She stands up and picks up her bag. “I was with him when you text messaged me, he knows where I was going,” she says walking out and telling me she’ll be right back with food. I grab my phone and check to see if I have any messages. There are none, which is unusual. There’s usually not a day goes by that he hasn’t text messaged me. Not all nice, but it was good to receive the smallest message knowing I was on his mind even if it was good or bad.
There’s a knock on the door not even five minutes later. God, she was fast. When I open the door, though, it’s not her. It’s someone else, someone who hates me.
“Bexley, you’ve been a major problem for me,” he says pulling out a gun and something shiny. I try to look at it, and when I do it’s too late. It’s jabbed into my neck hard. It doesn’t take long for my vision to go blurry and he becomes two people followed by three. I wonder if he sent him? Sent him to get rid of me, and use Aria as a distraction. I grab at him when I fall, his smile evil. And all I think is that Zeke will kill him for this, even if he doesn’t love me. He will kill him.
Be of love a little more careful that of anything.
~E. E. Cummings~
“Where is she?” she screams into the phone. I pull the phone away from my ear and take a second to understand what she’s saying. Aria is going crazy on the other end of the phone. I don’t even know why she’s calling me, she was meeting up with Bexley and told me to not message or call either one of them.
“Calm down, and explain whatever it is you’re rambling about,” I tell her over the phone.
“She isn’t here,” she says and I can tell she’s either worried or angry.
“Well, maybe she didn’t want to meet up?”
“You idiot, I did meet up with her, then I went to grab some food and when I came back her door was wide open and she was gone. Nothing was taken, just her missing.”
“Find her,” I tell her into the phone, grabbing my keys and heading to her.
“I am looking, you dickhead. I’ve knocked on every door, gone to the lobby, searched the stairwells. I can’t find her.”
“I’ll be there in five,” I tell her hanging up then trying her cell, it goes straight to voicemail with no answer.
I park at the front of the hotel and Aria stands there waiting for me. She holds out what looks like a syringe and places it in the palm of my hand.
“You were up to this, weren’t you?” she seethes.
“What is this?” I ask her.
“I found it on the floor behind the door, there was blood there as well. I sweet talked my way into the security room and guess who I saw in the building?” she hums at me, looking ready to punch me. “Fucking Dunk! You did this, didn’t you? Don’t think I won’t kill you.”
I don’t give her a word as I walk out and head straight for the car. I’m dialing my phone before I even sit. He doesn’t answer straight away and Aria climbs in next to me.
“Yo,” he says into the phone.
“I’m going to slice and dice you if you’ve hurt her,” Aria screams into the phone.
“Where is she?” I say after her rant.
“Where’s who?” he says acting dumb.
“That’s one finger gone,” Aria yells into the phone.
Fuck! I’ve got to get rid of her.
“If the next word out of your mouth is a lie again, Dunk, I will hand you to Aria willingly.”
“That bitch,” he states laughing into the phone. I laugh as well because he’s dumb if he thinks she’s no threat. Very dumb.
“She’s occupied,” he says still laughing.
“You have one hour to bring her to me, if you don’t, you may wish you never met me,” I tell him then hang up.
“Seriously, you gave him an hour? I would have given him five minutes. That dumb fuck,” she swears. I pull over and contact my tech geek. Dunk doesn’t know this, but there’s a tracking device hidden on his phone. I always know where my people are.
“You so better not have that shit on my phone,” Aria says from next to me listening to what I’ve asked. I smile at her and she pulls a face of disbelief then rolls down the car window and pegs her phone. She looks back at me and smiles.
“What? What if I was fucking your girlfriend, I don’t want you to be able to track that shit,” she says.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” I tell her, ignoring that she just threw her phone out the window.
“Humph, keep telling yourself that. You may actually believe it.” She laughs.
Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
~Buddha~
My neck is sore when I wake, and when I go to rub it I realize my hands are tied together in front of me. I look around to see if anyone is in here and realize I’m in a bedroom. There’s nothing in here but the bed that I’m lying on. There’s no sheets, just a plain mattress. I try to stand and feel my legs begin to buckle, so I sit back down on the bed. I try again for the second time and manage to make it to the door of the room. I turn the handle a few times with no success and then begin to bang on it.
“Let me go,” I scream hoping someone will hear me, anyone that isn’t Dunk. I try for what feels like an hour and then collapse onto the floor nearest to the door.
I sit in that spot for ages, my body aching and needing to use the toilet when the door finally opens. A man steps in, a man I don’t recognize until his eyes reach mine.
“Mika,” I say not bothering moving from my position on the floor. He smiles at me and squats down, so he’s at my eye level. He’s still as handsome as I remember him. His sandy blond hair styled to the side, his strong eyes assessing me.
“I didn’t think you’d remember,” he says inclining his head to the side.
“Why am I here?” I ask looking around and gazing past him to the door that’s still shut.
“You seem to be his weakness, did you know that?” It takes me a moment to gather who he’s talking about. Of course, it all comes back to him, everything in my fucking life does lately.
“Oh, fucking great, another one that wants to take Zeke down or sleep with him,” I murmur to myself. He chuckles and I like his laugh.
“I must say, you’re the most beautiful hostage I’ve ever had,” he says still in his squatting position. He reaches out and runs his hand down the side of my face.
“You must say that to all the girls,” I laugh dryly at him. He removes his hand and his smile is gone.
“I don’t want to hurt you though someone here does,” he says standing, my brain racks for a second until I figure who he’s talking about. He watches me, a grim smile touching his lips.
“And I’m taking it that you know who that person is?” he asks.
“Yes, and if he touches me, I will kill him.” He nods his head and walks toward the door, throwing me a backward glance then leaves locking the door behind him.
I’m left sitting on the floor, too tired to move let alone stand. I look at my hands and see if I can get these ropes loose. I know how to, I just don’t have the energy to get them off. I collapse onto the floor and lay there, wondering how I could have gotten myself so messed up with all these people.
When the door opens again later that night, I still haven’t moved. The floor is cold, and my body is shivering. I don’t even bother to look up to see who’s walked in this time though that person lets me know with a kick to my leg. It is pain I feel at first and my face scrunches up as I try not to show the emotions running through me. Though, when I see who it is, the anger takes over.