34. 34
34
B onnie had no way of knowing how long she’d been sitting alone in the dark, twisting and moving as much as the tape that had been wrapped around her torso would allow, as she tried to get free. She tried to lift her arms, she tried jerking her still bound hands up and away from her body in hopes of tearing the tape. She tried everything she could think of, but so far, nothing seemed to be working. She didn’t think she’d even manage to stretch the bindings and work more slack into it.
She wasn’t giving up, but was wondering how long she could keep this up and what else she could do that might work better when she heard footsteps above her. She tilted her head upwards, as if looking toward the sound, and felt the fabric of whatever kind of bag was still over her head slide against her cheek.
Bonnie stilled as the door above her opened. The light came on, making her blink away the sting of the sudden brightness, even through the cloth over her face.
Footsteps descended the stairs, coming closer. She couldn’t tell anything about who it might be from just the sounds, and the not knowing sent her heart racing. A knot formed in her throat making it hard to breathe. She forced herself to close her eyes and focus on breathing. Nothing good would happen if she panicked, forgot how to breathe, and passed out.
She didn’t think anything good would happen either way but at least as long as she was awake, she knew what was happening and didn’t have to wonder and worry what had happened to her while she’d been unconscious.
Whoever had come down the stairs reached the bottom. The room went nearly silent, but she could hear whoever was there breathing. They must be standing still, or she would hear their feet scuffing against the ground. The brush of fingers against her arm made her jump. The touch hadn’t hurt, in fact it had been gentle, barely a brush of skin against hers, but she hadn’t been expecting it. Something about the touch was familiar. She couldn’t say exactly what, but it made her want to move away. To keep whoever it was from touching her again.
The hood over her head was lifted off. She blinked several times against the bright light, then shook her head to get her hair out of her face where it had fallen after moving with the fabric.
Only after she’d managed to get her eyes to stop watering did she see who stood in front of her. If she’d thought her heart was racing before, now it seemed to kick into double time.
“Phillip.” She didn’t know what else to say. He stared back at her, his expression filled with rage. Should she ask him what was going on? Maybe why he was doing this to her? She didn’t know what to do or say to keep him from hurting her. What could she say to defuse the situation? Was it even possible?
“You ruined everything,” Phillip snarled before she could think of what to say. “We could have had everything together, but you had to go and ruin it. Then to make things worse you went and hooked up with that biker.” That last word was filled with so much disgust, she could tell it was the worst thing he could think of to call Corey.
“What’s wrong with being a biker?” She didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t going to apologize for leaving him. But maybe she could distract him. Maybe she could get him talking and keep him from doing anything too stupid.
Phillip’s eyes went wide. “What’s wrong with being a biker?” he repeated, but louder, at almost a yell. “They’re dirty, rough, lewd, criminal, brutish lay about leaches on society. I don’t know why anyone would want to be one much less why a smart, beautiful woman like you would want to even look at on much less let one touch you.”
Bonnie fought to keep her surprise from showing on her face, but she didn’t know how successful she might have been. She had no clue Phillip was so closed minded and judgmental. Well, she’d had some clue, and it had been part of why she’d decided to end things with him, but she hadn’t known it was this bad. What he was practically screaming at her was almost completely opposite in every way from what she’d experienced with Corey and the rest of the men around the ranch. Well, all but the rough part. But of all the things he’d claimed, it was also the least off putting. And that was before she even considered comparing his list to the things Phillip had done to her.
“I’m sorry.” Bonnie didn’t know what else to say. And it wasn’t a lie. She was sorry, but she carefully didn’t say what she was sorry for. She could only hope he didn’t ask.
“Oh, you’re going to be sorry. That’s for sure.” He gave her a grin that made her blood seem to turn to ice in her veins. “We could have been happy. You would have been my everything and I would have treated you like a queen.” He kept talking, but Bonnie had stopped listening. The way Phillip paced back and forth while talking about what he was going to do with her and how it was her fault, reminded her of the scene in that Disney movie with the super family, where the bad guy gave a long monologue on how amazing he was and how he’d killed all these supers in the past building up to why it was the father’s fault and how he would make him watch while the bad guy killed his family.
She let him talk because the longer he talked, the longer he wasn’t hurting her. And while she wouldn’t beg him not to, she wasn’t in a hurry for him to get started. She could only hope that sooner rather than later, Corey would realize she was late and start looking for her. She had no clue how much time had passed since she’d been taken, but she had no doubt Corey would look for her. She just had to hold on until he found her.
“You’re not even listening to me.” Phillip had stopped pacing and stood in front of her, hands on his hips as he glared down at her. “What are you thinking about that’s so much more important than why I’m going to make you suffer?”
Bonnie stared up at him for a moment, knowing she didn’t want to tell him she’d been thinking about Corey. But what could she say that wouldn’t piss him off more?
“I was thinking about what I could have done differently. What I should have done to make things work between us.”
“At least that’s an acceptable thing to wonder. Let me tell you…” He resumed pacing as he started giving her a list of things she should have done. Ways she could have pleased him so he wouldn’t have had to get rough with her. That’s how he put it, get rough with her.
It took everything Bonnie had to keep from rolling her eyes as she absorbed that gem of wisdom. The more Phillip talked, the more she disliked him. And the more she wondered what she’d ever seen in him. How had he managed to completely hoodwink her? In the beginning, she had thought he was sweet, caring and looking to spend time with someone who had so much in common with him.
