AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My question has taken him by surprise, I can see it. He must have been expecting me to be his frightened little pet.
“Breaking into my apartment? Hmm? Was that the part you were referring to?”
That smile drops instantly, and his eyes grow narrow with rage. But I don’t stop.
“Or was it the part where you scared the crap out of me? Or threatened my life?”
“Shut up,” he says through clenched teeth. The force of his words sends drops of spit flying out of his lips. “All I did was try to make you see. You don’t have to fight it anymore. You love me.”
I shake my head vigorously. “No.”
“Yes, Emily. You love me, and you know it.”
“No!”
I start to struggle against my restraints, but all that achieves is more pain. I’m out of breath and so damn tired.
“See? See how it hurts when you deny yourself?”
I am so screwed. All I can think about is Peter out there somewhere, worried sick about me. About us. Me and our baby. My heart feels like it’s literally breaking in my chest.
For a second, it occurs to me to use my pregnancy to get sympathy from Trevor. But very quickly after that thought comes another: what if finding out about the baby—Peter’s baby—sends him over the edge? I decide it’s not worth the risk. I’ll just have to find another way. Maybe playing on his sympathies isn’t a bad idea, but without using the baby.
I groan, scrunching up my face in the best grimace of pain I can manage. Luckily for me, I don’t have to act too hard because everything hurts anyway.
“What? What is it?” There’s a definite hint of concern in his voice.
“It hurts,” I mutter, wriggling my wrists again.
Trevor sighs heavily as he takes a moment to consider his options. Eventually he gets up and strides over to a rickety old work bench across the room. When he returns, it’s with a pair of garden shears.
“Try anything, and this is going to get a whole lot worse for you,” he says.
I nod my silent agreement to his terms. This seems to be enough for him because he proceeds to cut me loose without further fuss.
“You can’t run, anyway,” he says. “The only exit,” he points to the door at the top of the staircase that leads out of the basement, “is locked.”
My arms drop down, at the same time numb and aching. I go to rub my wrists, but instantly pull away with a hiss. The skin on both of them is broken and torn, screaming red with inflammation.
“Do I get a thank you?”
I look up at him, trying my utmost to fight the sudden urge to lunge at him.
“Thanks,” I say.
“There, that wasn’t so—”
The high-pitched sound of a Spider-Man ringtone reverberates through the basement, interrupting the rest of his sentence.
Trevor grabs his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and turns away from me to answer it. He goes to stand by the workbench, speaking in muffled tones.
If I can get my hands on that cell phone, I could contact Peter. But in order to do that, I’d have to try and get close to Trevor. My heart drops to my stomach. Because getting close to Trevor means I’d have to play nice.
“I said I’ll get there when I get there.” He kills the call and tosses his phone onto the workbench, clearly distressed. I can see his shoulders rise and fall as he works to get his breathing back under control. And then he turns to me, the plastic smile is back on his face, and his game continues.
I glance at the phone on the workbench and send up a silent thank-you to whoever upset him enough to make that mistake. Now all I need is for him to leave me alone long enough that I can get it to call Peter.
“What are you doing?” Trevor takes a defensive stance, holding up both his hands, ready to fight me.
