Sins of a Bad Boy (The Original Bad Boys Book 1) (20 page)

Markson folded his arms on a note of triumph. For several minutes, he was quiet, undoubtedly forming a new plan, because all of a sudden, he instructed his men, “Jerry, get a first aid kit for me. We need to tend to her wounds. I want the swelling to stop. She’s much more valuable to me in one piece. Holden, bring William here and tie him to the baulk.”

Behind Ivy was a baulk that ran from floor to ceiling, and under her chair was a long piece of rope.

Markson spun Ivy’s chair around and tied the rope to one of the chair legs. Then he wrapped it around the baulk and tied the other end around William.

Holden then hauled William to sit on the floor beside the baulk, binding his ankles together and his wrists behind his back.

William kept watch over Ivy, whose head was slouching as if she was fighting to stay conscious, which worried William immensely.

Jerry returned with a first aid kit, handing a tube to Markson. “Here’s some cream.”

Markson unscrewed it and slanted Ivy’s chin up, and she jerked from his touch.

In response, he slapped her cheek. “Don’t you dare be high-handed with me! Be grateful I’m tending to you, bitch.” And he smeared white cream underneath her eye and over her face roughly, causing Ivy to flinch from the pain.

“Do you have adhesive tape?” Markson asked Jerry, nodding toward the kit in his hands.

“Yes.”

“Use the gauze to dress William’s wounds.”

Jerry stooped and taped a piece unceremoniously onto his jaw. Then he unbuttoned William’s shirt and callously placed a piece of gauze to the cut that had already stopped bleeding.

All the while, William and Ivy only looked at each other, as if they were alone.

Markson, Holden, and Jerry stood towering over them as Markson announced, “Lovebirds, I’ll be back later, once I know how to proceed. And William, you’d better hope Charles doesn’t hurt me in the meantime after he starts to look for you because if he does, I’ll make sure no one ever finds you two again.”

And they disappeared into the darkness.

Moments later, William heard a door open and slam closed.

William jiggled his wrists that were tied behind his back, checking to see how tight the restraints were. They were snug, the rope burning his skin, and he didn’t have any room to loosen them.

“Ivy.”

She was stoic, but he saw her attempt to loosen the knots on her wrists as well.

“Ivy!”

Pure aversion was aimed at him. “What?! Don’t even talk, William. Just get us out of here.”

He realized that their priority was to escape, but a need assembled inside him to offer an explanation. Something William had never experienced; he never apologized or explained himself. Yet, he couldn’t refrain. He had to address the subject.

“Don’t believe anything Markson says. He wants to pull us apart.”

Unexpectedly, Ivy ended her fidgeting. “Pull us apart? We’re
not
a team. You kidnapped me! If you hadn’t taken me, this wouldn’t have happened.” A sob escaped her lips while she continued, “My face is injured. I can’t see through one eye. I’m in so much pain because of you! Look what you did to me!” she shouted. Tears rushed down, wetting her bruised cheek, her blemished face.

For minutes, she wept with her head bent down.

It was the first time William had seen her cry like this. Not even after the incident with Markson in Sins did she sob like this. A sob that revealed how broken she felt.

Until now, she’d been arrogant Ivy, who deserved to be taken by him. In his mind, she wasn’t innocent until tonight. She was right; this was his fault.

Her tears singed his soul. William swallowed, at a loss for words after her rant.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.

What the devil was happening to him?

An urge to soothe her rose in his chest. Since they were tied together with one long strand of rope, he could scoot the two feet forward and reach her chair. With his knuckles on the ground behind his back and his feet tied together, he shifted across the floor on his ass. Skin pulled at the cut on his ribs, causing excruciating pain. He grimaced, which caused the torn skin along his jaw to hurt. Nonetheless, he powered through.

“Ivy, please look at me,” he requested as he sat on the floor in front of her, exhaling raggedly.

Her tears fell onto her thighs. After her breaths were calm again, she met his eyes. “Did you orchestrate the scene in Sins?”

William sighed. “Yes.”

“Why?’

“Because I never had a sensible plan when it came to you. I decided to kidnap you at the spur of the moment when my establishment was losing money and being robbed. By you,” he emphasized since he still believed that she stole the money from Charles’s office. “And we had been dancing around each other before that as well. That might’ve clouded my judgment to hastily take you. Afterward, I needed to gain your trust somehow, to have you open up to me.”

“But you never once asked me about the money after the first day. Or about Alfred.” She fixated on a point beyond his shoulder, gathering her courage. “I’m feeling things I shouldn’t feel for you. Has it all been a lie? Have you been acting the entire time just to gain my trust? Am I just a fuck to you? A means to an end?”

Studying her beaten face, he gave her the truth. “At first, yes, you were a means to an end. But somewhere along the way, the lines blurred, Ivy. I don’t know anymore what to do with you. How to handle you. Haven’t you noticed how I don’t always treat you like a captive? I try to avoid you, but there’s this pull I feel toward you. A pull that’s messing with my head. God, I even enjoy…having you in my bed.” William divulged emotional details that made him extremely uncomfortable. The entire night was weighing heavily on his mind. He’d just confirmed his own suspicion about how she messed with his head. Never would he have revealed all of that if they were in Sins or his apartment. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. Dammit!”

“Maybe this is another ruse to appease me. How do I know this isn’t another lie?”

“You don’t,” he countered.

“You always go from hot to cold. I don’t understand anything that’s happening anymore. I-I… never mind.”

“Ivy,” he said with composure. “You do the same; it’s impossible to figure you out. This entire situation was already fucked up and has now become an all-out clusterfuck.”

