27. Ranen
Chapter 27
Ranen
T he black cloth bag still covers my face when I’m jolted to wakefulness. I lift my head, trying to shake it off so I can take in a proper breath.
“Good,” Olly’s voice says as if he’s a thousand miles away. “You’re awake.”
He snatches the bag off my face and I hiss behind the tape, the rough cloth brushing across the knot on my forehead.
I look up at Olly with blurry eyes, wondering what’s going on. I mean, I know what’s going on, but why is it going on?? Since my mouth is taped, I try to plead with my gaze, asking him why he’s doing this.
Olly softly touches the side of my head where I know there’s a knot and I hiss again, my stomach roiling from the pain. “I’m sorry, Ranen. I didn’t mean to hurt you. But I needed you here.”
Before I can prepare myself, he rips the tape away from my mouth. The sting has me crying out, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. I try to lift my hands to press them to my face, but he still has me tied down. “Olly, where are we?”
He smiles beatifically, holding his hands out as if he’s showing off the space. “We’re home.”
“What? I don’t…” I look around at the room I’m in. It’s a decrepit, unfinished basement that smells of mildew. There are boxes lining the wall and cobwebs in the corners. Two naked lightbulbs hang from the ceiling, illuminating Olly in a ghoulish light.
He looks as depraved as he sounds.
Lowering his hands, Olly places them on his hips and stares at me, that smile still curving his lips. “It doesn’t look like much down here, but when you’re compliant and I know you won’t run, I’ll take you upstairs. It’s not much outside because we’re in the middle of the woods, but the upstairs is nice, all made up for you.” He walks over and kneels in front of me, placing his hands on my thighs. I shiver in disgust as he drags his fingers up my legs, closer to my groin than I’m comfortable with. “You deserve better than this, baby.”
“Don’t call me that,” I snap, moving my legs as if to shake him off. “We’re supposed to be friends. Why would you do this to me?”
His face darkens. “You strung me along for years. You teased me, making me think we’re going to be together. Then you completely ignored me. I had to get you to see I could keep you safe. But that… that man interrupted before I could save you. You had the nerve to move him in and fuck him. Your virginity was mine!” His shout is loud, sending a shiver down my spine. “It was supposed to be me and you.”
With a menacing look on his face, he pulls a knife from the belt loop of his pants and holds it up to my face. “I should cut your fucking tongue out for kissing that man. For kissing anyone other than me.”
My breathing is shaky, coming out in small bursts. “Olly, don’t.”
“You let him touch you.” He looks at me with stormy eyes, anger bleeding from them menacingly. “You let him fuck you. How dare you?” His hand connects with my face, snapping my head to the side. With rough hands, he drags my face back around so I’m looking at him. “Why would you do that?”
“Olly, please.”
“You can be mine, Ranen. I know you better than anyone. We can be together.”
He leans in and plants a kiss on my lips, trying to shove his tongue down my throat. I turn away, shaking my head so he no longer has access. The knife pricks at my face, but I don’t want his mouth on me, the knife be damned.
He doesn’t seem to mind. Olly sighs. “That’s okay. You’ll see soon that we’re meant to be together. After a few days down here, you’ll see the error of your ways.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“To show you that you belong to me.”
“I belong to North,” I say with conviction.
Olly scoffs, then wraps his hand around my throat, squeezing. My eyes bug out as I stare up at him, wondering where my friend went. Where is the man I thought would protect me and always be there? Where is my best friend?
He jostles me roughly, making my head throb and my vision swim. “Is that why he hasn’t called you?” He lets me go and I drag in a deep lungful of air. “Yeah, I know he hasn’t.” Olly pulls my phone from his pocket and shakes it in my face. “Your phone hasn’t rung once. If you belonged to him, he would have checked up on you.” Olly scoffs and slides my phone back into his pocket.
I hate to say it, but he’s right. One thing North does is keep in contact with me. I had to tell him to chill with his texting when I was with Olly. Did he listen and decide to wait for me to message him? Is North even worried about me?
