Indulgence (353 page)

He released me, and I rubbed the towel over my face before
catching the stray droplets that had run down my neck and chest. I wished he’d
stop looking at me. Even with my face covered, I could feel his eyes on me. I’d
been alone with him and naked for—I didn’t even know how long.

My stomach grumbled, and I dropped the towel to stare down
at the traitor. I had much higher priorities than food. Not to mention I still
felt a little nauseous.

“Do you think you can eat?” Kirk asked.

I rubbed my eyes and shrugged. I did, but I wasn’t telling
him that, and I wasn’t going to ask him for food.

He walked me back to the couch, apparently suspicious that
I’d somehow disappear through the floor or a wall, and left me there as he went
into the kitchen. I leaned against the arm of the couch, listening to the sound
of his footsteps as he moved around. Now that he and I were alone, the odds had
evened out.

Aside from the fact that he was still bigger, stronger, and
even if I managed to get away from him, there were eight floors and who knows
how many people between me and freedom, unless I could find a fire escape.

And clothes.

I squinted at the door—it had a double cylinder deadbolt, so
it required a key to get in and
out
. Yet another inconvenience that didn’t
bode well for me.

Kirk handed me two more pills and sat down a new bottle of
water, and a sandwich wrapped in a napkin. Either he didn’t do dishes or he
didn’t trust me with a plate. As he leaned over, I noticed the keys dangling
from his belt loop. All I had to do was manage to get them off and figure out
which one opened the door without him noticing.

He returned to his desk, giving me a few minutes to eat in
silence, but my mind was so busy trying to process everything else, I could
have been eating cardboard on rye. And the pounding in my head wasn’t making
anything easier. I left the empty napkin on the table and nestled back under
the blanket. “You think Gabe drugged me?”

I heard the squeak of his chair move then the couch shifted
as he leaned his arm against it. “I’d guarantee it. Unless you make a habit of
taking drugs that make you pass out.”

“I’ve never even smoked pot.” I met his eyes, barely
managing to keep my own open. Whatever I had been given was a stubborn enemy,
and now that my stomach was full, it threatened to pull me back into the
darkness.

“Do you remember anything from last night?” he asked.

I shook my head. Every time I got close to a memory, the
thoughts seemed to pull away. “I remember having lunch at a coffee shop to
check my email,” I mumbled. I realized the words were coming out, but I wasn’t
sure why I was saying them out loud and I couldn’t stop myself. “I think I went
home. I had plans to meet some friends for dinner, but I don’t remember if I
even made it there. I can remember being on a sidewalk….” Some things were
becoming clearer, so I hoped that by the time the drugs wore off I’d at least
remember something helpful.

Although helpful to what effect, I wasn’t sure. Figuring out
how I got here probably wasn’t going to get me out.

“It was dark and a car came around the corner with bright
lights. I put my hand up to block the light. And I think that’s the last thing
I remember.” My words started to run together. Whether or not I had anything
else to say, my tongue was giving up the battle. I curled against the arm of
the couch and felt the blanket brush gently against my skin as Kirk covered my
bare shoulders.

The movement a contrast to the chaos I felt inside, but
still a reminder that nothing I knew mattered anymore. Fear was supposed to be
completely set apart from anything gentle and comfortable, but here I was lying
on a soft couch wrapped in a warm blanket. My brain couldn’t comprehend why,
after I’d been kidnapped, and not a single person had shown an ounce of
compassion for my well-being, I was currently being treated with gentleness.

Deep inside my gut, I knew it didn’t bode well, and I still
had no idea how to escape the dark fate that threatened to suffocate me within
these walls.

Bait and Trap

I opened my eyes then jerked up to look around the room. It
took my brain a few seconds to recognize the surroundings before my shock
melted into disappointment. “It wasn’t a dream….”

“Sorry,” Kirk said.

My heart thumped in my chest, and I twisted to see him sitting
at the desk behind me.

“You’re feeling better?”

The fog and nausea had definitely lifted, but I wasn’t sure
that made anything better. “I think it wore off, but I still have a headache.”