“If you only knew,” she mumbled in a low tone.

“What?” A frown swept across William’s forehead.

“Nothing.” Ivy analyzed the length of rope.

She’d effectively shut down their intimate exchange, so William also concentrated on finding a way out. “The rope might be long enough for me to go around your chair and try to loosen the knots on your wrists.”

“Okay.”

He heaved himself forward again, reaching her hip, until the rope pulled tight. “I can’t get around. You try to turn ninety degrees,” he instructed and scooted away a little to give her space.

Ivy jumped in the chair, and it moved on its legs.

“Now, when you jump, rotate your body to your right, okay?” he guided.

“Yes.” She repeated the action several times.

The chair scraped across the concrete and pivoted slightly. Ivy was out of breath.

“Take a second to breathe, Ivy. You can do this,” he supported her. “I’m going to lean back against your hip to help you rotate more.”

Together, they managed to get the chair sideways and William continued. He reclined against the legs of the chair and attempted to push himself up. It worked.

William groaned from the stings in his body as he rose to a sitting-on-air position until he could feel Ivy’s hands. He rested against the back of the chair, fingering the knots around her wrist.

“No, you’re pulling them tighter,” Ivy complained.

“Fuck!”

The squat position he had to hold himself up in caused the muscles in his thighs to burn and the wound in his abdomen to burst open, causing a new flood of crimson to drench his shirt. The bandage didn’t help a bit. William squeezed his eyes shut and breathed through the unbearable ache.

Ivy twisted her wrists to try to keep her blood flowing.

“Hold still,” he demanded.

She complied. “Sorry.”

Sweat trickled down his brow, and he slouched down to the ground when his strength failed him.

“Ivy, you need to fall to the side so I can get to your wrists, because I can’t pull myself up again. The wound is killing me.” He peeked at her over his shoulder.

“Oh my god, what?! Are you okay?”

“Yes, it’s not literally killing me. It hurts like a motherfucker though. Now, drop to your side to the ground. And, Ivy, hold your head steady when you fall over. Don’t let your skull hit the concrete.”

“Okay...” she said, anxiety obvious in everything about her.

William glanced back to check on her as she hurled her upper body to the side several times. On the third attempt, she managed to hit the floor with a loud thud.

“Ow, shit!” she shrieked when her hip collided with the concrete.

“You did well! Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She craned her neck, and he could tell she was being tough despite her discomfort.

William shifted to her hands and started fumbling with the knots again. He counted three. They were secured tightly, and it seemed impossible to get even one untied. His nails kept sliding off the rope when he pulled, but eventually, the rope gave.

“Keep completely still. I…have…one end almost loose.” William yanked hard one more time, and finally, it slid through the knot. “Yes!” He placed his middle finger through the loop so it wouldn’t tighten again if Ivy moved and went to work on the second knot, which he untied much quicker. William slid fingers through loops and just tugged. “Wriggle your wrists now, Ivy.”

She moved her hands again, and their fingers caressed. Somehow, William was always achingly adapt to her touch. Even in this situation, it stirred him.

William pulled with all his power so that Ivy could free her hands, and she succeeded.

“Ivy, untie my hands. Then I’ll do our feet.”

She undid his wrists with a proficiency that amazed him. Then William turned and rose to his knees to release her feet.

When one ankle was free, a door creaked, startling them. All movement stopped as they locked eyes; hers were enormous.

Markson’s voice came drifting in from a distance behind one of the containers.

“Hurry, William,” she whispered, just as he released her other foot.

Ivy jumped up from the chair and bent down in front of William, who sat back down on his ass to free his own feet.

Boots clicked off the ground, closing in on William and Ivy as they continued to try to wrench the rope from William’s feet.

“I don’t know how you could be so stupid, Jerry,” they heard Markson scold him.

William snatched Ivy’s wrist. “You have to go now. Hide behind a container, and then get the hell out of here while I keep them occupied.”

“No!” she tugged at the rope to give it some slack. “Get up.” Ivy pushed her shoulder under his arm, helping him up.

Footsteps were approaching around the container. Two more seconds and they would be discovered.

Rising hurt the most, but when William stood, he could hop around the container to their left. Then he bent down to get rid of the rope and kicked it off.

“What the fuck! They’re gone,” Markson yelled. “Jerry, go to the front door.”

William grabbed Ivy’s hand and towed her behind him through the rows of containers since he knew Markson would first check the three containers that surrounded the area where he’d restrained them.

“Run on your toes, Ivy,” William whispered and strained not to make any noise.

After passing more than ten containers, they slumped against one to catch their breath. It was dark where they were standing, but William could clearly see a distraught Ivy right next to him.

She clung to him. “I’m scared.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side. “We’ll be fine. I promise you.” And he kissed the top of her head.

“William? Ivy? I heard you running, so I know you’re still in here!” Markson yelled.

“Door is locked,” Jerry’s loud voice confirmed.

“Fuck!” William muttered and inched forward, entangling his fingers with Ivy’s.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Markson taunted.

William halted abruptly and Ivy slammed into his back. He pivoted on his heel, pointing in the other direction to Ivy, and they sprinted away from Markson’s voice.

“Ivy, you’re in no danger from me. I just want William. If you come to me with William, I’ll let you go. Just give me that boy!”

Ivy ignored his words. They kept running, toward nowhere in particular. The place was gigantic, and they ended up finding themselves almost back at their original spot.

All of a sudden, a noise echoed through the warehouse and everything went completely dark.

Ivy clasped William’s hand harder as they came to a standstill.