| |
Amelia
“Rise and shine.” The sudden bright light streaming through the uncovered window nearly blinded me as I heard Liam’s warm voice.
I moved my arm to cover my eyes, but the clanking metal handcuff kept me from it. I groaned and turned my face into my pillow to hide from the sun. “What time is it?”
“Seven o’clock. I figured you had a rough night, so I let you sleep in.”
“This is sleeping in?” I heard him moving around the room and squinted as I peeked out at him.
“I assume you’d like a trip to the bathroom before breakfast.”
“Yes, please.” He unlocked the handcuff from around the bed’s railing and led me to the bathroom, standing just outside the door as he allowed me to go in.
There was a new toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter so after using the restroom, I took a few minutes to brush my teeth and combed my fingers through my tangled hair. I looked out the small bathroom window and wondered how bad jumping from the second story would be. Probably bad enough that he’d be able to catch you before you could make it off the property.
A knock on the door made me jump guiltily. “Almost done in there?”
“Yeah, be right there.” I opened the door quickly and slipped out, hoping he wouldn’t see the guilt on my face.
He took the opened end of the handcuff that hung from my wrist and led me back toward the bed.
“I thought we were going to have breakfast.” I sat on the bed, and he quickly latched the open end of the handcuffs to the bed again.
“You are.” He nodded toward a tray of food on the nightstand I hadn’t noticed until then. “I figured you could eat in bed while I work.”
He put the tray over my lap. I looked at it suspiciously, but my stomach growled at the sight of the bacon, eggs, and toast.
“You cooked?”
“I figured that sandwich last night wouldn’t last you too long.”
“Thank you.” I took a bite of the toast and a sip of orange juice.
“You’re welcome.” Liam smiled and stepped out into the hall for a moment.
Without an audience, I dug into the food, realizing how hungry I had been.
A heavy metal toolbox clanged as he sat it on the floor, and I jolted. “What are you doing? What is all that?”
Liam looked up at me in bewilderment. “It’s a toolbox.”
“W—what are you going to do?”
He gave me a soft smile that made his eyes slightly crinkle. “I told you last night I was going to make some adjustments to the room, so you’d be more comfortable.”
I relaxed slightly but was still nervous about what he might have planned.
“Can I ask what changes you’re making?” I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know.
“I’m adding window bars and a deadbolt.”
“Window bars? Like a prison?” The blood drained from my face, and I put my fork full of eggs down.
“It’s so I can let you move around freely in here. Being handcuffed like that can’t be very comfortable. And, as much as I enjoy watching you, I can’t keep an eye on you twenty-four-seven. This way you can get up out of bed, go to the bathroom, take a bath... all without having to depend on me to unlock the cuffs and watch you.”
The idea of being more securely trapped in this house sent dread coursing through my body but at the same time, not having to be handcuffed had its appeal.
Liam worked and I sat on the edge of the bed to watch. He added a deadbolt to the bedroom door and steel bars to the windows. Even though they were decorative, they still enforced the realization that I was, in fact, a prisoner in his home.
He screwed in the second to last window grate when I finally couldn’t take the questions building inside me. “You sure are making a lot of changes around here for this to be temporary. You don’t plan to ever let me go, do you?”
He jerked his face toward me, and his wide eyes met mine. “Of course, I plan to let you go. Shit, what do you think I plan to do here?”
What did I think he was going to do? Kill me? No, he was going through a lot of trouble to make changes for me. If he were going to kill me, he could have done that somewhere with less risk than bringing me to his home. It was much more likely that he would want to keep me. I wasn’t sure which thought terrified me more.
Liam moved to my side with an unnaturally quick speed. “Amelia? You look pale. Are you okay?”
His warm hands on my shoulders soaked through the sudden chill that had taken over me and I startled. “Are you planning on keeping me?”
The corner of his mouth turned down and Liam looked out the window. “For a little while.” His voice was soft but certain.
“How long?” I prayed I wasn’t pressing him too much.
He turned back to face me with sadness lacing his eyes. “However long it takes.”
“Takes for what?” I desperately wanted to understand what was happening and why. Nothing he did or said made any sense to me.
He let out a loud sigh and his jaw tensed. “To make you understand.”
I clenched my fists and resisted the urge to scream. “If you’d quit talking to me in riddles and just tell me then maybe I’d understand a lot faster. Then, I could get out of here.”
That softness in his eyes hardened as a shadow washed over his face. “I need to get back to work.”
“Liam, please? I just want to go home. Just explain to me what’s going on.”