I looked around trying to find a clock. I had no idea how
long I’d been here, or how long I’d been sleeping.

“It’s only been about three hours since I gave you the last
pain pills, so you’ll have to wait a bit.” He said as if recognizing the
questions in my head. “It’s almost seven o’clock and I have to go take care of
a few things before we head up to the Outlook tonight.”

The Outlook
. How vague could anyone possibly be? “You
wouldn’t happen to be willing to tell me what going to the ‘Outlook’ entails?”

“Dinner.” His quick and simple answer didn’t seem contrived,
but it wasn’t comforting either. I hoped he meant real food and wasn’t using it
as a vulgar euphemism.

“And what’s for dinner?”

He gave me a sideways glare. “I have no idea, probably
steak, maybe chicken. That’s what they normally serve during business dinners.”

I exhaled and relaxed a little. At least I wasn’t going to
be the main course, and hopefully a business dinner meant there would be more
talk than paying attention to me.

Unless I was the business they were attending to. God, I
begged my brain to shut up. So far, all of its ideas and conclusions had simply
landed me in more trouble.

“What? You thought on top of everything else that we’re
going to cook you for dinner?”

“No,” I scoffed. “I thought you were just using it as a
sexual metaphor.”

He pressed his lips together. “You haven’t even been cleared
yet. You just have to sit,
silently
, and look pretty. You’ll kneel on
your knees at my feet, keep your hands in your lap, and your eyes on the floor
in front of you.”

Now that I was breaking free of whatever had polluted my
system, the full reality of the situation set in, tightening in my chest. I
pictured myself, at some fancy dinner where everyone at the table wore suits
and I sat naked on the floor next to Kirk’s feet. “I can’t do this.”

“If you want to stay alive you will.” His tone was even, as
if my begging didn’t faze him in the least.

I jumped off the couch and backed away from him. “What you
want me to do isn’t living.”

He took a quick step toward me, and I stumbled trying to
keep my distance, grabbing my hair and slamming me into the opposite wall. With
little effort, he pinned me there with only one arm and his bodyweight. “Make
your choice.”

I kneed him in the groin, and as he stooped backward, I
jumped toward the door, remembering too late that I needed a key to open it.

I spun around, but as soon as I did, my back hit the wall
beside the front door. He pressed against my body so I couldn’t leverage
another attack and pulled the keys off of his belt. “You want out?”

I bit my tongue, tasting blood. I knew it was a trick
question. There was no right answer and even if I did answer, he already seemed
set on his path. He slid the key into the lock. I heard every pin slide and
click into place, and then it squealed as the bolt released.

He jerked open the door and shoved me out into the hallway.
I stumbled and before I caught my balance, the door closed behind me.

Oh, fucking hell
. I looked up and down the hallway.
You
got the escape you wanted
.

But I knew it couldn’t be that easy. I started for the
elevator, waiting for one of the other apartment doors to open. I was already
in the fucking cage. No redemption here.

I would have sworn that anyone on the floor could hear the
thumping in my chest as my bare feet slid across the carpeted hallway. I didn’t
dare break into a run, because I was just as scared of what was ahead of me as
what was behind me.

The more I thought about it—the more I thought about
Gabe—what was ahead of me was far more terrifying. Running for the door was the
stupidest idea yet.

The elevator dinged and I pressed myself against the wall.
It wasn’t going to help anything, but at least I didn’t feel exposed on all
sides. My useless limbs trembled and my throat tightened as the elevator doors
opened and a huge man with chestnut skin stepped off the elevator. He smirked
when he saw me.

“Disobedient slave looking for a home?”

God, no
. I shook my head and slid against the wall,
back toward Kirk’s room. I bumped against a man’s chest and jumped away. I
hadn’t even realized that Kirk had opened the door, let alone stepped out into
the hallway.

The dark-skinned man reached for me and I ducked backward
managing to make it past Kirk, but then I heard the deadbolt of the door next
to me release.

