Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
I’m shaking, and I don’t know if it’s from the after-effects of whatever Darrin drugged me with or fear.
I think it’s fear.
Although I’m shaking—and although I can’t see a thing through the blindfold—I’m actually pretty clear-headed. I’ve been listening to the room, trying to figure out what Darrin is doing and where we are.
It’s echoey, and I assume it’s big. I have a vague memory of being carried upstairs. I don’t know how long we’ve been here, and I don’t know what’s happened to Renly.
The last thing I remember is my head swimming and the world fading away. I’d been unable to move my legs or arms, but my eyes were open as we passed the break room, and I saw him sprawled there on the floor, spilled coffee all around him. My chest had tightened, but I couldn’t do anything, not even call out.
Everything after that is a blur. Sounds and images. It could be days that I’ve been here. It could only be hours. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m terrified for Renly. And for myself, too.
“Darrin?”
He makes a noise but doesn’t answer.
“Darrin, please. Please at least take off the blindfold.”
I hear the tread of his steps as he comes closer. And I feel hot breath on my face as he bends in close, the scent of onions surrounding me. “Why the hell do you think I would do you any favors, bitch? After the way you treated me? Do you really think you deserve to ask for anything?”
“I’m sorry if I treated you badly. I didn’t understand how you felt. I wish you’d told me outright. I’m so flattered now that I know. I’d really love to get to know you better.”
The lie makes me sick, but if it saves my life—if it gets me back to Renly—I’ll pretty much say or do anything. “Please. Please just take the blindfold off so we can talk.”
I hear squeaking outside, and I assume it’s from a fire escape. He’d said something earlier about a warehouse. And I wonder where exactly we are. Downtown Los Angeles, probably, in one of the old districts where there are abandoned garment factories. But I don’t know for certain. For all I know we’re in another state by now.
“Please?” I try to reach out, but my arms are tied to a chair.
He bends closer, and I smell his breath again. I feel his fingers trace the outline of the blindfold. Then he steps back, and I hold my breath, expecting him to take the thing off. Instead he reaches out and slaps me hard across the cheek.
“Bitch.” I hear him pacing in front of me. “Did you think I wouldn’t see the way you were cheating on me? We had something special, and you just ignored it. You went to that club with that man. You did nasty things with him. You cheated on me. But you won’t be doing anything else with him. I’ll make sure of that.”
Fear cuts through me, but there’s hope as well. He’s not talking as if Renly is dead. He’s talking as if he will be, and that at least keeps hope alive.
“I told you, I didn’t know how you felt. But I do now.”
“What makes you think that I would want you now? I saw what you did with him. Right where anyone could see. Slut.”
I almost beg again, but I don’t want him to get more riled up. So instead I dip my head and say, “I’m sorry.”
I’m searching for the magic words, but I don’t know what they are. He comes closer, his hands going over mine, cupping me and the armrest to which I’m tied. He’s right there. So close. If my legs were free, I could kick him in the balls.
“I don’t want you anymore,” he says. “Don’t you get it? You’re not here because I want to keep you. You’re here because I’m going to toss you away. That’s what you do with rotten things, isn’t it?”
“Darrin, please.”
He makes a rough sound that’s almost like a growl, and I feel the chair move as he pushes roughly back from me, then feel the sharp sting of his hand against my cheek. I scream, and as I do, I hear a sharp crack. I have no idea what’s going on, but there’s a thud in front of me, and for a moment—one blissful moment—I think that Darrin has fallen.
Renly?
I don’t dare to say it out loud. If I’m wrong—if Darrin isn’t injured—he’d hurt me for that. He’d punish me for thinking of Renly.
But I have to know what’s going on. I rock, trying to shake in the chair. And then I feel hands on my shoulders. “It’s okay,” a woman’s voice says. “He’s down, and you’re safe.”
“Emma?” A sob breaks free. “Oh God, Emma, where’s Renly?”
“Abby, baby. I’m right here.”
The voice is across the room, and I hear the pounding of footsteps as he races to me. And then someone is ripping off the blindfold, and Renly’s right there in front of me, one hand on my thighs, his other cupping my head.
He pulls me close and kisses me hard, then leans back long enough to work on my bindings.
Emma’s already managed to do some, and I blink, realizing there’s more going on around me than just Renly’s face in front of me.
The whole team from Stark Security is here, and I throw my now-free arms around Renly’s neck as he pulls me up to my feet.
He clutches me close, holding me so tight I fear he’s going to crack a rib. “I almost lost you. Christ, Abby, I could have lost you. I don’t think I could live if I lost you.”
“I knew you’d come,” I tell him, and it’s not just hyperbole. I did know. Every cell in my body knew that somehow Renly would save me.
“Never again,” he says, holding my shoulders and looking at me hard.
I manage a thin laugh. “Yeah, I sure as hell hope not.”
“No,” he says. “You away from me. Never again. You’re mine, Abby. Dammit, I need you.”
I blink, confused, then shake my head. Around us, the Stark Security team is securing the scene and patching up Darrin as we await the police. But I barely notice the activity. I’m too focused on Renly. The fear on his face. The passion in his words. “You’re going to have to say that again,” I tell him.
“You and me,” he says. “Forever. Call it a relationship because it is one. Call it friends with benefits, because you are the best friend I will ever have, and if you’ll have me, the last lover I’ll ever have, too.”
My heart flutters, and my hand flies to my mouth. “Is this a proposal?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. Is it?”
I laugh. “No,” I say, feeling giddy enough that I could float on air. “I want to date first. But why don’t we call it a promise?”
“Baby, I will promise you the world if you want it.”
I shake my head, then feel warm tears on my cheeks as he pulls me even closer. “God, Renly, don’t you get it? I never wanted the world. All I’ve ever really wanted is you.”