Memory: Book Two (Scars 2) (4 page)

Aaron
got out of the car without speaking any further to me, and I stayed there while
he opened the front door and entered.
Get control, Paige, Get in control.
Why should he always have it?
I forced myself to take several deep breaths
before I exited the vehicle and walked into the house.

Fenella
had a glass of pale wine in her hand already, and Aaron was pouring himself and
Antony bourbons. My wine sat on the kitchen countertop, dark and red. Aaron
caught my eye just briefly before looking away as I snatched up the glass and
lifted it to my lips. Compared to the light champagne that I had been drinking
earlier, it tasted heavy and dead in my mouth. I gulped it down all the same.

“Easy
there, Paige,” Antony said with a smirk. “Any more and you might be dancing on
the table top and giving us a striptease.”

I
curved my lips up into a coy smile. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Beside
him, Fenella frowned as she placed a possessive hand on his arm. She cleared
her throat. “This is an amazing place. How long have you lived here for?”

I
choked out a laugh, imagining the annoyance running through Aaron at her
irritating questions. Maybe I would encourage her inane conversation and carry
on the pretense that this was a normal house with normal people in it.

But
then her head exploded.

Blood
splattered, warm and metallic. It hit my lips and my tongue. It mingled with my
wine, and maybe there was brain in there as well, but I couldn’t process anything,
I just stared at my wine because it was better than looking at Fenella’s
corpse.

“Down,
now!” Aaron shoved me to the floor and my glass slipped to shatter on the tiles
just as I hit them. More gunshots, more broken glass, Antony was yelling, and
Aaron had black guns in his hands. Where had they come from? He tossed one to
Antony, whose face was red with Fenella’s blood. The whites of his eyes in
contrast to the crimson were bright and bulging, making him look primal and
bloodthirsty.

More
glass shattered, and maybe I screamed but I wasn’t sure because everything was
so surreal. I tried to crawl across the floor but it was slick with blood and I
slid in it as my white dress turned a nasty red. Fenella’s half of a head and
remaining eye stared and bitter vomit rose in me, burning my throat and suffocating
a sob. I had to get away from her and escape that terrible staring eye that
looked too innocent to belong to such a victim of violence.

“Paige,
get out now!” Antony yelled at me. “Go out the back. Go to the beach!”

I
didn’t need to be told twice. I managed to get to my feet, my sights set on the
door leading away from that corpse. I slid in blood, grasping onto the
countertop and leaving bloodied handprints in my wake. All I could think of was
that Aaron was going to be pissed at the mess.

“No,
Rachel!” Aaron called to me from where he crouched with his gun ready.  “Stay
where you are! Stay down. Don’t go out there!”

But
Antony had told me to go, and I needed to get away. Antony looked out for me,
Aaron didn’t, not really. I was listening to Antony. I fled. It seemed too easy
to escape and all I heard behind me was “
Fuck,
Rachel!” from Aaron, and
more gunshots.

I
sprinted past the pool and my fingers fumbled for the code on the lit keypad.
It hissed in acceptance and began to buzz as my red hands pushed it open,
leaving their mark so Fenella’s blood would now stain everything in this house
that she had so admired in her last moments. I hit the beach running, my heels
thrown off and lost in the sand as I sprinted toward the water.  Being clean
and away from here was all that I could think of. The dark water was getting
closer and closer, and I prepared myself to dive down deep, hidden and
protected by the waves. I was nearly there. The boat lights in the distance
twinkled prettily, heralding safety. My feet hit the water, just a little
further and I would be safe and away from the terror.

But
a hand gripped my ankle and I was flung face first down into the water. Salt
stung my eyes and water went up my nose, and filled my mouth. My hands managed
to find sand and I pushed myself up, gasping for desperate breath, but a firm
hand on the back of my head pushed me down again. I struggled, panicking as I
choked on the water I was held in.

I
was going to drown.

I
was going to die.

After
everything, I was going to die
here, now
.

By
the hair, I was painfully pulled out of the surf, choking and spluttering.
“C’mon, now,” said a voice. That grip never lessened and my scalp burned. Fingers
dug into my arm as I was pulled to my feet. I managed to twist my head to look
at my rescuer, or killer.

“Ryan?”
I croaked, my mouth raw with salt and sand.

