Uncaged Obsessions (Uncaged Duet #2)

4. Max

CHAPTER 4

MAX

E verything comes at me in flashes.

I feel like it had to be a dream—the worst nightmare I’ve ever experienced.

Carson showing up at my house in Seaside. Him attacking me and fighting back with all my strength. Screaming. The pain of his hand in my hair, pulling me by it across the floor. Being tossed into the backseat of a car. Then the sharp pain before everything went black.

What’s worse is I remember my eyes opening in a car, but I was unable to move my body. It all felt heavy, my arms and legs felt like they had concrete blocks attached. My head throbbed, but I looked outside and saw the familiar landscape on the way into my hometown in Texas.

I find myself willing the darkness to take me because the pounding in my head is already unbearable and I haven’t even opened my eyes yet. My mouth and throat are painfully dry and as I try to turn over, every muscle in my body screams at me.

I can tell before I even open my eyes that I’m not in my bed. The hint of the ocean smell that clings to everything is gone. The weight and heat from my three large men is gone. I know as soon as I open my eyes I’m going to break down at the surroundings I never thought I would have to see again.

I don’t want to face my stark reality. I don’t want it to be real. Squeezing my eyes even tighter, I try to convince myself that this will all go away and when I open my eyes again, I’ll be scooped up in Adam’s arms instead.

Yet, when I finally peel my eyelids apart, the blank walls cause the memories to slam into me. I want to cry, but somehow manage to keep the tears at bay. It's the room I spent eighteen years in at my parents' house. All white, with nothing personal hung up. The large bed is soft and sterile, just like the entire room. Honestly, the entire house is the same way.

I want to scream, and if my throat didn’t already feel like it was being ripped to shreds, I just might. Instead, I close my eyes again and wonder what I did to deserve this life. I was finally out, I was learning how to be independent. I was happy. And just like everything else before, it was ripped away from me.

There's a knock on the door and I ignore it. When I finally hear the knob turning, I force my eyes to open so I can see who's coming in. Not one inch of my body—or my spirit—is ready to fight anyone off, but I will if needed. Because I will get out of here, again. Even if it kills me this time.

I see that it’s one of my parent’s maids. She’s younger and doesn’t look at me, just drops some towels on the edge of the bed. But before she leaves the room her meek voice speaks, “Your presence is requested downstairs.”

Even though it feels like swallowing needles, I retort, “Tell them that they can drag me out of here like Carson dragged me from my home.”

I see her hesitation knowing she doesn’t want to pass the message along, and part of me feels bad for her. I’m sure she’s subjected to less than stellar treatment working here.

“I’m not going down there,” I say sternly. She nods before rushing out of the room.

I know it’s only a matter of time before someone else is sent up here. So I force myself to get up, my legs barely able to hold my weight. I don’t bother going to the door to lock it because it never had one.

Privacy in the Barclay household wasn’t allowed.

Unless you’re my dad while he fucked one of his many secretary’s, then I’m sure he had some privacy. Or maybe not, it’s not like my mom gave a fuck anyway.

The bathroom, however, does have a lock. I make my way in there, and close myself in, making sure to click the lock firmly in place. The back of my head hits the door lightly as I tip it back, closing my eyes as I try to keep my breathing even.

I won’t let this break me. I got out once, I can do it again. Deciding that it’s time to start figuring out how to do just that, I start the shower and spend the entire time being pelted by the hot water, while I start to form a plan.

Once the water is cold and my skin is wrinkled, I force myself out of the shower and back into my old room. I only have a towel wrapped around myself, but the clothes I was wearing are dirty and sweaty.

The sight that greets me in my old room is worse than the one I woke up to. My mother, Claudia Barclay, sits on the edge of the bed, the pissed off look in her eyes I remember seeing my entire childhood present. Her gray hair is dyed blonde, her makeup done to perfection as always. She’s dressed like she’s planning to go somewhere when I doubt she is. But of course she has to be prepared just in case. Can never be caught looking anything less than perfect. Not as a Barclay.

“You look awful.” Those are her first words that she’s spoken to me in months. She hasn’t seen me since the day I ran out of my wedding, and those three words are the first things she says to me. Not that I’m even surprised. Her special talent of tearing me down is one she’s perfected over the years.

I just scoff, rolling my eyes, walking to the closet to find some clothes to pull on. Because I don’t care what she has to say to me now. I don’t care about anything other than getting back to Seaside and back to my new life. Including Caine, Drew, and Adam. I can only imagine how insane they’re going knowing I’m gone.

I’m not delusional enough to think they’ll be able to help me. I know I’m going to be on my own for yet another escape, but I’ll get back to them. I have to.

I pull out some of the T-shirts I tucked in the back of the closet, hidden away, and gently tug one on. Then I shimmy on some jeans and hear the noise of disapproval from my mother before I even see her.

“Nothing else fit, Maxine? I mean seriously, did you run off just to eat whatever you want and gain as much weight as possible?”

I grit my teeth and clench my fists. I gained muscle. What she’s seeing is the fact that my body has filled out and now has strength, but to her that’s considered a bad thing.

“Put something presentable on. Carson’s going to be here to get you after he’s done with work for the day.”

