Chapter 7
Addison
I didn’t expect him to give a shit about the people using his drugs. I guess I thought he didn’t have any feelings, seeing how he bought me in order to use me. I’m still unsure of how I feel about that.
“I’ll fill it out,” I tell him. He looks up from his plate and narrows his eyes at me.
“What?”
“I’ll fill out your forms,” I tell him this time. He nods his head, a smile crossing his face.
“Good, thanks. It helps a lot if we know your background.”
“It makes sense. So, how long before you give me the drugs?”
“Few days. I have shit I have to do first. I have a run to go on, and that’s gonna take me a few days at the most,” he informs me as he eats.
“What’s a run?” I ask him as I fork another bite of food and bring it to my lips.
“It’s a security job we have this time. We protect whatever product the other guys are movin’.”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s it. We keep it safe until it reaches its destination,” he replies.
“Seems easy enough,” I say as he chuckles.
“It’s dangerous.”
“How so?”
“You ask a lot of questions for a girl who was hell-bent on stayin’ silent.”
“Sorry,” I mumble and go back to my food. I knew I was pushing my luck, and I shouldn’t have, but this new world of mine interesting after hearing the girls talk in the hallway.
“Don’t be. I don’t mind questions, and I’ll give you the answers I can,” he says before continuing. “Think of it like this. The president has guards, yeah? They will do whatever it takes to keep him safe, even if it means layin’ their own life on the line. We do the same with whatever products are bein’ moved. Make sense?” I nod my head. That makes perfect sense.
“Do you know what you’re guarding?”
“Most of the time. Sometimes, we have no idea; we just guard the truck or van. You know the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ sayin’? That’s kind of how we are.”
“That has to be scary.”
“It can be stressful. It can be fun, too, though. Not all bad comes from runs.”
“What will I be doing while you’re gone?”
“Sleepin’ by yourself,” he smirks.
“That’s a bonus, but I’m serious. I can’t leave the room.”
“No. Not until I get back. I don’t want the other guys to have to worry over you.”
“What if I said I wouldn’t go anywhere?”
“And you’d expect me to believe that?” he smiles again, and damn, does he look hot.
“It would be true.”
“What was your life like before you were taken, Addison?” Great he’s changing the subject on me.
“My life is pretty boring. I go to work and go home. I don’t have many friends. I talk to my parents probably once a week just to keep them happy and let them know I’m alive.”
“I’ll let you call them,” he tells me, shocking the hell out of me. I could scream for help. I could tell them what’s happening to me, but to be honest, do I want to? Do I want to be saved? Yeah, he’s going to drug me, but if it isn’t really going to hurt me, then what’s the issue? Listen to me! I can’t believe I’m even thinking like this. He bought me, which raises my next question.
“You paid for me.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“How much?” A mask slips over his features. He locks himself down as if he doesn’t want to tell me, and that bothers me. Was my life worth so little?
“I don’t usually give out that information,” he replies.
“Why not? That low?”
“No. Okay. I’ll only say this once, and then we move on, yeah?” he asks me. I shrug. Will we move on after I hear how much? I don’t know. I don’t even know how much you would charge for a person.
“Okay.” I agree. I don’t know why, but I do. I agree not to question him further.
“Two hundred and fifty.”
“Dollars? That’s it?” I’m almost disgusted with the number that left his mouth. That’s how little a human life is worth. I look at him and wonder how many people he’s bought before me, but before I can ask him, he narrows his brows and shakes his head.
“Thousand,” he says.
“Excuse me?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand.” I choke on the food, coughing into my hand. He didn’t just say that amount. There’s no way I heard that correctly. No way at all.
“Are you … you’re not joking?” I ask him as I stare into his eyes. I can see the truth. He isn’t lying to me. I don’t even have words. Nothing is forming in my head. What the hell? How? Why?
“I have money,” he states, shrugging his shoulders, answering my question before I ever even asked it.
“You buy people because you can?”
“You were … different. They typically pick up blonde girls and don’t ask me why. Then I saw you and decided what the hell.”
“So I cost more?” He nods. “Than a blonde?”
“Yeah. Blondes are easy to come by. Redheads? Not so much. And maybe it was a little personal preference, too.”
“Personal preference?”