“The
very one, baby.” He grinned with that mouthful of perfect teeth, but there was
nothing friendly there, nor was there the lust of before. His icy blue eyes
seemed to be filled with mirth as well, as if this all amused him. There were
shouts, gunshots, but it all sounded terribly far away, and I couldn’t tear my
eyes away from him.

“What’s
happening?” I rasped, staring at him. The joy on his face made me feel more
fear than Fenella’s mangled head had before.

He
lowered his head down, almost like he was going to kiss me, but instead he
whispered, “Payback.” His arm swung around my throat, pulling me to him, and
holding me tighter. “Just try to relax and it won’t hurt too much.” Then he was
crushing my throat and I struggled, and soon stopped when I realized that I
couldn’t breathe anymore and everything went black.

In
the darkness, Finn and I were hiking along a trail. It was a bright blue day,
but everything was darker than it should have been. I lifted my head to the
sky, expecting to see rain clouds on the horizon but there was nothing.

“Why
is it so dark?” I asked Finn who walked ahead of me. He turned and grinned at
me, but it wasn’t Finn, it was Ryan. With one rough push, he shoved me over the
edge, and I fell, tumbling and turning as I plummeted down to the rocks below.
My body shattered, and all I could feel was the cold…I was so fucking cold…

I
woke up with a gasp. I was sitting but my hands were pinned above my head and
tied to whatever it was that I was leaning against. My arms were stiff. How
long had I been like this? I still wore the dress, and it was damp and no
longer white. A shiver went through my body — I had never been so cold in my
life. I yanked at my bindings, desperate to free my hands so I could hug myself
and warm my skin, but there was no give.

The
room was dark, but a sliver of light came from under the door and I heard
voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying as much as I strained to
hear. I laughed crazily; it was a weird sound. This was ironic; how many times
in one’s life did they end up trapped, kidnapped…whatever the fuck was going
on. This is what happened when you hung around with bad people, I reasoned as
another maniacal laugh escaped from me. This is what happened when you were
born to —

The
door swung open, letting in shards of light from beyond where the silhouette
stood in the doorway. He stepped inside, heavy boots making a surprisingly
light noise on the wooden floor. I shivered, not because of him, but because of
the cold. I wouldn’t be shivering in fear anymore; what was the point? It never
moved them and they would never take pity on me. I was done being the weak,
pathetic maiden. Whatever they were about to inflict on me — let them. Would
they be worse than Aaron or his uncle? And where was Aaron? Dead? My mouth
twisted slightly at the thought, but then I straightened and lifted my chin to
meet the eyes of Ryan.

He
crouched down beside me. “Cold?”

I
didn’t answer.

“It’s
a shame about your pretty dress,” he continued. “I would have preferred to have
you naked, but I think that there’s something poetic about having you wearing
something cold in a freezing room, the cold taking over your whole body, you
shivering, turning a nice shade of blue…” He ran his hand over the bodice of my
dress, and I didn’t even flinch away.
I’ve had worse. Whatever you do to me,
I can handle it.

He
grinned. “Look at that, it’s nearly dry. I guess I can take pity on you now.”
With both hands, he took a firm grasp of the sequined bodice and ripped. It
came away from me with ease to reveal the torsolette that I wore underneath. It
wouldn’t rip as easy as the flimsy dress; the torsolette was boned and tough,
nearly like a metal armor plate, and designed to torture the wearer into having
a perfect body shape through constriction to the point of barely being able to
breathe. Ryan’s hands searched behind me, putting him uncomfortably close as
his hands searched for the hooks. His grin grew wider as he had success, pulling
the undergarment from my body. Goosebumps littered my skin and my whole body
shook with the shivering. I had to clamp my teeth shut to stop them from
chattering. He left my skirt on and didn’t touch me further, but his eyes raked
over me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t lust in his eyes now. If I didn’t know any
better I would say that it was joy perhaps, or maybe pleasure, and that made me
doubt my prior determination to be strong. Men I could normally deal with;
their lust I could handle…but this Ryan, he was something different.

“Are
you going to tell me what I did to you or are you going to make me guess?” I
rasped out, my throat sore as I tried to sound tough and unnerved.

He
tilted his head, smiling. “You? Nothing. You just have bad taste in men and that,
baby, has put you in this unfortunate predicament.”

“You’re
talking about Aaron?”

“Aaron,”
he confirmed. “You’re clever. I don’t care what anyone says,” he mocked.

I
stared straight back at him for a moment, and then I laughed. That crazy sound
made his smile slip slightly as he looked at me curiously. “You want to let me
in on the joke?”

