As I kneeled upon the bed, breathless and terrified, I could barely keep my eyes on the large and looming man just inches away from me. Against my will, my body shook in pain, or perhaps it was the overwhelming feeling of needing to escape my newfound prison. Whatever it was, I did not enjoy it.
"Who are you?" I gritted out.
Deep within me, I was trying to embrace the anger, to become the anger, and to show everlasting anger upon my bodily features. I knew if I only appeared to be crazy and mad, then no one would dare to even think about harming me. A life skill I had to learn early on in life to avoid becoming some pedophiles personal toy.
However, despite my desire and the need to showcase the anger deep within me, I mostly only felt scared, scared beyond belief, and I hated myself for it. I hated that there was a chance that this terrifying and unbelievably attractive man might just see through my grammy award performance. And I might just die at the hands of a man.
One of my deepest fears...
"Malachi." His words were soft, but his face did not take hold of any emotion, he was nearly emotionless, but he missed one and hidden in his deep blue eyes I could see the hints of sadness. I knew my accusation of him being a monster hurt him, and that puzzled me for why did my words hurt him? They were just words, after all, and therefore, what effect did they have on him?
And why...
Through the blurriness in my mind, faint memories were brought forth as his name swirled around in my head. I remember him being the man who tucked me into the bed and showed me kindness as if he knew me. Kindness, I didn't deserve and kindness he would've never shown me if he had the faintest knowledge of my past.
The clearing of his throat pulls me from my thoughts and back to his brooding and kneeling form. "You know, in my head I've been calling you Angel, because you're more beautiful than any woman I've ever seen before and you're very mysterious. Like a puzzle, I have only a few of your pieces, and I'm still no closer to figuring you out."
He shook his head, and my eyes followed as his shoulder-length hair came loose from it's ponytail and fell gracefully over his shoulders. He truly was a handsome man, and I wanted to be angry at myself for thinking such thoughts for like my heart, I should only have eyes for one man, Ryder.
If I don't, then what's the point of wedding vows?
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, what is your name?" His eyes were pleading with me to tell him as if he truly wanted to know. As if he actually cared.
Yeah, what a lie...
I opened my mouth to answer but quickly shut it for was I really about to give up such personal information? No, it would be stupid of me to tell my abductor my name. If he knows my name, then it will make him assume I trust him, and I don't. Sighing, I shook my head and raked my brain for a name that I could use. So, without even thinking for more than a second, I blurted out the first name that came to my mind.
"Candy, my name is Candy."
I wanted to slap myself, Candy? Seriously, I might as well of said my name was chocolate or sugar baby.
His eyes narrowed and I knew in that moment that he saw through my lie, but before I could voice my thoughts or plead for him to leave me alone, he spoke, "You're scared, so I'll let your lie sild for now, but keep in mind there is no room for liars on this farm."
"Oh good, so should I pack my bags or call a taxi first?" I rolled my eyes, for I truly could not understand this man. Why did he want me? And why did he take me? He was acting like he did me some favor by saving me from whatever I got myself into. But truthfully, I knew in some way that I didn't want to be saved.
"Listen, we can sit here and fight all day, but I think as a woman and a beautiful one at that, you would want to know that you have blood dripping down your legs, your hair needs a good brushing or two, and love, you smell as if you've been sleeping with the cattle for a week." Like acid, his words dripped with honestly, and there was no judgment nor disgust laced in the oceans of his eyes.
I wanted to yell at him; call him every name in the book for insulting me in such an honest way. But as I took a deep breath, I caught the awful and powerful stench of myself, I smelt as if I had spent time in a graveyard with rotting bodies. And I already knew my hair was filled with elements of the earth. But as for the blood dripping down my legs, I was not aware of it, and the mere mention of it has my eyes darting downwards, and his words were truthful. In a straight and narrow line, blood was trickling down my stomach and pooling on my legs. It wasn't enough blood that I thought I was dying, sadly. But it was enough to scare me, for where was it coming from? Yes, my body was in pain, but there was pain in nearly every inch of my body, and therefore, there were too many places to guess where the blood was coming from.
It would be like trying to find an earring in a field of corn.
"What did you do to me!?" I screeched, for I did not show up at the cabin with any wounds besides an unhealthy liver, and now it appears I'm on the brink of death.
Sighing, Malachi reaches forward and jerks my arm towards himself before forcing a damp rag into my hand. "Get cleaned up, Angel." He stood and turned his back to me. As he began to head for the door, I couldn't help but shake my head for what was I doing? How could my life have taken such a sharp turn in only three days? One moment, I'm meeting my long-lost brother, and the next I'm here, locked in a shed with a handsome man who, for the life of me, I can't figure out.
Shaking my head in despair, I gently began scrubbing the blood from my legs and as I did so, I took note of the small penny sized bruises that littered my legs, they were all different shades of various colors indicating that they were in different various healing stages, which confused me for I know I've been here for three days like he stated but how could I have gained all of these bruises in such a short period of time? What were they doing with me? Playing badminton and I was the bridie?
"So where are you from?"
Upon hearing his voice once more, my eyes shot up, for what was he still doing here?! To both my surprise and shock, his large back was turned towards me, rather as he faced the door. Why didn't he leave?
