CHAPTER 35
I hadn’t moved from where I was sitting, except to put on a shirt and some shorts from the closet, until Fiorella was shoved back into the room. The moment I saw her, I scurried over to her. She curled herself up into fetal position and trembled. Her hair was a tangled mess and there were red marks all along her skin. Down her cheeks were dried trails of tears. Her eyes were wide, barely blinking, and hauntingly blank, not even acknowledging my presence as they stared off into space as if reliving those past moments over and over again.
“Fiorella, can you hear me? Please answer me. Say something. Do something. Just look at me.” She didn’t move an inch, but I took notice of her mouth.
Her lips were moving oddly and her breath seemed ragged and shaky almost as if she were trying to say something. I lowered my ear to listen more closely. I squeezed my eyes shut, allowing only a single tear to fall as I understood how deeply scarred she was. I wrapped my arms around her and under her knees, and wobbly lifted her up and carried her to her bed. I wrapped her blanket snugly around her before crawling into her bed with her. I protectively wrapped my arm around her and ran my hand through her hair, smoothing it out just like my mom did for me when I was younger.
“It’ll be over soon. I promise I will get you out of here. I won’t let them hurt you anymore. I won’t let them,” I whispered. But all I could hear as I fell asleep were the same words she whimpered with every breath she had, “Stop, stop, stop.”
When I awoke the next morning, Fiorella was thankfully sound asleep next to me. The next thing I noticed was the intense pain I felt in various parts of my body, no doubt the effect of all the blows I took yesterday. Carefully, but not painlessly, I slipped out of her bed so as not to wake her and washed up in the bathroom. As I washed my face in the sink I remembered how short I was on time. Who knew how many hours I had to find Jayden before Damon snuck me out of here?
Time was running out and I was starting to feel a little desperate. I dried my face and looked at myself in the mirror. I was almost tempted to try and sneak out again, but one look at myself and Fiorella was enough to deter me from that mistake again. Along the contours of my face and neck were purplish bruises. I lifted my shirt and winced at just the sight of all the purplish marks covering my body. Some were fainter than others, but they were all tender nonetheless. Other spots were red from where their nails scraped me or they hit me hard enough to draw blood. I don’t think I ever looked this bad even when I lived with my father. I sighed and pulled my shirt down.
I walked back into the room and kneeled down next to Fiorella. “I’m so sorry for getting you involved in my mess,” I whispered to her sleeping figure. Before I could say or do anything else the door to the room was slammed open. I stood up protectively in front of Fiorella.
“Haven’t you guys had enough already! I won’t let you hurt her again.” I snarled.
“Well then it’s a good thing we’re not here for her,” one of the guys said as he held my arms behind my back and pushed me forward. I winced as the man squeezed the tender parts of my skin.
“Hey! Let go of me! Garrett said I wasn’t to be touched.”
He whacked the back of my head, luckily not too hard but none too gently either. “First of all you don’t have to right to say his name so casually, and secondly,” he sneered, “He’s the one who called on you.” Thinking quick, I ducked twisted under my arms to slip out of his grip. I ran in any direction I could, but I was only met with the cold ground slamming against my body as somebody tripped me.
I let out a frustrated groan as I was picked up off the ground and dragged backwards to wherever they were taking me. Why is it that every single one of my attempts to escape ends with me getting seriously injured?! I have the worst luck! I tried to get back on my feet, but I simply fell back down and endured the pain of being dragged around with bruises everywhere.
We eventually reached the doors of a bedroom. Two more guys grabbed onto my legs and lifted me up onto the enormous king sized bed. My hands were handcuffed somewhat loosely to the top two bedposts with some odd looking cuffs. They were outlined with some kind of cushion while my legs were tied with rope. Without another word, all of the guys left the room, slightly easing my tension being in such a vulnerable position.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked around me. It was just me and what I presumed to be Garrett’s room. Immediately I started twisting my wrists in the cuffs to loosen them up. Thanks god for the fuzzy cushion lining or this would have been a whole lot more difficult. I was just a couple tugs away from freeing my hands when I heard footsteps approaching.
I froze immediately and waited for Garrett to come in. There were two voices talking. Both seemed familiar. One of them I assumed to be Garrett’s, but the other one I wasn’t completely sure about. My heart pumped faster as the door knob turned. Anxiety and fear grew inside me. Garrett’s sandy colored hair came into view as he walked in. I didn’t know what to expect from him, but one thing for sure was I definitely did not expect Baxter to walk in through those doors after him.
I let out the long breath I was holding, but a queasy feeling in my gut formed. “Bax! Boy, am I glad to see you. Did Damon send you here to get me?”
He grinned, but didn’t say a word. At least not immediately. “No, Alaure. Damon didn’t send me,” he said walking leisurely towards me. The cuffs on my hands were starting to put painful pressure on my bones, but something told me now wasn’t the time to move them.
“Then how did you know I was here?” I asked skeptically. He didn’t answer me.
“Um are you going to get me out of here anytime soon?”
“No, not really,” he said, “In fact, I think I’ll take this time to tell you how stupid you are for getting yourself mixed up in this.”
“Oh c’mon Bax this isn’t—“
“Shut up and listen,” he snapped, cutting me off mid-sentence. Suddenly a chime resounded in the room.
