28. Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Maeve Henderson
I feel sick.
Why do I feel sick?
My head is throbbing, my mouth feels dry, my joints are sore, and my arm is throbbing.
Why is my arm throbbing?
I pull my sleeve up and see gauze wrapped around my upper arm and bruising underneath the bandage.
Did I fall?
I don’t even remember drinking!
But my eyes feel heavy and dry and they burn when I try to open them and focus on everything.
When I rub my eyes enough that I can focus, I realize I’m not in my room.
I don’t actually know where I am…
What is this place, and why are my things here?
I quickly sit up and have to force myself to ignore how dizzy and nauseous the sudden movement makes me, but I’m more confused than anything.
How can I remember everything from the other night but nothing about last night?
Whatever happened last night, this is a lovely room.
It’s cold, just how I like it, and simply decorated.
Wait, why do I care about how the room looks?
And how is it already morning?
Last I remember, it was dinner time, and I had just finished eating my birthday dinner on my bedroom floor, yet now it’s somehow morning, and I’m in a massive bed that’s softer than anywhere I’ve ever laid.
If I weren’t so nauseous and confused, I’d be pretty happy about where I am right now.
There are far too many pillows and a few too many blankets, perfect for cocooning yourself into and binging movies.
Wait, some of these blankets are mine…
Did I plan to come here?
Did I pack a bag?
I need answers, and I’m not liking the vibe I’m getting from this entire situation.
I jump up and have to immediately grab onto the nightstand for balance.
My head is spinning worse than it was the other night.
I see pulses of black and light flashing across my vision, and I can’t focus on anything. It makes me have to stop and pause so I don’t pass out.
When I’ve collected myself, I realize my glasses, the book I’m currently reading, and a bottle of water are sitting on the nightstand.
Why do I look settled in this room?
Somehow everything looks perfectly placed while looking out of place at the same time, like I’ve been forced into this space and I don’t quite fit.
The only thing that solidifies that I shouldn’t be here is that the door is locked from the outside, and the window doesn’t open.
What am I supposed to do?
I take a lap around the large and spacious room, taking a mental inventory of everything.
Half of the closet is mine, carefully hung and arranged by item and season while the other half is a man’s clothes.
Cigarette pants, fancy sweaters, button-ups, slacks, loafers, and Oxford shoes.
Wait…Leon wears these things.
That can’t be.
I can’t be the girl who somehow gets so drunk that I slept with a professor.
I’m not even sure if that’s what happened, but I can’t think of anything else.
The little fragments of memories that flash in my head don’t make any sense, but they’re all I have to try and piece together last night.
I see my destroyed birthday cake, a cold shower, and me falling asleep crying.
Then I feel rope or tape, and my eyes are covered. I feel myself being bound and crying on my bed.
No, this can’t be…
Was I kidnapped?
No, I have to still be dreaming, but you don’t hurt in your dreams, and my arm is throbbing, as well as my wrists and my head.
When I lift my arms, I see deep red marks on my wrists from the tape or rope that I now realize I couldn’t have imagined.
My imagination isn’t good enough to make up the pain I’m feeling.
I sink down onto the floor in the closet and rest my head on my knees.
This can’t be…
When I hear the jingle of keys, I snap out of my pity party and crawl in between the layers of clothes, hoping it’s enough to shield me from whoever is about to walk in.
“Ma petite fleur, you can come out now; I won’t hurt you.” I hear.
That is Leon…
I don’t even know what to say, but I know I don’t believe that he won’t hurt me.
I think that ship sailed when I woke up, possibly drugged with rope marks around my body in a room that I can’t leave on my own.
I hear him take a lap around the room. I was confident that he wouldn’t be able to find me, but he did, and far too quickly.
Leon pushes the clothes aside and stares down at me with a raised eyebrow. “What are you hiding from?” He asks calmly.
I want to kick him.
I want to kick him in his perfect face and make a run for it.
What am I hiding from?
He freaking kidnapped me!
Is it not obvious that I am hiding from him?“Why?” I ask quietly.
He offers what I assume he thinks is a sympathetic smile, but I’m not buying it. He also offers me a hand, another thing that I refuse.
