Chapter 34 Josie
“You gave her too much of the drug.”
Josie tried to keep her eyes closed. They didn’t know she’d been awake long enough to hear their whole conversation.
Carter’s plan was to drive her to the restaurant, make her give him her client list and then they were going to move her.
Jared had a home in Seattle. Josie hoped they did bring her to the restaurant because that was her best chance of escaping.
She’d run right into traffic if she had to.
The other restaurants around them had to be open.
The hair salon on the corner, the pharmacy next to it.
They weren’t in some rural country setting where nobody would see her.
“Did you try touching her?”
She opened her eyes as Jared shook her.
“Ugh. I feel awful.”
“Josie, here is some water. With no drugs in it. You’ll feel better,” Carter rushed over to make her drink again. She didn't want to, but he held it to her parched lips, and she couldn't help it but guzzle it.
She couldn’t sleep and was losing track of time. Her skin felt like it was stretched too tight, and it was going to crack.
Her lips were dry, and she couldn’t stop her heart beating so fast, as if she was running a marathon.
Her stomach rumbled. Her feet hurt. Her whole body throbbed with pain. She leaned her head against the couch, wanting to close her eyes.
Carter had helped her to the windowless bathroom and stood outside. She splashed water on her face which only made her skin feel drier.
The good thing about having her body flooded with drugs was that it kept her from thinking.
Every time her thoughts surfaced, she almost wished Jared would stick another needle in her neck or like he did last, her thigh.
That had hurt and she could feel the bruise.
But once her thoughts surfaced, guilt made her break out in sweat.
How could she have been so stupid to run out of Ares’s house? She didn’t even give him a chance to explain.
He’s the only man she ever met that never treated her as if she's something other than broken.
He always respected her, made her feel like a goddess with how he looked at her. She’d give anything to see his green eyes blaze with heat. Anything to kiss his feathery lip. To be in his ropes.
How could she possibly think about that now? But she felt safe thinking about him.
He was the only man who made her feel safe.
And in one second, she threw all of that to the side because she saw something she shouldn’t have.
He must be crushed.
He confided what his ex-had done to him and she still acted so carelessly.
Oh god.
She gulped in water, tried to shift her legs under her to change position. Her legs needed to flex. Being in the same position for so long made her muscles scream.
“Here, let me loosen these,” Carter gave over and loosened the nylon strap they had tied around her knees. “It won’t be long now. You look so weak,” he leaned in to kiss her. She did her best not to flinch at the sour smell of his breath.
“Carter. I need to talk to you, now,” Jared said. He opened the door. Josie was pretty sure the door led to a garage. So, was she in a basement or living room? She still didn't know.
But the two men stepped outside. Josie pressed her fingers at the side of her temples.
If Ares worked in a profession where he had to make life and death decisions, if he was a doctor…would she feel the same?
You’re being silly.
But thinking kept her occupied, gave her a distraction she needed while she still had consciousness.
It was okay to be choosy about a partner.
Everybody had limits.
Josie guffawed. She’d been exceeding the limits other people had put on her, her whole life. But she was bad at accepting there were things she couldn’t do.
Like, when she took her cane out it was a lot easier than not having a mobility aid.
When she finally gives up the dream of working in a high-end restaurant because though she could do it, the physical demand of that job…
Felt tiring.
Maybe this realization was only because of the drugs flooding her body but it was true.
Her mother was right.
Her friends were right.
It was okay not to struggle.
Her body protested as she shifted, trying to stretch her legs.
That’s what being in Ares’s ropes did too. It gave her permission to just be. To not fight against anything for once, to surrender.
Leaning forward, with her hands on her knees, she spotted her phone across the room. She swallowed down bile in her throat. Could she get it before they came back? They weren’t the brightest kidnappers, letting her keep her phone. If she got kidnapped because of her client list…she giggled.
It was too funny; it couldn't be real.
Her palms grew sweaty, holding her breath, she willed herself to reach for the phone. But she heard a thump, and laid back against the couch, clutching her stomach. The door flew open and Carter swept into the room, his hands in fists.
“He’s not touching you! Who does he think he is? Do you know he invested in my restaurant because I couldn't raise enough capital not even with the money my parents gave me? This isn’t the first time we’ve done this. I hate people who think I’m stupid.”
