36. 36
36
M ovement drew Bonnie’s eyes to the stairs. There was someone coming down them. Slowly. The quiet, slow progress as whoever it was took one step, then another, placing their feet gently, made her think they were trying to keep from being seen.
Who could it be? All she could see was boots and a pair of faded jeans from the knees down. Her heart raced, thundering in her ears, and drowning out whatever Phillip was saying. She didn’t want Phillip to realize someone was behind him, so she turned her gaze back to him, watching him move back and forth in front of her, but still not hearing him.
Phillip’s hand across her face told her he’d once again realized her attention wasn’t on him. She clenched her teeth but refused to make a sound. The last thing she wanted was for whoever was coming down the stairs, and she hoped it was Corey, to move too quickly because they thought she was being hurt. Yes, her face burned, but it wasn’t anything that wouldn’t fade with a little time.
“I asked you a question!” Phillip’s tone demanded her attention. She looked up at him and lifted one brow, hoping he would take it as the silent question she meant it to be.
Bonnie wasn’t sure she could speak without either her voice shaking or the rage she felt at Phillip’s high handedness showing through, so she kept silent.
“I asked if you thought you could behave if I let you go.”
Her heart leapt. Was he really going to untie her? She nodded once, still not unclenching her jaw. She knew her mouth would run away without her brain, and she wasn’t going to risk that, not now. Not when there was someone here who might be trying to get her free.
Phillip let out a single dry laugh, as if he didn’t believe her, then he went back to pacing back and forth in front of her. She watched him make several more passes, trying to keep an eye on the figure coming down the stairs. She needed to know who it was.
It took everything in her to keep her face blank and turn her attention back to Phillip when Corey stepped down far enough, she could see his face. Though she’d suspected it was him not just from the clothes and the way he moved, but the pistol in his hand. It was hard to tell from the fleeting glances and from the distance, but it looked like the one he carried. Besides, who else but Corey would come in here with a gun at the ready? Or had Phillip done something to anger more than she knew about?
Now that she knew it was him, she had a hard time looking away. Until Corey gave her a few hand signals, telling her to keep her eyes on Phillip. That reminded her that watching Corey would let Phillp know he was there. As much as she hated to look away, she turned her gaze back to Phillip, watching him pace back and forth in front of her.
She didn’t know how much longer this would last but with Corey here, she knew it wouldn’t be much longer. He would get her out of here and take her home. She didn’t know how long it would take but she trusted he would get it done. But was he here alone? Surely not. But where was whoever was with him?
Bonnie was careful to keep her eyes on Phillip. He still rambled and talked as he paced but she didn’t care what he said. Now that Corey was here, she knew he wouldn’t let Phillp hurt her, at least not more than he’d already done. And if he tried to slap her again, well Bonnie couldn’t be sure Corey wouldn’t use the pistol he looked very comfortable carrying to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“Are you even listening to me?” Phillp’s voice penetrated her thoughts. Mostly because he’d stopped pacing and now stood in front of her, hands on hips. At least he wasn’t slapping her again to get her attention. She looked up and met his gaze before speaking for the first time since she’d cried out the second time he’d slapped her. She didn’t know how long that had been but probably not as long ago as it had seemed.
“Not really.” She kept her tone as calm and bored as she could.
“Why not? Are you dreaming of what you’ll do when you get out of here? Let me assure you, you’re never getting out of here. I will never let you go.” Triumph clear in Phillip’s voice.
If she didn’t know that Corey was behind him. That Corey was already here to get her out, then it would have been far more intimidating than it was. Now though, knowing what he planned for her only made her stomach turn.
“Are you going to kill me?” Bonnie let her voice shake. It wasn’t that she was afraid of him, but that he made her sick. Not that he knew that.
“Maybe, eventually. For now though you’re mine and I will make sure you understand you’re never getting away, never leaving me. Maybe eventually I’ll let you move around the house, but not until you know your place.”
Her stomach churned and she wanted to vomit, but she swallowed several times.
“You need to pay attention now, because I’m going to tell you how things will be.” Phillip stood in front of her, his hands still on his hips as he glared down at her. “First, I have to punish you for running away. We also need to purify you because I’m certain you’ve slept with that filthy biker.” He skimmed his gaze down her body and back up, the look filled with disgust. “And I can’t touch you until you’ve been purified and been granted forgiveness.”
Forgiveness? There was no way she’d ask for his forgiveness, but she didn’t say that. Not now. Corey was sneaking up behind Phillip and she didn’t want to give him any reason to suspect anything had changed.
“You should start now.”
“Start?” She couldn’t keep the confusion from creeping into her tone.
“Start begging me to forgive you for slumming it with that biker.”
Bonnie opened her mouth, not sure what she would say, only that she wouldn’t be apologizing for the time she’d spent with Corey or asking Phillip to forgive her, but she was saved from having to say anything when Corey put an end to the charade.
He stepped up behind Phillip, touching his back with the muzzle of the pistol and speaking for the first time since she’d spotted him on the stairs.
“You need to move slowly, and do exactly as you’re told, or you won’t have to worry about anything ever again.” Corey’s voice was low and menacing.
Phillip froze.
“Put your hands up, slowly, and lace your fingers on top of your head. One move, one breath out of line and my first bullet will take out your heart.” Corey’s gaze flicked to Bonnie, then back to Phillip. “You okay, sweetness? He do more than that to your face?”
“I’m okay. He did something in the parking lot, I don’t know what, but it made my body not work right. By the time things started to work again it was too late. He did something to my hand, and he hit me a few times, but that’s all.” She touched the corner of her mouth with her tongue, wincing at the sting, but looking back to Corey, ignoring that Phillip was still between them.
“Good.” Corey glanced at her again, then back to Phillip. “Yo! We’re in the basement!” he called, far louder than he’d spoken so far, his gaze flicked down to her hand where she had cradled it against her chest. “We’ll have this looked at soon. Hopefully it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”
Relief washed through Bonnie. That meant she was right, he wasn’t alone. But who was with him? Who would see her like this?
Nobody moved for what seemed like an eon, but in under a minute, two more pairs of feet appeared on the steps, coming down much faster than Corey had just a few minutes before. Seconds later their faces appeared. She recognized Steele and Talon, each had a pistol in their hands, just like Corey. Relief washed through her, but she couldn’t have said why.
Steele came up beside Corey, replacing the gun in Phillip’s back with his own then nodding in Bonnie’s direction. Talon came straight to her. He holstered his pistol and pulled a knife from somewhere she hadn’t seen then bent to sit on his heels beside her.
“Be still so I don’t cut you.” He made short work of the tape wrapped around her and the chair then turned his attention to the thick zip tie thing on her uninjured hand.
It took a couple cuts, but he finally split it in two, and did the same to each of her ankles. When he had her free, Talon stood and stepped away. Bonnie rubbed her wrists then curled her injured hand back against her chest so hopefully nothing would bump it. Before she had a chance to peel the tape that had been holding her to the chair from her chest, or stand, Corey was there, his gun seemed to have disappeared. He pulled her to her feet then swung her up into his arms. She didn’t have a chance to say anything before he carried her up the stairs.
“Don’t go too far,” Talon called up at them. “Ghost was calling the police, they’ll be here soon. They’ll want to talk to you both.”