“Question time is over.” He snapped as he stood from the bed and went back to work on the windows.
I sighed and leaned back against the headboard while he worked. As I stared out the caged window at the beautiful blue sky, the white fluffy clouds seemed to mock me as a soft breeze rustled through the trees. It felt wrong somehow that just on the other side of that window was such a beautiful day while I was locked up inside this prison. It should have been gray and gloomy. In the movies, it was always storming during moments like that.
Finally, the clanking of tools stopped, pulling me from my thoughts, and Liam walked over to me. “Ready for lunch?”
“Sure.” I waited for Liam to unlock the handcuffs but instead, he went to the nightstand drawer.
After digging around, he came back with a piece of rope and stood beside me. He unlocked the cuff from my wrist, leaving the other end hanging from the headboard. “Hold out your hands.”
“You’re going to tie my hands again?”
“This room is secure. In here you don’t have to be bound but in the rest of the house I can’t trust you won’t try to escape.”
“Please don’t?”
For an instant, I thought I’d reached him. There was hesitation in his gaze, but he pushed it aside and snapped his command, “hands.”
The bark of his tone made me jump and I quickly offered my hands out in front of me. He tied my wrists and moved to my feet, leaving enough rope between them that I could walk on my own as long as I took small steps. There’d be no way of running. Once my hands and feet were securely bound, he grabbed the short bit of rope between my hands and used it to guide me from the room.
He took his time leading me down the stairs so I wouldn’t trip on the rope. Once inside the kitchen, Liam sat me in a chair and knelt to tie my ankles to the chair legs.
“Isn’t this a bit of overkill?”
“You proved yesterday that I can’t trust you not to run. I’m not taking any chances.”
There was no point in arguing. I sat as Liam cooked tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.
“Chase will be stopping by after lunch so we can talk. You’ll need to stay upstairs for a while but at least now you can move around the room freely.”
“That’s looking on the bright side,” I muttered as he placed the food in front of me. The sandwich was pretty easy to eat with my tied hands, but the soup proved more difficult as the first spoonful ran down Liam’s white shirt that I wore.
“Here, let me help you.” He took the spoon from my hands and scooped up a bite, but I turned my head.
“I won’t be fed like a baby. Just untie my hands so I can eat like a normal human being.”
“You haven’t earned the right to have your hands untied. Yesterday you tried to run. Maybe when you can prove to me you aren’t a flight risk, I’ll untie your hands so you can eat easier. Until then, either let me help you or you can go hungry.”
He tried to push the spoon to my lips, but I turned my head making him spill the spoonful down my shirt and onto my lap. He had told me over and over that he wouldn’t kill me. If he was going to keep me here, I wasn’t going to make it easy on him.
“Damn it. You stubborn woman. Eat.”
“Untie my hands.”
“No. Eat like this or go hungry.” His commanding tone made me tense, but I refused to be fed like a child.
Against my growling stomach’s protest, I turned my head. “Then I’ll go hungry.”
He stood so fast that his chair flipped back and crashed to the floor. Chase burst into the kitchen with wide eyes looking down at me with horror.
“Shit, Liam. What the hell did you do?”
“Stubborn woman refuses to eat.” He threw his hands in the air.
Chase’s shoulders relaxed as he walked closer to examine me. “Wait, it’s soup?”
“Yeah, I made tomato—Oh shit, you thought—?”
“Well, I never would have thought you would, but I hear a loud noise and walk in to see her covered in red—”
Both men laughed, though I still didn’t find much humor in the whole situation. All I wanted was my freedom back. “If you two are done laughing, I’d like to go back to the room. At least there I don’t have to be tied up.”
Liam quit laughing and frowned at me. “I was hoping we’d have some time to talk during lunch.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Fine. You want to be like that then you can stay locked in the room for all I care.”
Liam stormed over to me, and I flinched. He lowered to untie my feet from the chair and tied them back together with about a foot and a half of rope between them. He grabbed me by the rope holding my hands and practically dragged me up the stairs. I struggled to keep up, tripping several times along the way.
He stormed into the bedroom and tossed me onto the bed. Other than when he put me in the trunk of his car, which had been surprisingly gentle, this was probably the most I’d feared him. What had I done? He held my life in his hands, and I chose to be petty and make him angry. Stupid, stupid girl.
I cowered as he loomed over me and grabbed my ankles, pulling me down the bed closer to him. I thrashed and fought as he pulled me closer, unsure of what he might do.
