“I never let Braden and Kate see it happen,” she added, thankfully interrupting that horrific thought. I hadn’t even thought about Kate and Braden witnessing it, but I had come to trust Raegan’s parenting instincts so fully that the thought never occurred to me.
“We can get them fixed. I know they have plastic surgeons for all kinds of things. We can have them removed.” I tried to tamper my own hostile feelings toward every guy that has ever worked under Flores. I wanted any sign of their touch gone from her gorgeous body.
“We?” She smiled coyly. I continued kissing her, not addressing what that statement meant. She let it slide and said, “Besides, those are nothing compared to this ugly thing on my face.” Her hand brushed past the now healed but puckered scar on her forehead.
She had just gotten the stitches out the day before and I could tell she was feeling self-conscious about it. The scar was bright pink and it stuck out against her tanned skin, but I still felt like her bright green eyes were the most prominent feature on her beautiful face.
“Tell me what happened,” I demanded gently, releasing her leg and kissing along her forehead.
I felt like Rae and I had gotten to know one another better in these past two weeks, but we were just now talking about the important things. We’d spoken with the kids about their therapy meetings at the precinct, but we hadn’t discussed hers. Kate and Braden were cleared after one session because they had been kept in the dark about the whole situation. They never understood the seriousness of their position growing up. Raegan has had to endure a few more.
I was starting to know her little quirks. I knew that she hated the taste of soda; the carbonation gave her hiccups instantly. I still laugh at her annoyed face after she’d hiccupped for a straight hour after taking a drink of my Sprite. I knew that her long hair was starting to bother her because she was always scooping it up into a bun on top of her head. I knew that she loved a huge slice of greasy pizza from the local pizzeria down the street, even though she always complained about it going to her hips. I could lick those hips all day, so I didn’t care where the damn pizza went.
But until now, I had no idea what life was like for them during those years in captivity. If I was being honest, I’d been afraid to know, but it was nice to now fit all the puzzle pieces together.
“I was always trying to think of ways to escape. Every other thought for years was about escape. How? When? I ran so many scenarios in my head and none of them seemed to pan out, so I never attempted them. I knew we were on an island. I could see the water from the window, and I pieced it together when the guys outside of our door would talk.
“Running away was out of the question. I mean, how far could I possibly get with two babies under my arms? My guess was not far. Whenever we got sick or had any medical needs, they had a guy come who claimed to be a doctor. I never trusted him so I only asked in extreme cases. Once I needed some medicine when Braden got a stomach bug and another time they gave me Tylenol when Kate ran a fever,” she explained.
I remained close to her face, but I held my body above hers so I wouldn’t crush her. I liked the way her words whispered across my cheek and the nearness of her body calmed my agitated nerves.
“I knew my time was running out,” she continued. “Braden was getting older and I knew that Flores wanted to start training him to be… one of his guys.” She sneered at her words and I had a feeling my face mirrored hers. “So one day, I made one of the guys who brought us food mad. I knew he had a short temper and I sparked it just right. I knew exactly what was about to happen when he swung his arm back, so I braced myself.”
“You let him hit you?” I growled murderously.
“All a part of my plan,” she informed me. “He hit me so hard.” My body tensed up but she continued, “My original plan was for his hit to break some skin on its own. I wasn’t expecting to be hit so hard that my body flew back and I smacked my face into the corner of a desk. That was the one thing Kate and Braden did see. I spoke with them endlessly about it and assured them that I was okay. They were more worried about my head than scared about anything else.” She ran her finger across the scar on her forehead and then followed it down to her ear. “It was more pain than I had prepared myself for, but it still worked.”
“I don’t understand, and now I’m only more pissed off,” I grumbled.
“If I would have cut myself, they would have been suspicious. This way I had someone to blame for the laceration on my head whenever asked. I wish I would have thought of it when they were doing this to my leg,” she said, gesturing at the slash marks that marred her otherwise perfect skin. “I spent so much time trying to get those to heal properly, and by the time the idea hit me, they never came back around. So I had to get an injury from them somehow. I took horrible care of the cut on my forehead. Anytime it started to heal and close, I forced the wound back open. It got worse and worse. I expected the wound to get infected, which it did. The blood infection, I wasn’t expecting. I ran a fever and finally my lucky streak began.
“Flores was out of town. I guess off to one of those fights you spoke about. The men there had no idea what to do and they could tell I wasn’t faring well. I was pale and lethargic. The fake on-call doctor had no idea what to do either. They finally drove the kids and I up to Tijuana, but I begged them to take me to an American hospital. We went to one right across the border, and once I was checked in, they finally got a hold of Flores.
“I could tell by the looks on the guys’ faces he was not happy with their decision. He made them stand guard with me the entire time. I was there a week and a half. The nurses seemed to pick up quickly that something wasn’t right, so they never asked why I wouldn’t let the children leave my side. I was too afraid of the men hurting Kate or Braden, so when the nurses tried to discreetly ask me if I was okay, I always played the part and said yes.
“I finally caught a break when one of the guys who was supposed to be watching me stepped out of the room during his shift. I lunged for the call button in my room and quickly spit out the situation to one of the nurses. She called the local authorities and they stormed the hospital. Flores’ guys must have caught on quick because they never found them. Right away I was given the number to the New York precinct and was able to talk to your dad, who got the all-clear for me to make the trip back to New York. Apparently, he informed the local police that his guys would be handling the case, but I didn’t really understand all the logistics and legalities of it. Plus, I was still highly medicated.”
I cleared my throat. “Everyone called me that night, I guess after they had talked to you. I missed all of their calls though because I was passed out from this,” I pointed to my shoulder. “I was probably only miles away from you that day.”
“You’re even closer now,” she whispered.
“I cannot believe you made yourself sick, almost to the point of death,” I said into her neck.
“I got us out. Four years late, but I got us out.”
I needed her. I needed her now. I shoved down my shorts and boxers. Her panties weren’t difficult as they slipped away with my clothes. Before I could take another breath, I was back at her mouth, taking whatever she would give. I felt her hand reach down between us and she guided me inside of her.
She was slick but so fucking tight. Besides this morning, I knew she hadn’t done this in years so I clenched my teeth and tried to ease her into this. Even though my mind was running laps around the bed, shouting at me to, ‘Go, Go, Go!’ When I felt her little hands on my ass, her fingers clenching the taut skin and forcing me to move, I knew I had the go-ahead.