NICOLE
When I’d awakened, I was in a dark room. My eyelids felt heavy, and I could barely raise them, not that there was anything much to see when I did. Coughing, I realized how parched my throat was. I didn’t know where I was, but I knew I needed to get out of here. When I went to move, however, I realized my arms were pinned behind my back against what felt like a chair.
What the hell’s going on?
I tried to twist free, but all I managed to do was make the chair creak as it moved. I felt nothing from my wrist to my elbow, but felt a dull ache from my elbows to my shoulder blades. Nothing made sense as I tried remembering how I’d even gotten here, and who I’d been with. There was a fuzziness in my brain, which was only perpetuated by something, but what?
My temples throbbed as I kept forcing myself to remember what I could. This was worse than the first hangover I’d ever gotten, and ten times worse than a migraine. I kept my eyes pinned close, and I could remember leaving for school. The Dean wanted to see me, so I’d gone to his office. Most of it went hazy after that, but I was starting to see a few pieces, although none of them were in any sort of order that made sense. Callum was there, and he was angry. There was a hallway, and the two of us were together, and...
I shook my head vehemently. That wasn’t today. That had been Halloween night, and the only one I’d spent in his arms out in public.
Why am I thinking about that evening now?
I pushed those visions aside and focused on the others. There was a laptop, and pictures. And, oh my God. The Dean had a video of Callum and me at that same masquerade ball. We’d been in that hallway I kept seeing now, and he was fucking me right there where anyone could’ve walked up and seen us.
Someone did, because that was the only thing that explained both Callum’s anger toward me, and the video that was now playing in the background on repeat. There was more, though. The Dean told me that Callum had been suspended, and he also asked that I not return to campus until the investigation was over. Tears sprang to my eyes and burned a path down my cheeks. More visions came to mind, this time of me with Callum in his office after my mother had died. There was also me driving home in the snow, then someone grabbing me in the parking garage.
That’s how I’ve gotten here. But who would do this to me?
It couldn’t be Callum. Yes, he hated me for what our short affair had done to his career, but he had to know that I’d never turn him into the Dean, despite what I’d told him in his office that day. I’d only wanted him to let me go because I knew I wasn’t strong enough to resist him. He weakened me in a way that no one else ever had, and in another life, we might’ve been fire together, but not in this one. It didn’t mean that I loved him any less, though. I had to get to him. Forcing myself to fight, I pulled at my binds, but whoever had restrained me had done them tightly.
“Is anyone here?” I finally asked, then started to choke. Another wave of nausea afflicted me, but I continued to call out for anyone. Sure, I was alone, I was about to face that when a shadowy figure emerged. “W-who are you?”
“Is that you, Nicole?”
Another sob escaped at the familiar voice. The relief felt in that moment was so profound as I knew I’d be okay. “T-Travis? Help me!”
A light came on, and I had to close my eyes to ward off the brightness of the room. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I need you to help me get free. Please.”
“Shhh,” he told me as he moved closer. There was a look of bewilderment on his face, and I knew it had to mirror the fear in mine. I was so thankful for him. He always seemed to be there when I needed him. I would’ve never been able to even try to move on from Callum without his friendship, or to have tried to pick the pieces back up after my mother’s death without him, either.
Travis had been a godsend for me more than once, and while there was risk in him trying to free me, I knew he’d ignore it all to help me. My tears continued to fall and when he tipped my chin up, I mouthed two words to him. “Please hurry!”
I was very afraid that whoever had done this to me would come back, and if they saw him, they might try to harm him, too. I’d already ruined Callum’s life, and I couldn’t handle the guilt if I ended up doing the same to Travis. He circled around me and when he knelt down, I noticed something familiar. He had hugged me numerous times, so of course his touch would be recognized, but there was something else, too.
