Luca

Luca approached us and held out a room card to Freddie then turned to walk away.

“Hey where’s my room card?” I called after him.

He sighed then looked between Freddie and I.

“They’re fully booked up, some special weekend or something I wasn’t listening. Anyway all they have is the Presidential suite. I took it.” He shrugged and went to walk away.

“Hold on for just one second here.” I said slightly louder than I’d expected, as people around us turned to look at me.

“I’m not sharing a room with you two, never mind a fricking bed.” I half whispered now.

Luca came back over to where I sat stubbornly folding my arms over my still erect nipples and glaring daggers at him.

“You can take the bed, I’m sure we’ll manage just fine with the sofa. Come on it’s on the third floor and apparently the views of the Caribbean Sea are exquisite.” He said sarcastically as if we were going to be spending our time looking at the bloody views.

I huffed out in annoyance then stood and followed him as a smiling concierge showed us to the room and frowned at our lack of luggage and dishevelled state.

When I walked through the door of the room I stopped dead in my tracks to take it all in. It was all pure white furniture with polished wooden flooring and stone washed beams. It was stunning. I could see the private balcony off the main living area. It was huge and spanned the entire room, with heavy cream curtains hanging elegantly in front of the wooden doors that led outside. The lady at the desk was right, these views were something else. I’d never been in such an awesome hotel room before. It was more like an apartment than a room and it was a million times better than any apartment I’d ever rented.

The guy who showed us to this ‘room’ mentioned something about a butler, and reeled off information about the Wi-Fi, VIP treatments and other facts he thought we’d be making use of during our stay. I didn’t listen, I don’t think Luca or Freddie did either. Freddie was too busy looking around at the suite showing his appreciation at the Bose equipment in the room and the Hermes products he found as he explored. Luca’s eyes stayed fixed on me as if he was trying to gauge how pissed off I still was.

Once we were alone I stepped through the living area to the bedroom where a king sized bed covered in a ridiculous amount of scatter cushions just begged for me to dive into it. The décor from the living area extended into the bedroom with the same curtains framing the doors that led to another private balcony. The cream of the fabrics were in contrast to the dark wood of the furniture, doors and flooring. For a hotel it had a real homey feel. I felt Luca behind me at the door

, his hot breath touching the skin on my neck and sending shivers down my back.

“You don’t have to be alone Chloe. Don’t play the martyr.” He whispered to me.

“I find it’s easier being alone. Less chance of… disappointment.” I replied and turned to face him.

He looked from my eyes to my lips then back again. I knew he wanted to kiss me so I took control and pushed him back gently, then closed the door on him to shut him out.

I crawled into the bed, throwing the scatter cushions around the room carelessly and within minutes I’d fallen into a deep sleep.

I woke with a blood curdling scream, sweat coating my whole body and plastering my hair to my head.

“What the fuck.” I gasped as I recalled what had brought me out of my nightmare on that scream. A sweaty fat trafficker with a strap on knife ready to fuck me to death. I couldn’t stop shaking.

“Chloe…can I come in? Please…” Freddie couldn’t hide the pain in the tone of his voice.

“Yeah.” I responded, pulling my hair off my face and neck and twisting it into a loose ponytail.

I pulled my knees up to rest under my chin and held the covers over me for protection.

“You were screaming.”

Freddie looked tired as he closed the bedroom door gently and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

I shook my head but my mouth was on a different wave length to the rest of my body it seemed.

“He was gonna hurt me.” I blurted out. “He had so many knives and…other things. I was so scared Freddie. I thought I was gonna die.”

I couldn’t stop the tears from trickling down my cheek and making the top of the covers wet. Freddie moved further up the bed and gave me a big soft bear hug, the kind we’d always shared since we were kids.

I sniffed and hiccupped like a kid as I told him about the torture chamber I was chained up in, the blood soaked table, the different walls and the threats of sexual violence they held. All promised for me on this very night. I shook as I spoke and I desperately tried to reconcile myself to the fact that I was safe now, I wasn’t going to wake up shackled to that wall again with men coming to ‘use’ me.

“Did anyone…touch you?” He asked his face going paler as I nodded yes.