Chapter Twenty One
Alia
“You didn’t give me the chance to reply to your confession,” I said groggily.
I’d just woken up from a nap and realized that we hadn’t spoken about his feelings… or mine.
Moth put a finger to his lips, hushing me as he tilted his head to listen. I stayed still, arms under me where I’d been about to push up into a sit.
He’d told me that he needed time to think of a plan in case Brandon turned up before he could get free.
I’d left him to his thoughts as he’d stood, staring towards the main entrance.
He’d confessed that he loved me – sort of – which had changed everything.
My feelings for him were obvious, they always had been.
However, I suspected that he may have been trying to soothe me, to turn me on.
Did he actually love me, as an adult, for real?
“I can hear people out there,” he muttered, “but I can’t tell whether they’re near enough to hear us.”
Shifting to my feet, I tried to move closer to him, only to be stopped by my chains. My wrists ached like crazy, the skin red raw just from the metal. “Should we shout for help?”
He went silent again, holding up his free hand. The end of his chain sat on the floor nearby, looking lost on the stark concrete. I kept my breathing even, also trying to listen. His hearing must have been better than mine because I couldn’t hear anything.
“Shall we try to get your other hand free?” I asked, my cheeks heating when he looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes sharp and cold.
The warmth he’d shown me the night before had vanished. He stared at me before blinking several times and looking away.
“I have a feeling he’s coming.” He stepped away from the bars and closer to me. “We need to be careful.”
Picking up the almost empty bottle of water, I handed it to him. He took a tiny sip before giving it back to me. I did the same, leaving just two sips left. We were surviving on the bare minimum of water and my stomach rumbled loudly, begging for food.
“I bet it’s a relief to have one hand free,” I said, trying to start a conversation so that his black mood didn’t permeate everything.
He grunted and looked down at his wrist, slowly turning to go back near the other chain. “You need to prepare yourself,” he said gently, “for what might happen if I do manage to get hold of Brandon.”
My breath hitched loudly, drawing his attention. I tried to smile when he fixed me with a penetrating stare. “Sorry, I hadn’t considered it. I… It’s fine. He deserves everything he gets. I just hope you can get to him in time. That’s why we need that other chain off, so you can get him first.”
“I will not let him hurt you.” He looked down at his bound wrist and tugged, swearing when the chain clattered on the ground.
Swallowing, I sighed and went to the bars. We had to keep our minds clear, just in case Brandon did arrive. If Moth had a feeling, I would trust that. As much as I wanted him to masturbate in order to produce more cum, I had to take his lead.
“You don’t think it’s worth trying…” My sentence trailed off as I gestured to his trapped arm.
A slow smile spread across his face as he cocked his head to the side. “Want to see more of me, do you?”
My heartbeat increased, and I put a hand on my stomach to calm the nerves. “I want to hear more of what you were saying yesterday.”
“I bet you do.” He smirked. “You loved hearing it, didn’t you?”
“Uh huh. Except…”
He frowned. “What?”
“Was it true?” I whispered loudly, “or just a way to comfort me?”
His eyes closed and his lips pursed. “It’s true, but we can’t talk about it, not now.”
Moving closer to him, I reached out, waving for him to come to me. He shook his head and went to the bars, far away from where I stood. My arm dropped and he scowled, pushing away from the bars and coming to stand in front of me.
“Don’t look so fucking hurt,” he murmured, digging his hand up under the hair on the back of my neck.
“This is not the time to tell you that I dreamed about you most nights. As soon as I escaped the cult, I came for you. I wanted you dead because I’d fantasied about you for the whole five years I was in the compound.
The guilt of masturbating over you, of wanting you, even though I believed you’d killed my brother, drove me insane. ”
I gripped his bulging arm and squeezed. “That’s all gone now. There’s just us… here and now.”
“I had believed that when I saw you again at eighteen years old, after we’d escaped,” he went on, “all the lust would drain away and the anger would fully take over. But no… I saw you stumbling down the street on the arm of some guy and it took all my strength not to kill him.”
“When I was eighteen?” I licked my lips. “You sent me a letter to say that you’d returned. Threatened me, again.”
He nodded and squeezed my neck harder. “I was so distracted, no – fucking obsessed – by you, it hindered the life we were trying to build after leaving that place. When I saw you that night, I knew I wasn’t ready to take you down, despite sending you the letter previously.
