Skin Deep (33 page)

Luke and Brandon both spoke up beside me and
agreed that it was time for a new game. I stood up and grabbed the
bowl from the center of the table, passing it to…ugh…Buffy for her
to choose the new game. She held up the card before screaming
(really, she whispered but it was louder than she usually whispered
so I guess it counted as a scream for her), “Quarters!”

We all took turns for about ten minutes
trying to bounce a quarter into a glass before we got bored again.
Then Calland got the bright idea to forego the cards and play a
drinking game he called, Watch the Movie and Get One. It made sense
when he explained it a little more. The premise of the game was
basically to watch the movie The Hangover and you had to drink any
time one of the following happened in the movie: Someone takes a
drink, someone cusses, someone gets hurt, you see nudity of any
kind. We made him stop at four because we all knew that just those
alone would have us shit faced in the first half hour!

So we moved the bottles to the coffee table
and all crowded on to the couches and chairs. Luke and I curled up
in the armchair, Calland and…don’t make me say it…sat together on
the love seat, while Allie sat between Brandon and Jackson on the
couch. Luke grabbed the remote and hit play and true to the name of
the game, we were all going to have hellacious hangovers
tomorrow.

By the end of the movie (I think it was the
end…I only had one working eyeball left), my head was swimming. I’d
given up and yelled uncle not even twenty minutes into the movie
because I didn’t want to get to the puking drunk point. I hate
puking and I avoid it at all costs, so no way in hell was I doing
anything that might bring me to that!

Luke was snoring beside me, his arms and legs
sprawled out and his head lolled back so far it looked like his
neck was broken. If I weren’t so buzzed I think I might have been a
little more concerned or considerate and help him fix it, but…

I tried to focus on the room, seeing if I was
the only one left awake. My eyes (eye?) blinked and tried to focus
when I saw Allie straddling Brandon as he kissed down her chest,
and Jackson was pressed to her back, her head turned toward him
over her shoulder as their mouths ate at each other. I shook my
head (bad idea) and tried to find my brother and his whatever she
was.

When I finally was able to see them, I
couldn’t help but snort and maybe hiccup a little when I saw
Calland passed out face first in what’s-her-face’s lap while Doug
was sitting on his back eating pieces of popcorn he’d sniffed out
in the girl’s hair.

I closed my eyes when I heard a low moan come
from the vicinity of the couch. I held up my hand, though I wasn’t
quite sure why because they sure as hell weren’t paying attention
to me, and cleared my throat. “Umm…‘scuse me? Not passed out people
in the room! If one of you would be so nice to try and get me up in
my room we’d be gratefully happy. Me and Mr. Snoozypants here…” I
hiccupped again and opened my eyes when I heard Allie laugh, but
they fell closed again immediately.

When I opened my eyes again, I bolted up in
bed as fear chased down my spine. A high-pitched scream ripped
through the house again and I threw myself out of bed and ran down
the stairs to see what the hell was happening. I didn’t even
realize that Luke was behind me until I heard him snort in
disbelief as Allie, followed by Jackson and Brandon, all stumbled
into the room.

I looked at the couch which is where I
determined the screams had come from since they’d died down to
non-stop whimpers, and smacked my forehead with my hand. Oh,
God.

Buffy…nope, still not any better in the light
of day and sober…was lying paralyzed on the couch, her eyes locked
unblinkingly on the large yellow lab sitting smack dab in the
middle of her chest looking down into her face. Her mouth opened
and closed like a fish out of water and I leaned closer to hear
what she was saying.

“What…what does it want? Help me!” she
whispered.

I stepped closer to the loveseat, tripping
over my brother who was sprawled on the floor in front of her,
still sleeping like the dead. I caught myself and peered down over
Doug’s head to see if I could figure out what had him transfixed. I
nodded my head and reached down into the brunette hair of the poor
girl. I pulled my hand back again and tossed Doug the piece of
popcorn I’d dug out of her hair and he jumped down off of her as
soon as he swallowed it.

“See? All better,” I said.

