Chapter Thirty-Two

Locked in the dark cellar, Raine had no concept of time as she drifted in and out of consciousness. However, with each moment of lucidness, her mind became clearer. During those bouts of wakefulness she worked at the ropes, but despite how much stretching and straining, the knots didn’t budge. Her wrists and ankles were rubbed raw from straining against them. She might be trussed-up like a Christmas goose, but she refused to die in this hellhole if she could help it! All she needed was one of the ropes to loosen a bit and she’d damn well get free and call Jess. That’s if Addison hadn’t discovered the phone in her pocket.

A sudden scraping noise interrupted her efforts sending a burst of hope through her that it was Jess. Frowning, she remembered he didn’t know where she was. Hopelessness knotted her throat knowing Addison was back to punish her again, for the third time. How much more could she withstand?

A wide shaft of light illuminated the darkness when the cellar doors opened. From her peripheral vision Raine watched him approach, a club clutched in his hand. So help me, if I get my hands on it I won’t hesitate to kill him.

Having a good night’s sleep and hearty breakfast, Addison was primed for action. After the last visit around midnight, he’d slept like a baby knowing she was locked up with no way to escape. He noted the rope burns. So, the little bitch had been trying to get loose. Good. There was still some fight left in her.

“Let. Me. Go.” She hissed through swollen lips. “You’re a sick bastard, Addison! This just proves it.”

“Call me whatever, but I have the hammer. I’m the one who decides if, or when, you get loose.” Trailing a finger over her bare shoulder, her shudder of revulsion sent his temper soaring. On the drive out he’d vowed she wouldn’t goad him into anything he wasn’t ready to do. He wanted to toy with her like a cat toys with a mouse. He wanted to see the fear in her eyes before meting out one final bout of punishment. That vow disappeared at her reaction to his touch.

Crouching, Addison sharply tapped the blood-smeared cheek turned toward him. It made her head throb and the cloying scent of his cologne gagged her. “You know, you ought to treat me nicer, especially after everything you’ve done. I’d have forgiven you a lot of things, but you committed the ultimate sin. You broke your wedding vows. You cheated on me. I saw what you did with him. I watched you doing things with him you never did with me!” Raine tried to turn her head but he grabbed her hair, forcing her to face him. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!” He thundered.

“Go to hell!” She screamed as he brutally twisted his fingers in her hair.

“I will, but you’ll get there first. You cheated on me, now you have to pay.” The grip on her hair was suddenly gone and the swooshing sound of the belt leaving the loops filled the air. He was going to beat her again. The thought was barely formed before the belt bit into her already injured flesh.

Lost in a swirling vortex of agony, the torture went on and on before sheer exhaustion made Addison stop. Standing over her, gasping for breath and dripping sweat, a sadistic thrill hummed under his skin. He didn’t feel a bit sorry for her. She’d asked for it and with a renewed burst of energy he delivered several more lashes.

This time when he stopped Addison made the mistake of getting in her face. Despite the agony coursing through her, she spit at him, hitting him squarely in the face. His reaction was to slam his fist into the side of her head. “Don’t you ever spit on me again!” He raged, punching her again and again.

Yet that didn’t stop another mouthful of spittle flying from her mouth. “I’ll spit on you anytime I want, you slimy pig! You make my skin crawl!”

The taunts inflamed him even more and he started pacing and threatening a litany of more abuse he was going to heap on her. Closing her eyes, Raine blocked out the sight him while praying that Jess would come, yet in the next breath hoping he wouldn’t. Addison would kill him, too, and that couldn’t happen. The girls would need him, especially if Addison left her here to die. And that’s what the stark-raving lunatic swore to do. And trussed up as she was, she was helpless to stop him.

Eyes still closed, Raine didn’t see Addison grab the club off the floor. The first blow sent explosions of pain roaring through her head. The next one sailed her into darkness. Blessedly unconscious, she didn’t feel the belt’s biting blows on her anymore.