Saving Each Other (BWWM Romance) (4 page)

“I’m pretty sure you don’t get to ask questions at all.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know how to pull off a kidnapping.”

I snarled and brought my face close to hers, I could feel her breath on mine. It smelled like mint still. “Last time I checked, you were still under my control.”

“Do you always have to be in control?” she asked, trying to turn it on me.

“Yes,” I answered simply. We were so close I could feel her body heat radiating on me, I could feel her fear too. At least I knew I was succeeding.

“So what about my suggestion then?” she asked me again.

“What about it?”

“Please, if you have any humanity, don’t make me stay here by myself.” I took one last look at her, struggling to ignore her pleading eyes and breaking spirit. But I managed to leave, I left her alone.

Chapter Three: Tamara

I woke up curled in the shape of a ball. It was the only way to stay warm, and the only way to keep my insides from churning. The man, Dan, confused me. Sometimes he was nice, he looked at me like he felt sorry for me but then he could be so evil, so uncaring.

I racked my brain for most of the night, trying to put together some clues. Trying to figure out why I was there, why it was happening to me. He kept saying that I will be there until all was well, and that I was just a means to an end. But what was he trying to end? What was it that needed to be well?

He knew where I worked, what I do. Did my company do something? Did I indirectly, like he said, turn the tables on something that was bad? I thought he also said something about hurting people but I couldn’t remember, or I didn’t want to know that I’ve hurt someone.

Come to think of it, I never looked too deeply into the positions I took a stand against. My day to day life consisted of going to work, attending meetings, speaking on behalf of the company in order to get funding for our drilling and expanding then I returned to the comfort of my home and my best friend. Thinking of Mallory made me miss home even more, I already missed our conversation and I thought it had only been two days. Internally, I didn’t think I would to make it much longer but I didn’t want him or Justin to see that. I had to put my ‘lobby’ face on and stay strong.

I didn’t know what time it was, but the sun was peeking over the tiny window in the ceiling. It was probably early morning but time ran together, it could have been late afternoon too. I always had to force myself to use the bathroom, it was so…grotesque…un-lady like. There was no way I wouldn’t get sick here, I had to use the same water to wash my hands that I did for everything else…

I was by my lonesome for a while, I had to find things to do to keep my mind busy. I paced in the room, counting the spaces, measuring. Then I sat down, tired from the small exertion of energy and closed my eyes. I imagined I was somewhere else, on the beach with Mallory. We had planned a vacation together, it was supposed to take place in a few days…I didn’t know anymore, everything ran together now.

“Knock, knock, I hope you’re decent.” Justin’s booming voice brought me out of my small slumber.

“Here’s your breakfast.” He slammed the tray down on the floor, half the oatmeal fell from the bowl and the orange juice spilled.

“That’s not much of a breakfast,” I said sternly. He scoffed and looked at me darkly, he came close, crouching down in front of me.

“You can’t do anything to me, you aren’t in charge,” I snarled. His lips formed a firm line, making his anger obvious. I almost smiled, knowing that I was right. He took me by surprise when he took my face in his hands, his fingertips pressing into my neck very hard. It forced me to loll my head back, where he brought his face so close to mine that I could smell his cold breath.

“What the boss doesn’t see, he doesn’t know.” I won’t lie, his words scared me. Every possible thing that could go wrong ran through my mind, everything that I was afraid of. Pain, beatings, rape…

My breath hitched in my throat when my eyes met his, they were dark and ominous. The way he was looking at me was frightening.

“And what would that be?” I summed up some strength and asked him. He smiled darkly. He didn’t say anything, he just stood up and went over to the corner where that cuffed leash was.

“What are you doing?” I didn’t hide the fear in my voice.

“Putting you in your place.” He stalked back towards me. I jumped up quickly, making my way for the door. His strong arms wrapped around me like a vice and pulled me away from my escape.

“No! Let me go!” I screamed, but it was no use. He held me down and put the cuff around my foot, securing me no farther than four feet from the wall.

“Shut up!” he shouted at me. He kicked my tray over to me and laughed darkly as he shut the door behind him, leaving me in the darkness.

I cried instantly, letting my emotions fall out. Of course I ate, I was starving and I didn’t know when Dan was coming back…was I really hoping one of my captors would come back? How twisted is that?

I tried my hand at escaping from the cuff, I tried everything I could think of but it was no use. I think it was the strongest steel anyone could find. It dug into the bones on my ankle that had already started to protrude. Every time I tried to move them, I felt like the skin was tearing between them so I had to stop. There was already blood coming because of the edge of the cuff digging into my skin.

Since I couldn’t move anywhere else, I curled up like a ball against the corner where the cuff was chained then I had an idea. I took the metal spoon Justin stupidly left and tried to dig around where the chain was mounted into the wall. There was a plate screwed around all four corners, where I tried to use the spoon to unscrew it.

I worked for what seemed like hours, until I couldn’t uncurl my fingers. I dropped the spoon and collapsed into the wall, resting for a few minutes.

I thought I was only resting, but when I opened my eyes, the small window in the ceiling told me it was dark. My stomach immediately growled, I think it was in permanent hunger mode. The room was permanently dark, looking around did nothing because I couldn’t see. I couldn’t even see myself when I stretched out my hand in front of me.

The only way I could keep it together was to make my mind go to a different place altogether. I was brought out of my escape by the door unlatching and opening slowly. I couldn’t deny the small jump of happiness I felt when I saw Dan, or it could have been because he also had dinner.

