Captive

Chapter 9

***Reminder: I cuss. Consider yourself reminded lol.***


For a few minutes, I do nothing but sit there and stare at his very upset looking face in pure shock. My mouth is wide open as well as my eyes, and I'm just staring. The man's face goes from complete anger to annoyance within a couple of minutes... actually, more like seconds.

"You can speak?" I ask in a hushed tone of amazement. My body leans forward slightly as I look him over. "Of course I can talk, do you really think I'm that stupid." He says condescendingly as he sends me a glare that could freeze hell over. I immediately lean away from him warily which earns me another growl from him. I scoot back far enough to where I can lean on the headboard of my bed. He stays at the foot of my bed though, either to give me space or catch me quickly. We assess each other for a few minutes, my eyes wide with wonder as I scan his face while his are narrowed in on me watching for movement. I finally work up the courage to speak again and manage to stutter out a question. "W-What is your name?" My head bows to him on instinct, but I am still looking at him for an answer. He only leans forward and studies me with a disinterested look on his face that slowly twists into anger as his eyes lock on mine again.

"Who. The fuck. Are. You?" He snarled as his murderous gaze impenetrably narrowed in on my eyes. I can feel my heart racing out of my chest as I open my mouth only to close it again with a gulp. Instead of staying at the footboard of the bed this time, he moves faster than humanly possible and is holding me down like prey. His hands capture my wrists on opposite sides of my head and his legs are straddling me as he makes known that any movement from me could lead to him breaking my wrists in a heartbeat.

My heart is now beating at an alarmingly fast rate as I try everything to not look him in the eyes. He growls at me again which makes my eyes snap to his silver eyes that are now almost black with anger. "C-Chloe. I'm C-Chloe." I stutter out hoping that my answer is good enough for him. "What was that picture?" He demanded more than asked. My tongue darted out to sooth my dry lips before speaking. Before I could get words out, he quickly got off of me and was back at the foot of my bed. His hands ran through his hair as he paced by the foot of the bed. He suddenly stopped and looked at me out of the corner of his eye and growled at me which made me divert my eyes immediately. He stopped in a huff, then paced in front of me again. This went on for some while until he froze. "Look at me." He commanded. I refused to look at him because that always made me end up in a bad situation, and instead focused my gaze on the wall to my right. He growled lowly in response to my reaction. "I said, look at me." His voice was extremely close to me. When did he move?

A chill ran through me as I felt his breath on my neck. I slowly turned my head in the direction of his voice and lifted my eyes until they were on his. Instead of the piercing gaze that I was now used to receiving from this man, he was looking at me curiously. "...Chloe." A warm feeling ran through me as he said my name. My eyes never left his as he scanned my face.
His face twisted into a sneer, and the next second he was back to pacing at the foot of my bed.

Suddenly, he stops and faces me with his hands again resting on the footboard of the bed. "Okay. Listen up, Chloe. I don't care who you think you are, or why you're pretending to be nice to me, but drop the stupid fucking act." He growled out, eyes filled will malice and solely fixated on me. My breath caught in my throat out of fear. The man focused on me again with that condescending stare, "Well? You don't have anything to say, Chloe?" I closed my eyes for a split second to collect myself.

Deep breath. You got this.

My eyes flashed open focusing on him. "Yes, I do. You don't get to stand there and reprimand me for absolutely nothing at all. I don't care what kind of person you think I am, but one thing is for sure and it's that there is no act." I said honestly meaning every word, but a little surprised at the somewhat angry tone my voice held. My eyes never left his slightly shocked ones for a moment until he broke the silence by clearing his throat and clenching his jaw. Only then did I look away again, but this time to prove that I didn't have to follow his rules. My ears were suddenly attacked by him letting out a frustrated grunt before letting out a bellowing broken laugh. The melody of his pain reverberated through my very being so intensely that his suffering was almost palpable. I lifted my head and looked at him kneeling on the floor holding his body up by his arms only, still letting out that hauntingly beautiful laugh. 

Carefully, I got off the bed and crouched down next to him. I lifted my arm slowly only to pause a millimeter from his back, my mind flashing back to the last time I tried to reach toward him. Unconsciously I moved my hand to my neck that was turning to purple where the man's fingers had been what still felt like moments before only to realize that the laughter had stopped.

I moved my eyes over to him curiously. His face was turned in my direction while his eyes were focused entirely on the bruises that were forming on my neck. He seemed to be in his head, not really paying attention to what he was staring at. I was starting to feel unsettled under his gaze, so I lowered my hands to the ground to use as leverage to stand up and noticed his eyes didn't follow my hand. 

Well, he hates me so he's probably wishing he finished the job.

 With that thought, I quickly stood up and turned to walk out the door only to run into his chest.