Chapter 2 - Amber #2
At the moment, she couldn’t care less. She sprinted into the house and glanced around. She had left dirty dishes in the sink, and she knew she was supposed to throw the linens into the laundry before she left. She was supposed to have three more days here, so it hadn’t even occurred to her.
It didn’t matter. She would eat whatever cleaning fees the host charged her.
She wasn’t staying here a moment longer than she had to.
She was going to throw all of her belongings into her suitcase and get out of here like a bat out of hell.
A shortened vacation was better than Eric somehow stumbling across her.
She had gotten lucky once. She doubted she would get lucky twice.
She hurried into the small bedroom in the back.
Despite only having been here a couple of days, it looked as though a bomb had exploded in her suitcase and thrown clothes all over the bed and floor.
She grabbed them as quickly as she could and threw them back into the suitcase haphazardly.
Her first pass through the house was so frantic and erratic that she missed nearly half of her belongings.
She had to force herself to go slower the second time, even as her heart was thundering and her mind shrieked at her to move as quickly as possible.
You can take a few minutes, she told herself, trying to still the spiraling thoughts threatening to drown her at any moment. He didn’t see you.
The words didn’t soothe her as much as she had hoped. Breathing out, she shook out her limbs and continued moving through the house.
Finally, when she was certain she had gathered everything, she sat down on the suitcase to zip it closed, the messy lump of clothes piled in making it difficult to shut. She didn’t care. She could leave. And she was never coming to this damned town ever again.
She opened the door and began to haul her suitcase out.
Only to find Eric standing on the front porch, hands stuffed in his pockets, that smirk playing on his lips.
“Amber,” he said. “Good to see you.”
Her mouth opened, but words wouldn’t come. Her mind went blank, fear grasping her and holding on tight. She swallowed, that terror grasping her and digging its talons deep into her.
“No hello?” he asked when she remained mute, frozen still as a statue. “After all these years? Least you can do, seeing as you ran out on me.”
The words and the dangerous bite to them broke her from her stupor.
She grasped the door and tried to slam it in his face.
He stopped it without looking and flung it back open, causing her to lose her balance.
She stumbled back, nearly tripping over the suitcase.
Eric’s smirk didn’t reach his eyes as he stalked into the house.
“I thought you’d be happier to see me,” he said.
Her car keys were still in her pocket, pressing against her thigh. If she could just get around him, she could make it to the car and drive away, suitcase be damned.
Words still failing her, she tried to dash around him toward the open door. She almost made it. But then Eric lashed out, grabbing her by the elbow and jerking her back with so much force that he nearly yanked her arm out of its socket.
“Oh no,” he hissed, slamming the door shut and locking it. “You’re not going anywhere.”
He pressed her against the wall, then stuffed his hands into her pockets until he extracted the car keys. Smirking, he dangled them in front of her before tucking them into his own jeans.
“Just let me go,” she said, her voice coming out small and timid.
“And why would I do that?” he asked. “We have unfinished business. Did you think I would forget about you just because you snuck off in the middle of the night?”
She gritted her teeth, trying to shove him away so she could escape. Her palms slammed into his chest and did absolutely nothing. He didn’t even rock backward with the force.
Eric barked out a laugh. “Come on, Amber,” he said. “We both know you’re too weak to do anything.”
Her eyes narrowed. She thrashed, trying to wrench herself out of his grasp.
“Let. Me. Go.” She snapped.
Her hand flew up toward his face, and he caught her wrist in a vice-like grip. His eyes burned.
“Careful,” he hissed. His eyes flashed wolf for a moment, reminding her of just how dangerous he could be. “You don’t want to do anything you’re going to regret.”
She shrank back despite herself. All of a sudden, she was small, eighteen once again, and completely compliant with whatever he commanded.
She hated it. She hated that he had done this to her in less than a handful of minutes.
She hated that she had let him when she promised herself it would never happen to her again.
Yet, here she was, cowering before him like she had all those years ago.
