I close my eyes and let the darkness unfold in my head. It’s not that I can’t remember all of the horrible things, it’s that I’ve spent the past few months trying to forget.
“The first time I realized that he was a monster was a couple of months after we met. He asked me out. He asked to have me fully and completely. And, if I said no, he threatened the company.”
“Tell me the whole story.”
We would meet up at the LA airport that had become our thing. Every few weeks, I would fly to LA and see him. We’d spend the entire day talking and connecting in the airport. I never left the airport, and he never asked me to. But, each time I flew out, I thought this would be the time that he would ask me on a proper date, this would be the time that we’d become more than just friends.
We have been talking for a while. My flight back is going to leave in less than thirty minutes. We’ve had another beautiful day of talking and laughing together, but it seems that this time isn’t the time either.
Just ask him, my heart said, thumping in my chest.
I should. I don’t know why I’m waiting for this man to make the first move when I’m fully capable of doing it myself. The worst he’ll say is no or that he already has a girlfriend. I could lose him as a friend, but it’s a risk I have to take.
I open my mouth to ask him out when he says, “Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?”
I grin. “Yes.”
I don’t care about my flight or anything else I just care about having an awesome day with him.
Gabe leads me out of the airport, somewhere along the way interlinking fingers with mine. And that’s all I can focus on—our hands linked together the entire time—as Gabe leads me into the back of the waiting car on the curb. I can’t even tell you the name of the car. Just that I’m in one.
I’m blissfully ignorant of everything going on around me until Gabe takes the phone call. He doesn’t talk much.
He just says in a stern voice, “Yes, it will be done.” Then, he looks at me. “Small detour. I guess you’ll get to know more of what I do sooner rather than later.”
I smile, happy to learn more about his work. The car stops outside of a hotel. And Gabe helps me out, continuing to hold on to my hand. He opens the door for me to the hotel, and my mouth drops open. It’s extravagant with beautiful marble floors and a high ceiling with a large chandelier overhead. Gabe rests his hand on the small of my back as he leads me toward the elevator. The doors open, and we enter. I don’t know what kind of work he does that he has to meet someone in a hotel room, but I’m going along with it. That, or it’s all a ruse, and he’s just trying to get me naked in his bed. I think I like option B better.
He grabs my face and kisses me hard as my heart beats wildly in my chest. His hands go around my body, consuming me. He’s definitely going with option B.
The doors open, and he guides me down the hallway to a hotel room where a man is standing. The man hands the key to Gabe, and he swipes it in the lock.
I curiously look at him as he leads me inside the room, firmly holding my hand. When we step inside, I see a man tied to a chair in the corner of the room. I gasp.
“Wait here,” he says to me.
I stand frozen, not sure of what the hell’s going on.
Gabe walks over to the man, pulls a knife out of his pocket, and slits his throat.
I watch the blood spill from his neck. I watch the light leave his eyes. And I’m terrified. Gabe is a monster.
Gabe drops the knife on the man’s lap and wipes the blood that spilled onto his hands off on the man’s shirt before walking back to me.
“I want you, and I tend to get what I want. I kill for what I want. You’re mine now, Skye, for as long as I want you. For just tonight. Or for much longer.”
He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Unfortunately, I have a flight I have to catch. More work needs to be done, and this mess needs to be cleaned up. And I know you have a trip to the Bahamas. Enjoy yourself. This might be your last week of freedom away from me.” He firmly kisses me on the lips again. Then, he takes my hand and escorts me back out of the hotel room.
“George, take Skye to the airport and get her on the next flight back home.”
He looks at me. “Not a word to anyone, or I’ll kill you like I did to him. And I’ll take all your friends and family with you.”
“I went to the police after that. They didn’t believe me; they said it was all some sort of fantasy story. So, instead, I went to the Bahamas for a week and tried to forget. But, when I came back, he proposed and force me to be his. He’s a monster. But he is a very careful monster. He kissed me on the elevator, so the cameras would see us, and people would assume that we went to that hotel room to have a quickie. There is no evidence.”
Noah puts his hand on my shoulder and then pulls me into a hug that I desperately need right now. He’s a good man, although my judgment of men is not the best. If only Brody could be as good as well. Brody’s already shown me
that he is capable of hurting me.
We hear a loud pop down the hallway, and everyone jumps and stares at the door. We hear a man yelling at his son, telling him not to slam the door so loudly. It was just a kid, but it was enough to get all of our hearts racing.