Locked Together (In Chains) (18 page)

I nod my head. “I’ll play a couple more hands. Can I have some more hooch?” So much for my plan of staying sober, but I’ll have all day tomorrow to sleep if off, I’ve got nothing better to do. Trent tops up my mug and I take a look at my cards. I keep the ten and the nine and change the other three cards; I end up with a pair of three’s. Clay and Kaci both have two pairs, I glance at Trent, he’s smiling and my heart sinks. He lays down his cards, three sevens and two kings. All eyes turn to me and my mouth goes dry, I reach for my hooch and down it in one. I unzip my jeans and try to pull them down over my hips while I’m still sitting on the ground, my face is burning. I glance at Clay and Kaci, Clay is lying on his back and Kaci has climbed on top of him. I watch as she pours hooch over his chest and then licks it off. I can feel Trent’s eyes on me.

“Do you want some help?” he asks. I swallow and shake my head. I raise my butt off the ground and tug my jeans down as fast as I can. I kick them off and pull my legs up to my chest. I’m conscious of how pale and flabby my thighs are. I wrap my arms around my legs and lower my head. Kayden always made me feel beautiful, where is he?

Clay and Kaci stand up. “We’re done,” he says, “we’re going to the van.” He grabs their clothes and they head towards the van, their arms wrapped around each other.

“Are you cold Savannah?” Trent asks. “Do you want a blanket?”

I smile at him. “Yes, thanks.”

He runs over to the van and returns a few moments later, holding a blanket. He wraps it around my shoulders and kisses me on the top of my head. “I’m gonna sleep out here tonight,” he says as he puts his jeans on and then lies down on his back. “They’ll be having sex most of the night, they’ll keep me awake.”

I suppose I’ll have to sleep out here as well. Keeping myself covered with the blanket, I put my clothes back on. “Come and lie down with me,” Trent says. I lie down next to him, keeping a space between our bodies. “Why don’t you rest your head on my chest, Savannah?” Is it fair to Trent to when my heart still belongs to Kayden? Would Trent even care? We’re both lonely and in need of some affection. I shuffle closer and lay my head on his chest, his arm moves around me to stroke my hair. I gaze up at the stars and wonder where Kayden is sleeping tonight.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Kayden

My ankle is a lot better, it’s still sore but I’ve been able to walk on it, so I guess I didn’t break any bones. For the last few days I’ve been travelling at night and finding somewhere safe to sleep during the day. The problem is I don’t know where I’m going; I hope I ain’t been walking round in circles. I’ve passed through a few towns but I haven’t recognised any of them. The sun is starting to come up; I’ll need to look for somewhere to sleep.

I want to be a better man for Savannah, when I find her, I don’t wanna mess her life up again, I need to do something good for her. I can’t be a proper man, I can’t do the things a human could for her. I can’t earn money or give her a home; I can’t take her out to nice places. I wish I could, I wanna do all those things for her, I want her to be proud of me. I pass by a field where some slaves are working, I stop and watch them for a few minutes, there’s only two of them and they have a lot of land to work. I have an idea; maybe there is a way I can earn money. I climb over the fence into the field and limp over to one of the slaves. “Where can I find your owner?” He points towards a house on the other side of the field; I thank him and head towards it.

The blue door has a big iron door knocker; I take a deep breath before using it. While I’m waiting I try to think of what I’m gonna say. A woman opens the door, she looks a lot older than me. She’s frowning, I lick my dry lips and look down at my feet. “Permission to speak please ma’am.”

“You’re not one of our slaves,” she says.

“No ma’am. My owner needs some money, so she sent me to see if I can get any work.” I glance at her, she’s still frowning. “It’s just for one day; I can do any farm work ma’am. You don’t have to pay very much, so long as my owner gets some money.”

“Where is your owner?”

“She’s at home. Her brother’s got a farm, his name’s Simon Morrison, do you know him? Or my owner, her name’s Savannah?” Maybe farmers know each other, maybe they know where she is, I can feel my heart beating faster.