“Come out of there, and we will discuss this like adults.” He says calmly.
I glare up at him, leaving my arms tightly wrapped around my legs. “We’re past talking like adults. I think you messed that one up when you drugged me, jerk.” I mutter.
Slowly, far too slowly, this man gets down on one knee in front of me and gives me a smile that is honestly unsettling.
“I suppose you’re right. Fine, get out of the closet so we can speak like adults, or I will drug you again, and we will have this talk while you’re strapped to a chair. Your choice.” He replies calmly.
A shiver runs up my spine at his words, and his tone and the warmth that I’ve felt from this man in the past has vanished, now being overtaken by a feeling of ice.
The sweet man who drove me home and made sure I had water is gone; the stranger who bought me apple cider and gave me his nicest bags is now nothing but a monster and a stranger.
It’s somehow more terrifying when I get a good look at him and realize that while one of his eyes is a warm and inviting blue, the other is a cold, clinical, and terrifying gray.
Is it like a split personality thing?
The two sides of him are shown off in physical form to warn people away from the bad in him.
“Fine.” I snap back.
I’ll let him talk, but then I’m finding a way out of here.
Leon stands up, gripping the same thigh as he does, as if he needs to do so for balance.
Maybe this is a weakness? Something I can exploit to get out of here…
“I suggest whatever plan you think you’re forming, you don’t.” He warns.
When he offers me a hand, I crawl out from between the clothes without touching him and create as much space as I’m able to as I walk out of the closet.
He takes a seat on the small couch in the room, leaving enough space for me, but I sit on the edge of the bed instead.
I don’t want to be near this man right now, not until I know what’s happening and why.
“You live here now.” Leon says calmly once I’m sat.
I’m immediately up, glaring at him with my hands on my hips. “The heck I do!” I snap back.
He sighs and points to the seat beside him again.
“No! I want to leave.” I snap.
Leon stands up, towering over me and pointing to the couch again. “Sit.” He yells.
A shiver runs up my spine, and I sit before my body can protest
The warm blue and icy silver eyes glare at me with so much determination that I feel almost paralyzed with fear.
“You don’t have a home anymore. Your roommate threw you out, and you cannot afford a new place. You can’t even afford to feed yourself properly.” He mentions.
Okay, he’s not wrong, but this is not my home.
Before I get the chance to respond, he continues, “This is your home now, and I will provide for you. When I decide that you can be trusted, we will be a normal couple, and you can live out your normal life, but until then, you’re done with school.”
I curl my legs up to my chest and hug onto them; I feel hopeless and lost. I don’t even know what to say. “Finals are this week.” I mumble.
I can’t afford to start this year over, and I can’t afford to miss finals.
He has no idea what he’s about to take from me.
If he ever thinks I could be happy here, ruining my life isn’t the way to do it.
Leon stands up and heads into the closet, but I can’t focus on that, not until he joins me at my side again and I feel something cold and metal click into place around my neck.
My hands reach up, and I feel a thick metal collar snug around my neck. It feels like something a dog would wear.
Will he drag me around like a dog?Will I be forced to walk on my hands and knees and wear a leash?
“This stays on until you can be trusted. Don’t worry; nobody will see you like this.” He insists.
I feel too stuck to move.
I’m in a fancy version of a collar, one that I assume will alert him if I try to run.
I’m a prisoner…
Leon puts his hand on my back, but I don’t register the touch as anything comforting; no, it feels possessive and cold.
“Don’t worry, ma fleur, it won’t be so bad. You’ll like living here, I promise.” He says warmly.
I highly doubt that.
I look up at him, trying my best to fight back tears. I don’t think showing weakness is my key to getting out of here, so I’ll save my pity party for whenever I’m alone. “Why does my arm hurt?” I ask quietly.
Again, this man smiles warmly at me and runs his hand along my spine.
“I’ve cut your birth control out. You know, you really shouldn’t be putting foreign things in your body.” He mentions.
I’m too stunned to react in any way other than to stare at him like he’s a crazy person.
My eyes track him as he gets up and walks out of the room without another word, but this time he leaves the door open.
I know it’s a long shot, but I have to try, right?