My chest feels tight and I can’t take in enough air. My head spins and I shake it to clear it, but that just makes the pain worse. I hiss through my teeth, trying to breathe and dispel the pain and the panic attack.
Olly gets to his knees in front of me and takes my chin in his hands roughly. “He’s filth, Ranen. Trash. He wanted you for your virgin ass. Now that he’s had it, he’s done with you. Not like me. I’ll be there for you always.”
“Get away from me.” I try to infuse as much venom in my tone as I can, though it comes out soft and pleading. My head is killing me.
Shaking his head, Olly stands. “I’ll give you some time alone to think about the situation you have yourself in. When I come back down, I hope you’ll be in a better mood.”
With that, he turns his back on me and walks up the stairs. They creak under his weight, the sound almost deafening in my ears.
When I hear the door close behind him, I pull at the bindings, hoping there’s some give. No such luck. I don’t give up, though. I continue to pull and tug and twist and turn until I can’t take the pain throbbing in my head anymore, and I lean to the side and vomit.
My head hurts so bad. I’m not sure if it’s sweat or blood dripping down my face, but I can’t wipe it. God, I feel like shit. My stomach is still rolling and trembling.
I’m not sure how long Olly is gone, but I don’t try to get away again. I don’t want to feel like I did earlier. The scent of my vomit permeates the air, making my stomach hurt even more.
After an untold amount of time, the door above me opens and the stairs creak with Olly’s descent. I’m pleased to see he has a bottle of water in his hands, since my mouth tastes disgusting and is as dry as the fucking Sahara.
He looks at me, then at the vomit beside me. He tsks. “What happened? You okay?” His voice is soothing and almost loving.
I don’t answer, just look at the water. Instead of teasing me with it, he rushes over and opens the bottle. Cupping the back of my head, he tips the water in, first letting me rinse my mouth, then helping me sip the cool liquid. If I weren’t so thirsty and my head didn’t hurt so bad, I’d spit in his face. But as it is, I don’t have the energy for that.
He drags my chair to the opposite side of the basement, facing the window. The sunlight shining through stabs my retinas, but I ignore that. It’s better than breathing in the smell of my own spew any longer.
Olly kneels in front of me, his hot hands going back to my thighs. I want him to stop touching me, but I don’t have it in me to fight him right now. My head is still reeling. I want him to leave me alone so I can figure out how to get out of this. I need to get away from Olly. “Have you calmed down now? Ready to talk?”
“About what?”
“Us. Me and you. Our future.”
“What are you talking about? Why me?”
“Because I love you, Ranen.” He runs his hand down the side of my face, his eyes reverent as he touches me. “I’ve always loved you. You know that.”
Olly is fucking insane. Nothing I say could dissuade him from thinking we’ll fall in love. I’m sure he has some kind of Stockholm Syndrome plan that will make me fall for him. It’s not like anyone knows where I am. I’m isolated. North probably thinks I’m still at Olly’s, having a normal movie night.
I’m on my own. I have to figure out a way to get out of this basement. From there, I can wait until he’s asleep and run away.
Shoring up all the courage I have, I say, “If you had told me how you felt, we could have been together. We wasted so much time dancing around each other.”
Olly’s eyes light up and another wide smile stretches his face. “I know. I was thinking the same thing. I just… you’re so gorgeous and sweet, Ranen. I didn’t think you’d be interested in me.”
“Of course I was. But you kept me in the friend zone, at arm’s length.” My voice shakes with nerves, but I push them down. “You should have told me. Imagine all we could have had. That’s why I accepted your offer to be on cam. Remember how eager I was? Remember how excited I was to see you naked and for us to play together?”
Olly surges up again and kisses me. This time, I allow it. I don’t turn away, but I don’t kiss him back or allow him access inside. Olly doesn’t seem to mind. He presses his lips hard to mine, groaning softly as he tangles his hands in my hair.
