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Satisfied that crisis had been averted, and new opportunities had arisen, I returned to the sitting room to rejoin the meeting.Chapter Four - AmandaThe bedroom was beautiful though it felt like a gilded cage on account of the door being locked. My mind spun, trying to think of why the man might have done that. Was he trying to protect me from the others? He did seem more reasonable than I’d expected. We really had done wrong by walking in uninvited. He could well have called the cops on us or gone for some even more unpleasant modes of punishment.
Like a creeping terror, something else occurred to me: he might be saving us for later. Keeping us from his friends so he would have us all to himself. I was half out of my mind with fear but had still noticed him smelling Liz and me when he got close. She’d given him some trouble, but I just stood there, mute.
He was more likely to come for me between the two of us because I was the easier target. Besides which, by the way he’d looked at me in the study, he was probably already thinking of what he would do to me.
Despite the fact I’d heard the door click — like it had on the room he’d put Liz in — I went over and tried the lock. The knob clicked stiffly, barely moving in either direction. I backed away from the way out, feeling the hope flee from my body and leaving me like an empty shadow.
I realized too late I couldn’t feel my legs. My knees had turned to jelly. Though I tried to catch on to something so I wouldn’t fall, I still went down, hitting the floor hard. Pain shot up from my ass to my head, but I did my best not to yelp. I didn’t want to worry Liz or let the other men at the meeting know I was there — just in case I really was being protected. I didn’t know what to think about anything or anyone — except for Liz, of course.
I sat on the floor of the truly opulent room, trying to get my head together and wait for the literal pain in my ass to subside. I was never quite sure how it happened, but I’d always been more sensitive than most. I couldn’t even try to wear anything rougher than cotton or silk until I was well in my teens and still couldn’t wear jeans without them driving me absolutely crazy.
I didn’t know what I wasn’t going to do, but it had to be something. Even though I didn’t want to get any more attention from the attractive guy I figured to be the house owner, I really wanted to say something. That we were sorry, and we didn’t mean to break in, something to let him know we weren’t what he probably suspected we were. To be fair, I couldn’t say what I would think if two strangers just came walking into my home.
Liz had probably already found a way out, which would have been great if we’d had any way to communicate. Yet, our phones had already been stolen, and I didn’t see one in the room I was in. Otherwise, I would have been tempted to call the police, no matter what the homeowner said. Not that I really would have. I didn’t have nearly the kind of nerve to defy him. That was more of Liz’s department.
I listened, trying to hear if any sirens were approaching, just in case Liz had found a way to call the cops. It was unlikely but doing unlikely things was her specialty. There was nothing but the usual noise of traffic.
Convinced no other help was coming, and I was on my own, I started looking for another way out. I felt guilty leaving Liz behind but planned to go somewhere else for help, call the cops, and rescue her.
There would be two separate police reports we would have to make, first for the mugging, which was plausible enough. But also, for what had happened at the house, which I was already having trouble processing. I mean, were we being kidnapped? Hopefully, Liz could bring a bit more clarity to the subject, and I would just have to back her up. But first, I had to get out of here.
There were windows, three of them. I was on the third floor and didn’t actually know if any of the windows opened but also didn’t care. I had to try, seized by a sudden feeling of courage that I couldn’t quite name. There was something about being locked in a bedroom in a stranger’s house as he had a secret meeting, he didn’t want the cops at, that really put me on edge.
