In Chains (6 page)

Simon runs down the stairs as I get through the door. “Stay away from it Savannah. Stay away from it.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Savannah

“It obviously realises I’m out of its league,” says Christina. She’s sitting at the kitchen table, sipping on a glass of orange juice. “It seems it doesn’t think the same about you Savannah.”

“I’ve got to get ready to go to my squash club,” Simon says.

“I’ll stay here with Savannah, if that’s okay with you?” Ben says. “It gives us a chance to get to know each other better.”

Simon bends down and kisses Christina. “I’ll drop you home on my way to the club sweetheart.” I’m grateful she’s not staying as well. I guess I’ll have to get used to her but I’ve had enough of her for one day.

With Simon and Christina gone I settle down in the living room to read my book. Hopefully Ben will get the hint that I don’t need his company. He snatches my e-reader out of my hands. “You don’t want to sit here all day with your head in a book. I’ll take you out for brunch. There’s a cafe just up the road.” I guess it beats sitting here with him and it’ll give me chance to see if they need any staff.

“What do you think of my car? She’s a beauty isn’t she?” He pats his car affectionately. To me a car is just to get me from ‘A’ to ‘B’. I like my little car, it’s cheap to insure and easy to park.

“Yes it’s nice,” I say.

“Nice! She’s a classic. I’ve had a lot of work done on her, she’s a beauty.” The way he’s talking about it I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes it to bed with him. He opens the door and I sink into the luxury leather seat. “I just want a quick word with the slave before we go,” he says.

Kayden is walking towards the house holding some eggs. I wonder what Ben is talking to him about. They’re too far away for me to hear, I hope it has nothing to do with what happened earlier. I notice Kayden is now hanging his head and his shoulders are slumped. What the hell has Ben said to him? I open the car door and am about to get out as Ben strides back over. He gets in and starts the engine. “What was that about?” I ask as I close the door again.

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty head about,” he says as he puts the car in gear. I glance back out of the window but Kayden has now disappeared.

Ben parks on the road outside the cafe and locks his car. “Aren’t you going to put the alarm on?” I ask.

“This isn’t London,” he laughs. “We’re in a little village, she’ll be fine.”

The cafe has twelve tables and eleven of them are full, it’s obviously a popular place. I guess there isn’t much competition and not much else to do around here. I can only see one guy taking orders, so maybe they could use some extra staff. I’ll wait until we’ve eaten and then I’ll ask to speak to the manager.

For a little village cafe it has an extensive menu. We both order the full English fry-up and a mugs of tea. There are all age groups in here, families with young children, middle aged couples, pensioners. There’s a constant hum of conversation alongside the hissing of the urn. Our food arrives, it looks and smells delicious.

“Simon told me you’ve left your boyfriend,” Ben says, taking a sip of his tea. I just nod my head; it’s not a subject I want to discuss. “So, have you got your eye on anyone else?” he asks, smiling at me. Yes, I fancy Kayden something rotten but I’m not about to tell Ben that.

“I think I’ll stay single for a while.”

“Good idea,” he says, through a mouthful of sausage and tomato. “Why get tied down to one person. Play the field and have some fun.” He takes another sip of his tea. “We can have some fun together. What you doing next weekend?”

“Err…I don’t know yet. It’s too early to make any plans.” I concentrate on eating my food, hoping he’ll take the hint.

“We can go to the cinema, or to a club if you like dancing.”

“I’m not ready to date again yet. If you’ll excuse me, I just want a quick word with the manager.”

I get up and walk over to the counter before he has a chance to say anything else. The waiter is busy serving but there’s a woman cooking food on the grill so I call out to her, “Excuse me. Could I speak to the manager please?”

She turns around and wipes her hands on her apron. “You’re speaking to her. What can I do for you?” She looks like she’s in her late forties. She’s tiny, not much taller than me but a lot slimmer. Her long, mousy brown hair is tied in a ponytail.

“I recently moved to the area and I’m looking for work.”

“You’re in luck. My waiter is leaving in two weeks. Ever worked in a cafe before?”