He also held a lantern in his hand, lighting up the whole room. I wished I was wearing what he was, a comfortable pair of sweats and a t-shirt.

“Good evening, Tamara,” he said softly.

“Hi,” I said curtly. He set the tray and lantern in front of me. I was surprised to see a hot bowl of chunky soup and about half a loaf of bread.

“I brought you dinner.” As he got closer I could see his face better, he looked angry.

“Thank you, it looks good,” I said honestly. I tried to move myself but the cuff restricted me.

“What...did Justin do that?” he asked me. I looked at him, afraid of what he would do.

“Y-yes.” I said hesitantly. His jaw clasped shut in a firm line, I could see the bones shift in his face, bringing out his sharp facial lines.

“I’ll be right back.” He left quickly, slamming the door behind him.

The good, moral part of me wished he wasn’t going to kill Justin. But the part of me that was kidnapped wish he would…I distracted myself by trying to eat some of the soup, it was hot but I didn’t care, it tasted amazing. It was the best thing I had since…before I was taken. I thought about saving the bread for later but I was ravenous, I downed it quickly and washed everything down with the water.

“Done already?” Dan had returned. He crouched down in front of me, moving the tray out of the way. I was surprised to see that he had a key, a key he used to unlock the cuff and release my leg.

I immediately rubbed my ankle, it was sore, bruised, and cut around in a circle.

“I’m sorry about this.” He brought cortisone with him and rubbed it on for me.

“You’re sorry for this? You should be sorry for a lot more,” I accused him.

“What makes you think I’m not?”

“How could you be? That wouldn’t make any sense,” I voiced my opinion. He was my kidnapper, it wouldn’t be factually correct for him to be sorry.

“I am, this isn’t something I wanted to do, but it was necessary. It’s like the bombing of Hiroshima, it was a bad thing but for the good of the American people.” His words rang in my head, making more sense than I thought they would.

“And what am I necessary to?” I pressed. He continued to rub the cortisone in, I could feel it burning. He didn’t answer me right away.

“There, it should feel better by morning.” He grabbed the tray and stood up.

“You can keep the light,” he said softly.

“Wait.” I stopped him. He turned back to face me.

“Can you tell me if you’re getting any closer to whatever it is you want?” I was hoping he would give me some kind of clue as to how much longer I had to be there.

“Tamara, it’s best if you don’t ask questions like that,” he answered then he left me in the now dimly lit room.

***

I woke up just like I had the past four maybe five times. That would mean it had been thirteen or fourteen days since I had been here. I think the only reason I hadn’t gone out of my mind was because Dan wasn’t exactly a normal kidnapper. Every time he brought me my food, he’d stay for a while. Or I made him stay for a while, rather. I asked him questions, the normal ones from the beginning. I wanted to know why I was here, how long I was going to be here…but he wouldn’t budge. He always gave me the same vague answers, leaving me guessing.

He even upgraded my ‘room’ to include a toothbrush and another water basin to brush my teeth. Well the toothbrush was more like a mini broom but it kept my teeth from rotting. My hair was starting to mat because it hadn’t been washed in so long, and I had to lay on the bare, dirty ground. My back had a permanent ache to it; if I ever got home I wouldn’t be able to lay on a normal bed.

The noise from the latch unlocking pulled me out of my daze. Dan entered with my breakfast. I didn’t know if I was crazy, but he looked different every day. Today his hair was different, it was slicked back and he wore dark jeans and a blue shirt. He had brought the lamp a few days ago…I think.

“Eat up.” He set the tray in front of me and sat down. He or Justin always waited for me to finish eating so they could take the tray away. I assumed it was so I wouldn’t use anything as a weapon, which I had thought of. I wasn’t strong enough to overtake them when they were paying attention, I would have to take them by surprise. So I couldn’t do anything while he was still there. Plus, I was a lot weaker by then. I found it hard to sit up.

“This is different,” I commented on the now soggy cereal and warm orange juice. I guess I shouldn’t have gotten used to Dan being nice in anyway, he was probably just doing that to trick me or remind me that he’s in control. Reluctantly, I ate the sad meal. I think the milk might have been bad too.

“The economy is tight,” he answered simply. He didn’t even look at me, it was like he was avoiding my gaze.

“Are you done?” he asked me curtly.

“Yes,” I answered quietly. He took the tray and got up, heading for the door without saying anything.

I sat there confused, not really understanding what just happened. Perhaps he was doing those things on purpose, to take things from me just as fast as he gave them to me. He was a control freak after all; he’s proving himself the alpha in control.

I slunk back into my happy place, the only way I could cope with my captivity. I thought about what Mallory might be doing. I had no idea what day it was or what time, so it made it pretty hard but I just had to use my imagination. She didn’t really do much though, she went to work as a dental assistant, she liked to scrapbook and she liked partying. I missed her dragging me along with her, even when I was exhausted from a long week of work, but it was worth it. Not many people my age or at my point in their career had time to find friends, I was lucky enough to have the same one since high school.

With nothing better to do, I let myself drift off into an exhausted sleep. It was getting to a point where I hoped to go to sleep one day and never wake up.

“Wake up, Tamara. It’s time for your shower.” Shower? I never thought I would have shower privileges.

“Is this a trick? Will there be acid coming out of the spout instead of water?” I snarled at Dan. He laughed darkly and pulled me up, dragging me out of my dark cellar.