Taken By Them

First Night

Holden brings in a plate piled with pasta in a thin creamy Alfredo sauce. He sets it on the bed and watches me press myself against the wall furthest from him.

"What are you doing?" He questions, taking a step toward me.

"Are you going to hurt me?" I question quietly, carefully watching his movements.

"Of course not." He replies and lightly sits on the edge of the bed. He moves the plate closer to me. The smell drift over to me and my empty stomach growls loudly. I peel myself away from the wall and take small steps toward the food. I pick up the plate then sit on the ground with it, feeling uncomfortable if I sat on the Holden's bed with him. He doesn't say anything and just watches quietly. I hesitantly get noodles on the fork before taking a bite. My eyes widen and I look up at Holden.

"Did you make this?" I question, surprised by how delicious it is.

"I did." He shows a small breathtaking smile. I quickly devour the rest until I am miserably full. Holden gets off the bed and takes the almost empty plate off the floor as I lay on my side on the floor. He leaves the room, shutting the door behind him and goes down the stairs. I use the bed to help me up and then go to the bathroom where I look at myself in the giant mirror. My black hair is a mess, frizzy and tangled with some dried blood in the back from where that man hit me with the butt of his gun, my grey eyes afraid. My pajamas, a baseball tee style shirt and black shorts, are wrinkled and messy. The bedroom door opens and footsteps pause just inside the door.

"Little Bird?" Holden's voice calls out.

"In here!" I call and the door shuts before he appears in the mirror, standing in the doorway behind me.

"Do you want to bathe?" Holden asks, tilting his head questioningly. I think for a brief second.

"Can I?" I ask.

"Sure." He walks into the bathroom and walks over to the giant tub with gets and everything. He turns the water on and leaves. I sit on the edge of the tub and watch the water slowly rise. I don't have any clothes... I let out a small sigh and dip my hand into the hot steaming water. I don't pull my hand away immediately and just let the water burn my skin. Holden comes back with some clothes and sets them on the large counter before opening a closet in the bathroom and retrieving a black towel and washrag.

"I'll take you to get clothing tomorrow or something." He says and sets the towel down on a small table near the tub. He walks over and dips his hand into the tub, testing the temperature before turning down the water a little.

"Well, have fun." He walks to the doorway before stopping. "But not too much fun." I look up at him to see him smiling before he shuts the door behind him. I stand up and lock the door before coming back to the tub and turning off the water. I peel my dirty clothes off and stick a foot in the tub before getting in and relaxing into the hot water. I tilt my head back and shut my eyes, submerging more into the water. I stay like this for minutes before starting to wash the filth off me.


I carefully wrap the towel around my body and let my hair drip onto the tile floors. I slide my legs into the legs of black sweatpants and pull on a black shirt too, all too big for me since they are Holden's. I walk out of the bathroom and into the room, my hair still dripping and soaking the back of the shirt. Holden leans out of the closet and looks at me before walking out pulling up some sweatpants slightly. His upper half is bare as he examines his clothes on me. He has a very nice six pack and he is extremely fit. I catch myself staring and I'm sure he does too, but he doesn't say anything about it.

"You'll catch a cold if you don't dry your hair or cover your head." He points to my dripping hair.

"I'll be fine." I say and start walking toward the door.

"Where are you going?" He questions and I turn back to him.

"To sleep on the couch... I'm not going to sleep on the floor." An amused look creeps onto his face, making me confused.

"You're sleeping with me. The bed is big enough anyways." He says and leans against the doorway. I stare at him.

"I am not sleeping with you." I state and put my hands on my hips. He takes in my sudden change of attitude.

"If you want to take the chance of sleeping on the couch, go ahead, just don't come begging to me when you catch one of the guys watching you sleep." I stare at him wide eyed. He has a smirk on his face, making it seem like he is not serious. "Kidding... See ya. Don't try leaving. The other guys are on alert and we have an alarm system so I'll know if you walk out." He threatens and I slowly nod before opening the door and slipping out, going down the metal stairs. The living room area is empty and dark so I blindly stumble to the couch. I find a blanket folded up on a chair and bring it over to the couch where I lay down with it over me. I curl up and stare into the back of the plush couch, waiting for sleep to come. I wonder if what Holden said about the other guys is true or not. Will they hurt me in my sleep? Before I can even question further, I fall asleep.


I toss and turn throughout the night and at some point I roll over and my hand hits someone standing by the couch. I open my eyes expecting Holden, but jump and shrink into the couch. A guy with brown hair stairs down at me.

"Hey, babe." He crouches and strokes the side of my face. I stiffen and he tilts his head, smiling.

"Go away." I whisper and scoot back against the couch away from him. His smile drops and he covers my mouth with his hand and gets on top of me.

"Maybe I don't want to." He whispers lowly and leans down close to my face. "Maybe I want you..." He licks from the tip of my nose to the bridge. I cringe and try pulling away from him. I push against his chair roughly and try talking, only to be silenced by his hand still covering my mouth. His other hand begins to inch up my shirt. I struggle against his hold, punching his chest. His hand nears my boob and I bite his hand. "Ouch! You bitch!" He is no longer whispering as he retracts his hand.