I
let out a last laugh. “Aaron’s not my boyfriend, you
idiot
. He won’t
care about anything that you do to me. He only cares about himself.”

“Oh,
Paige. Have you no self-esteem? He’s coming for you, I know it,” he said
smugly.

I
shook my head at him. “You don’t know shit.” I couldn’t stop the shaking in my
voice nor the clattering of my teeth. I was so fucking cold.

His
smile stretched, and then his fist rammed into the side of my face. My teeth
sliced through my lip with the impact. It felt like a truck had hit me and for
a moment I couldn’t remember how to breathe.

“Oh,
Paige, Paige, Paige…did I hurt you? I’m afraid that there’s only a world of
hurt in store for you.”

I
spluttered, and my blood flew, and then I fucking laughed again, to which he
looked surprised. “You’re one fucked up girl, you know that?”

“You
should know.” I did my best to sneer, even though every part of my face hurt.

He
laughed, and hit me again. Warm blood spurted from my nose and down onto my
breasts, and I wondered if I would ever look the same again. I heard bells; it
was the strangest, surreal sound in that dark room of cold and pain.

Ryan
held up a finger to me, it had my blood on it. “Just a moment, baby.” I watched
through hazy eyes as he pulled out his phone and stared at the screen. “It
would appear that your white knight’s coming for you.” He flicked his eyes up
to me, a triumphant smile on his face. “See? I was right. I’m always right, and
now it’s time to go.”

He
stood and placed his phone back in his pocket. “I’ll see you again, Paige.
That’s a promise.”

I
struggled to speak. “What—”

“What
was the point?” he cut in. “I just wanted to fuck with him before I go in for
the kill.”

So
many questions ran through my head but I couldn’t manage to form words, all I
could do was stare up at him helplessly. As if in slow motion, he reached down
and grabbed my hair in a painful grip. A weird sound came from me just before
he propelled my head into the wall behind me. Pain burst through me, and then
he did it again and I heard something crack. Again and again, my head was
rammed into the wall and all thought escaped me, or maybe it was life.

I
sat up, clutching at my neck and expecting to feel the leather of a dog collar.
But my neck was bare. A nightmare, it was just a fucking nightmare, thank god.
I sucked in deep breaths as I tried to control my breathing and return my
heartbeat to normal. God, that had felt real — the smell of leather, the
chafing…

“Your
pretty necklace is tucked away safely in the bedside drawer.”

My
eyes flew open in fright. A woman dressed in scrubs smiled at me as she pulled
open a drawer and retrieved a flat, silver necklace that I had never seen
before in my life. “Did you want to wear it now?”

I
didn’t answer. Who the hell was this woman? Where the hell was I? Floor to
ceiling windows dominated this room, and beyond them was a stormy ocean.

“I
introduced myself to you the last time that you woke up, Rachel, but it’s okay
that you don’t remember. Head injuries and trauma can cause havoc on your
memory. I’m going to call the doctor to come by to examine you again and
explain your injuries.”

Rachel?

“Injuries?”
I parroted as I reached up and touched bandages on the back of my head.

“They
didn’t need to operate, so you’ve still got your lovely hair. Some of its
shaven at the back of course, but you can hardly notice.”

“Am
I in a hospital?” I croaked as my eyes roamed around the room. It was white,
everything was white, but it was hardly like any hospital that I’d ever seen. A
green cushion on the white couch and an abstract grey painting with just a dash
of pale green were the only color.

The
woman chortled. “Hardly. Don’t you recognize it? You were initially at St Catherine’s
but once the doctors were convinced it was safe, your boyfriend had you moved
here. Myself and another nurse have been looking after you.”

“What
happened to me?”

Her
cheerful smile faded and was replaced by a sympathetic one. “There was an assault,
but let’s wait until you’re feeling better before we go into that.”

I
sunk back down onto the pillows. I wanted to get up and find out what was going
on, but it took energy to even think about moving. “Is my Mom here?” The
weirdness of this situation was overwhelming, but no doubt Mom was at the helm
and driving everything. It would all be okay…except the nurse was calling me
Rachel. That was the name that we used with
him.
Mom said that we
weren’t going to use that name anymore, not after those horrible things that
he
did to me. We were going away, she said. We were starting fresh…what was going
on? The last thing I remembered was being at the motel with that slimy doctor,
but I wasn’t hurt that badly. He said I would be fine and nothing about head
injuries.

