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Interlude?What a sick joke. What the fuck was he talking about?
The mattress lifted as he stood. “The paper and pencil are on the desk. I paid a king’s ransom for both. Please make it worthwhile. You’ll be asked to leave both behind. The powers that be determined that writing utensils were against the rules once out of view. Secret messages and all. It wouldn’t be fair now, would it? Once I leave, you may remove the blindfold. It’s been a pleasure, little rabbit. I hope you take something of our time together with you as well.”
She waited, her breath hitching as she heard the door open and then softly close. Noelle ripped the silk blindfold from her eyes, simultaneously rolling over and sitting up. She tossed the small piece of silken fabric aside and blinked at the empty space before her, sure she could see theoutlineof the man in the air before her as though he’d disturbed the atmosphere and it was taking a moment to fill back in the space he’d just occupied.Stupid.
You’re sohotwhen you’re mad.The words hung in her head similar to the imagined outline of him. Even in her haze, they’d seemed odd. Or maybe it was because he’d said them at the precise moment he had—on the heels of her unbidden and oh-so-telling moan—thatthey’d imprinted on her brain that way. But also ... they hadn’t fit the persona she’d assigned to him. They sounded more like some current teen than a sophisticated man who wore cologne that probably cost more than the rinky-dink car she drove.
The man by the door remained still, staring straight ahead, his firearm held by his side. Noelle brought her hands to her naked breasts, jumping off the bed and quickly dressing in her filthy clothes. She took a minute to pull herself together as best as possible, eyeing the singular piece of white paper on the table, a pencil sitting beside it.
She took the few steps to the desk, then picked up the pencil and tapped it lightly as she assessed the sharpness of the point. She considered using it to lunge at the man with the gun behind her, but he’d likely shoot her before she had a chance to turn and make it across the room. Would Evan hear the shot from below? Would he realize right away that he was now completely alone?
No.
She leaned over the desk, writing out a short poem, and then she took several minutes to sketch an accompanying piece of art. It was juvenile both in content and in lack of talent, but it gave her a small burst of satisfaction all the same.I hope you take something of our time together with you as well.She paused, something occurring to her as the words he’d emphasized pricked at her mind.
Would I ...break... the rules?
You’re sohotwhen you’re mad.
She left the paper on the desk, gripping the pencil and turning slowly toward the tiny eye of the camera peeking from high up on the wall. Why hadn’ttheyhidden this one? Did they want them to know they were being watched up here? Was it meant to add to their humiliation? She stared, wondering how many sets of predatorial eyes stared right back at her. It made the hair on the nape of her neck stand up.
Noelle raised the pencil held in both hands, hesitating only a moment before snapping it in two. She narrowed her eyes, gritting herteeth as she pictured her hatred like a ball of flame flowing from her eyes and leaping through the lens of that tiny eye, straight to whomever was on the other side as they burst into flames.
Her chest rose and fell as she took in swallows of air, lowering her hands and then tossing the broken pencil to the floor. She waited a beat, then two, but no repercussions came in response to her mini temper tantrum. Perhapstheyhad enjoyed it.
The man by the door remained still, staring straight ahead, his firearm held by his side. A moment later, the man in black arrived to return her to her cage.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Evan’s muscles burned, his arms shaking as he grunted and struggled to push his body up one more time. He growled with the effort, straightening his straining arms, then dropped down to the floor with a whoosh of released breath, pressing his cheek to the cold cement floor. He had to stay strong. He had to push through the pain. And even though he wasn’t getting nearly enough calories to do this, he refused to lose all muscle tone. Refused to grow weaker. Because someday ... someday, he was going to be the one doing the beating. “If it’s the last thing I do,” he murmured beneath his breath.
The door opened, and he came quickly to his knees, waiting as Noelle was returned, eyes cast away as they always were. A scream of rage rose in his chest. How much more of this could they take? The door slid closed behind the henchman, and Noelle sat down, though not as gingerly as she had the past couple of times. He wished he didn’t notice that kind of thing. He wished he didn’t realize what it meant.
She seemed different, though, her eyes alight despite the slackness of her features. And this time, she didn’t lie down immediately and close her eyes. Was she in shock? Oh God, whatever had been done to her must have been worse.
“It was only my teeth, Noelle,” he said. They’d said they’d leave here whole. They’d made a silent pact the moment he’d followed her leadand refused to hand to her what was to be his own suffering. But some sufferings were greater than others, and they should recognize that too.
“We leave here whole,” she murmured.
“Yes, but—”
“No buts,” she said. “None.”
He sank down to the ground, turning his back without being asked so she could use the toilet or do what she could to wipe away the evidence of the man who’d rented her.
And then he waited for her to sing, tapping lightly on the bars as though accompanying her with percussion. He didn’t expect that she would utter a word about what had happened upstairs. They had an unspoken rule about that, developed over time. Neither asked anymore, and neither offered. Of course, they were in the same predicament, which meant neither was completely in the dark about what the other was enduring.
Instead, they planned and discussed possibilities for escape, few of which they’d come up with so far. Sometimes they spoke out loud, too, after they’d sung the most secret part of their conversation. They’d pretend they were talking about another topic, when they were actually discussing the secret they’d just shared. He hoped that anyone listening in, even if they were suspicious about some part or another of their spoken conversation, would have no frame of reference from which to make any assumptions.
So far, they’d worked out that they needed the codes to their cages, and they might have a way. By watching in the henchman’s tie pin, which, so far, he’d worn each time he’d shown up. But that presented a few problems. Number one, he only entered the code when they’d moved away from the door to their cage. Number two, sometimes he was turned slightly away. And number three, they weren’t even sure the code could be seen clearly in such a small accessory. The theory hadn’t been tested.
Evan kept tapping, and Noelle finally began to sing.
“Stole a song of sixpence, a something full of rye,” Noelle murmur-sang, raising her voice on the correct words sothosewere the ones that stood out.
Stole. Something.
His pulse gave a sharp leap. No wonder she’d looked like she was vibrating in some strange way. He’d assumed it was shock, but no; was it nervous energy she’d been trying to contain since she’d swiped some object from the room? But what? He’d done a full visual inspection of the space, and even when he wasn’t tied up, there was nothing small enough to swipe and hide. He stretched his neck, giving a small questioning shrug in response, knowing she was watching him from behind.What?