When he’s had his fill of my mouth, he moves away with a small sigh and a soft grin. “Ranen, I’m going to make you so happy.” He stands and walks over to a table against the wall. My heart thumps when I think he’s going to find something to get me out of these ropes, but my hopes deflate when he comes back with a cloth.
With a gentle touch, he dabs at the lump on the side of my head. When he pulls the cloth away, I see fresh blood. “Fuck, I’m so sorry about this. I wish I hadn’t hit you so hard. But I needed to subdue you.”
“It’s okay,” I say hurriedly, smiling at him. The motion feels foreign on my face, but Olly doesn’t seem to notice. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. Just a bump.”
Something catches my attention behind Olly and I try to focus on it, but it’s hard with him pressing into the knot on my head. It’s so painful that it blurs my vision and makes me want to throw up again.
Olly doesn’t seem to realize I saw something. “It’ll be a few days down here. It’s not ideal, but I want to make sure you won’t leave me.”
“I won’t, Olly. I’m yours. You’re right about North. He hasn’t called, has he?” Olly shakes his head slowly. “You’re the only person who’s ever been there for me. I know that now.”
He looks like a kid who got exactly what he wanted for Christmas. “Yeah, I knew you would see. He’s not right for you. I am.” He gets to his feet, wiping my head again.
Nodding hurts, but I try anyway. When I lift my head to look at Olly, I see North’s face peering through the window I’m facing. A faint gasp leaves my mouth, but I cover it quickly by clearing my throat.
North found me? How? How did he know where we were? Olly told me this cabin was isolated, surrounded by woods, so how…
A quick smile tugs at my lips. That tracking device he made me download. I thought he was being extra, but I guess it’s paid off.
Luckily, Olly thinks the smile is for him and doesn’t turn around to see what I’m looking at. “See there?” he says, still wiping my face. “I knew you’d be happy with me. I knew it.”
When I glance back to the window, I don’t see North.
Fuck, how is he going to get down here? The steps creak like a bitch. I heard Olly from the first step. Is he going to be secretive or…?
I shouldn’t have worried. North is more adept at this than Olly. He knows what he’s doing. I hear the creak of the door as it opens, but only because I’m listening for it. Olly starts talking, so he misses it completely.
“If you continue to act like this, we may be able to go upstairs tonight. I should have known you wanted to be with me too. I should have just told you. But this is more romantic, right? How I fight for you to make you mine? North wouldn’t have done that.” He sneers his name as if he’s disgusted.
“Think again, asshole,” North snarls, startling both of us. I heard the door, but didn’t hear him descend the stairs.
Olly whips around, reaching for the knife he had on him, but he comes up empty.
North grabs Olly by the throat and lifts him bodily, throwing him against the wall where all the boxes are stacked. Olly tumbles into them roughly, falling to the ground in a heap. The look on North’s face is scary, contorted in a mask of rage.
“I’m going to fucking tear you apart for hurting him,” North snarls, going over to where Olly is struggling to his feet.
Somewhere along the way, Olly found a weapon, a large wrench he raises over his head. “I don’t wanna hurt you,” he yells, his hands and voice shaking as he looks at North. “Ranen belongs to me. You can’t have him.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, motherfucker,” North says, rushing over to Olly. Olly swings the wrench, but North ducks. He reaches up and takes the tool from Olly’s hands, leaving him weaponless.
Olly tries to find a way out, his wide eyes frantic as he looks around, but North is in the way of his exit by the stairs and the windows are too high for him to climb out.
When he sees it’s hopeless, Olly tries to run over to me—for what, I’m not sure—but North grabs him by the hair and tugs him back.
“Ranen,” Olly says in a pleading tone. “Call him off. I didn’t mean it. You know I didn’t. Call him off.”
North puts his arm around his neck, cutting off Olly’s words. “You don’t get to speak to him anymore. You kidnapped him. You put your hands on him. You don’t get anything , Olly.”
Olly’s face turns red as he tries to pry North’s arm away. He kicks at him, trying to catch North’s legs.
