Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Stay in the room,” he murmurs.
My eyes meet his.
“You are safe in here.”
I stare at him, I don’t even know how to reply to that statement.
“Keep the door locked…” He pauses for a moment. “Or they will come and get you.”
I don’t answer.
“Answer me,” he snaps angrily.
“Yes.” I nod.
He turns and with one last lingering look, he leaves and I hear the door click as he locks it behind him.
I sit in the semi-darkened room for a moment as I try to process what he has just told me. Keep the door locked or they will come and get me. I am safe in this room, but I’m not safe enough. He told me I’m not woman enough for him. For the first time, my thoughts go to Todd and Melissa who are probably in the throws of passion right now. They wouldn’t even know I’m missing yet and probably think I have just taken off somewhere in anger. Sadness fills me as I realize that they probably wouldn’t even care if I did.
I curl up into a ball in his cold, hard bed of a prison and allow myself to weep.
I’ve never felt so alone.
I think I’ve finally hit rock bottom.
* * *
I am woken as I feel the bed dip. I pry open my sleepy eyes to see Mac sitting on the bed next to me. By the lighting I can tell it’s dark and he has been gone all day.
“You haven’t eaten.”
I look away from him and stare at the wall.
He stands and goes into the bathroom and showers. Still, I face the wall.
I have no words. Nothing to say to him, anyway.
He walks back into the room with a towel around his waist. “We get to Puerto Rico in twenty-eight days. You can get off there.”
I roll onto my back and turn to face him, frowning in question.
He drops the towel to dress and without thinking my eyes scan his body before I snap my gaze away.
“You are on your own when we get there, though. I want nothing to do with it,” he says.
I shake my head. Typical. What kind of man kidnaps a girl and then dumps her alone at a dock in Puerto Rico?
“I’m going to dinner,” he states as he pulls his pants up around his waist.
My eyes hold his as hatred drips through my every pore. Fuck you.
He gestures to the plate of cold food on the desk. “You know where yours is.”
I roll my eyes and turn my back to him and face the wall again.
I hear the door click as he leaves.
* * *
I feel more human, having eaten and showered. I’m lying with my back to the door when I hear him come in. The room is lit by the lamp on the desk and he’s been gone for a few hours.
I roll onto my back and look at him.
“You ate?” he asks.
I nod.
He undresses to his briefs and then goes into the bathroom. He washes his hands and then I hear him brush his teeth. He then comes and climbs into bed next to me.
We lay in silence for a long time.
Finally, he breaks it. “Why were you crying?”
I frown over at him in the darkness.
He lies on his side facing me and fiddles with the blanket. “When you came out of the nightclub onto the back dock… why were you crying?”
I hesitate before I answer. “I didn’t like the song they were playing,” I whisper into the darkness.
He doesn’t question my lie and I don’t elaborate.
3
Mac is reading on the bed while I sit at the desk. We haven’t spoken. I mean, what could we possibly have to say to each other? Unfortunately for me, there has been a weird development. An elephant has moved into the room. He’s big and pink and smells a lot like sexual chemistry. It’s not. I know it’s not. It couldn’t possibly be, but when he looks at me, for some reason, my stupid heart races.
Can he feel it?
Can he feel the way my body is reacting to his? It’s bloody uncomfortable, especially in this situation. I mean we are sleeping in the same bed. The worse thing of all is that I am finding myself wanting to make conversation. Even though I know it’s because there is nobody else and it is just human nature to want to communicate, it’s unsettling.
“I’m going to sleep,” he announces before standing. He slowly takes his t-shirt over his head. Instinctively, my eyes drop down his torso before I catch myself and look away. The heat of his gaze penetrates the air and I look up to find his dark eyes fixed on mine.
The electricity zaps between us and my heart starts to thump in my chest. He clenches his fists as they hang down by his sides as if trying to control himself. Air… there is no bloody air in here. For a long time, in the silence, our eyes stay firmly locked.