“No, I don’t know them and don’t ask impertinent questions, slave. Wait there.” I hang my head; I was hoping she would’ve known her, oh well. My forehead creases, I dunno what impertinent means; I hope I haven’t ruined my chances. I wait a couple of minutes and she comes back to the door. “Go and join the other slaves, they’ll tell you what to do, I’ll sort out payment at the end of the day.” I’m about to smile at her but she shuts the door in my face.

I spend the day milking cows, cleaning out the pig pens and feeding chickens. The chickens remind me of when I first saw Savannah; she was so sweet and kind, and hot. I grin when I remember how my dick had a life of its own; getting shocked wasn’t no fun though. The good thing about working here is that I get plenty of water to drink and they gave me a bowl of soup and bread when we stopped work for lunch. If I can get work every day until I find Savannah, I’ll be able to eat and drink and I’ll have some money to give to her. I’m not sleeping well anyway; I can get by on a couple hours sleep, that way I can still travel at night.

The work’s done and the sun’s starting to go down. The other slaves head towards some huts that are near to the house, I guess that’s where they sleep. I’m not sure what to do, the owner hasn’t come out, have they forgot I’m here? I hang around for a few minutes but no one comes, so I head over to the house and knock at the door, a man opens it, he’s short but muscular and he looks grumpy. “What do you want?” he barks at me.

“Erm…I spoke to a lady earlier, she said she’d pay my owner for the work I did today, Sir.”

“Maggie,” he calls out, “we’ve got a slave at the door, claims you owe its owner money.” He storms off inside, leaving the door open. I can hear them talking, sounds like they’re having some kind of argument, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. I stay standing at the door, I’ve done the work and I want the money, I want something to give to Savannah. Eventually the woman comes to the door. She gives me a small piece of paper, I look down at it, frowning, it has some words written on it but I can’t read what it says.

“Ma’am, you said you’d give me some money for my owner.”

The man comes stomping to the door and shoves the woman out of the way. “What do you think that is?” he scowls at me and points to the paper in my hand. “Don’t come back here again.” I can see he’s about to slam the door, so I put my foot in the opening. I yelp as the door crunches against my foot, the man glares at me.

“Is this money? If not, can my owner get money with it, Sir?”

“It’s a cheque you imbecile. It’s not your concern; your owner will know what to do with it. Get off my land, or I’ll have you arrested.”

Sheesh, he’s a miserable son of a bitch. I fold up the paper and put it in my pocket. I need to learn more things because I’ve heard two words today and I don’t know what they mean, impertinent and imbecile. I don’t want Savannah to think I’m stupid. I wish we’d had time for her to teach me to read. I’m feeling tired but I want to get to the next town before I stop, I might get lucky, the next town might be where Savannah is.

I pass more fields, it’s getting dark but I can see some street lights and I head towards them. I’m in a tiny, little place, there are only a few houses, one shop which is closed, and a building with a cross on it. After a few seconds there are only fields again. I want to keep going but there will be no streetlights, it’ll be too dark to see, I’m gonna have to sleep the night in this little place. I turn around and head back. I stop at the building with the cross on it. The windows are dirty, I wipe my hand over the glass to try to clear a spot, it’s dark and I can’t see anything but I think it’s empty. I turn the handle of the big wooden door, I’m shocked when it opens, I thought it would be locked. I open it a little way and stand there, listening, I can’t hear any noises. I push the door fully open and it creaks, loudly. I cringe and freeze, someone might have heard that, I hold my breath and wait, but no one comes, so I go inside and close the door behind me. It makes another loud creak but I’m not bothered because no one heard it the first time.

It’s dark, so I wait a few minutes for my eyes to get used to it, then I look around. It’s a big room and there are lots of wooden benches, it looks like there’s a table at the front, I take a closer look. There are candles on the table and more candles on little metal stands, along with a box of matches. I light a match and use it to light some of the big candles on the table; I can see a bit better now. There’s a big cross on the wall and a model of some guy with long hair is stuck to it. This will be a good place to sleep; I curl up on one of the benches. Just as I close my eyes I hear the sound of a door opening and then closing. Shit. I crouch down between the benches, my heart feels like it’s gonna thump right out of my chest. I hear footsteps, my muscles tense, ready to make a run for it. The footsteps stop, I hold my breath, and then I hear them again, coming closer. They stop right in front of me. Male feet, wearing black shoes. I slowly look up into the face of an old man, his hair is grey and he’s wearing something that looks like a long black dress. I swallow. “Don’t be afraid,” he says. “I’m not going to report you. Do you know where you are?” I shake my head. “You’re safe here,” he says, “this is a church.” I guess that’s another word I don’t know. “What are you doing here? Where have you escaped from?” Shit, he’s gonna call the Pound, my eyes flick towards the door. “Please don’t run, I’m not going to report you,” he says again. I dunno if I should believe him, but what choice have I got? There’s nowhere else to go and I don’t wanna walk in the dark because I might end up going around in circles.

