Bonds That Tie Us

Twenty-six

~Eric~

My head aches and throbs, when I stir in the dimly lit room.

I barely get my eyes open, when I see the dingy room I'm in. There's a single candle light hanging in the room, and it reeks of shit in here.

I sit up, and wince at the stiffness in my body. But I start to remember where I was.

Alex.

That crazy bitch- she had drugged us. Did she think Fredrickson would reward her for murdering us?

The woman was psychotic. She'd even tied us up.

I looked down at my bound hands and legs in front of me. Shit.

I glance around the room, and see Liana, across from me.

"Great," she croaked. "You're awake. Now how the hell do we get out of here?"

I inspect her bindings from where I'm say, and unlike me, Lianas hands are tied behind her back.

"Where are we?" I mutter, my own voice hoarse.

"In her basement, I suspect." Liana raises her brows. "And if we don't leave soon, she'll have our heads."

I curse and look around the room again. This wasn't what I'd expected for tonight.

"Scoot towards me." I instruct her.

Without question, Liana starts to make her way towards me, with a great deal of struggle.

Whilst she does that, I reach into my coat, and pull out my revolver.

A slip up, on Alex's part. She shouldn't have bound my hands in front of me.

I raise the revolver, and aim it at the lamp above us.

"Wait," Liana quickly says. "That's our light source."

"We'll manage without it. I need the glass." I explain and she doesn't argue when I shoot the lamp and it echoes loudly throughout the chamber, and it comes hurtling to the ground, shattering the glass and demolishing the light along with it.

"Great," Liana grunts, clearly struggling. It was exhausting her. "I love spending time in the damn countryside."

I don't bother responding to her as I grab a shard of thick glass and cut open the ties on my legs, just as Liana reaches me.

"Scoot between my legs." I say, reaching for her in the darkness.

She freezes, as she pants.

"Are you insane?" She hisses, inching away from me.

"I need to cut the rope- unless you'd like to wait around here for Alex to show up."

The bindings were done very well. The rope was tight and layered- I'd struggled to cut through my leg bindings.

With a muttered retort, Liana scoots backwards, until she's sat nestled between my legs.

And for a moment, I'm surprised she'd agreed at all. The only reason I'd suggested it was to get closer to her. And I feel the warmth of her body in front of mine, between my legs.

"Hang on," Liana sighs, slumping into me. "Give me a second... That was harder than it looked- sorry."

Her back is flush against my front, as she catches her breath, and I don't say a word, as I clench my jaw and try not to think about it, as she braces herself and pushes herself up again, so she's sat in front of me. The outside of her thighs, brushing the inside of mine, and her ass grazing my crotch.

Definitely don't think about it.

"Eric," she urges, turning to look over her shoulder. "Eric, do something." She snaps.

I silently start cutting at her bindings, shoving aside all thoughts regarding our compromised positions.

"You'd better not cut my hands." She warns, oblivious to what she'd just done to me.

I had to force myself to calm down, as I carefully cut her free.

"Why aren't you speaking?" She asks, worried now.

I lean forward, "I'm a little preoccupied." I say and she shivers.

"Well...hurry up." She blurts.

A minute later, her hands are cut free, and she turns around as I cut the ropes at her legs free too.

"Need a hand?" She jokes, as she approaches me.

I raise my bound hands towards her, "My hero."

She laughs, for the second time tonight as she lowers herself before me and starts cutting through the rope around my wrists.

I lean my head back, against the wall as I wait for her to finish.

"Don't look so tired. We've got a long way to go." She says, tugging the rope off my wrists.

"I need to have a word with Alex before we leave." I say, as Liana gets to her feet and offers me her hand.

I take it and haul myself up, almost pulling her down, as she stumbles forward.

In the darkness I can't see her at all.

"Well...we should probably get moving then." She says quietly, the warmth of her breath fanning my face.

"Right," I turn and leave her there in the darkness as I head for the stairs.

She follows close behind as we slowly open the door leading into the cottage.

It's still dark out and the fireplace was almost close to going out completely.

And there she sat. Alex was sprawled in her chair, oblivious to our presence behind her.

There was ink and parchment in front of her, meaning she'd been writing a letter. A letter to a dead man, apparently.

I take the shard of glass I'd used to cut free the ropes, and lower it to Alex's throat as she stiffens.

"We'll make this brief...again," I sigh, keeping my tone light. "Where did Fredrickson hide it all?"

Alex laughs, "Why would I tell you? I've already alerted him about this- about you." She spat.

Liana walks around the chair, "That old bastard is dead. And you will be too, if you don't start talking."

Alex goes still, staring at Liana with wide eyes.

"No," she says quietly. "You're lying. I do not believe you." She sneers.

"I could care less if you believe what I have to say." Liana shrugs, patting down her filthy gown. "Where did he hide the goods, Alex?"

Alex trembles.

"No- he cannot be dead." She starts to shake her head, and I move the glass, ensuring it didn't instantly kill her.

I lower my mouth to her ear. "He is." I grin. "So tell us what we need to know. And we'll leave without harming you."

She starts to cry, shaking all over.

"For God's sake, woman. He wasn't a saint- calm yourself." I say, pressing the glass into her skin again.

"My Freddy!" She wailed.

Liana rolls her eyes, "Where did he hide it?" She presses, angrily now.

"The mines!" Alex cries out furiosly. "What does it matter any more?"

"The mines?" I furrow my brows.

Liana grows tired of Alex's tantrum, so she grabs my revolver from my slacks and knocks Alex out. Cold.

"She was exhausting." Liana turns to face me. "And we now have our answer."

She was right.

The rocks were hidden in plain sight, where I had access to them all along.

The mines.

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