“He seriously was that intense about a piece
of popcorn? I thought he was attacking me!” she shrieked. She
leaned down and smacked my brother, yelling at him to get up and
take her home, away from crazy dogs and freaky people.

When Calland finally got up and, grumbling,
headed out to take…her…home, I turned to Allie who was trying to
shuffle nonchalantly back into Brandon’s bedroom. I raised my
eyebrow at her and she turned her head every which way but
backwards trying to avoid my gaze, before I shrugged and let her
escape. I would definitely find out the details of whatever
happened later.

Luke came up behind me and wrapped his arms
around my waist, kissing my neck and asking me to come back to bed
with him. So I did. Boy was I glad I did!

Chapter 23

Six o’clock and it was finally time for me to
go home! I’d had a client call and ask if they could come in late
to sign some papers that we’d drawn up and he’d not made it in
until quarter ‘til six. I’d driven to work today because I knew I’d
be a little late, so I headed out to my car, pulling my cell phone
out and calling Luke to let him know I’d be there shortly.

It was almost April and the weather had
actually warmed up just a bit like spring, but had turned dreary
and drastically cold again today. Typical Ohio weather. I pulled my
sweater close to me as I walked toward my car, the wind cutting
through my thin slacks.

Luke and I had settled into a routine over
the last couple months, and it honestly was the best feeling in the
world. I was in love with a wonderful man who treated me like a
freakin’ queen, made love to me whenever and wherever he could, and
we’d started planning our wedding.

Jackson’s plans for his house were almost
finished and they would begin breaking ground in two weeks, as long
as the weather held. He and Brandon were walking around like they’d
lost their best friend because, well…they kinda had. After the
drunken fest back in January things had been different with them.
Allie was pushing them away but they didn’t want to be pushed and I
couldn’t get her to tell me what the hell was wrong with her. She
had finally given me details about what happened that night since
I’d seen her making out with both of them, but she still swore that
nothing else really happened. She said that they just all made out,
a lot of kissing, heavy petting, and then sleeping. I didn’t know
if I believed her completely or not, but I figured she probably was
telling the truth because Brandon’s big mouth hadn’t shouted
otherwise.

Calland had dropped that girl off and never
saw her again. I think he realized she was in over her head with
him and he’s gone through probably twenty more girls since then. I
keep telling him to grow up and not be such a whore, but he doesn’t
listen. Doesn’t even listen when I tell him his dick is gonna
shrivel up and fall off if he isn’t careful.

I reached my car and hit the unlock button on
my key fob to get in. Before I could get the door open, I felt a
hand tap my shoulder. When I turned my head to see who it was, I
cried out at the sharp pain that burst through my head and my world
went black.

The drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet woke
me up and I groggily reached out to shake Luke awake and make him
go fix it. My hand kept going, encountering nothing but empty space
and I froze, fuzzy memories slamming back into place. I brought my
hand up to touch the side of my head, near my temple, wincing when
with pain when I touched it, my hand coming away wet. Panting in
fear, I scrambled up and opened my eyes, my back against a cold,
hard concrete wall. I couldn’t see anything because the room I was
in was pitch black.

I opened my mouth to scream and realized that
my lips wouldn’t open. My hand flew up to my face, feeling the
slick stickiness of some kind of tape across my mouth. I fumbled
around, trying to find the edge of the tape with my fingertips so I
could pull it off. I could hear the muffled sound of whimpering and
I looked around in panic before I realized that it was me. I
finally located the edge of the tape and lightly scraped with my
fingernails to raise it in order to peel it off, but in my panicked
haste, I scraped too deeply, wincing when my nails jabbed into my
own cheek.

I was picking at the edge to loosen it some
more when I heard the scrape of footsteps somewhere above me. I
froze, crouching down against the wall at my back and staring hard
into the darkness, trying to discern where I was, or to see if
there was anything around me that I could use as a weapon. When I
heard the footsteps stop and a door open, I quickly laid back down,
frantically trying to calm my breathing and remember how I was
laying when I woke up.

