Piecing Together Sydney (A Sydney West Novel Book 3) (24 page)

“But I put onions and black olives in it. Just a bite?” She held the spoon to my lips. The tuna felt cold, but I refused to let her win.

She put the spoon back in the bowl. “Fine, be that way. No food until breakfast then. Good night, love.”

Lizzie went back up the stairs and flicked the lights off, casting me into darkness. The only light I had was a dim emergency light. I fought my restraints. By the burn on my wrist, this was some thick ass rope. No luck. I fell asleep from exhaustion.

***

I woke up to Lizzie sitting on the stairs staring at me. She made me jump. I had no idea she was this insane. She never acted this way when we went out. What happened to her?

“You’re awake. I’m getting everything ready for our trip. Soon I’ll be Mrs. King.” She hugged herself and looked past me, as if dreaming of the future.

“Why now?” I had to ask.

She bit her bottom lip. It wasn’t sexy when she did it. “Seeing you at the flower shop with that bimbo hit me hard. I messed up when I cheated on you. I never meant to hurt you. I’ll never stray again. We’ll just sleep with each other and make cute babies.”

My skin crawled thinking of her carrying my child. The only mother of my children was going to be Sydney.

“What about Sydney? I can’t just—”

Lizzie pulled her hair and screamed. “Don’t say her name again! I forbid it!” She stood and came closer to me, running a fingernail up my throat and pressing it into my chin. “She is a whore. She is a disease, a sin, a slut. I could go on. How many abortions has she had?”

“What are you talking about?” How did she know about Sydney’s past?

She leaned in and kissed me on the lips. It felt like acid scorched me. “I have my friends around town. They know things and do things for me. I sent someone to dig into that bimbo’s past, and they came back with a list of boys she’s banged her way through. I can’t believe you’ve touched her. I can only imagine how many pregnancies she’s had to get rid of, couldn’t find that out.”

My hand curled into a fist behind me. I never wanted to punch a woman before, but her talking bad about Sydney made me wish I wasn’t tied up.

“I knew she’d cheat on you given the chance.”

“But she didn’t. She—”

Lizzie slapped me across the face, making my eye pound. “She kissed a guy at a bar! If her friend didn’t drag her out, I’m sure she would’ve added him to her long list of boys.”

“She said she was drugged.”

“And you believe her?”

I looked past her at the washing machine. I saw something shiny. I squinted and saw a pair of handcuffs. That’s just great.

I shook my head, thinking about Sydney. She did do drugs in the past, but after we agreed to be together, she stopped partying so much. I hadn’t seen her drunk in months. Her life was in order, and we were getting married. She couldn’t have been lying. I overreacted…

“Yes, I do believe her.”

“Why did you leave then? Last night you looked so lost. I knew I’d make you all better.” She slipped out of her dress and sat on my lap in her pink bra and panties. “I’m a wildcat, remember? I know how to make you happy.” She bit my earlobe.

“Stop it.” I wanted to push her off, but couldn’t. I tried to move the chair, but it wouldn’t budge with us both on it.

She licked the column of my neck. “I want to make love to you, Jason. We could make a baby right now.”

“No. I don’t love you.”

She unbuttoned my jeans and put her hand into my pants, cupping my balls. I froze.
God, please don’t let her hurt the family jewels.

“We’re meant to be. Running into you at the flower shop was just a spark. When we went out the other night, I knew we still clicked. That’s when I knew I had to get you back, so that bitch had to get out of my way.”

I clenched my jaw. What was she saying?

“And here you are.” She kissed me on the lips.

I turned my head and spat on the floor. She slapped my other cheek, making me see spots for a second.

“How did you get me back?”

“Duh, I drugged Sydney. Well, I talked her silly friend into it. First, she was unsure about taking the E, but after telling me how that bitch needed to be loose for her last night of freedom, she started to cave. I pressed, asking didn’t she want to have fun one last time? She said something about how that bimbo and her did ecstasy at a concert, so it wasn’t anything new.” She kissed my sore cheek. “I mean really, Jason. A whore and a druggie? You could do better.”