It takes a few seconds, but Olly finally stops fighting and his eyes roll into the back of his head. When his body slumps, North lets him drop roughly to the floor. He kicks Olly in the face before he steps over him to get to me.
Dropping to his knees in front of me, North tips my head up. “Fuck, Ranen. I’m so sorry, baby. So fucking sorry.” He pulls a knife from somewhere and cuts the ropes from my wrists and ankles.
I get to my feet and wobble, the circulation in my legs gone. North steadies me with an arm around my waist. “Are you okay?”
I shake my head no and incline it toward Olly. “Is he dead?”
North scoffs. “After what he did to you, he doesn’t get off that easily. He’s just passed out.” North tips my head up. “I’m so sorry, Ranen.”
When I open my mouth to tell him it’s okay, movement catches my eye. I turn in time to see Olly getting to his feet. “Look out!” I shout to North, and push him out of the way.
Olly barrels into me, knocking me to the ground. I fall heavily to the floor, knocking my head on the hard, unfinished concrete floor. I cry out, my vision blackening at the edges.
With a roar, North snatches Olly off me, tossing him to the ground and straddling his waist. Olly pushes him off, and they roll around on the floor throwing punches.
Well, North is throwing punches; Olly is trying to block, but to no avail. I slide myself away to lean against one of the tables, trying not to pass out.
North clocks him in the face so hard his head knocks against the floor and he’s stunned. He takes that moment to get to his feet and grab the heavy wrench Olly had tried to swing at him.
“You’re breathing borrowed air, asshole,” North says in a voice that’s pure gravel. “You hurt him. You tried to take him from me. You were dead the second you looked at him—it’s time to pay the fucking piper.”
Raising the wrench high in the air, North brings it down on Olly’s face, splitting his forehead open and making Olly cry out. He brings it down again and again, a depression forming in his skull until it cracks, blood and brain matter spraying everywhere. Olly’s body jerks with each hit, but I don’t think he’s alive anymore to feel it.
North hits Olly over and over until his face is unrecognizable. Breathing heavily, he drops the wrench on the pile of mush that used to be Olly’s face, then kicks the body in the chest. “You fucked up when you tried to take Ranen from me, you piece of shit.”
I try to get to my feet, but I can barely move with how terribly my head hurts. A whimper leaves my throat as I struggle to sit up. North hears and whirls around, blood covering his front. “Fuck, Ranen.”
He rushes over and kneels in front of me. He reaches up to touch my face, then sees his blood-covered hands and lowers them. “I’m okay,” I whisper, though I can barely keep my eyes open.
“Fuck,” North snarls and pulls out his phone. “Wylder. Come down now. I need you.” He hangs up and shoves his phone into his pocket. “Ranen, look at me, baby.”
I drag my eyes open, not even realizing they’d closed. A wobbly smile crosses my face. “You came for me.”
Deciding that his bloody hands won’t stop him, North cups my face—being careful of touching my eyes, mouth or head wound—and kisses me gently. “Of course I did. I should have never left you alone with him. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I murmur for what feels like the fiftieth time. “I don’t… I don’t feel good.” I turn to the side and vomit, my throat burning from the bile rushing out of me.
“Fuck, you might have a concussion. Wylder!” North yells, his loud voice rocking my eardrums.
“Right here, North.” He hurries down the stairs and looks at me. “Shit, kitty. You don’t look so hot.”
North snarls. “Of fucking course he doesn’t. He’s hurt. Can you take him to the emergency room? He needs help.”
“Yeah. Move. Let me take him.” Wylder moves over to us, but doesn’t reach for me until North moves out of the way. “I’ll take care of him, I promise.” Wylder sounds more sincere than I’ve heard him since we met, though that could be because my head is all fucked up.
Wylder scoops me into his arms, getting a firm grip on me. Before he takes off, North grips my face again and kisses me hard. “I’ll come for you as soon as I take care of this body.”
I nod, but that hurts my head more than it should. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“Love you so much, baby.”