Hints of orange, and some sort of wood enveloped me, and I’d only smelled that cologne once. I tensed up immediately as everything came crashing down around me. The man who’d kidnapped me, and the one tending to my binds, were one in the same. Travis had been the perpetrator, and my mind went into overdrive as I remembered him being there for me when I’d found the book outside my door. He had convinced me to file an order of protection against Callum, when the one I’d needed it from was him. If he was responsible for that, he had to be for the other gifts, too. But how?
Travis stopped when he realized how still I had gotten. I was frozen, and without freeing me as I had hoped, he dropped his hands, and circled back around me. “You know?”
I could still get myself out of this. I had Titan blood in me, so I would be damned if I cowered to him, or anyone else. I doubted there was a second party because Travis had always seemed to be a loner like me, which was why the two of us had hit it off so well together.
“Know what?” As long as I played innocent, there was still a chance.
“You’re here because of me.” He didn’t seem sad about it, or even regretful. In fact, his voice had changed so drastically that it was as if he was proud of himself.
“How?”
“The ‘how’ isn’t as important as the ‘why’ which is all that matters right now.” His dark eyes bore down on me, and the evil inside of them made me tremble.
“Then, w-why?” I stammered, needing to know what had pushed him over the edge. The two of us had been friends since I’d arrived here, and had even hung out together in California when on school breaks. None of this made any sense to me. Sure, Callum and others suspected that he liked me, but surely no one thought he was a homicidal maniac. I certainly hadn’t.
He reached out to stroke my face, and I whipped my head to the side in an attempt to evade his touch, but he grabbed the side of my face and held it in place between his large palms. Callum used to do the same, but I’d see something completely different when I’d look into the eyes of my lover as opposed to the almost dead ones I was now forced to stare into. I closed my own, unable to stand the sight of him, then pain swiftly exploded across my cheek as he slapped me. His other hand went to my head, and once he had gotten a handful of my long hair, he yanked his hand back so far that my eyes flew open on their own.
“You were supposed to be mine, Nicole. I’d worked so hard, and did so much, so you would—”
“What did you do?” I asked, although I already had a feeling that I knew.
The question was the right one to ask because he released his grip on my hair so I could at least raise my head if not anything else. Travis began to pace, and I half wondered if his slight stagger was due to his drinking. He’d confided in me once when in California about a drinking problem he’d had the first year of college. No one was perfect, and it was a very frat boy type of thing to do, so I’d never held it against him. In fact, I had great admiration for him admitting to such a common problem and actually seeking help on his own for it. He’d beaten his addiction, but now I was not so sure. I didn’t know much, evidently, except for one thing. I needed to keep him talking until I found something I could use to my advantage.
“What did you do?” I repeated.
“I would do anything for you,” he told me as he raked a hand through his hair. “I only wanted us to be together.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. I was seeing—”
“ Him ,” he yelled, the loud sound echoing in the enclosed room.
As my eyes quickly scanned my surroundings, I realized I was at his place. There were pictures on the wall, and on the dresser in front of me. I focused in on one, and I realized it was one that he’d taken of me at the holiday charity event, and one of the ones given to the Dean. It was Travis all along. The most bizarre thing was that Callum had been cut out of the picture completely and replaced by one of Travis in a tuxedo. In fact, most of the pictures he had were either the two of us together, or ones he had put photographs of himself over to cover anyone else in them. I’d even noticed a frame or two that looked familiar and I sobbed when I realized he’d stolen the pictures of me, frame and all, from my house in California.
“You were dating our teacher.” He stated the obvious, then walked over to the one picture I’d first noticed and picked the frame up. He brought it over to me and pressed it to my face, the glass hitting my nose and chin. “This was supposed to have been us. I was there that night when you hurried past me with his hotel key in your hand. You were going to be his dirty, little whore. I knew it was going to happen, and I’d even tried to stop it, but—”
“What did you do, Travis?” Something told me that the things I’d experienced so far had nothing on the true lengths he’d gone to in my name.
He smirked. “I’d stolen the master key from a housekeeper on his floor, and had set up a listening device in his room. I needed to know what he said to you that I didn’t.” Travis then walked over to his dresser and pulled something out from the top drawer.