“I
don’t know anything about your Mom, Rachel. I’ve only spoken with Aaron.
Anyway, let me call the doctor.” She patted my hand kindly before turning
toward the door. A wide smile spread across her face. “Speak of the devil.”

I
turned my head to see the man standing there. He was young, his skin tan and
stretched over high cheekbones and sharp bone structure. I was struck by his
beauty, and even more so, by the utter lack of emotion on his face. His eyes
were on the nurse.

“Could
you leave us alone?” he asked, although it wasn’t really a question, more of an
order.

The
nurse wasn’t bothered. “I was just going to call the doctor.” The man, Aaron,
stepped aside so she could pass. Only then, did he turn his gaze to me.

“You
kept waking up, but never for long,” he said as he moved closer. There was
something about him that made me want to shrink away, but I couldn’t quite
identify why. If this was my boyfriend, he wasn’t acting very friendly.

“Where’s
my mother?” I asked.

He
paused. “You’re estranged. You haven’t spoken to her in months.”

I
frowned, my head started to hurt and I managed to sit again, holding my head.

“Here.
Painkillers.” He picked up the pill bottle from the bedside table and shook two
into his hand. He passed them to me before pouring a glass of water from the
pitcher.

I
placed them in my mouth and accepted the water, swallowing down the pills with
ease. “Why are we estranged? That’s crazy. I live with her. She looks after
me,” I muttered. This wasn’t right, but I imagined that my mother was at the
bottom of it. No doubt this was some new scheme. This guy was obviously rich,
going by this room and its view, not to mention the fact that he was paying for
private nurses for me.

He
sat down on the white bed coverings. He was dressed in dark jeans and black
t-shirt.

“Why
is there nearly no color in this room? Even you…why don’t you have any color?”

He
ignored my comment. “What do you remember, Rachel?”

That
my real name isn’t Rachel, and therefore, whatever so called ‘relationship’ we
have isn’t real either. This is all just another game, and I have to figure out
what’s going on before I blow it.

“Leaving
my Mom’s boyfriend. He wasn’t very nice and we had to leave in a hurry.” There
may have been something wrong with my brain, but the memory of him kicking and
punching me while I was on the floor was all too vivid and it made me wrap my
arms around myself for comfort. “Did he do this to me?” I asked in a shaky
voice.

“No.”

“Then
who?”

He
stood up from the bed. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it, but you need to tell
me the moment that you remember anything, understand?”

I
stared at him for a moment. Yeah, this was definitely one of my mother’s games.
No way in hell would I have a boyfriend like this in real life; one that gave
commands and was rude. All I had to figure out now was who I was supposed to
be. With this kind of guy, I was probably supposed to be some kind of
submissive bimbo who took orders and smiled sweetly.

I
managed to force my lips into a smile, even though it was the last thing that I
felt like doing. “Sure.”

He
gave a slight nod. “You should get some rest before the doctor gets here.” With
that, he strode from the room without giving me a second look.
What an
asshole.

Once
his footsteps died away, I slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed.
Unsteadily, I managed to walk to the adjoining bathroom. I switched on the
lights and they flickered before illuminating the mirror. My hair was still
long and blonde, except at the back where I could feel bandages and I wondered
how bad my hair was around that area. That wasn’t what bothered me the most
though. I looked older, my face thinner, my eyes…well, they were the same —
they were eyes that had seen and done too much. I switched off the light again;
I didn’t want to have to look at myself anymore.

I
managed to get myself back to my bed without falling and that was no easy feat.
Only when I was back under the covers with my poor head resting on the pillows
did I notice the alarm clock beside the bed, shouting out the time and date in
glowing red numbers.

“Shit,”
I said hoarsely. It couldn’t be right. I couldn’t have lost that much time.
That would mean that I was nineteen, an adult. I groaned in frustration at my
fuzzy, fucked up brain. This was wrong, this was all just wrong.

When
the doctor arrived, he asked me a variety of questions, and as it turned out,
the date was correct. He assured me that the amnesia was likely short-term and
that I just needed to be patient. However, he was young and his hands twitched
which didn’t give me any confidence. I lay back after he left. My mind, what
was left of it, was spinning.

What
would happen now?

But
I knew the answer to that question. I would do what I had been trained to do,
and that prick Aaron wouldn’t know what hit him.