“I love you too. Hurry back to me. I need you.”
“You have me.” He kisses me once more and steps away, though he looks like he wants to do anything but. “Call Dad to watch over him and come back and help me here.”
“You got it,” Wylder says, then hurries up the stairs.
My head jostles as he runs up the stairs and I fight to keep from vomiting. “I got you, kitty,” he says softly. “Hang on for me and I’ll get you some help.”
Wylder puts me in the car as gently as possible and slides on my seatbelt. I settle in, hoping we get to the hospital quickly.
He puts the car in drive and peels out of the driveway at a fast clip. I try to keep my eyes open to see where we are, but it hurts. So I close my eyes to keep the sun from stinging my retinas.
The next thing I know, we’re pulling up to the emergency room entrance and Wylder is cleaning my face of Olly’s blood.
“You okay, kitty?”
“Yes,” I lie. I don’t think I’ll be okay for a while. It seems like my head will never stop throbbing.
“You will be,” Wylder says, seeing through my lie. “They’ll help you here.”
We step into the emergency room, then everything happens in a blur. Faces drift through my field of vision and lights shine in my eyes. Conversations swirl around me, IVs are set up and a blood pressure cuff is slid onto my arm.
I look around for a familiar face and see Atlas standing near the end of my bed. When did he get here? Where’s Wylder? How much time has passed?
Atlas steps up beside me and grabs my hand. I squeeze his tight, wanting to ask questions, but everything is so confusing. I can’t hold on to anything—not time, not people, not what’s going on around me. Nothing makes sense.
I try to touch my head with my free hand, but Atlas stops me. “It’s okay. You took a nasty knock, but you’ll be fine. You have to stop messing around at the construction site without a hard hat.” He smiles at me, but his eyes implore me to go along with his lie.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t think I’d fall.”
He waves me away, pride shining in his eyes. “I’ll make sure you stay off the site until it’s done. You’re gonna be alright. They’re going to admit you tonight, though. Your concussion is severe and they want to keep an eye on you. I’m inclined to agree.” Atlas looks over his shoulder at the nurses milling about, his eyes bouncing around from face to face.
“How long have I been here?” I ask Atlas, getting his attention.
“About an hour. You were knocked out cold. Wylder left a bit ago to help North.”
It’ll be a while before North shows up. The state he left Olly in will have him cleaning up for a while.
My stomach tightens as I think about my best friend. For a while, Olly was all I had. After my grandfather died, he was the one I counted on to get me through the day. I never had romantic feelings for him, even though we worked together. I thought we were just friends. In all that time, I didn’t know he was deranged enough to beat me up to make it seem like he was saving me.
I trusted him with all my secrets. I thought our relationship was pure, but the entire time he’d been thinking of ways to hurt me. He betrayed my trust. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to let someone in like that again.
“Hey,” Atlas says, giving my hand a squeeze. “Don’t let your mind go there. Not yet. You need to heal. You can’t do that if you’re beating yourself up. Hmm?”
Reluctantly, I nod, my head not hurting as bad since the IV is pumping meds into my veins. “You’ll stay with me, right?” Atlas stayed with me the first time I was hurt and I felt safe enough to fall asleep. The only people I trust now are my new family. Wylder, Atlas, and of course North. I know they wouldn’t find underhanded ways to hurt me. If they wanted to, they would have already.
Smiling softly at me, Atlas nods. “I’ll stay until my knucklehead son comes and kicks me out. You’re safe, Ranen.”
A few minutes later, I’m admitted and taken up to a room. Atlas scans the hallways, keeping an eye out for potential danger.
When I’m settled into a bed and the IVs and blood pressure cuff are reattached, I lie back against the pillows with a sigh. Exhaustion is pulling at me, but I don’t know if I can sleep. I feel wired, like I need to be on high alert.
Atlas pulls a chair up beside the bed, laying a hand on my arm. “Sleep, Ranen. You need it.”
“Okay,” I whisper and close my eyes. Sleep pulls at me and I gladly surrender.