“I just wanted somewhere to sleep,” I tell him. “I’m trying to find my girlfri…my owner.”

He stares at me and I think again about running for the door. He’s old, I’ll be faster, I can make it. “Don’t look so nervous, child. Come with me.” He walks towards the table with the candles on it. I look towards the door, then back to him. He’s standing by the table, waiting for me; I get up and go over to him. He points to the cross with the man stuck to it. “Have you heard of Jesus?” I shake my head. “He’s the son of God,” he says, “and people come here, to this church, to worship God.” I guess this God guy must be someone special, maybe he’s the owner of the town. He ain’t gonna like a slave sleeping in his church. “A church is a sanctuary, you’re safe here.” I dunno what sanctuary means, but I know safe, my muscles start to relax. “You should pray, ask for his help.”

“What’s pray?” I ask, frowning.

“It’s how you talk to God,” he says. “Kneel, place your hands together, close your eyes and ask for his help.”

I think this guy may be a bit funny in the head, I can’t see this God guy anywhere, unless he’s hiding, but I don’t wanna piss him off because he is letting me sleep here. So I kneel and put my hands together like he told me to. “Hi God, Sir…”

“You don’t have to speak out loud,” he tells me. “Say it silently in your head. God will hear, he knows your thoughts.”

Is this guy making a fool of me? I sigh, close my eyes and talk silently in my head.
Hi God, Sir. I don’t know if you wanna listen to a slave, but the old man who looks after the model of your son, told me to speak to you. If you know people’s thoughts then I guess you can get in people’s heads. Will you please tell Savannah that I’m sorry, I never meant the things I said to her and that I’m trying to find her? Will you tell her that I love her? Please. He said I should ask for your help, so I’m asking. Will you please tell me where Savannah is, I need the name of the town? Thank you, Sir.
I wait, I don’t know how he’s gonna answer me, will he speak in my head, or out loud? I wait, and I wait. Nothing. I’m gonna tell the old man it didn’t work, course it didn’t work, nothing is ever that easy for me. I open my eyes and look around for him, but he’s gone. Oh well. I get up and lie back down on one of the benches; I’m fed up, and tired.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Savannah

It’s a beautiful sunny day and I’m stuck inside the caravan. It wouldn’t be so bad if I had a book to read, or my laptop. It seems like forever since I worked on my story, I don’t even know if I want to continue it, maybe I’ll start a new one, although with the experiences I’ve had recently, it will end up being dark and depressing. All I have to do all day is think, and all I can think about is Kayden. He should have been here by now. He could be hurt, or worse, he could be dead. He may be back at the Pound. I don’t understand why he sent me away, if someone from the Pound was coming, like he seemed to think, we’d have stood a better chance together. I should never have left him.

A knock at the door startles me. If it were Kaci, Clay or Trent, they’d just come in, they wouldn’t knock. I’m too scared to breathe, have slave security found me? The door isn’t locked; I don’t think it has a lock, whoever it is can walk right in. I glance around to see if there is anything I can push up against the door, there are only the beds, but they’re built in. Whoever it is, they knock again. “Savannah, are you in there?”

It’s Simon. I laugh, more out of pure relief than anything else and rush to open the door. I smile, then throw my arms around him, I’m so sick of sitting here alone. He squeezes me and then holds me at arm’s length and looks me up and down. “You need feeding up, and a shower.” He pulls me back into his arms, he smells of soap. “Come to the house with me. No one from the Compound has been looking for you. Let me fix you breakfast while you have a shower.” I can’t spend my whole life in hiding, with only my depressing thoughts for company and I’ve missed Simon, so I let him lead me home.