That gets me to respond to her. I whirl around, fuming. “I’m not going with him anywhere.”

“Oh, for the love God, Maxine. We’ve been over this. He’s your fiancé .”

I look around like I’m losing my mind, and maybe I have. “Are we pretending like the last few months didn’t exist? I fucking left. I left you. I left him. I left this entire fucking life and I’m going to do it again.”

“No”—she stands—“You made a mistake. He knows this and is willing to look past your…indiscretions. We will have the wedding, albeit smaller. You’ll fulfill your duty to our family, become Carson’s wife and forget about whatever it is you thought you were doing.”

“I’d rather die.”

“Then, that’s your choice to make.” She shrugs, walking toward the door like she really doesn’t care if I do. “Get changed.”

I really wonder if there’s a way for me to escape before Carson shows up. My room is on the third floor, and the only thing stopping me from jumping from the window is how vulnerable I would be with two broken legs. Deciding that it’s safer for me to find an alternative exit, I turn back and glare at the door. It looks like I don’t have much of a choice—or any—in the matter. At least not for now.

The one thing I won’t do, is change. I’ll be damned if I let anyone here tell me what to do. Not my parents, and sure as shit not Carson. I could try and hide out somewhere in this massive mansion. Unfortunately, I’m sure anyone who works here would sell me out almost instantly and it wouldn’t be worth it. They don’t have any allegiance to me. I’ll choose my small acts of defiance for now.

I’m going to face my reality head on, including the man that’s responsible for bringing me back against my will. When my door opens again, I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting. Reclined with my hands resting behind me, eyes glued to the figure now standing in the doorframe.

Carson clearly expected a different sight when he came in here because he looks around, then the slimy smile spreads across his lips when he sees me.

“Look who’s awake and ready for me,” he greets.

“Why’d you do this?” I can’t help but ask. I thought maybe he would give up and find someone else to torture once I was out of the picture. Clearly, that didn’t happen.

His smile falls. “Not here. We’ll discuss this back at home.”

“And you think I’ll just willingly go with you?”

He steps in, closing the door behind him and my heart rate kicks up. My body preparing on its own to fight.

“You think I don’t know what you’ve been up to? That I don’t know how you’ve been whoring yourself out?” His smile is back. “You think you really got away from me?”

I furrow my brows because there’s no way he could possibly know anything about what I’ve been doing.

“It was cute, your little escape attempt, and I let you have your taste of freedom. But now your fun is over and you’re going to come back home with me. You’re going to marry me and you’re going to be the perfect little wifey I was promised.”

“You can get fucked ,” I seethe.

“Aw, missed that, did you?”

I grimace because just the thought of his tiny dick makes me want to gag.

“Don’t worry,” he starts again. “You’ll get what you want. Maybe I’ll even fulfill those disgusting fantasies you had.”

“You’re not going to touch me . I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“You will. I knew where you were, I know who you’ve been with. I can and will ruin their fucking lives if you don’t do what I want.”

I fight my jaw from dropping, refusing to give him any indication that what he’s saying holds any meaning to me.

“Come with me right now, Maxine. Do what I say and I’ll leave them alone. If you fight or run again, then I won’t.”

“You know nothing.”

“No? Caine Aldridge, his family is a pretty big deal you know? Lots of mutual contacts. He thinks he can be some big shot fighter. I can make sure he never sees the inside of a fighting ring again, and that he has no backup family plan to come back to.”

“Cage,” I correct. “MMA fighters fight in a cage.”

“You think I care? Then there’s Adam, he’s the easiest target, obviously no more gym for him.”

“You. Wouldn’t.”

“Try me, wifey.”

I want to, fuck I want to. I want to fight; I want to push him to his limit. I can see the remnants of my struggle on his skin that he tried to cover up. The scratch marks on his neck, the bruise under his eye. I’m curious how he explained those at work.

“There’s also Drew. You know he has a violent past and I have people willing to say whatever is needed to make sure he ends up where he should have been this entire time—in a prison cell.”

I don’t want to believe him. I want to fight this, but I can’t risk the guys. I know I can’t, we all may have started our relationship off in an impractical way, but I can’t deny that I’ve started to soften for them. The feelings I have for them are impossible to deny and knowing I may never see them again is only making it worse.

Knowing that I could be the reason their lives are ruined is something I could never live with.

Which is the only reason why I stand up reluctantly and silently agree to go with Carson. The pleased smile he has as he says, “Good choice,” has me doing everything in my power to not punch him in the face. Again.

I don’t pay attention to my mother as we leave, but Carson says something about family dinner at our house this weekend. I would love nothing more than to be long gone by then.

Carson drives us away, the drive from my parents' house to Carson's is about an hour, and I look out the window the entire time, ignoring every conversation attempt he tries. All I'm paying attention to is the scenery as we pass through it. The areas between two rich areas, while everything that lies between is essentially rotted.

Whenever I drive through an old town with rundown buildings, the remnants of what once was still evident, I think about what it may have been like in its prime. That club with the writing on the chalkboard outside and the cocktail sign in the window. I wonder if people look at me the same way. What would I have been if all my pieces weren’t shattered. My life altered and my feelings shut down. I guess we will never know. And just like the buildings, I need to rebuild myself. Stronger and better.