Not another.
I dashed back toward Kirk.
The enemy
you know
…. The phrase flashed through my mind. I didn’t know whether it had
any weight, but in the current situation I’d take the one who let me sleep
relatively unharmed on his couch and gave me food and water instead of trapping
me on a table in the dank basement.

Even if I had just pissed him off.

As I stumbled away from the opening door, the dark-skinned
man caught me and shoved me into the wall.

“She is a nice addition to the collection.”

“Please,” I cried, knowing it was useless that anyone around
here would care about my requests. I had nothing to bargain with that they
wouldn’t take by force either way. Large hands pawed at me, effortlessly
blocking all of my attempts at fighting back. His forearms were so big I wasn’t
sure my fingers could even wrap half way around.

His large forearm pressed against my neck, threatening to
cut off my airway if he pressed just a bit harder, his hip immobilized my body,
and he twisted so that one bent knee rested across my legs, preventing me from
kneeing or kicking him.

He’d obviously done this before. And the position left his
other hand free to grope my naked body. I tried to shove his bulky hand away
and he pressed harder against my throat.

My body bucked and jerked, craving more oxygen than it could
get through my pinched throat.

“Behave,” he growled.

I pushed my strength into the wall, forcing my body to stop
fighting him, and he released my throat.

“I’ll have a turn,” said the blond man from the other side
of the hall. He leaned casually against the wall, watching my attack.

One hallway and I was already up against three men.

There was no way in hell I’d ever make it nine floors down
and out of the lobby. I had to bide my time. Find a back way or some path that
wouldn’t cross with half a dozen men on the way out.

That depended on my ability to survive long enough.
Survival
,
I thought. If I had anything on my side, it was obstinacy—sometimes blind
obstinacy that got me in deeper, but I didn’t go out without a fight. The
problem was that here, the fighting, kicking, and screaming that I wanted to do
was going to get me killed.

Or worse.

The third man took another step toward us, and my chest
shook until I had to close my eyes and remind myself how to breathe. I was
pinned and struggling only made me more exhausted.

“Want to play?” The dark-skinned man pulled me from the
wall, moving me to stand in the middle of the group. He held me against his
body with his arm around my neck while his other hand trailed down my naked
sternum, over my bellybutton—

My hands were free but tightened into useless fists at my
sides. I was more afraid of what would happen if I fought. Tears burned at my
eyes as my body shivered. No matter what I did—if I fought, if I gave in—the
pain was going to come.

His hand moved between my legs, and he smacked my inner
thigh, forcing them apart. I bit back a scream and pulled my lower lip between
my teeth to keep my mouth closed.

“Go ahead and scream,” Kirk said. His arms were crossed over
his chest. This was my punishment, he’d let whoever showed up do whatever they
wanted to me. “Maybe you can get the attention of all the other men on this
floor.”

“And the one below,” the one holding me said and chuckled.

The third man who had been mostly silent rubbed at his own
growing erection through his pants.

My vision darkened, but I held on to one last hope. Maybe I
could at least delay the inevitable. As the grasp around my neck loosened, I
grabbed at my last chance, throwing myself at Kirk’s feet.

“Please, I’ll do what you want.” The operative word being
‘you’. One man I could possibly handle. Three would leave me ripped apart—body
and soul.

I expected the other two men to grab me. To drag me back
into the middle of the hallway and have their way, but everyone went still.

Horrifyingly still.

I kept my head down, my fingers wrapped in the hem of his
dark jeans. I waited for the order. Waited for him to tell them to haul me off
and give them the go ahead to rip me apart.

But he crouched in front of me, snapping my head back with a
fistful of my hair. “You wanted out.”

“No. I was stupid. I shouldn’t have.”
The only way you
survive is if he keeps you
. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was better than
the alternative. One quiet piranha was better than an entire lake full.

He yanked and twisted me before releasing my hair, and I toppled
to the floor on my side. My arm and hip burned from rubbing against the carpet,
but my attention to the pain was quickly replaced, by the images flashing
through my mind. Laying sprawled on the floor with three men glaring down at me
was too similar to waking up in the basement.