Josie swallowed, trying to keep herself still. She felt her legs cramping. She desperately wanted to move them but she didn’t want Carter to stop his rant.
“I know what that’s like,” Josie said.
Carter laughed, clapping his hands together.
“I guess you do! See we are going to be a good match,” he sat down on the end of the couch.
“I met him in college, you know. We would have fun with a girl. We would drug her and do what we wanted with her and the next day he'd always take her to a restaurant and pretend like nothing happened. When I told him you kept telling me no, he said why don’t we do what we did in college? I had to give it a try. You’re going to hate me, aren’t you?
” His grubby hands were on her, shaking her awake.
“Carter, what’s wrong?
“Josie, what are we going to do with you? I don’t want to take you and dump you. You aren't like those other girls. But I don't want you to tell anyone about this. I want you to work with me. We could build an empire together.”
Can he really be this delusional?
“I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Let me go. Home.”
“Jared said not to do that. Because you would tell.”
“I don’t feel very well,” the room spun on her again, and not even faking it, she slumped on the couch, almost on the floor.
“Josie! Get up!” Carter lifted her from the floor, then set her down again.
“You want to leave? That's fine. But I'm not going to let you go until I know for sure that you aren’t going to leave me. That you aren’t tricking me like everyone else. Do you know when I first started, I tried out a local brewery and I got a bad batch of beer? Everyone told me it was the flavor I didn’t like but I swear it was bad.
I know my fish supplier hates me. He likes everyone else, but he charges me an extra five percent. ”
His arm under her back pressed into her spine, causing her pain. “I would feel mad if a supplier was overcharging me too.”
“But they all do it to me. They laugh at me. Thinking I am here only because of my football career!” He removed his arm. He stood up and paced the room. “So, what if I am? Don’t I get to make a living? I like cooking at first. I didn't like dealing the people. Who has an allergy to maple syrup?”
Josie bit her lip. “Food allergies can be hard to accommodate.” But not impossible. She thought of her clients, the McKay's who ordered their celebration dinners from her because Miss. McKay had severe food allergies.
She’d heard of a maple syrup allergy before as well as a birch sap allergy. If she couldn’t eat maple syrup, she’d make a dark caramel topping. Or a fruit compote. Thinking of food made her stomach grumble.
Her captors hadn’t given her anything to eat other than a handful of pretzels after she threw up the first night.
“Can you get off the floor?” Carter turned back to her; his expression pinched and angry.
“I can try,” Josie grabbed the couch cushion and tried to pull herself up. She got up with a lot of effort and laid on her back slumped.
“Yep, that's great. You should have taken the hint when I gave you that key charm. I bet your rich boyfriend didn’t give you a key.”
She bit her lip, wondering if there was a key for all the biometric security features. There had to be a backup key, right? What if the power went out. Though she supposed Ares would have a generator.
Her thoughts raced but if she kept thinking, maybe she would ignore the fact that Carter was now perched over her, his lips hovering above her.
She closed her eyes as his fingertips wandered to her waistband. “Come on now, Josie. Show me what you can give me.”
“Get off me!” She brought her knees up under him and kneed him as hard as she could.
He cried out but grabbed her wrist.
Willing her body to fucking move, she scrambled from the couch, shaking his touch off.
“Fuck!” Carter crumbled to the floor, crouched over in pain.
This time, Josie ran for that door. She pushed it open to a garage. Jared was lying against a wall, his head turned.
The garage was open, she could see the street outside, the rain coming down hard on the pavement.
She ran for the door, pushed the garage door button.
“Get back here!” Carter ran through the door.
She ducked under the garage door, ran as fast as she could in socked feet, down the street, where she slipped.
The air went out of her as she hit the cold pavement.
“Josie!”
Her mind was playing tricks on her.
Her chin hurt. Something cracked…her knee?
A car squealed to a stop; another car squealed to a stop. Doors slammed.
“Josie! Josie, never am I letting you go again,” She was pulled into the strong arms of the man she loved.
“Ares.”
“Shhh. You’re bleeding. We need to get you to a hospital.”
She opened her eyes, saw Ares, water dripping off his wavey hair, his green eyes filled with concern.