I shake my head. “I’ve worked in a supermarket, so I know how to use a till. I can make tea and coffee. I’m happy to work for free for a few days, so you can decide if I’m suitable.”

“I wouldn’t expect anyone to work for free love,” she says, frowning. “I’ll give you a day’s trial, paid of course. Tomorrow okay for you?”

“That will be great, thank you.”

She holds out her hand. “My name’s Jenny. I’ll see you at eight tomorrow morning.”

I walk back to our table in a happy daze. I never expected to get a job so soon. I’ve no idea what the pay is but it’s better than nothing and Jenny seems friendly. I think I’m going to enjoy working here and I won’t have far to travel. “What was all that about?” asks Ben.

“I might have a job,” I say, smiling at him.

“What, here? I expect a free lunch if I come in here when you’re working.”

Simon is already home by the time Ben drops me off. Now we’re playing a game of chess. I know how to play but I’ve never been good at it. I can never think more than a couple of moves ahead and I’m useless at attacking. Funny, I play chess the same way I play life. Simon is currently ahead. I pluck up the courage to ask him a question that’s been bugging me. “Why don’t you want me to be alone with Kayden? If he can’t have sex then you don’t have to worry about him raping me.”

He moves his knight to threaten my bishop. “If it raped you Savannah, I’d have it killed. And I don’t like the way you keep referring to it as Kayden.”

I move my bishop back out of the firing line. “But that’s his name.”

“Slaves don’t have names. They have numbers. Its number is F523GH. I’ve got its birth records, it doesn’t have a name. If it’s manipulated you into calling it by a name, it made it up itself.” He moves his bishop, which now threatens my queen. Manipulated me? I don’t care if Kayden did make his name up, it’s still his name and there’s no way I’m calling him slave, or even worse by a number.

Moving my queen along a square, I ask, “What is the pound?”

Simon’s next move puts my king in check. “The pound? No idea, never heard of it.”

I move my king along one space. “So how does someone become a slave? Are they all born slaves? Can someone capture me as a slave?” I know I sound clueless and I’m throwing fifty questions at Simon but I have no experience of slavery. We grew up on a council housing estate and no one there owned slaves. Me and Dan lived in a poor area as well.

“Of course not, you’re human,” he says as he takes my queen.

Damn it, I need my queen. “Slaves are human,” I say, moving one of my pawns forward.

He moves his bishop across the board and takes my knight. “No, they’re not human. They’re Neanderthal.”

I give up trying to play and just move a random pawn forward. “Neanderthals have been extinct for years.”

“They found out that’s not the case. They’ve evolved like we have, so they don’t look like you imagine. You can tell because they all have brown and blue eyes, black hair and their hands and feet are bigger than ours.” He takes my castle.

“So if someone has the misfortune to have black hair and big feet they’re captured as a slave?” This conversation is so ridiculous I can’t even play this game anymore. I knock over my king.

“No one’s captured Savannah. They don’t do midnight raids.” He laughs at his own joke. “They test the DNA of all new-borns; have been doing it for years. If it has Neanderthal DNA, it’s put into slavery.” He puts the chess pieces and board back into its box.

“Babies are taken away from their parents? Oh Simon, that’s awful.”

“It doesn’t happen like that, don’t worry Savannah.” He sits on the arm of my chair and puts his arm around me. “You always were emotional. It probably happened like that to begin with. Nowadays all slaves are bred. They’re born into it.”

He gets up and heads to the kitchen. I follow him. He boils the kettle and gets out two mugs. “They’re still taken from their parents though; the slave parent still loses a child,” I say.

He pours milk into the mugs and puts teabags into them. “They’re not like us. There are slaves used for breeding. They have one kid after another. They don’t love their kids and they don’t expect to keep them.”

“How do you know they don’t love their children?” I ask, frowning at him.

He rolls his eyes. “This has been going on for years Savannah. I’m sure if they didn’t want to give up their kids they’d have done something about it by now.”

