Locked Together (In Chains) (5 page)

I close my eyes. “I think I went a bit stir crazy,” I tell him. He takes my hand and leads me back over to the other side of the room. We sit on the floor and I rest my head on his shoulder. My heart is still racing, the walls feel like they are closing in on me, there isn’t enough room.

“Let’s sing a song,” Kayden whispers in my ear. He starts singing the words to Skyscraper and as I focus on his voice my breathing begins to return to normal. “Sing with me,” Kayden says, “it’s dark, no one can see you.” I smile, I’m more worried about them hearing me than seeing me, but I sing along with him anyway. I’m expecting the other guys to complain about the noise, but they don’t. I guess they realise I was freaking out.

We finish singing; I reach for Kayden’s hand. “You’ve got an amazing voice, I could listen to you sing all day,” I tell him.

He puts his mouth to my ear and nibbles at my earlobe, then I feel his warm, wet tongue swirl around my ear, I shiver. “And you my baby,” he whispers and I lean in closer, “you sounded like a strangled cat.” He laughs into my ear and I jab him in the ribs, which makes him laugh harder.

I’m woken by the morning alarm. Kayden peels his eyes open and gazes up at me with a soppy smile on his face. “Good morning beautiful,” he whispers before his lips lock with mine. I savour his kiss as his hands roam down my back towards my butt. “I wish we were alone right now, I’ve got a morning wood problem baby.”

“I know,” I giggle, “I can feel it.”

“Maybe we can wake up early tomorrow, before the alarm goes off,” he says.

I want him every bit as much as he wants me. I’m in serious need of some love and affection. “Or maybe we can stay up late tonight,” I grin at him. He bites down on his lip and slowly nods his head in agreement. I run my finger along the band of metal around his neck and then touch my fingers to the cuffs around his wrists. “Are they shock cuffs?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Nah, they’re like magnets.”

“They tried to put them on me, and a shock collar but they were all too big.”

“I’m glad.” His fingers trace a line down my neck, making me shiver. “You’ve got a beautiful neck; I’ll be pissed if they put a collar on it.” Kayden kisses his way down my neck.

I glance at the other two guys in the room; they’re both sitting on the floor, looking at us. “What happened to the other guy? There were four of you.”

Kayden pecks me on the lips. “He got moved to level one last night.” The second alarm sounds. “We need to line up,” he says as he gets to his feet, takes my hand and pulls me up. We all stand on the yellow line.

Kayden and I hold hands as we’re led out into the courtyard, I’m expecting to get slapped for hand holding, but the guards don’t seem to care. The sun has just begun to rise and it looks so beautiful, I squeeze Kayden’s hand, lean my head towards him, and whisper, “Where do we go for breakfast?”

“We don’t get breakfast baby. Level three is a punishment. We don’t get lunch either but I’ll try to figure out a way to get you something to eat.”

No wonder he’s lost weight. I don’t think I’ll ever complain about a few extra pounds after this experience. I grip his hand; we’ll keep each other strong and get through this together. So long as we have each other it’s going to be okay. We’re at the other end of the Compound facing a single storey building; I’m pleased to see it has windows. The guard unlocks the door and we’re led inside. There’s a huge metal urn against the far wall. To my right is what I guess you would call a clothes press, you put whatever you want to iron on the bottom surface and pull the top down to press it together. I’ve never used one but I’ve seen them before, though none as big as this. Along the left wall are several laundry baskets on wheels, all of them piled high with laundry, on the floor are four tin bath tubs.

The female guard points to me, “You,” she then points her finger at Kayden, “and you, you’re both on pressing.” She turns to the other guys and tells them they will be doing the washing, then she leaves, the door slams behind her. The male guard sits down at a desk near the door, switches on his radio and opens a newspaper. I wonder what’s going on in the world, I shrug, probably doom and gloom as usual, I’m sure I’m not missing anything. I study the guard for a minute, trying to figure out what kind of person he is. All the guards so far have been nasty and I want to be prepared. He’s in good shape; his hair is cut short and mostly grey with a few flecks of brown. He’s not scowling and he doesn’t have many frown lines, in fact, his face looks friendly.

