His To Save

43) Dinner with Zack

        ****ANNIE'S POV****

A pair of green eyes runs over my face as if checking for any blemishes that would render me...impure. A vase of red roses stands proudly on the table separating us, with full platters before each of us. Yet nobody touches a thing.
In my head, I make my little calculations. What if I grab the fork and stab his eyes or his neck? His blood will splatter all over the food and the table, it'll offer me a huge chance to run off.

     "You'll be dead before you leave the hallway," Zack says, his invasive gaze penetrating mine. I can tell he knows what is going through my head. He's a smart psycho. "Come on, eat up."

   I lean back on the chair and cross my arms under my braless breasts. His eyes make a quick dive to my chest before a perverted grin surfaces on that smug face of his. "When are you going to set me free?"
   
   Zack clears his throat and looks up to meet my scorching glare. Gawd! How I wish I had Superman's laser eyes and could just slice him in halves right now.
     "Aren't you an adorable little thing?"

His words mock me. They are objectifying me as a woman. It's so hard to stomach such an insult. "I'm not a thing!"

   Zack chuckles and rests his elbows on the table, inching towards me. "Well, you're adorable when you're mad. It's like looking at a-"
Splash!
I throw the wine in my glass at his face.
   The air between us suddenly gains an unexplainable heaviness. His jaw clenches and his eyes grow narrow from the anger I have just aroused.
I watch as he leans away from me, the red wine now staining his white shirt in an ugly patch.
His right hand comes to rest on the table next to his food. For a moment, I hold my breath, expecting an outburst of anger.
I await a yell, a slap, or wine to be splashed on my face as well.

   But a minute wastes by.
Nothing.
Zack only glares at me.
   "I love the attitude. Makes me wanna bend you over at this table and fuck your smart brain out of your skull."

The image his words create in my mind is quite disturbing. I would have preferred something more pleasing like 'fuck you till you scream for heaven's mercy'.
  But I also don't want him to fuck or touch me again like he had the previous day. I had scrubbed my neck as hard as I could using only a toothbrush, just to get rid of his kisses. He disgusts me to my core. But I have no way to escape and Jack hasn't shown up yet. Why is he taking so long to find me?

I am one hundred percent sure we're still in California. I can tell from the food on my plate and the light snow falling outside.

    "Tell me, Annie, does he fuck you every day? How does he treat you?"

  "Dear gawd! Is sex all you can think of? You're a nauseating person. I wonder how Jack has someone like you as his-"
   His hand slaps the glass off the table, it shatters hitting the floor, startling me till a small gasp escapes my mouth. My heart gives a double beat when our eyes meet.

The rage darkening his green eyes instills a horrible fear in my chest. I can feel some sweat forming on my neckline as Zack scowls at me. He seems just about ready to tear me to shreds and feed me to his dogs, if he has them.

   "Say that again and I'll give you a satisfying answer." Zack's hiss is worse than his glare. How could he be so easily triggered by mere words? Words that are his truth. Or maybe it was the statement I haven't finished. The one about his relationship with Jack. He has a weakness. One that I have no idea how to exploit just yet.

    "Eat your food." His tone has cooled, so have his eyes. But I still feel something is about to happen. It's a dark fear that crept into me when the guards delivered Zack's gift, the red gown I am wearing.
   He had set out a nice dinner for the two of us when I walked into this dining room.

The table we occupy can accommodate at least twenty people, but it's just the two of us. We have exchanged all sorts of looks in this large room, yet none has touched the food.
    It could be poisoned, or not.
Whether it is or not, my throat cannot accommodate any swallowing from the bile filling it. I will throw up if anything touches the walls of my throat.

      "Is it so hard to appreciate an act of kindness?"

  "Kindness? You kidnaped me."

"A slight mistake."

"And then threatened to wipe my memory."

"Oh I will definitely do that love."

   "Wha-...why?"

Zack smirks. The kind that even the devil would recoil from. If Jack would have made that face, my pussy would be overflooding.
  But it isn't him, so it does little to no effect on me.
       "Because it'll be fun when he learns that his little girlfriend has forgotten all about him. What a way to begin my game, ha!" He chuckles as if the best joke has just gone through his head.

As his laugh dies out, the cold expression dawns back on him. "It'll be a step back in whatever you two share. I'm going to enjoy the show so, very, much."

   Forget Jack?
Forget our love?
Forget our fantastic sex and all the horny moments we have shared?

   "No." A murmur leaves my mouth as I stare at the empty glass before me. "Please Zack, name your price. I promise I'll pay wha-"

  His hand smacks the table, shaking the walls of my heart. "Why does everyone love defending Jack? Why can't it be...me?" He asked with a glare. "What's so special about him?"

   "He's decent!" I yelled, tears poking my eyes from inside. "He would never do whatever you're doing to me. He's a great man." A part of me finally appreciates Jack while I'm busy defending his honor. Tears of fear and gratitude start flowing down my face, falling on my breasts.

   "He may have his flaws, but he would never, ever, kidnap a woman just to revenge on his enemies. He's...good."

Zack's face is almost beetroot red from all the anger boiling beneath it. It hurts him to hear me praise Jack. His fist is clenched firmly on the table, a little more force and his nails might tear through the skin of his palm.
    I keep going, feeling emotional as a heartbroken little girl. Emotions that are being sourced from Daisy's demise plus all the miserable events that have happened not long ago. "He looks out for his own. He loves with one heart and doesn't judge a person too quickly. He defends those who he loves and punishes those who cross him. He-"

        "ENOUGH!" Zack roars smacking the table again. This time, it feels like he had exacted all his strength in that single smack. His voice sounds like a lion has just called out for his pride. His yell still echoes in my ears, and in my chest.
   All the tears seem to have been slapped back to their glands as I stare at Zack's flaming eyes in fear.

He gets up and stomps around the table till he reaches my seat. With more rage embracing his face, he grips my arm and pulls.
   "Don't tou-" I try to fight his hand off of me but there is little energy in my body.

The raging beast hauls me up to my feet and then grabs me by my chin. "You think you're that smart huh? Do you think I dare not hurt you just because I'm not supposed to?"
   I can only stare terrified.
This is real fear. The kind that has your heart pounding so hard that it feels like it's no longer beating. The kind that makes your eyes bulge out till they hurt.
I have never been this terrified before.

     Zack takes a sharp inhale, his green eyes stabbing me mercilessly. "Gawd! You're so lucky you're a woman. I'd have beaten the crap out of this pretty mouth." With this, he pushes me away from him, sending me back down on the chair.
  
"Enjoy your meal Annie. This is the last night you'll have with the precious memory of your dear boyfriend."

His words are left hanging in the air long after he leaves. I stared down at my hands, at the dress. Hot tears fall on my lap as I curse fate. My fate.