Buttons and Shame (Buttons 4)

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the doorframe. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Just get your things, alright?” He walked out with his bag over his shoulder.

I had no idea why he was so distant with me when we had been getting along great. We’d been traveling all over Italy looking at the tourist attractions like a couple on vacation. The sex had been great, and the conversation had been even better.

Then he flipped on me again.

I grabbed a few extra toiletries and a jacket, just in case it was cold wherever we were headed. I met him in the entryway, and he grabbed my bag and stuffed it into the trunk. “Can you tell me how long we’ll be gone for?”

“Two days, max.”

Then this probably wasn’t a luxurious vacation. Maybe he had to travel for work, and he decided to take me along. It would explain why he was unwilling to answer questions. With his job, everything was confidential.

We drove to the airport and checked in for a red-eye flight. Cane had all the forged foreign papers to get me to travel, and I wasn’t sure how he pulled off getting me a passport. But then again, he was a criminal. I shouldn’t be surprised.

When Cane handed over the tickets to the gate agent, I saw the details.

South Carolina.

My hometown.

When we were in the air at a steady altitude, everyone was asleep in their seats. We were in first class, so we had more leg room and privacy. The constant hum of the engines played in the background and drowned out the occasional shift of someone in their seat.

Cane watched the TV on the wall in front of him with a scotch in his cupholder. He hadn’t made small talk with me since we left the house, and he didn’t seem tired either even though it was late.

“Why are we going to South Carolina?” I finally asked because I needed to know.

He drank from his glass, taking his time and not looking at me. He licked his lips when he was finished and placed the glass in the cupholder. “We’re just stopping by.”

“By why are we going?” I pressed. It couldn’t be a coincidence that we were traveling to the place where I grew up, where my parents still lived.

He glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to us and the flight attendant was nowhere nearby. “You can’t call your parents because it’s too risky. Phones are tapped, and Tristan has eyes and ears everywhere. But if we see them in person and your parents don’t tell the cops, that should work.”

I heard everything he said, but I couldn’t believe it. I was on the way to seeing my parents again, something I thought would never happen. I could hug my father again. I could kiss my mother. I could tell them what happened to me so they wouldn’t live the rest of their lives not knowing. It was exactly what I wanted, something that had been haunting me every single day. “Cane…I don’t know what to say.”

He drank from his glass again, the ice cubes hitting his lips. “Just make sure they don’t tell the cops. That’s all I ask.”

“I will, but you’re still taking a risk.”

His eyes turned back to the TV.

It was so compassionate that I didn’t know what to say. I knew he wasn’t like the other men I encountered, but I had no idea what kind of heart he possessed. He’d seen the look on my face at dinner and knew this was something that truly bothered me. “Thank you…”

“My sister was taken from me… It was really hard. Trying to sleep at night imagining how she was being tortured was brutal. It consumed me, and when she eventually died, it was actually a relief. Her suffering was over, and I didn’t have to think about it anymore. Your parents should have some closure, some peace.”

My eyes welled up with tears, but I didn’t let them fall.

“I can’t let you go. You know that.”

I nodded.

“So don’t try to run. I’ll have to do things you won’t enjoy.”

I knew the threat wasn’t idle. “You’re taking a risk to do this for me. I would never betray you.” Cane had treated me well the second I was in his captivity. He treated me like a human being rather a piece of property. He could have hurt me, broken me, but he never did any of those things. I was treated with respect, with dignity. I shouldn’t be grateful because I was still a prisoner, but I was.

Cane nodded. “I know.”

It was evening when we arrived. We rented a car and drove to the hotel just a few miles away from the house where I grew up. We’d slept on the plane, but we were both lethargic. It would be easy to go to sleep, but no amount of exhaustion could diminish anxiety.