Kayden wheels over one of the baskets which is loaded with sheets and pillowcases, I don’t know whose because the sheets in the dorm were never washed. Taking my hand he leads me over to the press and stands me in front of it. He lays one of the sheets on the lower panel of the press and stands behind me. His lips graze my ear and he whispers, “I’ll show you how to use this?” He makes me shiver in a good way; I lean back into him and rest the back of my head against his chest. His arm slips around my waist and his other hand brushes against my nipple as he reaches for the handle of the press. The muscles in his arm ripple and flex as he pulls on the handle; I lick my lips and trace my finger over the contours of his arm. I’m momentarily surprised by a puff of steam that shoots out from the press. As he leans across me to toss the now ironed sheet into an empty basket, his head dips and my lips part as he gently nips at my neck, I can feel his erection pressing into my back. I turn my head slightly, our eyes lock and he bites down on his lip, his eyes glinting, then kisses me on the cheek. “Your turn,” he whispers.

I’m starting to sweat and I can feel a burning sensation between my legs. My breasts rise as I reach for the handle, my other hand drops down behind me, to cup his hardness. I grind my hand against his erection, my breathing is become heavier. Kayden’s hand slips beneath my scrubs and slides up to my breast, I gasp as his rough, calloused fingers stroke my nipple, I close my eyes and he groans into my ear.

“What the hell are you two doing?” I freeze and Kayden’s hand drops from my breast. “Quit messing around and get back to the work,” the guard yells from across the room. I sneak a glance at him, he’s still sitting at the desk, he probably didn’t see what we were doing.

I try to ignore the burning and dampness between my legs and work on getting my breathing back to normal. My hands shake as I reach up for the handle of the press. I stand on my tiptoes and stretch my fingers but I can’t even touch it with my fingertips, I’m about five inches too short. I can hear Kayden softly laughing; he kisses me on the top of my head. “Short arse.” His arms slide around my waist and my feet leave the ground as he lifts me up. I’m giggling as I grab the handle and pull. Nothing happens. I hold it with both hands and pull again. It moves maybe an inch and then refuses to budge any further; I’m going red in the face. I let go and the damn thing shoots back up again. Kayden is laughing so much he’s shaking.

“Put her down, slave. Now.” I turn my head to see the guard standing right beside us. Kayden gently lowers me to the floor. “I’m putting you on washing instead,” he says, pointing to the other side of the room. He calls across to one of the slaves, the guy who told us to shut up last night, “Show her what to do,” he tells him. He turns to scowl at Kayden. “You can work alone, if it’s not finished by dinner you’ll be punished.” Spittle is flying from his mouth as he speaks. Kayden glares at the floor, his hands fisted by his sides. The guard looks at me and jerks his thumb in the direction of the other slaves. “Washing. Now.” Sighing, I go to join the others.

I shake my head when I see the guys are kneeling on the floor, the tin baths are full of soapy water and they’re scrubbing the dirty sheets against old fashioned wash boards. I haven’t had chance to get a proper look at either of them yet. Like all slaves they have black hair and large hands. Their hair is shaved short like Kayden’s and they’re both wearing grey scrubs, shock collars and cuffs. I kneel down on the floor next to the guy who is going to show me what to do. “My name’s Reece,” he says to me. I sneak a look at the guard; he has his head buried in his newspaper.

“I’m Savannah,” I whisper back.

Reece stands up, grabs a pillowcase from the basket and tosses it in my direction. “Do you know how to use these things?” He points at the wash board.

“I’ll figure it out.” I sink the pillowcase into the water and quickly snatch my hand back out again. “Yeouch, that’s scalding.”

Reece frowns. “I know, you’ll get used to it.” I reach out for a piece of the pillowcase that’s above the water and holding it in my fingertips I gingerly swish it about. “You won’t get it clean like that,” Reece says. “They check them at the end of the day. If any are dirty we all get punished, d’ya get what I’m saying?”

Oh that’s just great, I’ve got to burn my hands or I’ll get everyone in trouble and be hated again. “What kind of punishment?” I ask him.

