Chapter Nine
Abbott
I try to ignore the other man in the room as I finish with Rian. He fell asleep not long after I gave him the pill, which honestly, made things easier not just for him, but for me.
There’s something about him that has me twisted up. I don’t know if that makes sense, or what I mean by it. One minute, I’m trying to manipulate him so I can escape, and the next, I’m actually concerned about him because of his fever and weakness.
Other than the small fever, there’s no sign of infection yet. Hopefully, we don’t have to go down that road, though in the grand scheme of things, it might make things much easier on me…especially when the other man leaves.
If he leaves.
“He just needs some rest for now,” I say.
“Did you hit him?” he asks. Rian had called him C, which I assume is short for his name.
He’s tall, with dark hair, a clean-shaven face, and a sharp, hard jawline.
Rian is mean. Rian is dangerous. I know that, but something about this man makes me feel like prey in a way that I haven’t with Rian.
He wants me dead. There’s no doubt about that, and I guess Rian does too, but I think if this man had his way, I would be dead right now.
“Yes,” I answer honestly. “With my elbow when I was trying to escape. But then, if he hadn’t kidnapped me, I wouldn’t have had to try to escape, so I don’t really think you can blame me for that.”
He walks closer to me, voice calm and deadly when he says, “I don’t think you’re in the position to tell me what I can or can’t do. You’re a prisoner, and as soon as our need for you ends, you’ll die.”
A chill sweeps down my spine, but I try not to show it, jutting my jaw out and straightening my shoulders. “Does that make you feel like a big man? Threatening me? Hurting people? It doesn’t make you big. It makes you weak and a coward.” I toss a look at a sleeping Rian. “Both of you.”
When I try to walk around him, the man’s arm shoots out, his hand wrapping around my throat and squeezing. “Be careful, or you’ll have an accident sooner rather than later.” He lets go of my throat, and I inhale sharply. “Now come on. We have groceries to put away.”
We have…groceries to put away? Who the fuck is this guy? Who are they both?
I follow him out of the room. He handcuffs me in place again, then begins bringing bags of food and other supplies into the house.
He stacks the ice packs that he’d used to keep the food cold, to the side, looking like a domesticated husband or father rather than a cold-blooded killer.
“Why did Rian take you?” he asks, as he begins chopping potatoes.
“I don’t know.”
“What happened? Tell me everything.”
“I was working a graveyard shift at the hospital. I’d seen him in the cafeteria, then he was following me through the parking lot when I got off work. I stopped to confront him, someone tried to kill him, he forced me into my car and brought me here.”
“I’m taking that, by the way.”
“Why the hell are you taking my car?”
“Because I can,” he answers simply. “You’d never seen Rian before then?”
“Not that I remember.”
“He didn’t tell you why he took you?”
“Because I’m a physician and he’d been shot? Oh, and I know he shot someone, though I guess it was self-defense. Maybe you should be asking him these questions.” But then, I assume he did, and he hadn’t been satisfied with Rian’s answers.
“Is he fucking you?”
“What? No. God no. I just told you I’ve never seen him before.” What’s with all these questions? “Plus, I don’t think he swings that way.” Though I assume his friend would know.
“You want to fuck him?”
“Jesus.” I shake my head. “No. He disgusts me. You both do.”
He gives a humorless chuckle. “You don’t have to worry about me wanting to fuck you.”
I roll my eyes. “Because there’s something wrong with fucking men?” I ask.
“Because I don’t fuck anyone,” he replies, and honestly, I’m struck silent by his confession. That’s not something I’ve ever had a person come out and say to me before.
“Oh,” is all I say. It’s not my finest moment, so I add, “There’s nothing wrong with that. With being asexual or anything.”
“Fuck off, Doc,” he says, reminding me that I have no reason to be kind to this man.
I turn away, putting my head down on the table. My newest captor doesn’t say anything else to me as he continues cooking. I must doze for a bit because before I know it, he’s nudging me with a plate that has fried potatoes and a burger on it.
My stomach growls.
I pull the plate from him and immediately start eating. C does the same, but from his spot standing in the kitchen.
“You’re off for the next three days,” he says, just as I take a bite of my burger.
“How the hell do you know that?”
“I know a lot about you now…name, address, phone number, date of birth. Last boyfriend was Hector. It didn’t end well. He cheated, correct?”
My spine stiffens. “Fuck you.”
“You bite back. I like it. You’re going to call into work tomorrow, needing more time off.
I also know that you don’t have a lot of friends, don’t go out much, and lucky for us, it will be a while before anyone in your life realizes you’re missing…
except maybe your father. He could be a problem.
Killing the governor won’t be easy, but we can do it. Don’t make us have to do it, Preston.”
“Don’t. Call. Me. That,” I bite out.
“That’s interesting. Why not? There’s not a lot of information out there about you and your dad…other than it just being the two of you after your mother’s death. Are you close?”
“None of your fucking business.” I give him a hard stare.
C frowns, as though he hadn’t expected that. “Daddy issues?”
I ignore him, wishing Rian would wake up again. I’d much rather spend time with him than with this man. The strange part is I know Rian can be just as cold, just as cruel. Something about him tells me he can be even worse, so I don’t know what it is about him that feels different from being with C.
“My father will be looking for me,” I lie. Chances are, it will take him too long to realize I’m gone to be helpful. “I’m all he has left after my mom died. There’s nothing he won’t do to get me home, nothing he won’t pay.”
“We don’t need money. We need nothing from you.”
“Then why did Rian take me?” I ask, trying to get the upper hand. This man doesn’t like that Rian kidnapped me. He seems like he thinks there’s more of a reason than there is, but neither of us knows what it is. Hell, I don’t even know if Rian knows what it is.
“Eat,” the man says, and I turn to do just that. When we’re finished, he grabs something out of one of his bags, then comes over, attaching what looks like a monitor to my ankle.
“This goes to an app on my phone and Rian’s.
You leave this house, we’ll know. You tamper with it, and we’ll know, and then I’ll come back and kill you for no other reason than making me have to drive to fucking New Hampshire again.
You won’t be able to get it off, and I promise, if you leave, if you try to escape, I’ll find you and I’ll kill you.
You might think the police department is safe—it’s not.
We have people there too. We even own people at the fucking hospital where you work…
maybe even your father’s office. There is nowhere safe for you anymore. ”
It feels like the temperature in the room drops at least twenty degrees. I can’t stop the shudder that runs through me, or the ache in my gut.
“Oh, and I almost forgot. You know how they have those invisible fences for dogs?”
My stomach drops at his question.
“That monitor you’re wearing…it’s also like that. You venture past the invisible boundary around this house, and you’ll have a whole lot of electricity jolting through your body. Glad I remembered that. I’d hate to think of what would have happened if I hadn’t.”
I swallow around the thick lump in my throat.
Nothing in my life will ever be the same again.