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His face is scary when he looks like that but deep inside, I know that his anger is channeled toward my captors.
“How long were you down there?” he asks, piercing me with his gaze.
I shake my head. “I have no idea how long I’ve been rotting down there. It might’ve been a month or a whole fucking year. I’d never know.”
“What do you mean?”
“They never allowed us to walk outside,” I explain, thinking about the dark vault where I stayed caged with the other omegas. “You can’t tell whether it’s daytime or nighttime when you’re down there. After a while, I stopped caring how many days passed by. I mean...what was the point? I was never going to get out of there.”
I swallow hard as the lump in my throat grows tighter. This is the most I’ve spoken to another human being over the past weeks.
My cell mates rarely spoke to me. I can’t really blame them though. There was nothing to chat about other than the hell we faced every second we breathed in those cages.
“I’m so sorry,” Seth says in a gentle voice.
“No one would ever know the hell I’ve lived through in those underground tunnels,” I say, looking away and wiping the tears that stream down my face.
“Do you want to change out of that?” Seth asks, drawing me out of my miserable thoughts.
“What are you talking about?”
He gestures at me. “That shirt has seen better days,” he says, attempting to smile. “How about I give you something cleaner? I wanted to buy you some proper clothes but there aren’t any stores nearby.”
“Where are we?” I ask. “How did you bring me here? Was I seriously passed out or did you drug me?”
A frown chases away his momentary smile. “You were so exhausted, you barely made any noise when I picked you up and put you in the back of my truck. I don’t have to bother drugging you, Rory. If I wanted to hurt you, I’d have done so already.”
“You might just be taking your time,” I say, refusing to trust him. “Maybe you just want to clean me up before selling me off to someone.”
He breathes out a long exhale. “You can have a shower and borrow some of my clothes. That’s all I’m saying. If you want, you can walk out of the door right now. I won’t stop you.” He takes a step closer to me. “But if you stay, I’m going to help you. I’ll get you through your heat and once it’s over, I’ll take you home.”
“All that sounds great but what do you want in return?”
“I want you to be safe.” The sincerity in his voice and expression sends a pang through me. My mind keeps telling me not to trust him but a deeper instinct wants me to cling to him.
It’s all because of my stupid hormones, I tell myself and stomp out of the kitchen.
I’m tempted to take his offer and walk out of the house but things aren’t so simple anymore. As much as I hate to admit it but Seth has been successful in burying a seed of hope in my heart.
The prospect of returning home has never been as real as this moment. If Seth keeps his promise, I’ll finally be able to see Dad and my friends once again.
However, I must make some decisions right away.
If I return home barefoot and wearing Seth’s muddy shirt, Dad would have a thousand questions for me. I haven’t looked into a mirror for weeks but I’m sure I look like a shadow of my former self. If one or more townspeople see me, they’ll be curious about my haggard, gaunt appearance. It’d be worse if I get spotted and recognized by the news reporters who usually hover around our home.
I can’t let people know what happened to me over the past several weeks. The hell I lived through will forever be etched in my mind but I don’t want it to overshadow my future. I don’t want to live as a victim for the rest of my life.
Time will eventually heal the bruises on my body but God alone knows how long it’d take to erase the scars in my heart. I want to punish Jake for what he’s done to me but for that, I need to gain back my strength.
If people knew what happened to me, they’d forever look at me with pity. I’d always be a victim in their eyes.
I also don’t want my dad to know the shit I’ve been through.
Until now, I’ve been a bad daughter and a worse friend. I allowed a fraud like Jake to charm me into abandoning the very people who loved me and cared for me.
It hurts to even think of the pain Dad will feel if ever knew what Jake did to me.
He raised me on his own after Mom passed away.