Rolling my eyes, I began to unbutton the flannel, "Not that you deserve to know, but Nashville." Slipping the shirt down my arms, I was not surprised to see more bruises littering my body. Some were larger than others, and I truly still wondered what I did to gain all of them.
"Is it beautiful there?" Like a waterfall, curiosity dripped from his words as if he had never heard of the place before, and it puzzled me because doesn't everybody know about Nashville Tennessee?
"Yeah, I guess I don't really pay attention to nature or anything beautiful, really." My words spoke nothing but the truth. Like my heart, my eyes are broken due to the emotional pain that riddles my body like a drug. Why give beautiful things my attention when all I see is sadness and decay?
I grimaced in pain as I began to gingerly slide the rag up my abdomen. The poor cloth's once white complexion was now tainted with the redness of my blood. But I suppose if they burn clothes that have blood on them, then this rag stands no chance and will have the same fate.
While I gritted my teeth to withstand the pain, I forced the words out, "So what's y'all's deal with the burning of clothes?"
"We don't have a choice; we don't have running water, so Ma is forced to hike a mile to the small river and clean our clothes by hand. The trip is hard on her, so she can only go once a week, and we can't have items-soaked with blood just lying around, it will attract the wolves and we can't afford to lose more cattle."
I scrunched up my face for what was this place? Who doesn't have running water these days? Mumbling, I continued to soak up the blood on my torso but the further up I went the more painful it became to rub my skin and soon enough I discovered that there was a white bandage wrapped around my upper ribs. The blood was soaking through it, but the bandage was wrapped tightly around my skin that to my surprise, I realized I didn't even feel it.
"What happened to me?" I asked once more, but my voice was softer, and I was darn near pleading with him.
For nearly a few minutes Malachi was silent, and I thought his voice had escaped him but soon enough he opened his mouth and words that did not please me flowed out, "It doesn't matter, your safe now, and that's all that matters."
"Like hell it does! Who do you think you are with-holding information from me like this!" Before I knew it, anger filled me, and I was chucking the rag to the ground and scrambling off the bed in nothing but my undergarments. My wild, uncontrollable, and rambunctious movements filled my body with even more pain, but in that moment, I didn't care for anger was driving me to do such unbelievable things.
As if sensing my movements, and just as I was about to punch his back, Malachi spun around and captured my fist within his large and beefy hand. He jerked my body into his and lowered his face to mine until there was only an inch between us. I was gritting my teeth and all but snarling at him. But cool as ice, he refrained from showing any more emotions than he had before.
"I'm not going to repeat myself, Darling, clean up and stop acting like an animal that needs to be put down."
Defiance filled me, and as I curled my lips back to flash him my pearly white teeth, I growled out, "Or what, you're do it for me?" As the words were leaving my tongue, emotions I've never seen before, flashed through Malachi's eyes and before I could even think about making a hasty escape, he spun my body around and my back became flushed with his chest.
As the warmth from his body melted into my own, my breathing became shallow, and if it wasn't for the thumping of my heart against my sore ribs, I would assume my heart had stopped beating.
"Yes." As he spoke, his lips gingerly brushed against my neck, and time seemed too slow as he gently took a damp rag and began to brush it up and over my concealed ribs.
I was frozen in a state of shock. This man was touching me, and my lungs wanted to scream in fright or perhaps anger that my skin was set ablaze by his mere touch. He gently used the cloth and cleaned the blood off my skin. His touch was soft, and he was far gentler than I had been.
Slowly, and to their own accord, my eyes shuttered shut as my breathing slowed and became shallow. In my mind, I was imagining the hands belonged to Ryder, and that was why my body was reacting to them in such a love sicken way.
I imagined that it was Ryder's strong arms wrapped around me, that it was his hands touching me, and if I turned, I would be met with his sandy brown eyes. That it would be his black hair that was tickling the back of my neck. And it would be his strong diesel smell that is over-takening my sense of smell.
And it wouldn't be this man's enchanting scent. He smelt as if he belonged to the forest. It was a heavenly blend of pine trees, moss, and even a hint of whiskey. It was a scent I wouldn't mind drowning in.
As my mouth opened and a near moan of pleasure escaped, my eyes flew open as if I had just been burned by the fires of hades. Anger filled me for why was I acting like an adulterous woman!? What spell had this a man put on me that I would even consider acting this way or let alone, allowing his dirty hands to be placed upon my body in such an intimate way.
As the anger consumed me, I could not stop myself from lifting my foot and mercilessly stomping on his foot. He barely had time to allow a howl of pain to escape before I was throwing my elbow over my head, connecting it with his bushy jaw.
Falling to my knees, I scrambled across the harsh floor and hissed in even more pain as the concert floor scraped my knees of their bare skin. I could hear his body stumbling around behind me, but I did not even dare to spare a glance, for I knew it would only slow me down. I stuffed my body underneath the bed and panted as I fearfully watched his boots near the bed.
"Just leave me alone!" I shouted.
A sigh could be heard from deep within him as he stopped only feet away from the bed.
"As you wish, my love, but know this is not the end of our story."