away from her, you know, such a little thing,
she didn’t really have an opinion of him. Well, she hated him for
what he did to her, but if he hadn’t, she probably would take him
under her wing and try to fix him. She blamed it on her education.
It also didn’t hurt that he was good eye candy, brooding and
all.

She had, however, figured out ways to work
faster and cut corners so she could watch television, read, or even
listen to music when she could sneak Mason’s iPod away.

Mason was supposed to be home late today, so
Kat grabbed his iPod and blasted the music. She dusted as she
pranced around, singing at the top of her lungs. She knew her voice
wasn’t fantastic, but it didn’t matter.
It’s not like someone
would hear her.
Well, scratch that, if someone heard her that
might be good. They’d think someone was killing a cat and call the
cops. Then she would be out of there.
Ah, wishful
thinking.

She had been pleasantly surprised with the
selection of Mason’s music. It was pretty eclectic, but she knew
most of the songs and really enjoyed it. She wasn’t sure if that
was a good thing that she had something in common with him. It made
him more human, more personable, but at the same time it totally
sucked that she saw him that way. At least she had some good tunes
to listen to.

She thought about that as she scrolled
through the playlist for the next song to belt out. And she thought
about the fact that she hadn’t really accepted her situation per
say, but she had gotten into a routine that she was actually sort
of used to.
Damn, how messed up was that?
She was used to
this kidnapped slave life with Mr. Green Eyes who showed tiny signs
of breakthrough that she held onto through the times in which he
ignored her.
Yep, definitely messed up.

She shook the thoughts from her mind before
settling on the cliché
I Will Survive
. It was a nice
reminder that she wouldn’t give up and she was going to get out of
this, one way or another.

“I used to cry, and now I hold my head up
high,” she sang as she danced around, using the duster as a
microphone, lost in the music. And then she bumped into something,
something that didn’t feel like a piece of furniture. She turned
sharply and stared up into Mr. Green Eyes. He was staring at her,
some emotion in his eyes she couldn’t pinpoint. She pulled the ear
buds out of her ears and inhaled deeply before looking away from
his piercing stare, but she noticed he was smirking. The asshole
was smirking. Yeah, sure she knew she looked funny, dancing around
like a fool and singing at the top of her lungs, but he was
smirking. Even looking like he was trying his hardest not to
laugh.

“Oh, no, please, continue. It was quite
entertaining.” That shocked her into silence. He was speaking like
a normal person. Gone was the anger that was constantly on the
surface, gone was the snarky attitude.
Who was this guy?

“I…I’m sorry, I just get crazy being indoors
sometimes.” She began to apologize, still stunned. Then she
remembered why she was stuck indoors, and the reason was still
smiling down at her. “No, wait, I’m not sorry. You stuck me in
here. You never let me out. You blame me for something I didn’t do.
I’ve told you that a million times. I’m nothing but nice to you,
but you never say more than two words to me, and all I’m trying to
do is make a crappy situation a little better. You are nothing but
a big bully. And now you are a bully who is making fun of me. Yeah,
so I like to sing and dance when I’m stuck indoors for months. I’m
just so happy you find it amusing.” She huffed and crossed her
arms. And that’s when Mason did something utterly shocking. He
laughed. He outright laughed. Kat’s jaw would have dropped to the
floor if she hadn’t been frozen in place.

*****

Mason had done his best to avoid Kat for
over two months. What had started as his way of getting revenge on
her was turning into something different. He expected her to beg,
plead, curse – do something to show that she was breaking down. She
was supposed to hate this, hate him, and get to a breaking point
where she couldn’t take the slave labor anymore. Then Mason would
feel a little better about his own life. But Kat clearly wasn’t who
he thought she was. That girl had a freaking backbone. And she was
wearing him down. As luck would have it, Benny had actually
befriended her and kept telling Mason how much he liked her. And
Benny was now pretty sure Kat was either the best liar that ever
lived or she really had blocked out the rape accusation and trial
from her memory. She had even mentioned she had a car accident a
few years ago, so Benny speculated that maybe she bumped her head
and it caused some memory loss.
Who knew?
Of course, Benny
couldn’t be one hundred percent sure whether she was an
Oscar-winning actress or an amnesia patient. That meant neither was
Mason.

But she kept up her cheery disposition, and
she kept on breaking down his defenses. She made his favorite meals
even though she didn’t know it. She put up little fights and then
backed down. Damn if he didn’t catch himself thinking how cute she
looked when she snapped at him. But then he would get angry with
himself and take it out on her, snapping right back. So even if she
didn’t remember, it didn’t change the fact that he still felt like
he earned this revenge. The past doesn’t change just because you
didn’t like it and blocked it out. He didn’t have the option to
block out his messed up past.

He was starting to actually feel a little
bad about keeping her cooped up. He was trying to find a way to let
her out without having her escape or notify anyone, but everything
he came up with just wouldn’t work. Besides, she didn’t deserve his
good graces. But when he ran that by Benny, he simply replied,
“Even prisoners get to go outside.”

Mason finished his day early and went home
to find Kat dancing and singing her heart out. She was lost in her
own little world and didn’t notice him walk through the door.
Watching her so carefree actually tugged at something inside him.
He wanted to hate her but in that moment he couldn’t. She looked
like an idiot, but it was pretty endearing. He hated to admit that
to himself, but he couldn’t stop the smile from forming as he
watched her. In a different world, in a different life, he would
have stood and stared at her all day. He would have believed he had
come home to find his girlfriend being silly. He would have been
able to smile like this on more occasions. But it wasn’t so. And
then she bumped into him. Her flustered, embarrassed look forced
the words out of his mouth. “Oh, no, please, continue. It was quite
entertaining.”

