The Cocky Thief

Chapter 20

The first thing Melody noticed was pain. Pain everywhere, but at the moment there was a throbbing in her head that was all-encompassing. As she slowly came back into consciousness, other aches and pains became evident: Her shoulder, which was pressed into cold concrete. Her ankles, which were bound so tightly with something that she guessed there would be bruises. And then her arms, which were bound with something similar to what was holding her ankles. She supposed she should be grateful that her hands weren't tied behind her back. Hopefully she could avoid irreparable damage to her shoulder joints.

Before she opened her eyes, she adjusted herself ever so slightly to test the bonds. No luck, though. They were tight as hell and didn't have any give at all.

But there were two things that were both good and bad that stuck out to her. She wasn't gagged, which was great for her comfort level, but it meant that even if she screamed, no one would hear her.

And she wasn't blindfolded. Which meant no one was worried about her giving the cops a description.

If she got out of this, she and Isobel were going to have words. A wedding. That's what all this was for. A honest, no-drama wedding. One thrown by rich people, so she could get some good food and wine out of the deal, something she'd been lacking for the last year, ever since she'd left Ben.

Now she was probably going to die. It didn't matter how good the filet mignon was; it wasn't worth this. No, she couldn't completely blame her mother. She'd had the chance to walk away when Isobel had pitched the idea. It would've looked strange, but it wouldn't be the first mother-daughter fight right before a wedding.

Melody forced herself out of the past. If she was going to get out of here, she was going to need to focus on the present. So she opened her eyes. The bare light bulb in the room was dim, but it was still momentarily blinding as she tried to come back to the land of the living. The room was about the size of a janitor's closet, but without any of the supplies. Which meant there was nothing she could use to break her binding.

The floor was smooth concrete, with an intimidating drain in the middle. She didn't want to think about what that was used to drain. The room was lined with cinderblock and that was it. No jagged edges, not even a bucket to go to the bathroom in.

But cinderblock was hardly the most perfect building tool. Maybe she could find an outcrop or something. It didn't have to be huge. As long as she had the time, the smallest little nub would allow her to break free. Except getting the binds, which she could now tell were industrial zip ties, off was only step one. Step two would be getting through the steel door in front of her and she was betting it wasn't conveniently unlocked.

She was just about to get her feet underneath her when the door swung open. She backed up against the wall as she prepared herself for what was about to come through.

Two guys, one blond and one bald. But after a quick second, recognition hit. "You're from Stranger's place."

Blondie was quiet and his eyes hard. He was the one Jennifer had said was watching her. Jennifer had thought he liked her, but it was impossible to tell from the cold way he looked at her now. Baldie, on the other hand, had a pause in his gaze. The momentary shock of seeing a helpless woman bound on the floor. Good. If she was going to get either one of them to help her, she'd need all the sympathy she could get.

"Are... Are you going to hurt me?" She pushed her voice up a bit higher than normal. Putting the tremor of fear in wasn't too hard because she was genuinely terrified.

Baldie started to say something but Blondie started first. "We're here for your bathroom break. You get one every twelve hours and you'd better hold it between them. I'm not here to clean up any more messes than I need to."

She tilted her head. "Is that what I am? A mess that needs to be cleaned up?"

They had traded their suits from the last time she'd seen them for black t-shirts and utility pants that held any number of weapons. Would they be able to feel if she got her hand into one of those side pockets? For that, she'd need her hands free...

"Stand up. Let's go."

Not that it was easy to stand up, but she made a show of struggling. When she fell back to the floor, Baldie stepped forward to help her, but Blondie stopped him. "No," he ordered. "You don't talk to her except necessary. You don't help her except necessary. Understand?"

Well, she knew who was the boss, at least. She finally got herself up on her feet and Blondie roughly grabbed her arm. Maybe she needed to rethink the nickname. His hair was just long enough to be pulled into a ponytail, but he wore it slicked back, and his goatee gave his face a rough edge.

But then he squeezed her arm a tad harder and she winced in more pain. Nope. Blondie, it was.

And when she got out of here, he was going to be the first one she paid back.