Chapter 15
Terry
" W hat the hell have you gotten yourself into now?" my girlfriend screamed at me as soon as I opened the door. I paused in the doorway and took in the wreckage.
"What the fuck happened?" I coughed against the pain wracking my body. I'd been run into by a truck, literally. Those men were strong as fuck. I didn't know what I was thinking, making them angry. This was a fucking bad idea.
"Don't pretend you don't know what's happened! What have you done? And why were they here asking about Lily?" She yelled, taking a moment to look over my swollen eye and busted lip. I had a feeling she was getting a kick out of it, since I'd colored her skin a few times before. It was her fault for not fighting back with her bull-looking ass. She could crush me if she tried. Fucking bitch must love the aggression.
"I don't know why they were asking about Lily!" I yelled. "Get me some motherfucking ice!" I flipped her off.
"Fuck that. You've gotta leave the house, Terry. You can't stay here. I don't want anyone else popping up here looking for you. You could've gotten me killed!" She trembled.
I thought about threatening her, but the truth was, I couldn't hurt a fly right then. I needed an ice bath, some rest, and a plan. This had been taken too far and had gone on long enough.
"I ain't going nowhere. Run me a bath and give me some privacy. Hell." I stormed into the bedroom and slammed the door.
"I'm not messing around this time, Terry! I'll call the cops!" She blared like a foghorn.
"Yeah, yeah," I muttered to myself, pulling out my phone that got smashed after I got several shades beaten out of me. "Come on, man. Pick up the fucking phone!"
To be honest, I almost withered away into dust when I turned that corner and saw Lily's men. There was something in their eyes that wasn't present before. Something that gave me chills. I should've known that other guy was feeding me bullshit, but when I get drunk, I promise people things all the time. It wasn't so crazy to think that I'd been out drinking and met this man, saw how expensive he looked and thought I could score a deal under the table. So, when he showed up, I didn't ask questions.
Fuck, I needed to get in control of my drinking.
Lily's lap dogs weren't as simple-minded as they first appeared. They were dangerous. And that new guy they brought along with them, he switched up way too fast, from charismatic to wild, like a fucking animal. He caught my co-worker like a rat in a trap.
Damn, was he fucking Lily too?
Whatever kind of spell she'd got on these men, I didn't want any part of it. I didn't know what they saw in the girl.
Today was too close. What a fucking relief it was that I'd remembered to clean out the container. I wasn't sure that I had and when Ethan instructed them to open it, I knew I was dead. The breath that left me and got stuck again when I noticed the words 'Help me' carved in the side of the metal wall. I jumped in there so fast, I almost face-planted on the floor, counting every single second until I managed to cover the carving with my body. Relief washed me with cold sweat, but my nightmare wasn't over.
They were convinced I had something to do with it and when they couldn't find any proof, they beat the living shit out of me, hoping to exact some truth. I was approaching seventy years old. My body couldn't take the beating it used to. I spent a couple of hours in the bathroom coughing up blood before going to the hospital. But I couldn't sit still there, not with the threat that they could show up whenever they wanted to. Besides, if I was about to die, I didn't want to do it in a cold, hospital room. I was surprised I was alive, to be honest. Once I got some pain meds inside me, I walked the fuck out of there, with one thing on my mind. Ending this bullshit agreement.
I didn't care one way or the other about whether Lily lived or died. But I did care whether or not I did. And this was too fucking close. There was no way we were getting that money. Lily's pussy-whipped bloodhounds were out for exactly that, the blood of whoever dared to hurt Lily. We were playing a dangerous game with no incentive. It was time to give up, let her go and threaten her not to speak. As if our threats meant anything. Oh shit, what had we done?
Lily
"Don't know why you gotta stay here seventy-two hours. Don't make no sense. You look fine to me." My kidnapper paced back and forth at the door, looking up and down the aisles as if he was ready to make a run for it.