He wanted to punch himself for allowing this
little chink in his armor. But it was too late. And he could tell
he surprised her. He actually kind of liked that feeling. She was
the one always getting to him; it seemed being a little nice to her
was getting to her. Whatever it was, it worked for him. And then
she got all huffy with him and the dam broke. He laughed. He hadn’t
laughed in so long. And it wasn’t even because she had said or done
anything truly that funny. He did admit to himself that her little
show had been adorable. But really, it was because he had let his
guard down and it got to her. And now that the emotions were out
there, he couldn’t stop himself. He really did find her
entertaining and amusing and extremely confusing. Finally, he
calmed down.

“It’s a nice change,” he said to her still
stunned silence.

“What is?” she asked, clearly confused.

“To laugh.” She blinked in response to his
words, but he saw the telltale signs of a smile forming. He had
truly meant it. He had been in one angry mood after another for
years. He hadn’t had a good laugh in so long and he needed it. And
as much as he hated that it was Kat who had caused it, he was
grateful. So he said the one thing he never thought he’d tell her
and the one thing he knew would shock her most. “Thank you.” And
that’s when her jaw finally hit the floor as he walked past her and
went to his room, chuckling all the way.

Who knew shocking Kat would be so much
fun.
He would have to do it again.

Chapter 13

Kat didn’t
understand the change in Mason’s behavior. The next few weeks had
been truly confusing. Her chores and activities were pretty much
the same, but her interactions with Mason had changed. He would
switch up his bitterness with bouts of friendliness. He even
sometimes made little witty remarks when she spurred him on. She
didn’t know what to think of him. She talked to Benny about it a
few times and he simply said, “See, told you he was a good guy.
Guess it just took a while for his defenses to break down with
you.”

That wasn’t it, she was sure. If he was such
a good guy, he wouldn’t have concocted this kidnapping scheme, or
at the very least, he’d believe her and release her. Besides, it
wasn’t like he was the picture of Mr. Nice. Oh no, he was still
angry a good chunk of the time, it was just that he would surprise
her every so often.

She wondered if he was trying to confuse
her, to get her so lost to reality that she would confess to
something she didn’t do.
That had to be it
. Whatever the
reason, and however nerve-wracking his behavior was, she did
appreciate the times she could talk to him and actually pretend
they were friends. And in those moments where he was soft, or at
the very least normal, she saw what she would have sworn was awe in
his expression, but she knew that was just her mind playing tricks
on her. It was being stuck indoors all day. It was trying to
befriend a kidnapper. It was trying to find a way to get out while
getting used to the place she was in.
Ugh!
This was so
messed up.

And then Mason surprised her once again. He
hadn’t gone to work, but was busy in his office for most of the
morning. After a few hours, he finally came out.

“You probably wouldn’t have noticed, but I
don’t have many neighbors. Nevertheless, don’t bother screaming, no
one will hear you. And if you ever want to go outside again, you
won’t try it.”

She stopped cleaning and looked up. “Huh?”
That was all she managed to get out.

“You wanted out of the house, we’re going
out. As you probably noticed, we are surrounded by a pretty high
gate. There is no way to climb it and no way for you to open it. It
has the same system that I have on the door here. If you want to
try screaming when we get outside, by all means, go ahead. But you
and I both know I wouldn’t risk taking you out if someone could
hear you, so you can believe me when I say there is no point. Let’s
go.”

She dropped the broom right there on the
floor and followed Mason out to the backyard. At first, the sun was
blinding and the air almost stung, but after a moment of adjusting,
it was heaven. People took being outdoors for granted and it took
her being indoors for almost three months to understand that.

She thought about screaming for only a
fraction of a second, but she knew Mason was right, so she didn’t
bother. She looked toward the sky, shielded her eyes, and twirled
slowly. She inhaled deeply and then sat down on the grass.

Mason stood off to the side in the shadows,
watching her. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she could feel them on
her the entire time.

They stayed like that in silence for an
eternity and finally, she had to ask, “I’m certainly not
complaining and I hope you don’t take me back inside anytime soon,
but what brought this about?”

Mason came out of the shadows and slowly sat
down on the grass by Kat. He swallowed hard and stared at her for a
long time before finally speaking and when he did, Kat hadn’t
expected the words that came out. “I know you are responsible for
my life falling apart. I was there, so there is no use you trying
to tell me otherwise, but I am starting to believe you might
actually not remember any of it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t fully
believe it, but I became a pretty good judge of character in prison
and your vehement proclamations of innocence are getting to me.
This…this whole thing was supposed to be my version of punishment
since you got away scot-free, but you’ve taken it all in as if it’s
nothing but a blip on your radar.” He paused, looking down at his
hands and Kat stayed silent, waiting for him to continue. He looked
back up at her and his arresting green eyes bore into her and she
couldn’t look away. He truly was a beautiful man, regardless of his
clearly broken psyche. “You aren’t the person you used to be, and
you aren’t the person I thought you were, but that doesn’t change
the past. You are still a prisoner here and you are still serving
your punishment, at least until I feel it’s enough, but to borrow a
line from Benny, ‘Even prisoners get to go outside.’ So here we
are. It just took me a little while to figure out how to make it so
you could get out and not notify anyone.” He looked a little
uncomfortable at that moment, like he hadn’t intended on opening
up. He stood, dusting himself off. “You can stay out here a little
longer. I’ll come get you in a bit.”

She reached for his hand as he turned, and
she felt him stiffen with her grasp, but he didn’t turn back
around. “Thank you,” she spoke softly. He turned his face toward
her and nodded, and there it was again, that look of awe. And then
he left her alone with her thoughts.