“I have a thing for redheads. You just don’t see them often,” he says as if this is just a casual conversation. My green eyes lock with his brown ones, and that’s where they stay. I don’t know what to say. He bought me because of my looks?
“But …”
“I know. Makes no sense, does it?”
“Not really,” I say.
“I like what I like. I think redheads are a whole different breed of woman. They’re sexy and full of life. They’ll give me a fuckin’ run, and I like that.”
“You wanted me to be a challenge.”
“Aren’t you gonna be?” he asks me.
“I planned on it,” I admit to him. He laughs now, and it goes straight to my core. How could someone who bought me make me feel things like this? I shouldn’t allow it. In fact, I’m going to lock this down now.
“Good. I like that. I like to see the fight in your eyes.”
“You’re a little weird, don’t you think?”
He shrugs and replies, “Maybe.”
“So I can’t talk you into letting me out of this room early?” He finishes off his food and stands from the bed, setting his plate on the dresser before turning to face me. He crosses his arms over his chest and smiles at me, shaking his head.
“Not happenin’, and you won’t get anyone else to either,” he says.
“I have my ways,” I tell him. He laughs again, and it’s the best sound I’ve ever heard. Why am I so attracted to this man who plans to drug me? I feel like a complete fool, but I can’t help what I feel.
“Not around here. They know the rules.”
“And the girls?”
“They know the rules, too. No one is gonna let you off that chain until I decide to.” I nod my head as he grabs his plate and leaves the room again. I watch him walk away before going back to my food.
I finish eating, grab the beer he left, and take a long pull just to almost spit it out. It tastes disgusting. I’ve never been much of a drinker but this is just gross.
“Eww,” I say to myself as I set the bottle back on the dresser and sigh. I hate being stuck in this room. I hate I can’t roam and see what this place is all about.
I walk over and pull the door open to see one of the girls I saw earlier standing by the door.
“Hey,” she says softly.
“Are you allowed to talk to me?” I ask her. She laughs and nods her head.
“Any of us can talk to you. It’s a matter of if we want to.”
“Oh.”
“Some of the girls get jealous,” she tells me. Jealous? Of what? Being chained to a bed in a room? That’s purely insane.
“I’m stuck on a chain,” I remind her, shaking my ankle to make my point.
“But you’re also chained to a bed in Free’s room.”
“Meaning what?”
“There’s a lot of girls after Free.”
“Don’t they know what I’m here for?” I ask, wondering if they actually know why I’m chained to a bed. She smiles at me and nods her head.
“That doesn’t really matter to them. Nails especially. She will pull out her claws with anyone who has anything to do with Free.”
“Clearly, it’s not like that. It isn’t what she’s thinking.”
“We know what it is. That doesn’t stop her from losing her shit,” she tells me.
“And you? Why are you talking to me?”
“I think you’re cute.”
“You what?”
“I think you’re cute. I don’t condone nor condemn what Free does with the girls because some who come through here like other girls.”
“Oh. I get it. I totally get it now.” It sinks in what she’s saying. She thinks I’m bisexual or a lesbian.
“Do you?”
“Yeah. And I’ll be honest. I’ve never been with another girl,” I tell her. She licks her lips and smiles at me.
“There’s always a first time for everything, right?”
“Is that an offer?”
“It is. Once those drugs are in your system, you’re going to feel a whole lot of things. Things you never knew you wanted,” she tells me. I can see her truth, too. She’s used them before. She’s been on the drugs Free plans on giving me. Now I have a million questions to ask her.
“What’s it like?”
“You feel high. Like you’re on top of the world, but you need things. You need to come. You need to feel that connection to someone else.”
“You’ve used them before, obviously.”
“I have, and I still do. They don’t hurt me, and I’m the one in charge. The guys and girls both know that. If you don’t want them touching you, they won’t touch you.”
“That’s what Free said, too.”
“He’s not lying to you. You’re for sure in charge of what happens with your body.”
“Why do you take it?”
“I like how I feel when I’m on it. I like knowing I can take over the situation and gain pleasure from it.”
“And it doesn’t bother you?”
“No. Once you come down off it, you feel yourself once more. I’ve never had any effects from it before.” I nod my head, unsure how I feel about all of this. I don’t know that I want the drugs. I don’t know that I want the temptation.