Still grasping her by the arm, he jerked her toward him. “Where’s your wallet?”
She didn’t answer, but her eyes betrayed her, straying to her purse on the table by the door.
Eric followed her gaze. Still holding onto her, he strode over, forcing her to stumble along after him.
He tipped the purse over and extracted the leather wallet from the small pile of odds and ends that had been in her bag.
“You’re not going to need this,” he said, tucking it into the same pocket he had dropped her car keys into.
Gritting her teeth, she glanced toward the door. It was locked, but if she could just distract him for long enough, maybe she could still make her escape.
Once again, Eric followed her gaze. He laughed when he realized her eyes were lingering on the door.
“You still think you can get out of here? You have to know you aren’t going anywhere,” he said. “I’ve got your keys and your wallet. Even if you try to run into the woods, I’ll be able to track you down, and you know it.”
He was right, and she did know it. Her insides twisted with dread.
She seemed to have gone mute. Every time she tried to open her mouth to say something, the words evaporated.
She had turned into a mute dummy, the way she used to be with Eric.
Something she had promised herself she would never turn into again.
When she stilled, Eric gave a wide, sharp-toothed grin that chilled her to her core. “That’s better,” he said. “Are you going to keep fighting or are you going to behave like I know you can?”
She glowered up at him, but she couldn’t meet his gaze for long. After a moment, her eyes slid down to the ground. Her shoulders sagged, the defiance evaporating.
“Answer me,” he snapped.
She flinched. His grip on her tightened the longer she remained mute.
“Well?”
“I’ll behave,” she murmured, her voice impossibly quiet.
“Good.” Chuckling, he yanked her deeper into the house, still holding onto her. Once or twice, she tried half-heartedly to tug herself out of his grasp, only for it to do nothing. It was like he had sapped all the fight from her. She closed her eyes and let him drag her down the hall.
She had always imagined that, if she stumbled across Eric again, she would be strong enough to fight back. She had thought she was stronger than this. Instead, words seemed to fail her, as if he’d stolen her ability to speak along with everything else.
He pulled her into the living room and flung her toward the couch. She stumbled before collapsing on the cushions. When she straightened, Eric was leering down at her.
“Now. You’re going to stay here like a good girl,” he said. “I don’t want you moving from this spot until I tell you to. Do you understand?”
She wasn’t tied down. Theoretically, she could move whenever she wanted.
She could run into the woods and risk him chasing her for the chance of freedom.
It would be as simple as waiting until his back was turned and making a dash for it.
But it was as though some switch had been flipped inside her.
That fight wasn’t there. She suddenly felt like that small eighteen-year-old once more, who meekly listened to him because she thought he was as good as she was going to get.
Slowly, shame creeping up her face, she nodded.
“Good.” He reached out. She flinched when the back of his hands brushed against her cheeks, but she didn’t leap to her feet and race away as she had always imagined she would.
The years away from Eric didn’t seem to matter.
She was still the same weak person she had always been. She’d been lying to herself.
He laughed at her twitch away from him, then grasped her chin and tilted her head so she had to look up at him. His thumb stroked her cheek proprietarily. Revulsion shivered along her spine.
“You know, you showed back up at an interesting time,” he said conversationally. “Some big things are coming up. You’re lucky you’ll be around to see them.”
She tugged her chin out of his grasp and glanced back down. She heard an angry snarl and waited for a slap, but it never came.
“Stay here,” he said. “I’ll be back for you later.”
He walked away, leaving her alone in the living room. She closed her eyes, shoulders slumping, and cradled her face in her hands. She should have been running. Instead, she was sitting here like an idiot. Why couldn’t she run?
Everything screamed at her to get up and run, but the thought of Eric lurking in a nearby room pinned her to the sofa, her limbs refusing to move.
A wave of helplessness washed over her, threatening to drown her. She wasn’t strong. She wasn’t going to run the way she knew she needed to. She was weak, terrified, and a pushover. And now she was stuck with a man she hated and was too paralyzed to do anything about it.