I swore to come back for my vengeance later. ”
“And then, all these years later,” I sucked in a shaky breath as tears threatened, “I found you on a bridge, about to take your own life. Before you could take revenge.”
Pressing his forehead against mine, he sighed, his breath fanning my face.
I was about to speak when he released me, taking a step back to look at me.
“Some days were darker than others. We channeled our anger, our pain and our brokenness, into the music. Ant got a normal job to pay the bills and we did online shit, quickly learning how to use the internet to our advantage. Our music videos are watched by billions of people worldwide and no one knows who we are. That day… on the bridge…” He lifted his gaze from where it had been resting on the floor.
“…I’d just finished a music video when I went to get food.
Arriving at the pizza place, I checked my phone and saw a Tiktok video, posted by my mother. ”
“Your mother?” I blurted, frowning when he turned away from me.
“The bitch who forced us into the cult, who freely gave us to the man who tortured us.” He picked up the chain from the floor and sat, his back against the bars.
“I was afraid she’d found us and everything just weighed heavy on me that night.
I didn’t want to do it, anymore. The vengeance had become unhinged.
And she was meant to be my second to last enemy. ”
I was about to open my mouth when the main entrance door rattled and opened. Moth was on his feet, coming to stand in the middle of the cage, with his arms stretched out behind him. Both chains were pulled taunt behind him, making it look like they were still attached to his wrist.
Going closer to Moth, I stretched my chains so my wrists were in front of me, away from Brandon, who closed the main entrance behind him and turned to face us. He scowled as he dropped a backpack and flask on the ground.
“Sorry it took so long for me to return,” He said, his voice tense, “I ran into some trouble. A bunch of guys who were looking for your boyfriend.”
My skin grew cold as I glanced at Moth. His expression was clear, his forehead smooth and his jaw relaxed. He had brought down the walls and was preparing to fight for our lives. I had to do the same.
Brandon moved to the door of the cage, squeezing the bars as he studied us. His eyes were bloodshot and a pink graze marred his cheek.
“I’m pretty fucked off,” he said, staring at Moth. “Your friends are a hindrance to my plan. I wanted to savor everything, eek it out until you’re both at death’s door and take Alia over and over again. It would’ve been so sweet.”
We both stared at him, our expressions unchanging and our stances strong. Whatever happened, Moth had taught me to fight with dignity. I wasn’t afraid of Brandon with Moth by my side, even if the worst happened.
“So now,” Brandon went on, seemingly oblivious to our disengagement, “It has to be a rush job.”
Pushing away from the cage door, he picked up the flask and took a swig from it, eyes swimming as he wiped his mouth clumsily.
Shit, he was drunk. He was giving himself the courage to go through with his attack.
That was actually a good thing, it would weaken him.
He trusted that the chains would hold us enough to give him freedom to abuse me.
“Let’s get on with it.” Opening the backpack, he took out a knife and stood. “At least I’ll get you both out of my life. I can take my time with the next one.”
He moved to the gate and unlocked it, indicating that I move closer to him with a flick of the knife. I glanced at Moth, who didn’t move, not even giving me an indication of what to do.
“No,” I defied him, “I won’t let you get away with this.”
“I don’t have the patience to fuck around, bitch,” Brandon spat, grabbing one of my chains and yanking hard.
Yelping, I stumbled forward until I was in front of him. My arms shook and my stomach rolled as he tugged me closer. Moth hadn’t tried to stop me from going to him, which hopefully meant he had a plan.
Brandon grabbed my elbow as soon as I was close enough and clenched the bone, locking on and pulling down until my knees hit the floor.
Looking into my face, he scowled, baring his teeth and releasing a wave of alcohol breath.
I cringed away from him, turning my face to avoid the onslaught of the stench.
“You used to kiss me with such enthusiasm,” he muttered, gripping my chin and turning me to face him. “I thought I had broken you enough for you to want to stay.”
“It doesn't work like that.” I kept my voice low to defuse his mood.
“Pfft,” he puffed air from his mouth and I gagged, unable to hide my reaction to him.
He cupped my whole jaw and pushed me backwards, laughing when I tumbled, falling onto my back. “Oh, you're a bitch. I can't wait to fuck you, right in front of your boyfriend here.”
Brandon sunk to his knees to lean over me, his face screwed up in irritation