Rage blinded me.

“Sydney’s not a whore or a druggie. She was lost, and experimenting was—”

Lizzie bit my bottom lip hard. I cried out and brought it into my mouth. She made me fucking bleed. She smiled, and red coated her teeth.

“I said not to say her fucking name again.”

She grabbed some of my hair, pulling my head back. “I understand, you need to learn how to love me again.” She got off of me. “I’ll bring you some food and water down in a few.” With that, she disappeared up the stairs again.

I didn’t know how much time passed before she came back down. She fed me a few pieces of chicken and a glass of water. Her eyes were like fire. The black hair around her shoulders would touch me like the tongue of a hissing snake. She was going to kill me if I didn’t take her as my wife. I knew it deep in my bones.

She left once more without a word. All I could do was close my eyes and sleep. My only escape plan was that when she finally untied me, I could make a run for it. Until then, I needed my strength.

Lizzie stomped down the stairs and spat, “Your whore was just on the news. The police are looking for you. This is going to make leaving the country so much harder.”

My soul cracked. Sydney thought I was dead; she had to. How long had I been gone? There was no calendar on the wall. Not even a window to see if it was day or night outside. It could’ve been weeks. Everything blended together with lack of water and being hit all the time. Did I miss our wedding? What was Sydney doing right now? I hated Lizzie. When she freed me, I was going to hurt her so…

“Why can’t she just accept that you’re mine? That she fucking lost and should get another boy. She’s good at finding another man to grind around with.”

Lizzie left the door open. The news came back on. I could hear Sydney’s voice. She was talking about me! If she was, then so were my mother and sister. They were all probably sick with worry, and I couldn’t do a thing. I narrowed my eyes at Lizzie.

“Why me?”

She brushed her finger along my left eyebrow. “Because you were mine first. Pete and I weren’t meant to be. He didn’t get me like you did. He had to go.”

“Go?”

“Yeah, no one told you? He passed away.”

My stomach sank. “Oh?”

She grinned. Pure evil poured out of her. “He drowned. That’s what the official report says anyway. But who cares about him?”

The TV was still talking about me. I heard my name. Lizzie looked up at the door she left open. She had to hear the news too. “I’m going to have to deal with this bitch, aren’t I?”

“Leave her alone!” I fought the ropes, but they wouldn’t loosen for anything.

Lizzie gave me another shot. “Calm down.” I grew sleepy. She kissed my forehead and took to the stairs. “See you later, love.”

***

I came to and heard someone else in the basement with me. Did Lizzie throw Sydney down here? I tried to say her name, but my mouth was taped shut. All I could do was moan.

“Hello?” The voice belonged to a woman. She sounded like Sydney!

All I could manage was noise. It drove me insane.“Mmm…”

I heard the scrape of a chair. I looked around, realizing I was no longer in a chair, but on the floor handcuffed to a pipe in the wall.

“Mmm. Errr….” I needed to see Sydney before Lizzie came back.

“Shh…”

I thought she was rolling, but wasn’t sure.

“Hey, I’m here.” She paused, looking like she saw a ghost.

“Jason! Baby, everyone thinks you’re dead!” She kissed my face. It hurt, yet it felt like heaven. She then burst into tears. “I was so scared…”

She ripped the tape off of my mouth with her teeth.

All I wanted to do was hold her close and kiss her until I forgot what the hell happened.

“Are you hurt?” Concern filled her beautiful blue eyes.

I licked my lips, tasting blood. “No, I’m fine…I think. How did she get you?”

“She?” Her jaw set as her face paled. “You mean Lizzie?”

“Shh, yes!” I looked over at the stairs. “She’s lost it. Talks about us leaving on a plane to Spain and being together.”

“What does she have in mind for me, then?”

