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They’d blindfolded her, and she didn’t know why. She’d been brought to the same room, told to undress and lie down on the same bed as the first two times she’d been here. The same beefy man holding a gun stood at the door, looking stoically ahead. The only difference so far was the silky blindfold the man in the black suit and red shoes had tied around her head.
“Why?” she had asked.
“Rental request,” he had said, right before she heard him exit the room.
Rental request.She was nothing more than arentalnow. Like a car, or a bike, or a hotel room. A thing tousetemporarily.
And so now Noelle lay on the bed, shivering, trying her best to prepare mentally for what she was about to endure, but distracted by every small sound, her vision gone, her other senses hyperaware.
There was no preparing for what she’d have to endure physically. She was not in control of that. Others currently possessed her body. But she was determined to keep her soul if she could.
She heard a soft knock at the door. Her muscles tensed.God, I hate this. I hate it. Make it fast. At least make it fast.She heard the man with the gun move aside and the soft footsteps of someone else enter the room.Light on his feet. No shuffling.
“Hello, Noelle.” His voice was deep and somehow melodic. He sounded older, but perhaps not as old as the other two men who had entered this room the last two times. She hadn’t been able to identify all their features under the masks they wore, but she’d been able to ascertain their age by their bodies and their sagging necks, veiny hands, and balding heads. She had only this man’s voice. So far. “You do not greet me. Why?”
His phrasing. It was different.
“Should the rabbit caught in the trap greet the hunter?” she bit out. Her voice shook, but her anger and hatred gave her courage. They were the only things she had in which to clothe herself.
He chuckled, and she felt the bed depress. He’d sat down directly to her right. Instinctively, she drew away. “If the rabbit wants to get free,” he answered smoothly.
That confused her. “You’re going to ... help me get free?”
He made a tsking sound. “That’s against the rules, little rabbit. Would I ...break... the rules?” He’d emphasized the word, though subtly, and she had no idea why. He dragged a finger down her arm, and she tensed and pulled away.
Still, this was the first man who’d offered any conversation at all, and she’d take advantage of it if she could. The other ones had laughed and grunted and made lewd commands and taken every liberty with her body, but they hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words, and they definitely hadn’t required any from her. One of them had enjoyed her tears, and so she’d cried harder to hurry it along. “Who makes the rules?” she asked him. “Who’s doing this? Is there anything I can do to get out of here?”
“You know I can’t answer those questions,” he said, using two fingers now to feather down her arm. She wanted to lift it and slap him. She fisted her hand to resist the impulse.
There was an accent she couldn’t place that floated around the edges of his words. It was slight. Very slight. She might not have even noticedit if she hadn’t been blindfolded. Maybe he was trying to hide it, or maybe it’d been a very long time since he’d spoken the language that gave his English that particular lilt, and only on certain words.
His scent wafted toward her. Expensive. But also clean and understated. The other men had smelled expensive, too, but she’d smelled them the moment they’d entered the room, their cologne preceding them. Some overpowering fragrance that barely hid the scent of sweat and dry-cleaning chemicals and whatever else they’d carried on them. She had a very good sense of smell. She wished she didn’t. Only one of them had chosen to get fully undressed, and then she’d been exposed to a whole new slew of smells she had tried to hold her breath against.
This man, though—she didn’t have the desire to draw away from inhaling his air. He smelled good; she’d give him that. And she’d take it as a very small mercy.
“Can I take off this blindfold?” she asked. She’d felt exposed before, but this was a whole other level of bared. To be naked and blind, while the other untrustworthy person was not, was awful and unnerving. He might hurt her, and she’d never see it coming.
“No,” he said. “I believe you’ve already been advised that the rules of this room were established beforehand. If you break them, the large man by the door will not hesitate to put a bullet in your brain.” He opened her palm and ran his fingers across it. “Some would enjoy that. Some would benefit from that. I, however, would do neither.”
“So others are watching then? That’s all this is?” She didn’t know why she was being so brazen with this man. He was just like the others. Vile. Taking advantage of a helpless girl without consent. But she felt she had a chance to speak her mind, and she had no idea if she’d ever get that again. The way he was running his fingers down her skin made her want to scream, although she bet he thought she’d find it relaxing. In this way, she was actuallygladfor the blindfold. It was like being hidden behind the windshield of a car and feeling more comfortable road raging. She wanted to attack him with violence, but she also wanted toappeal to him for help. She didn’t know why or what or how. All she knew was that since she’d arrived here, she’d been operating mostly on instinct and gut survival, and this man was somehow different from the others she’d so far come into contact with. Was it his refined voice? That gentle accent that almost seemed to ebb and flow? The clean, elegant scent of him?Forget all that. He’s no different than the others.All those things were falsehoods, a costume so to speak, meant to put others at ease.He’s a monster. He rented me.
“Roll over, little rabbit,” he said, and she heard the command in his tone. This was someone used to being listened to. It had been the same with the others. The difference was, they’d said it meanly. And they’d added insults to the orders.Roll over.Her heart thumped in preparation of being hurt in a new and different way. She wanted to scream, but that would only prolong things. She did as he asked, bracing. She felt his heat above her and was surprised when his hands came to her shoulders and he began kneading, his thumbs pressing into her sore muscles.Oh God.She clamped her lips shut as she sucked the sound of pleasure that had threatened back into her mouth. She wouldn’t give him that. She would not.
He chuckled as if he saw her struggle and it amused him. “Do you want me to tell you a story, little rabbit?”
“No.” She held herself still, willing her body not to respond to the manipulation of her muscles. But, oh God, it felt good. She’d been in a cage for weeks, sleeping on hard cement, hunched over, and contending with stress that most other people had never come close to experiencing.
She hurt everywhere. She’d stopped addressing it, but his hands on her muscles made her extremely aware.
“I believe I will anyway,” he said.
“I’m shocked.”
He laughed softly, and she heard genuine appreciation in the sound.
Her mind was going slightly fuzzy in response to the combination of his melodic voice and kneading hands. That, too, was a pleasure, andone she hadn’t allowed herself since she’d been taken. By necessity, she’d been on high alert, her mind constantly churning with a way she—they—might escape. “Go on then,” she said, and he again produced a deep chuckle that rolled over her skin. “Tell me your story.”
“Did I say it was my story, Noelle? It was relayed to me recently, and it’s one I find vastly interesting.”