"Stop!" I scream and beat against his chest and squirm, trying to get away.

"You'll pay for that!" He shouts in my face and punches me in the jaw. I let out a loud cry as tears begin to come to my eyes. His hand is back up my shirt and slides up my ribs before he is thrown off me. He crashes through the glass coffee table. Holden stands with his back to me, facing the man whose name I still don't know. He groans and begins to get up.

"What was that for, Holden?" He stands and faces Holden, glancing at me, holding my jaw and sitting up, holding my knees to my chest.

"Don't touch her." Holden says close to a growl. "Corinna, Go up to my room and lay down, I'll be up shortly." I scramble off the couch and run up the steps.

"See you later... Corinna." That man calls from his position.

"Shut it, Roy." Holden says lowly and I shut the door behind me. I crawl across the messy bed and to the side Holden obviously didn't sleep on and curl up under the sheet and fluffy dark red blanket. Fighting begins downstairs and I cover my ears, secretly hoping Holden wins so that Roy won't come up here. I hear several things crash and break before everything goes silent. I lay still with my hands covering my ears, waiting for someone to enter the room. I hear a footstep echo off the metal grate platform outside the door and then the door opens. Whoever it is enters and shuts the door behind them, locking the door too. Someone quietly pads across the room and the bed sinks down as they get into the bed. They slide over to me and pull my curled up form to them.

"Hey, Little Bird." Holden's voice fills my ear and I instantly relax.

"Did you kill him?" I whisper. He adjusts the way he is holding me.

"No, just taught him a lesson so he won't touch you anymore." He whispers back. I nod and it takes hours for me to fall back asleep from how fast my heart is beating and how uncomfortable I am in Holden's arms.


I wake up, freezing cold, and pull the soft blanket closer to me, curling up.

"How adorable." My eyes pop open and my whole body goes stiff. I remember where I am and how I got here. I sit up and see Holden leaning against the wall by the bedroom door, watching me. He is wearing black pants with a dark gray v-neck and a black leather jacket over it.

"Good Morning, Little Bird." He says and walks over to the bed. He tightly grabs my hand and pulls me out of bed. "Ready to go shopping?" He asks and tilts his head with a small smile on his face. I look down at the clothes I am wearing. "Here." He walks into the closet and shuffles through several pairs of jeans before pulling out a pair of skinny jeans that would fit him snuggly and hands it to me.

"Those will obviously be big on you, but here, here's a belt." He hands me a belt and a shirt that would be tight on him. I go into the bathroom and change into the clothes. The jeans are, as he said, loose on me and I had to stab a hole in his belt for it to help keep them on me. I look at the baggy clothes in the mirror. My eyes land on the bruise that formed over night on my jaw. I frown slightly before leaving the bathroom. The smell of Holden's cologne engulfs me as I wear his clothes. Holden takes in my appearance and holds back a laugh.

"Stop laughing, this is your fault." I cross my arms in front of me. His smile falters some, but he grabs his wallet and car keys off the side table and I follow him out the door and down the stairs. I don't see anyone as we make our way across the living space and through a door in to a huge kitchen then down a hall and out into the cold fresh air. I follow him toward the black sports car that I was shoved into the trunk of. I glance back at the warehouse we exited from, surrounded by a bunch of other warehouses. Holden walks around the car to the driver's side and I go to the passenger side and carefully get in. Holden drives like a race car driver, speeding and drifting as he turns onto streets. I tightly grip my seat, digging my nails into the leather seats. He parks in a parking space of a mall I don't recognize and gets out. I get out of my seat and watch people approach one of the many entrances of the mall. Holden meets me at the trunk of the car then roughly and tightly grabs my hand.

"So let's get this straight before you do something stupid... Don't even try to run or I will shoot you and anyone near you." He puts on a pair of sunglasses and then lifts the back of his shirt revealing a gun tucked in the back of his pants, showing me that he is armed. I nod and he drops the back of his shirt and we walk toward an entrance, entering the vast mall.

"What kind of things do you need?" He asks as we walk past some shoe stores and specialty sports stores.
Jeans, shirts, a jacket, shoes, hygiene items... and undergarments." He nods and leads me toward American Eagle. I pick out a few pairs and he has me try them on to make sure they fit. They do of course since I picked my size and when I exit the dressing room, he has several more pairs of the same size, different styles, sitting on his lap as he reclines in a plush sofa.

"Fit?" He questions and I nod. He retrieves the jeans from my hands and takes all of them over to the cashier. The man at the cashier scans over the jeans then begins to scan them and take off the security tags.

"That will be $477.06." The man says and I quickly look at Holden as he smoothly pulls out his wallet and hands over a card. The man swipes it and Holden then pushes in his PIN before the man hands back the card and begins to put the jeans into two bags. Holden takes the bags and puts his wallet back into his pocket before leading me out of the store.