“No dinner,” he says. I pull the pillowcase out and examine it, there’s a light brown stain on it, I don’t even want to think what it might be. Taking a deep breath I brace myself and plunge my hands into the water, grimacing at the heat. Working quickly I scrub the pillowcase against the board as hard as I can. After about a minute I check it, the stain is still there but it’s fading. I repeat the process two more times and to my relief the stain has now gone but my hands are bright red. “Not used to doing laundry are you?” Reece smirks at me.

I glare at him. “Yes, I am. I’m just not used to using archaic tools.”

He frowns at me. “Arch, what?”

“Archaic. Old fashioned, out of date.” I glance again at the guard but he’s still engrossed in his newspaper, he doesn’t seem to mind us talking.

Reece throws a sheet in my direction. “So, you got a thing for slaves have you?”

“Where do I put this?” I ask him, holding up the wet pillowcase.

“Put it in the empty tub.”

I toss the pillowcase into the tub. “No. I don’t love Kayden because he’s a slave, I’d love him no matter what he was.” I shove the sheet into the hot water.

“Me and him,” Reece jerks his head towards Kayden, “we grew up here together.” He leans in closer, his head almost touching mine. “Are you really in love with him?”

I back away from him. “Yes.”

He studies me for a moment, then slowly shakes his head. “Be careful, he’ll break your heart. He knows the right things to say to make you do what he wants. He’s using you, d’ya get what I’m saying? The only person he loves is himself.”

I look across at Kayden; he’s putting some laundry into a basket. As he raises his head our eyes meet. He gives me a small smile and blows me a kiss and then his gaze flicks to Reece. I watch the smile slip from his lips and his eyes become hard and cold. I glance at Reece; his eyes are filled with contempt. They glare at each other for what seems like forever, something bad must have happened between them. I find it hard to believe that Kayden is using me; he’s never shown me anything but love. A movement from the guard catches my eye and Kayden breaks eye contact with Reece and resumes using the press. Reece continues to glare at Kayden’s back for a few seconds longer, then, he leans into me once again and whispers, “He was having sex with a guard, they were at it like rabbits, he’ll fuck anything, d’ya get what I’m saying? The guard, she’s working here this afternoon. You’ll see, I’m telling you the truth.”

I do get what he’s saying and I’m trying not to let it bother me. What Kayden did before he met me doesn’t matter. He told me he loves me and I believe him but I’m feeling uneasy about this guard. “When was he having sex with her?” I whisper to Reece.

“Back before he got sold.”

“Does he know she still works here?” He must know, he was here for a month before I got here, why hasn’t he said anything to me? Then again, it’s been eight years since he was sold; she’s probably found someone else since then. Perhaps there was nothing to tell me.

Reece shakes his head. “He don’t know, she’s hasn’t been here for a long time. I heard a guard say she’s coming back today.”

I suddenly realise I’ve been scrubbing the same pillowcase for the last five minutes. I throw it into the tub and grab another dirty one. “So what does this guard look like? What’s her name? How old is she?” Reece opens his mouth to answer and I hold my hand up and shake my head. “No, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. It doesn’t matter. Let’s get this laundry done.” Reece just shrugs. I’m being ridiculous, it was years ago, he loves me now and she’s probably forgotten all about him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Savannah

We’ve been working in silence for the past couple of hours, my back aches and my hands are red, itchy and sore. This room has become hot and steamy; I’m hungry, thirsty and fed up. The other slave hasn’t said a word to anyone and I don’t want to call across to him because the guard will hear me. I tap Reece on the arm and nod my head towards the other slave. “He’s quiet, what’s his name?”

“He never speaks, I think they’ll be putting him in level one soon, dunno why they put him here in the first place.”

The guard’s chair scrapes against the floor as he gets up. I quickly lower my head and resume scrubbing yet another sheet. This laundry is endless; I don’t know where they’re getting it all from. I can feel the guard’s eyes on me; he makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I glance at him out of the corner of my eye; he’s standing there with his hands behind his back. After studying us for a few minutes he turns around and leaves the room, the door slams behind him.