Chapter 54 | Rae
Rae
The rocks crunched under my slippers as I walked to where Ethan was leading me. This pillowcase he put over my head smelled as bad as his breath did, and it took everything in me to not throw up. My side and my arm screamed at me with every move I made.
My feet hit something and I fell, my shins colliding with whatever I tripped on next. I let out a small cry and felt Ethan’s hand smack the back of my head. “Shut up. While there’s no one out here, I would hate to take a chance on someone hearing you scream.”
“I tripped, you bastard. I can’t see and I’m in pain!!”
Ethan lifted me up and huffed. “There’s stairs here. A few of them. Keep going.”
I stumbled as I went up the steps, having to trust Ethan, which is something I had not wanted to do for a long time. One of my slippers fell off and the rough wood on the steps hurt my foot. Ethan didn’t tell me when there were no more stairs, so I stumbled again, and he laughed. Sick bastard.
We took a couple more steps and then paused before I heard a door opening in front of me.
He started to pull me, but I stood there shaking my head.
“Please, Ethan. Let me go,” I cried. I felt the knife at my side again as he pulled me forward into the building, putting more of a barrier between Caleb and me.
If I was to scream for help, would he even be able to hear me?
The door slammed behind me with a hollow thud, the sound echoing through the walls of the house.
Ethan ripped the pillowcase off and then reached to lock the door with a deliberate click, turning back to me with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
I took my first breath of what I had hoped would have been fresh air.
Instead, what I’d breathed in smelled old and smoky.
Hot tears stung my eyes again as I realized that Ethan had brought me to an abandoned house.
How far had we gone? Would Caleb even look here?
Ethan stepped close, the knife still pressed against my ribs.
“You might not see it now,” he said in a voice so calm it made my skin crawl, “but this could be our place. Quiet. Away from everyone. Just you and me.” He reached out and cupped my cheek.
His thumb brushed over my skin, wiping away tears that I hadn’t meant to cry.
I squeezed my eyes and jerked my head away from him.
“Somewhere we could start over. Somewhere no one could touch us.” His voice sounded a little less calm than it had before.
“You’re sick! I know we didn’t go far. You can’t seriously think that Caleb won’t find us.
” I pulled away as best as I could, but he caught my wrist and pulled me against his chest. A small whimper escaped my lips as he moved me.
I tried to hide the pain that radiated from the cuts on my arm and side, but they burned with every movement.
His fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist. “You think you get to say no? Not this time.” His smile was cold and his eyes looked soulless. “You’ll learn to love me again—one way or another.”
He moved us farther into the house and turned on a dim light that only lit up a portion of the room.
“This is where you’ll stay. Where no one can find you.
” He looked behind him at something and sighed.
“I’m going to let go of you now because I have to grab something.
Do not move. Okay?” He pointed the knife at my face, and I nodded quickly.
While he wasn’t towering over me, I was able to look at the house he had brought me to. It looked like a skeleton of what it used to be. The walls looked dark, like they’d been burned. In one corner, a sleeping bag lay crumpled on the floor. A filthy blanket. A bag. Rope.
I was already afraid, but seeing the rope and the bag, with whatever was in that, scared me to death. Don’t go there, Rae. Think.
Ethan looked at me with a look like he dared me to try and run.
I needed to look for something I could use as a weapon. The flooring was covered in some plastic drop cloths, and there were some tools, a tarp covering a box, and a bit of wood not far from where Ethan was standing. Perfect, besides him standing right next to it. What was he doing?
I continued to look around but saw nothing close enough that would work as a weapon.
I tried to picture what the house might’ve looked like before whatever caused this damage, before it became a hiding place for something this ugly.
Something felt familiar about this place, and I couldn’t figure out what it was.
I needed to try and distract him, or something, so I could get to the tools.
“You’ve been staying here?” I asked, my voice sounding small, but I forced it to be steady.
Ethan didn’t look at me. “It’s quiet. For now.”
He made a sound like he’d found what he had been looking for, and then he turned and gave me a slow, dark look—one that said exactly what was coming next. He held up a pair of handcuffs.
“You’re out of your mind.”
Crap, if looks could kill. That made him angry. He spun on me so fast I barely had time to take a step back before the knife was pressed to my stomach again. My back hit the wall. The air in the room seemed to vanish.
“Don’t push me, Rae,” he hissed. “You think I won’t do it? That cowboy of yours can’t save you. No one’s gonna hear you scream.”
My heart thudded. I kept my eyes on his, forcing myself to not give him the satisfaction of fear on my face, even if it was eating me alive inside.
“You already did your worst to me,” I said quietly, with a bite to my tone. “And I’m still here.” I spit on his face.
His expression flickered—rage, disbelief, something ugly—and then he turned away. He started pacing. Back and forth. Mumbling. Talking to himself more than me.
“You ruined everything! You told him! You made me into some kind of monster, like you weren’t begging for it back then, like you didn’t know how lucky you were.”
My stomach twisted. I thought he was angry before, but this was so much worse.
“I didn’t beg,” I said. “I was scared. And you...”
He turned and shoved me again, harder this time, the flannel falling from my shoulder.
My back slammed into the wall. and a large piece of splintered wood pierced through my skin, close to my spine.
I screamed in pain and he threw me down on the ground.
My hands shot out for balance, my breath knocked from my chest.
“Shut up! You don’t get to talk like that. Not to me.”
I was too far from the tools, but I tried to crawl towards them. He grabbed my hair and pulled me back. I struggled, twisting my body, but he wrenched my arm behind me again. He twisted my skin so tight that it felt like my wound ripped open more.
Keep fighting, Rae.
I kicked at his shin and caught part of it.
The knife clattered to the floor. He let out a yell but didn’t release me.
He straightened up, picking up the knife as he stood, and dragged me a few feet to the sleeping bag by my hair.
I screamed in pain as it felt like every nerve in my body was on fire.
He straddled my hips and I thrashed beneath him, but he grabbed the handcuffs and yanked my arms back, handcuffing my wrists together.
He then picked up the rope and proceeded to tie up my legs.
My skin burned as the fibers scratched and tightened around my legs and ankles.
My throat felt like it was closing. I couldn’t take a complete breath.
“I oughta teach you a lesson for what you did, what lies you said about me. Make sure you understand what happens when you lie about a man like that,” he growled.
Tears stung my eyes, but not just from fear. From fury. From the unfairness of all of this. From the way his voice sounded like it always had right before he hurt me.
He cut off the flannel shirt and stared at me with an evil grin. I thought I had been afraid before, but I was wrong. Now I was paralyzed by fear.