“Please, no. I’m sorry. Please?” I kicked, trying to knock him away though to fight him off until I realized he was untying my feet. My heart pounded in my chest so hard I could feel it over my whole body. He tossed the rope to the floor and my feet dangled off the bed, free of the ropes.
“Hands,” he barked, and I offered him my hands. After untying the rope, he let my hands unceremoniously drop to my lap and tossed the rope to join the other in a pile on the floor. Without another word, he turned and walked out into the hall. I jumped as he slammed the door shut and a sickening feeling settled in my stomach at the click of the deadbolt being locked into place.
I crawled up the bed, thoughts of cleaning up from lunch far from my mind, as I curled onto my side, clutched the pillow to my chest, and cried.
Liam
The slamming door rattled the walls. I stopped long enough to lock the door behind me before storming down the stairs. Chase stood from the couch and studied me with a tilt of his head.
“What the hell has gotten into you?”
“What do you mean?” I barked.
“You are the most level headed guy I know. Now you’re losing your temper over this girl?”
“She’s just—” I let out a loud sigh and paced the floor.
“You need to run some of this off.”
“I can’t leave—”
Chase held up his hand. “I’ve got an hour before I need to check in. I’ll hang out here.”
“Do not go up there with her unless you suspect she’s in danger or trying to escape.”
Chase nodded.
“I’ll be back in one hour.” I started out the door, stopping just inside the doorway to turn back to Chase. “And thanks.”
We exchanged understanding glances before I hurried from the house.
The property was far enough away from any neighbors that I didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing as I shifted in the front yard. I stripped out of my shoes and clothes. My hands and feet turned into clawed paws, my body quickly covered in thick, lush black fur, and my teeth turning to sharp, deadly fangs.
I snarled as my paws hit the ground before my strong back legs launched me into a run.
The cabin was my escape from the city, but it had been years since I’d had the chance to go there.
I hadn’t been able to run in the woods in a long time. I missed nature. The feel of dirt underfoot as I pounded the ground with each lunge forward, the cold air stinging my lungs, the blood drumming in my ears in the quiet. It was just what I needed.
Why was I letting this girl get to me?
‘Because she’s ours,’ my wolf answered.
She was frustrating as hell. Then again, it was understandable considering what she knew. She thought I was a killer and technically that was true. She didn’t know I’d never really harm her. I couldn’t bear to see her hurt. Watching the pain in her eyes when I took her was hard enough. I hated that she saw me as a monster. But maybe—maybe she was seeing who I really was.
‘You need to find a way to make her less scared of us.’
I needed to tell her the truth. I needed to explain to her the full extent of the circumstances. Maybe then she’d understand and see me for who I was and not who she thought I was.
I ran faster, pushing myself farther into the woods as my paws crunched on the dry fallen pine needles. Losing my temper was not the way to win her over. I needed to show her the real me and the real me would never yell at a woman like I had. The real you wouldn’t hold a girl captive either. I couldn’t risk her running away. I had to show her that it was okay to depend on me, that I wasn’t going to hurt her or take away her independence. I just needed to make sure she was going to stay put a little longer.
I rounded a bend and gazed up at the sun which had begun its slow descent from the apex of midday. It was time to head back. I turned around and headed back up the path. I glanced to my right, down one of the smaller, less traveled paths where a stream cut through the tree lined bank. Sunlight peered in through the tall branches and cast rays over the mossy stones. It was beautiful—peaceful. I stopped and breathed deep, taking in the view.
I was sure Amelia would love to paint a scene like this. Once I didn’t feel like she was going to run, I’d have to take her there with an easel and let her paint. It would be good for her to get some fresh air, see there still was a world outside those barred windows.
A cool breeze ruffled over my fur, pulling me from my thoughts. I needed to get back to the cabin. Chase would give me hell if I was late.
I shifted back into my human form once I’d reached the front porch and put on my haphazardly discarded clothes, still strewn around the porch where I’d left them.
I buttoned the last button on my shirt as I walked in the door. Chase sat on my couch watching TV and eating my food.
“Hey man, you feel better?”
“Yeah, that run did a lot to help clear my mind.”
“Good. I gotta get going. Some of us still have to work.”
“Email me the files and I’ll do what I can remotely. I just can’t leave her right now.”
“You need to follow protocol and turn her over. Let someone else deal with her so you can focus on the job.”
“I’ve turned her life upside down too much as it is. I’m not going to do that.”
“So, you’re going to leave her locked up in that room?”
“There has to be a way to make her understand. And I’m going to find it.”