Sucking his teeth, he turned to look at me and I froze. Not yet! Please, not yet.
Gulping, I ran through a list of makeshift weapons in my head and tactics I might use to escape. His phone rang, distracting him a while, but I still couldn't breathe. It was only a matter of time.
"What the fuck do you mean change of plans? No fucking way. We're sticking to it. We're this close to getting our money. So what if they trashed the place and knocked you around a bit, do they know where she is?" He yelled into the phone, jumping as medical staff walked past the room door. But my ears quirked up. Someone was close to finding me.
"Yeah, well if you blow the cover on this, they'll be the least of your worries, you hear me, old man. There's no backing out now!" He barked when the door swung open. My heart jumped too.
"Is everything alright?" The nurse stepped in and looked between the two of us. She scrutinized him for a moment, and her flutter of doubt gave me courage. There might be a way out of this.
Tense and tight-lipped, my kidnapper grimaced. "Everything is fine."
"Actually, I can't feel my legs," I gasped.
Time for the performance of a lifetime. Let's see if I could act to save my life.
"What do you mean? Is there numbness?" The nurse rushed over and started touching my legs. I took great effort not to react. "You're not feeling anything?"
The kidnapper was laser-focused on me; he was boring into my peripheral vision.
I shook my head at the nurse. "In fact, I've been holding my pee in forever, because it's um...uncomfortable using the bedpan." I flashed a glance toward the kidnapper.
I wasn't completely lying about that. I was on the verge of pissing myself because I refused to use the bedpan with him staring at me, so there wasn't a lot of acting involved in that part, except I had to fight the urge to shake my legs.
"Oh, that's not good, must be a kidney issue. Let me see what happens when you try to stand." She wrapped her arms around me, and I imagined that I'd caught a cramp in both legs which had now gone dead. I fell, and it was dramatic as hell.
The kidnapper was scowling at me, and he was trying his best to make eye contact with me. I was doing everything in my power to avoid that eye contact.
I hissed, wincing as pressure built in my bladder, pushing up against my urethra. "Any minute now, I'm about to start spraying pee everywhere."
"Would you like me to ask him to leave so you can use the bedpan in private?" she asked.
"I'd appreciate that, but for the sake of not raining all over this room, can you please help me to the toilet!" I gasped, clenching my walls until the liquid found another escape, through my eyes.
"Sir, please step out of the room and give this woman some privacy," she spoke over her shoulders while hobbling with me to the toilet.
Unable to find a convincing reason to stay, he acquiesced. As soon as he was out of earshot, I took my chances.
"My name is Lily Thornbread, and that man is my kidnapper," I whispered as low as I could manage over the emptying of my bladder.
Her cheeks reddened, but she didn't look at me.
"How are your legs feeling now?" she asked.
I blanked, forgetting all about my legs. Did she even hear what I said?
"Uh," I balked. "Still a bit numb."
"Okay, let's get you back to the bed," she said.
Tempted to repeat myself, I bottled it when I spotted the kidnapper's shadow looming near the toilet door. He was back in the room, and I'd missed my shot.
I watched with disbelief as she left the room, and I was grabbed by the arm.
"Enough of this shit. We're getting the fuck out of here," he snapped. "And don't try to fight me, or I'll kill you."
He pulled me to my feet, and I committed to the charade, falling in front of him.
"What the fuck?" He scowled at me, swiped his hand over his face, and ducked his head out of the room. He dipped out, and I didn't think. I saw my last shot at escaping, and I took it, jumping to my feet and hurrying to the door.
Only to run into him dragging a wheelchair.
He looked me up and down. "Well, what do we have here? It's a fucking miracle." He stepped into the room and grabbed my hair in his hand, shoving the back of my head toward him. "You're playing a dangerous fucking game, missy. Get dressed. You're coming with me."
His odorous breath warmed my face and forced its way into my lungs. I trembled from the cold stare he froze me with.