Now though, she knew better. He had been looking for someone to own. Someone to dominate. Someone who would bow and scrape and do everything she could to make him feel superior. Had Bonnie known that from the beginning, they never would have had even a first date. But wasn’t that so often how things went? You date someone to get to know them, to see if they are someone you think you could live with. It hadn’t taken more than a few weeks for her to realize that no, she could not live with him.
Bonnie had stopped listening to the crap spewing out of Phillip’s mouth, but she hadn’t taken her eyes off him. She watched his every move as he took the six steps from one side of the small, unfinished room with a dirt floor where he’d brought her, then back across it.
Six steps, she watched him walk, wondering how long his stride was…. Depending on which end of average he landed on, the room was anywhere from twelve to fifteen feet wide. She didn’t know how long as she didn’t know if she was in the middle of the room or near a wall. Not that it mattered all that much. It was something she could think about other than listening to him go on and on about the ways he was going to make her pay for whatever imagined slight he had dreamed up.
A rough slap across her face brought Bonnie’s mind back to the man standing in front of her. Her eyes watered and her face stung where Phillip’s hand made contact. Her mind raced to see if she could figure out what had triggered the blow, but she couldn’t think of anything.
Maybe he’d realized her mind had wandered again?
“Stop thinking of that horrible biker,” Phillip’s voice was filled with rage.
Bonnie frowned, hoping he saw the confusion on her face. “I wasn’t thinking about anyone but you.” It wasn’t a lie. She had been thinking about him. Besides, she didn’t have to wonder about Corey. She had no doubt he’d find her. It was just a matter of when. Thinking of Corey, she couldn’t help but wonder how did Phillip know he rode a bike? She would lay odds that Corey hadn’t been to town on his bike since he’d moved her out to the ranch with him.
How long had Phillip been watching her? Had he followed Corey too or just her? Did he have people watching the other women on the ranch too? She tried to remember if any of the others lived off the ranch, but couldn’t remember if anyone had said. And was he the only one or did he have friends helping him?
Now she had something new to worry about.
Another blow across her face, this time from the other side made her face burn and flung her hair across her face, blocking her vision for a moment.
Bonnie bent her head forward while stretching the fingers of one bound hand up to touch the burning corner of her mouth. As she pulled away, she saw blood on her finger, but thankfully, not much. Next, she tilted her head back, shaking it to get her hair to fall away from her face so she could glare at Phillip without the errant strands ruining the effect.
He didn’t seem to see the anger in her eyes, as he bent low and snarled in her face.
“I told you to stop thinking about that filthy biker.”
“I told you to leave me alone,” Bonnie said back, no longer thinking her answers through before they fell from her mouth.
The back of his hand met her face again, striking her in almost the exact same place as the last blow had. This time she didn’t bother to touch the corner of her mouth or shake her hair from her face. She slowly turned back to face him, rage and determination etched into her expression. She didn’t care what he did to her, but every time he hit her, he made her madder. Every blow was one she swore she’d return. She didn’t know when or how, but she’d find a way to make sure he paid for what he did to her.
“This is not the reaction I’m looking for,” Phillip yelled from inches away. His eyes scanned the small room, as if there was something he was looking for, then with a shake of his head he dropped to sit on his heels in front of her and reached out toward her.
Bonnie wanted to pull away, to scoot the chair backwards to keep him from touching her, but she couldn’t. His hands were gentle as he picked up her right hand from where it rested, still tied to her left by the odd zip tie like things that had been put on her in the car.
“You have such pretty hands.” His voice had turned gentle, wonder filled. “It seems almost a shame to do what I’m going to have to do. But you have to learn. You have to learn that anything that takes your attention from me is bad for you. It has to be crushed. Getting sucked into your art for hours when you should be taking care of me is one of those things.” He said the word art as if he didn’t see what she did as art, he saw it more like a kid playing with finger paints and giving their parents a painting that is more blob than whatever it’s supposed to be.
Bonnie’s stomach churned. What was he planning? What was he going to do?
Before she had time to figure it out, much less try to pull away or fight back, Phillip took her right hand in both of his, and with one swift twist he did something to her little finger.
A scream of pain was ripped from her throat and tears filled her eyes and spilled down her face. She would have tried to stop it if she’d had a warning because now that she’d screamed, Phillip grinned. That evil, maniacal grin that had told her something was wrong inside his head, was back.
Bonnie clenched her jaw and sucked air between her teeth as she tried to keep from crying out again. She didn’t want to see how happy hurting her made him. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of making her cry even more. She couldn’t stop the tears flowing unchecked down her cheeks, but she wouldn’t sob or beg him to stop either.
Phillp petted her throbbing hand gently. “If you had just been a good girl, I wouldn’t have had to hurt you like that.”
After a moment he stood and stepped back, watching her with a satisfied look on his face. Bonnie refused to look down at her throbbing hand. Looking at it wouldn’t help matters. Until she saw the damage, she could pretend it wasn’t that bad. She could stay in denial and deal with what was right in front of her and more pressing. Phillip. She didn’t want to give him a reason to hurt her again.
That was how he saw it, she knew. He’d said as much. She had no illusions she could stop him, but she was determined not to give him an excuse.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to do as I asked?” Phillip asked, his tone reasonable again.
Bonnie watched him, trying not to let him see the rage bubbling up inside her. She wasn’t going to give him a reason to hurt her, and she was certain that her fighting back, her arguing in any way, even with just a look, would be seen as a reason to teach her a lesson. She’d had all the lessons she wanted today, or ever.