“Crud, that’s my doorbell. I’ll go check out who it is,” Garrett announced, but quickly turned back to Bax and muttered, “If I’m not back in time, go ahead and do what you want. I did promise you first dibs. Bax nodded to Garrett and before he turned to leave. Could that possibly be Damon at the door? But why would he use the door? I thought we were trying to be discreet. I was distracted from my thoughts as Baxter snapped his head back to leer at me.
The feeling in my gut intensified as I waited for Bax to speak again. He wasn’t joking around this time. Seeing him so serious was strange since most of the time he was messing around or teasing me. “Did you think I didn’t know all about your little plan to get your petty friend back? I can’t even feel sorry for you, because you had your chance to get out of this. I warned you plenty of times. I mean really, how stupid can you get. You just had to get involved didn’t you? I tried to help you. I literally planned out every step of the escape for you. Everything was set up perfectly for you to escape in his car. It was the easiest escape ever.”
Suddenly something clicked. It was no coincidence that I fished out Garrett’s keys that night. But what business did Baxter have with this Garrett guy?
“Instead you only got your little friend and yourself in more trouble.”
“Where is she?! What happened to Raquel?”
“Oh she’s fine….sort of. She’s here in this very house. But that should be the least of your concerns right now. You should be more worried about what I’m going to do to you for interfering with my plans,” he threatened, coming to stand next to me.
He began unbuttoning his shirt, continuing to berate me as he did so. “It’s a shame you didn’t get away before your memory came back to you or else you would be at home safe and sound. Just look at you,” he jeered, grabbing my chin and turning it to face the mirror on the dresser. “You’ve ruined yourself. You’re all bruised, beaten, broken, and scarred both physically and emotionally. Did you think it wouldn’t get any worse than what happened with your father?”
I silently stared at him, not knowing what to say. “Oh honey, I’m here to tell you that it gets worse. Much worse. When I get through with you, you’re going to wish your father were here beating you instead of what I have planned for you.” He slipped his shirt off and began fiddling with the button on his slacks. His intentions were crystal clear.
“I-I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? And what does any of what I have done have anything to do with the company you work with?
“You never stop asking questions do you? Maybe I’ll tell you later when I’m through with you… if I feel like it.” He raked his eyes down my body as I hoped he wouldn’t notice how close my hands were from slipping out of the cuffs above.
“Oh, this won’t do,” he said grabbing onto the top of the shorts I has wearing and ripping them open.
I gasped. “Bax, please don’t do this!”
“You know Alaure, you’re not as ugly as I made you out to be on that first day,” he commented, completely ignoring my plea. Was this really the same guy who went out and bought me a ton of pads, chocolates, and medicine when I was on my period? The guy who played pool and video games with me? The same guy who kept me safe from Damon the night he was drunk?
“Bax please!” I tried to move but my body was thoroughly tied. Panic began to settle in as I saw the dark, hungry look in his eyes. I tugged on my hands, but now they refused to budge.
“Someone’s a little eager. Be patient.” I scrunched my face up in disgust. No, this wasn’t the Bax I called a friend and came to fall for. This man was a heartless monster. By now he was stripped down to only his boxers. Grabbing my shirt, he ripped it in half so that only the scarce fabric of my bra and underwear were separating me from his intentions. Damon, where the hell are you?! You promised you’d be close by. You promised I’d be fine! Sweat began to form on my palms and forehead as my heart pumped faster and my body heated up.
I tugged on the cuffs again with more force. Feeling them slip a little, I pulled harder despite the aching from my skin being pulled and my bones being squeezed. My face contorted as I pulled my hands with everything I had in my skinny arms.
“What are you—“
“Aghh!” I grunted as I slipped my reddened and tender hands the rest of the way through the loops. I launched myself forward to untie my feet, but was immediately pushed back down.
“Oh no you don’t,” Bax growled as he grabbed my hands and pushed them above my head. I twisted around to try and escape his grip, but it wasn’t doing any good. Not wanting to put up with any more of it, Bax climbed onto the bed and made to straddle me. Seeing a clear shot, I brought my knees up with as much speed and force as I could muster.
“AHH SHIT! YOU BITCH!” Bax cried out, releasing my hands as he huddled over. Before he could recover, I shoved him as hard as I could, upsetting his balance and causing him to tumble to the floor. Without sparing another moment I unknotted the ropes around my ankles and ran to the door. Just before I could reach the door knob, Bax grabbed onto my ankle sending me straight to the floor. Thinking quickly, I used the heel of my other foot to hit his head until he released his grip. I scrambled up and sprinted out of the room as fast as I could in the direction where all the girls were kept.
Oddly, there weren’t any men roaming or guarding the hallways to chase after me. I heard a commotion coming from another part of the house, but I didn’t care much to ponder on it for long. Whatever was detracting attention away from me was a blessing and not even my raging curious nature would distract me from my goal. Although I had a strong feeling it could be Damon. Nearing the door to the hall, I slowed and yanked the door open.
I didn’t even have a real plan anymore. I was only supposed to save Jayden initially, but now that I knew Raquel was here and now that I had met Fiorella, there was no way I would be able to bring myself to leave them here, so I came up with a new “plan”. It wasn’t logical or organized, but it was something.
So I've written 4 more pages than this, but I've gotten stuck towards the end on it, and I've kept you all waiting long enough, so I'm posting this now and I think you can expect the next chapter to be up within a week if not sooner. It only gets better from here :)
Thanks for putting up with my awkward writing schedules! I love you all ♥ :D ^-^