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His voice is so loud, I want to cry. Eyes, wide, I shake my head furiously. I’m trying to tell him to go back to the studio and wait, but now he’s panicking. He walks on the spot for a while, not knowing what to do. I’m trying and failing at gesturing for him to go back, to run away, so instead, I try to get him to take the tape off my mouth. I shout into the restraint, hoping he’ll get the message.
A little light goes on in his eyes. He approaches me gingerly. I nod, trying to encourage him. He’s tentative, scared, and doesn’t want to hurt me. I keep nodding, not taking my eyes from his. Eventually he gets hold of the tape over my mouth and pulls.
I drag air into my lungs. “Knife,” I whisper. “Knife. Quickly.”
Jamie, scared and shocked, takes a second to register what I said, then crabs to the kitchen, not wanting to take his eyes off me. He comes back with kitchen scissors and hesitates to cut the tape around my wrists.
“Fast as you can, Jamie.” I speak while trying to appear calm.
He nods and gets to work. As soon as my hands are free, I snatch the scissors and free my ankles.
“We’ve got to run,” I tell him.
Jamie shakes his head. He’s too scared to do anything. I grab him by his shoulders. “NOW, Jamie. NOW. Do you understand?”
“I don’t know what’s happening,” he mutters, then puts his hands to his temples as if to shield himself from his panic. “I don’t know what’s happening.”
“All we need to do is get out of the house,” I reassure. I want to escape from the back, but there is no way out of the property from his little garden. We’ll have to go out the front door. I take his hand. “Let’s go.”
But he won’t move.
“Please, Jamie,” I sob. “We don’t have time!”
I try to drag him along, but he’s sturdier than I am.
Fuck!
The petrol fumes seem stronger, adding to my terror. Jamie finally budges, and I pull him toward the front door. We get there and I unlock it with trembling hands. I turn the handle and the door swings open, only to be slammed shut by a hand that appears from nowhere.
I scream and turn, seeing Jeff’s face contorted with fury.
Chapter 38
Poison Ivy
He locks the door again and punches me in the face. I see stars and think I’ll fall backwards, but Jamie holds me up.
“Don’t do that!” he shouts at Jeff. “Don’t hurt Ivy!”
Hearing his voice crack with emotion breaks my heart.
Jeff goes for Jamie, and I stand in his way. Still reeling from the pain, I speak through clenched teeth, which hurts. “Don’t you dare touch him.”
“You think you can tell me what to do?” asks Jeff. “I’m going to show you who’s in charge.”
He shoves us both back into the sitting room. At gunpoint he forces us down into back-to-back wooden chairs and tapes us up. The sound of the tape tearing drains all my energy. Not again. Not again!
If only I had grabbed the phone in time, instead of trying to get Jamie out of the house.
I didn’t have time.
I should have just done it!
I hate myself, but I hate Jeff more. Seeing Jamie so scared makes me hate Jeffrey Bates more than I ever thought possible.
I feel my brother squirm behind me, fighting against his restraints and moaning.
I remember his sweet smiling face from his hospital cot.
