“So, what you’re just going to keep me in here forever? Not talking to me? How do you expect me to even change with my wrists bound like this? I can’t put on any of the shirts.”
I had a feeling that I’d just made a giant mistake. What if I pissed him off and he was another John. But he didn’t react. Maybe he was considering my words. If he wanted me to have all these options, then surely, he’d want me to use them, right? But then he started walking away again.
“Are you…” I called out, unsure of what I even wanted to ask. He stopped walking again and turned to look at me, waiting for me to finish my thought. “Are you not going to join me?” Oh, good one, Delilah. Ask the masked stalker to join you for breakfast. Really smart. Did I even want to share space with a guy that kidnapped me?
He shook his head no, and my shoulders dropped.
Was I… disappointed? Yeah, okay, I definitely hit my head harder than I thought.
CHAPTER 24
CAIN
Watching her through the cameras,I was aware of how close she was, and yet she still felt so far from me. I couldn’t answer her, not yet. I didn’t know what to say or how she’d react to me. Or how she’d react to the way my face had been disfigured. For now, I’d wear the mask and let her settle into trusting me. While she recovered, I set up alerts on her name so I would know the moment someone reported her missing.
Unfortunately, the type of chemical I’d used didn’t take Pastor John out. I saw that mother fucker crawling onto his lawn coughing up heaps of blood. They took him away in an ambulance still alive.
One anonymous call to the nearest hospital from Ace pretending to be his brother, placed him in the ICU. He was stable but unconscious in a medically induced coma. The doctors seemed optimistic about his recovery. Shame.
She was sleeping again, and I watched Delilah’s chest to make sure she was still breathing. It rose and fell steadily while her hands were tucked tightly beneath her chin. She looked so fucking beautiful all tied up for me. I fell asleep watching her, my neck angled all wrong while my head rested on the desk in front of me. At least the chair was comfortable. I rubbed my neck to work out the kinks, but it still had a twinge. My left foot seized up involuntarily and sent a jolt up to myknee. That always seemed to happen when I was stressed. I shook it out and stretched. Fuck my dad for that irritating condition.
The cameras flickered and buzzed as I shuffled through all the different angles. Delilah’s house showed no changes.
Another search of Delilah’s name yielded no results. Interesting that the neighbors didn’t seem to notice she was missing. Or if they did, maybe they didn’t care.
Delilah had been too out of it when we first arrived to really take in the room I’d built for her, but once she saw what I’d done, she looked over every square inch of the place. I noted every hesitation, every eyebrow raise, every purse of her lips. The list tallied in my brain of what she gravitated towards. I’d make sure to have more of it. More of anything she wanted. I transferred the feed to my phone so I could keep watching her as I left the control room.
I threw together a hearty lunch of salmon smothered in lemons and a creamy dill sauce with asparagus and potatoes on the side that I’d followed the directions on some YouTube video, but if she threw the plate in my face, I could try something else. In the meantime, I knew she had enough food in there to last over a month. The salmon cooked in the pan smelling so delicious that it made my mouth water. I’d missed real food. And from how Delilah reacted to the food I’d provided, it seemed she might too. I didn’t know the depths of what she’d endured, but I could make some educated guesses off what I’d seen.
Rage, deep and visceral coated my gut thinking of all the ways I’d make Pastor John pay.
I contemplated how long I would have to keep her locked up for. Without my voice working properly, I couldn’t explain the situation and how dangerous it was. If I let her go back to her life, she could end up dead.
While Pastor John might be currently incapacitated, the people he’d been involved with weren’t. It was clear he kept tabs on her every move and would go to extraordinary lengths to get what he wanted. I’d seen first-hand just how deplorable these men could be, the Crusaders, and it was a miracle they hadn’t killed me off in prison. I was a loose end. But so was Delilah. If I let her be out there by herself?I couldn’t guarantee her safety. There was only one of me, and too many of them. From what I gathered, the corruption in this town infiltrated more institutions than I realized. Kingston Prep was the tip of the fucking iceberg and there was no knowing who all could be trusted. Or who all would want us gone for good.
The chains, I knew, were a temporary solution. I wasn’t sure how she would react to being here and the last thing I wanted was for her to hurt herself. But logic told me the moment I unchained her, she would try to make a run for it. Not that I blamed her. I would act the same exact way.
I placed the plate of food next to her, while she stirred awake.
“Oh, I’m still here,” she said blinking and rubbing her eyes like she thought this was all a bad dream.
Sorry, to disappoint, angel, but this was really happening.
I wordlessly walked away once again, as my brain begged me to say something. Anything. Just one fucking word. But I couldn’t do it.
Instead, I hightailed it back to the control room watching her once again from a distance while I berated myself for not being able to get over whatever was holding me back.
At least for now, I had her here, safe. Though how long I could keep either of us safe was a mystery.
CHAPTER 25
DELILAH
Days went by.And then weeks. I fell into a sort of routine, stretching, lounging, sleeping, reading, and finding shows to watch on the TV. Shows I didn’t even know existed. John kept ESPN playing at all times, and I was resigned to my room, sticking my nose in a book I’d rented from the library hoping that one day I could walk through the pages and be transported to some faraway land with dragons and magic while I prepared for whatever mood John would be feeling after the game. If his team won, I knew he’d want sex. If they lost…
I was looking at the possibility of being his human punching bag.
As the time passed, my body healed and my nervous system settled. The longer I was away from John, the better I became. I didn’t jump as much from hearing sounds, and I noticed that I could actually fall asleep and stay asleep, instead of being on edge, wondering what fresh hell awaited me with every second I existed around him.