“Do they have a choice? What can they do?” I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

He slams the mugs on to the table. “I’ve had enough of this discussion. They’re slaves; they’re not like us so stop deluding yourself that they feel the same things you do. End of.” He picks up his mug and storms into the living room. I’m depressed, so I don’t ask him any more questions. He switches on the television and I continue reading my book. I had planned to write some more of my novel but I’m not in the mood to write anything romantic right now.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Savannah

Around seven o’ clock the doorbell rings. Simon gets up to answer it and I hear Christina’s voice. Ugh, please tell me I’m not going to be stuck with her all evening. I’ll say hello and go up to my room. She struts in, wearing a tight red dress, throws her arms around Simon’s neck and they play kissy face. It’s okay for his girlfriend to snog the face off him but the guy I like isn’t allowed anywhere near me, because he’s not human apparently. Neither is Christina if you ask me. I’m saved from further torture when Simon takes her up to his room, telling me they’ll be back down in a couple of hours.

I turn on my laptop and check my emails. My heart sinks when I see one from Dan. I hope he’s accepted my decision, but I have a bad feeling, he’s not the kind of man that gives up easily. Taking a deep breath I open it.

BITCH! You think you can just walk away from me. You wanted to fuck another man, is that it? You’re nothing but a whore. I’m through being nice to you. You think you can make a fool of me, you just made a big mistake. I’m gonna find you and when I do I’ll make sure no other man will ever want to touch you again. I’ve got a bottle of acid with your name on it. I WILL FIND YOU WHORE.

I stare at the screen, my heart thumping. I take slow, deep breaths to try to calm myself down. My head is crowded with thoughts. Could he have found Simon’s address? It’s possible. Would he risk coming here knowing that Simon is with me? Yes, he would. He doesn’t think clearly when he’s angry and I don’t think he’ll see Simon as a threat. I wipe my clammy palms against my jeans. Is he just trying to scare me into going back to him? Maybe, but he is unstable and he’s been violent before. Would he go as far as to throw acid in my face? I don’t know, I just don’t know. I hear the floorboards upstairs creak and I jump. I close my eyes and breathe. I need to be rational, this is an old house and things creak in old houses. It’s probably just Simon and Christina having sex. Signing out of my email I turn off my laptop. I’m not going to reply; maybe he just needs to rant. I pour myself a glass of wine and gaze at the television. I try to relax but the fear keeps building in my mind until I’m convinced that Dan is going to come banging on the door any second. I consider asking Simon and Christina to sit down here with me but then I would have to explain why, and I couldn’t take Christina sneering at me right now. And anyway, what if I get them both to sit with me and Dan doesn’t come, they’ll be mad that I ruined their evening over nothing.

I put on my jacket and turn on the switch for the outside light. Opening the door a crack I peek out. It’s too dark to see anything, so I listen but I can’t hear anything. I step outside, quickly close the door and run as fast as I can towards Kayden’s caravan. Dried twigs snap under my feet and I hear rustling coming from the bushes. It’s hard to run when it’s too dark to see anything, I keep stumbling. I’m breathless and my heart is pounding when I finally see the dimly lit windows of Kayden’s caravan.

Bursting through his door I’m about to tell him what happened when the words die in my throat. He’s kneeling on the floor, poised over a bucket full of water, his shirt in his hand. But what stops me dead in my tracks is the state of his back. It’s criss-crossed with thick, vivid, red welts from his shoulders to the waistband of his jeans. It looks painful and sore and I just want to give him a hug.

He stands up, frowning at me. “Savannah, what’s wrong?”

My worries seem so trivial to me now. I manage to croak out, “Did my brother do that to you?”

He slips his shirt back on. “Yeah. He told me to stay away from you.” I’m putting him in danger by being here; I can’t do this to him. I turn to run back out of the door. “Please don’t go,” he says, grabbing my arm. I flinch and he lets go as if he’s just been stung. He stares at me, wide eyed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch…” sighing, he hangs his head. “I’m sorry for touching you. I know I’m not allowed to without permission and I know I disgust you.”