I stared into her eyes, knowing I’d die to protect her. “Doesn’t matter what she has planned. It’s not going to work. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

She cackled. “Do you not see we’re trapped and tied up at the moment? How do you propose we escape?”

“First, you need to get untied and then find something to break these handcuffs before she comes back.”

She looked around. “Is there a toolbox down here?”

I nodded toward the washer and dryer. “Try over there. She got these cuffs from somewhere near there.”

Sydney wiggled her way over to the tool box. “She’s an idiot, keeping tools where she keeps her victims.” I heard her moving through tools and parts. She was able to free herself and came over to me holding a saw.

“Isn’t it a good thing she wasn’t fully prepared? Otherwise, we’d be toast.”

She sawed into the handcuffs. I couldn’t look, not wanting to see her cut into my hand.

Lizzie pulled up not too far away from us. The engine turned off, and feet crunched the gravel above us.

“Shit, she’s back.” I moved in front of Sydney. “I won’t let her touch you, Syd.”

“Let’s grab a weapon and hide,” she whispered.

I took her hand in mine, loving how she fit me, how warm she was. I couldn’t lose her. “Whatever happens, I’m sorry I took off. I love you and trust you. I was an idiot. With everything going on, I thought—”

She kissed me. “It’s okay. We’ve been through a lot. Now we need to get home and finally get married.”

“Agreed.” I had to kiss her back. Syd was my life support. I broke the kiss. “She’s in the kitchen. We need to hurry.”

“There has to be something.” She looked around, moving a black tarp. “Look, I found a rusty lead pipe. Could work.”

I glanced around and found the bat Lizzie hit me with a few feet away from the stairs. “I found a baseball bat. I’m glad she didn’t put much thought into this. She had to have kidnapped us on an impulse, or she’s never seen any movies dealing with this stuff.”

“Maybe she didn’t think we’d be here long, or that her awesome rope tying skills would keep us from exploring.”

The door opened, letting light pour in.

“I love you, Sydney. I always will,” I whispered into Syd’s ear, squeezing her hand, and then I moved away to hide under the stairs.

“Ditto,” she murmured.

“Jason, sweetheart. I have a treat for you. Our trip is booked, and I’ll get rid of that bimbo and…” She reached the bottom of the stairs and gasped. “What the fuck?”

I clenched the baseball bat tight. I was going to get my revenge with it. That bitch could hurt me, but if she even broke one of Sydney’s fingernails, she was a goner.

“Baby, you couldn’t have gone far. Where are you—”

I jumped out and swung at her head. I missed her when she ducked. Being tied up for who knew how long with barely any water really took it out of me. Lizzie kicked me in the gut. I doubled over and lost my weapon. All I saw was black. “Really, Jason? You want to take me out? I’m saving you from a miserable life, and this is how you thank me?”

My vision came back after a few heart beats. Lizzie stood before me, offering me a hand. “Come on, we can end her together. She’s in here too. Then we’ll live happily for the rest of our lives.”

Sydney rushed at Lizzie and hit her in the back, knocking the wind out of her. I was shocked. My girl’s badass.

“Let’s get out of here!” she shouted. I pushed her in front of me as we made our way up the stairs.

“Fuckers!” A gunshot went off, flashing me back to the school shooting. Fear drove my heart into overdrive. I needed to get Syd out of here.

We turned and saw Lizzie coming up the stairs with a gun pointed at us. I needed to get Lizzie to focus on me. She wanted to marry me, so maybe she wouldn’t shoot me, but I knew she wanted to spill Sydney’s blood.

“Can’t we talk about this, Liz?” I held my hands up. “You should know this is not the way to win someone over.”

“How could I win when she’s who I have to beat? She’s fucking perfect, and it’s so annoying my teeth hurt. Seeing you two at the flower shop drove me nuts. Jason, you and I belong together, and this whore poisoned you. Are your tits even real, bitch?”

Shit. Sydney was a fighter. I knew she was going to pounce on that.