When he started to play it, I heard the sound of a door opening and closing. I closed my eyes and knew where it had been from. I’d been standing at the window, valiantly trying to infuse the strength to leave him into my veins.
“I got up here as quickly as I could. You look so beautiful tonight.” Even now, I could feel his lips on my flesh. Callum! God, he was right about Travis all along and I’d chalked his concern up to jealousy. “When we’re together, I try to touch, kiss, and fuck you as often as I can so I have something to remember you by when we’re apart. It’s torture not being able to be with you in the traditional sense.” My moans soon followed as he’d continued to kiss and touch me. Even now, the memories alone warmed me up from within. “No one makes me feel the way you do. I can’t even think straight when you’re around. All I want to do is touch you... kiss you... hold you in my arms... I love feeling your hands on me, Nicole.”
“I love feeling yours on me, too,” I’d said, and when I dared to glance over at Travis, his jaw was tensed tightly.
I could see the pain in his eyes, but he had no reason to be hurt. I’d never let him believe there would ever be more than friendship between us. The audio kept playing, and I closed my eyes. A few seconds later, I heard a noise and looked over to see him pulling his cock out of his pants. He was hard, and looking directly at me. I had no idea what he planned to do, but I tried once more to free myself. It was to no avail. He stopped his approach, then started to stroke himself.
“God, do you know how fucking gorgeous you really are, Nicole? Do you know how often I dream of your pussy and all the wicked things I want to do to it?” Travis’s eyes were closed, and his hand was furiously pumping his shaft. “Seeing you earlier, I wanted to drag you off into the shadows and fuck this hot pussy until you screamed the roof off the entire fucking hotel. I wanted to announce to my entire fucking social circle that every inch of your sexy body is mine.”
“But you’re mine,” Travis groaned, and there was nothing I could do but watch.
“I want to take everything from you tonight, Nicole. Everything. After I make that hot pussy of yours come, I want to fuck your tight ass.”
“I’m going to fuck yours too, Nicole,” Travis told me, and I had no doubt that he would try. Panic and desperation mingled with my fear, and my entire body started to shake .
“It’s time, Nicole. I want every part of you to be mine.”
“ Then you dropped to your knees and fucked him like the dirty little whore he turned you into. You’re going to suck mine the same way. I want you to make me come like you did for him.”
I would never, but I stayed quiet.
“Fuck, the way you suck my dick, Nicole. Yes, just like that.” Callum was always so fucking vulgar, and I’d loved it. Even after we were over, those same words would echo in my head as I got myself off, much like Travis was doing right now. His hand continued to move, and I could see the glistening head of his cock as he neared his own climax.
“ Fuck me,” I’d pleaded with Callum, then the recording went silent.
Travis released his cock from his hand, then closed the distance between us. I clamped my mouth shut the moment he grabbed it with his other hand and guided it to my lips. “Open up your whore mouth, Nicole.”
I shook my head vehemently. Travis would have to kill me before I’d ever agree to that. Another sharp bite of pain spread across my cheek as he walloped me again. Still, I wouldn’t open it up to take him inside. He painted my lips with his pre-come, and the very thought of it sitting there made me physically ill, but not as much as allowing him to thrust himself inside. He traced my lips a few times, then even tapped my chin and left cheek with it until he stepped back.
I quickly opened my mouth to suck air into my lungs when he turned away from me and walked back to his dresser. He opened the same drawer, and when he turned, my eyes widened at what he had in his hand. It was a syringe, and he held it skyward, then flicked it with his nail a few times until a few clear drops spurted from the tip.
“Do we need to do this the hard way?” he asked, then picked his cock back up with his free hand. When I still wouldn’t open my mouth, he shrugged. “I see that we will. Get ready to scream for me.” Before I could say anything, he thrust the needle into my throat, and immediately a trail of liquid fire spread through my veins. The little bit of feeling I had left in my shoulder and upper arm disintegrated, as did that in my legs. My head drooped forward, and everything went black once more.