24. SIMON
SIMON
I toss and turn in bed, replaying tonight over and over in my head until it becomes a blur.
My jealous outburst and my casual rejection of Carlos have me all tied up.
How did it get this messed up? How did feelings start to develop when I’ve managed to keep everything at arm’s length for most of my life.
A large part of me wants to go to Carlos’ room and cuddle up into bed beside him.
To experience that warmth like I did when I stayed over at his apartment.
This whole situation is screwed up and I just wanna go home.
I can hide there, whereas here there is nowhere to go.
I also miss the guys, which is stupid. But with their constant chatter I can forget about the serious stuff and don’t have to think too much.
Being in a foreign country with strangers, I have too much time to think and nobody to talk to.
If that isn't enough to deal with, the atmosphere in this house is worse than tense. Dinner with the guards was quiet and uncomfortable. Gabriel's guards spoke only to each other in Portuguese and the constant staring made me want to keep my hand on my holster. Something is happening and I don’t know what it is or how to prepare. We’re in the dark.
It's nerve wracking waiting for something unknown to happen.
Like the gunshot that starts the hundred meter race in the Olympics.
All I can do is sit back and watch it play out.
Part of me feels a little bad for Carlos.
Witnessing the kind of family he grew up with explains a lot about who he is.
We both have had shitty starts but for different reasons.
I was an orphan left in a free for all system, while Carlos grew up in a gold cage with monsters, all wanting a piece of him.
To mould him into their perfect idea of a leader.
The most unnerving thing is that this place suits him.
I can see the shift in him, the pitch black darkness of his soul shines here.
Call me a freak but it makes him more alluring. I eat that shit up.
My body finally gives into exhaustion as my eyelids grow heavy and my body sinks into the bed, encouraging me to just relax, which I do.
Sometime later, my dreams are snapped apart with the crack of splintering wood. My eyes fly open at the sound, just in time to see the bedroom door that I had locked, slam inward, the hinges squealing with shadows filling the frame.
“Get up,” a low voice ordered. Not one I recognized.
Before my groggy brain can catch up, two massive figures surge into the room.
The first rips the covers from over me in one swift motion, causing the cold conditioned air to bite my skin.
The second grabs my wrists, turning me over and pinning them behind my back before I could even attempt to struggle.
“What-what the hell?” I shout. My heart hammers into my ribs as rough hands haul me off the bed, bare feet scraping the hardwood as they drag me out of my room in just my underwear.
The men move with mechanical precision. Black suits, large bodies, faces unreadable in the dim light. Gabriel’s bodyguards.
“Wait! Where are you taking me?” I yell, trying to twist uselessly against their iron grip. No answer—only the rhythm of their boots as they drag me down the hall. My heels knock against the floorboards, causing the impact to send a sharp pain up the back of my legs.
This house is a neverending maze of hallways and secret passages. I’m disoriented with how I’m being dragged backwards, losing all sense of direction.
We eventually reach a large door at the end of a dark corridor.
As soon as they open the door, it's like I’ve been transported to a new house, as this is not the luxurious mansion I’m becoming accustomed to.
The air is damp, almost stale. My stomach flips as I’m now forced to walk down a corridor of cold concrete walls, and past iron doors lined in a row.
The silence becomes more deafening, broken only by the echo of the guards footsteps.
A door screeches open. It's a cell door. Cold stone, a single cot and no windows. It's like a catacomb.
The grip on my arms loosens, only for me to be shoved forward.
I stumble inside, catching myself when landing on the wall.
The door is slammed behind me with a slam of finality that makes my skin crawl.
I then remember what Carlos said, that his father knows about me.
Is this about that? Am I going to be a pawn in his gameplan?
I press my head to the cold iron bars and allow myself a moment to panic.
Carlos said he would protect me.
Where is he? Does he even know I’ve been kidnapped from my bed?