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“Remember the rule?” he asks, standing from his chair and walking toward me. He stops at the edge of the bed and kneels to be at eye level with me.
“I ask the questions, and you answer, LaLa.” His voice is calm, almost too calm. Why isn’t he hitting me? Why isn’t he beating the answer out of me? I narrow my eyes at him and take him in. He doesn’t look like one of their men. He doesn’t act like one, either. He can see me taking him in and decides to do the same. His eyes move over my face before stopping on my lips, which slowly part.
“Yeah, I like you, LaLa, but the silent thing is gonna have to end. I don’t pretend to read minds, and I sure as hell won’t start now,” he warns as his eyes come back to meet mine.
“Maybe we should start a little simpler. Like, what’s your name?” Before I can think better of it, I play along with who he thinks I am. I open my mouth and say the name he’s been calling me since I opened my eyes.
“LaLa.”
Chapter 3
Tarek
Oh, I like her. I like that she’s using my shit against me. A slight smile tugs across my face as I look at her.
“LaLa,” I repeat the name she just said. Maybe the drugs she took affected her brain. Maybe she doesn’t know who she is, and she’s just going with whatever I say.
“You were in an alley, LaLa. Do you remember that?” She shakes her head slowly but keeps her gaze locked with mine. I don’t know if she’s lying. It’s hard to tell by looking at her because she seems so calm now. Not like before when her heart was beating out of her chest.
“You were unconscious when I found you. Do you know why?” Again, she shakes her head. I want to hear her voice. I want her to answer me, but I don’t know how to make her talk. I don’t want to force her too much and have her shut down on me.
“You gotta give me somethin’ here, LaLa. What were you doin’ behind a strip club?” I wait this time. She can’t shake her head in answer this time. She has to open her mouth and give me an answer.
“I don’t know,” she whispers. That’s a start.
“You don’t remember?”
“No,” she replies softly. Maybe the drugs did a number on her. Doc said there were drugs in her system. It’s possible she doesn’t remember.
“Want me to tell you what I know?” I ask her. She nods her head slowly as she looks at me. I shift and sit back on my heels before taking a deep breath and blowing it out.
“You OD’d. Whatever pills you took, you overdosed.”
“I did?” she asks quietly. I nod my head before running my hand through my hair.
“You don’t remember what you took?”
“No.”
“Do you remember why you took them?” I ask this time.
“No.” I can see how her eyes shifted slightly, and her breathing kicked up a notch. She knows why she took them, and she isn’t telling me. And that’s okay. I don’t need her story just yet. I can wait.
“I want you to know you’re safe here. You’re safe from whatever you were runnin’ from,” I tell her. It’s true. She’s safe here, but why am I keeping her here? Why don’t I just set her free and let her go on about her life or the taking of it? No, I can’t do that. I can’t let her kill herself. I let that happen once. Never again.
“Safe?” she asks, tugging at the cuff on her arm. Smart girl.
“That’s for your safety. I can't take that off until I know what you were doin’.” Her eyes flash with anger as she looks at me and then turns away. I run my fingers along her jaw until she turns back to me.
“You can’t be trusted, LaLa. You tried to kill yourself,” I tell her. She shakes her head slowly at first before she opens her mouth.
“I didn’t.”
“Yeah, you did. There’s no sense in lyin’ to me. I know what you did,” I whisper as Lala glares at me.
“What do you want from me?” she finally asks.
“The truth, LaLa. I want the truth.” When she doesn’t move to answer me, I shove off the floor and stand to my feet. I look down at her as she watches me, but I don’t say anything else. Instead, I turn and walk to the door.