My mind was racing, trying to formulate some
kind of plan but all I could come up with was to pretend I was
asleep until I could figure something out. I heard heavy stomps
coming down what sounded like wooden stairs so I was presuming I
was in a basement of some type.

I closed my eyes and laid still, trying to
regulate my breathing, but I was breathing so hard I had little
hope of it working. I flinched without meaning to when a bright
light streamed out of the darkness against my eyelids and the
footsteps moved toward me.

“I know you’re awake, sweetheart.”

His raspy voice sent shivers through me and I
knew for certain that Creepy had taken his game to a whole new
level. I could feel myself tensing, my anger rising. I was pissed
off at myself for letting my guard down, for feeling safe again
when I should have known better. And I was pissed to the fucking
tits that this crazy asshole had gotten his hands on me.

My skin crawled as thoughts bombarded me from
every direction, my stomach turned queasy. I hadn’t thought to
check the state of my clothes. I knew I had them on, but were they
torn? Opened? Was I missing anything? Did he touch me? Oh, God, had
he gone further than that?

I gave up the pretense of sleeping, both of
us knowing full and well that I was awake. I opened my eyes,
squinting and blinking in the brightness of the flashlight aimed
directly in my face. I tried to see beyond the beam of light, but
he was just a shadow in the darkness behind it. I sat up and
scooted back against the wall again, pressing my back to it and
bringing my knees up protectively in front of me.

“I cant believe I finally have you here.
Jesus, do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” He chuckled, the
sound sending chills down my spine. “And here you are, so
beautiful, so
silent
.” He stepped closer to me and I tensed
before he continued speaking. “What did you do to yourself there,
sweetheart? Trying to take the tape off? I’ll help you with that
but you have to close your eyes.”

I shook my head slightly, cringing when it
made me dizzy.

The man’s voice hardened. “Yes, you will
close your eyes or I’ll fuckin’ knock you out again, Emma. Do it.
NOW.”

Not seeing any other choice, I squeezed my
eyes shut, whimpering when his rough fingers touched my face,
gripping the edge of the tape and ripping it viciously off of my
mouth. I screamed at the instant intense pain that seared across my
face, bringing my hands up to cover my burning lips. I felt wetness
there, and opened my eyes, only to shut them tightly again as he
backhanded me across the face.

Holding my face gingerly between my palms, I
stammered, “What..what do you want wi-with me?”

“You’ll find out. Keep your fucking eyes
closed,” he bit out.

I cried out again as he thrust some kind of
material against my face, pushing it so hard against my face that
my head jerked back and cracked against the concrete of the wall
behind me. Without caring, he tied the fabric tightly over my eyes,
my hair tangled up in the knot and making my eyes water even more
than they already had been from earlier.

After he blindfolded me he jerked me to my
feet. I stumbled and he caught me, his hands roughly grabbing at my
shoulders, so hard I knew that I would be bruised. Inside my head I
laughed at myself, knowing that bruised shoulders were the least of
my worries right now.

He shoved me back against the wall, his hand
sliding to encircle my throat, pressing up and squeezing until I
was gasping for air. I felt him slide his other hand down my
shoulder onto my breast, pinching the tender globe so fiercely that
I screamed.

His breath bathed hotly over my ear, the
fetid stench of it curling into my nose and making me gag as he
whispered, “See what happens to bad little girls who fuck around
with trash? You’re mine, Emma. I told you that and you chose to
keep flaunting your indiscretions in my face. Did you think I’d
just go away? Leave you alone?” He squeezed my throat even tighter,
and I gasped as everything went grey and fuzzy as I started to slip
under.

Apparently sensing that I was to the point of
passing out, he released me and I slid down the wall, gulping air
in between dry heaves. My stomach was rebelling but nothing was
coming up, and I almost counted it as a blessing.

“
Please
…” I gasped. “Let me go. I
don’t even know who you are and I wont say anything. I promise,
just let me go!”

“You know, you sure beg pretty. What are you
gonna do for me, sweetheart, to make me want to do that? Any
suggestions?”