Distorted Hope (8 page)

We were eating dinner when the boat pulled into the harbor. I stared at my lap, trying to keep the few bites I had eaten in my stomach. Jason reached over and squeezed my hand. He knew better than to say it would be okay. Neither of us knew what was going to happen and if it really would be okay, but he was with me. That’s all he could offer and that’s all I wanted right now. We had each other.

After the kidnappers finished eating, they went outside to get ready to dock, and we were left alone for a few minutes.

“What will happen now?” I asked in a soft voice.

“I don’t know.” He leaned over and kissed my temple. His touch was so soothing. “I’m here,” he murmured against my head. It was a mantra he had been repeating all day and he knew it calmed me.

Mark returned a few minutes later. “Jason, there are shoes in the closet for you. Go get them on so we can get moving.”

“Doesn’t Kyra need shoes?” Jason asked with a surprised tone.

Mark shook his head. Jason hesitated, not wanting to leave me alone, but Mark gave him a warning look. “I told you I wouldn‘t hurt her unless you don’t cooperate. I think I’ve demonstrated that.”

Jason gave me an apologetic look and hurried back to the bedroom. I looked up at Mark with frightened eyes.

“It’s good you got some sexual experience before we landed,” he said, leaning against the back of a chair.

“Am I really going to be a sex slave?” I asked, tugging at the hem of the too-short cotton dress and wondering if it was an example of the wardrobe I’d be expected to wear from now on.

Mark shrugged. “That’s up to Nathan. He might keep you to himself. I think he might like you.”

“Me? Why?” That was just crazy.

“Kyra, I’ve heard you talking to Jason about how school was for you. I—” He shook his head. “I know kids can be cruel, but that was a long time ago. You are a very beautiful woman and you need to start thinking of yourself that way. Nathan hates self-deprecation and you’ll piss him and his clients off if you act that way. If you want to stay on his good side, you need to gain some confidence. Fast.” He smiled. It was a nice smile. “I wouldn’t have brought you along if you weren’t attractive. Nathan has high standards for his girls.” He gently cupped my chin with his hand. “If we were in different circumstances, I’d ask you out. I think you’re very pretty and very sweet.”

I gaped at him. “Why would you think that about me? You’re… you’re…” I stuttered.

He grinned. “I’m what?”

“You’re so hot.”

He laughed. “So are you.” He smacked my rear and walked away.

I didn’t know what to think about Mark. He was very firm but gentle with me for the most part. If he wasn’t my kidnapper, I might have liked him. He tried cracking jokes along with Jason to cheer me up when depression threatened to overwhelm me at dinner. He seemed easy going as long as we did as we were told. He was the same way with the other men, who deferred to him as their leader. John was the redhead who’d been at the diner with him. The man with the mischievous blue-green eyes and light brown hair was named Bryce. The fourth man, with soft brown eyes and almost black hair, was named Carlos.

“Mark?”

He paused at the stairway. “Yeah?”

“My friend, my best friend, Stacey… She’ll be so worried about me. Is there… any way I could let her know I’m okay?”

Mark gave me a sad look and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Kyra. I can’t risk communications back to the states. Nathan would kill me. Literally.” He turned and disappeared down the stairs.

I sat down on the couch, the short skirt of my dress unable to prevent the soft fabric rubbing against my bare ass and pussy, which were sore from so much lovemaking. I picked at the ends of my hair, noticing the split ends for the first time.
I need a haircut.
The thought was so foreign, it stunned me. I’d never gotten a haircut to make myself look good, except with Stacey’s makeover. I cut my hair when it got too long, but now I was thinking I needed a haircut because of split ends? Maybe I really was changing.

Jason came out and looked around. “Where’s Mark?”

“Went downstairs.”

“You okay?” He sat down next to me and put his arm around me.

I nodded, curling up next to him. “This dress is way too short. I wish I had panties to wear.”

He chuckled and traced my hand that was resting on his thigh. “I think you look sexy.”

“Thanks.” I sighed. I was looking this way to meet Nathan. Jason’s new boss. My new… I had no idea. Boss?

Mark returned a few minutes later, having changed from his black t-shirt and jeans to lightweight khaki shorts and a blue linen shirt. “It’s fucking hot out there.”

Mark handed me a pair of white leather flip flops and we walked out the back of the yacht. I felt like I had just walked into a vegetable steamer. The air was sticky and hot and made my dress stick to my body and my legs stick together. The sky above was dark gray with pink edges appearing as I looked lower in the sky toward the ocean.

“Holy fuck,” Jason mumbled. “I miss the desert.”

“It’s cooler at the hacienda,” Mark said, taking my hand and helping me up onto the dock.

Jason glared at him and took my other hand, and Mark let go with a chuckle. A black SUV waited at the end of the dock. John, Bryce, and Carlos were standing nearby, looking around. Their guns were holstered at their hips, but they seemed ready to use them if needed. After we got into the SUV, which was thankfully air conditioned, John got behind the wheel with Mark next to him in the front. Carlos and Bryce sat in the back seat.

“We’re just driving to the airport,” Mark explained. “We’ll take the helicopter to the hacienda. Otherwise, it’s a really long drive.”

“Why didn’t we just fly all the way here?” Jason asked.

“Security issues,” Mark answered.

Jason raised his eyebrows but Mark didn’t elaborate.

The drive to the airport only took about ten minutes, and then the SUV stopped near a large helicopter. Actually, calling it large was an understatement. A giant beast squatting on the landing pad, it dwarfed the other helicopters nearby. I counted five windows in the cabin, where the others only had one or maybe two.

The fast-fading sunlight made it difficult to discern the true color, but I guessed it to be blue.

The interior was spacious and bright. White leather chairs flanked two fold-down tables on either side of the central aisle. A narrow door led to a second seating area, where a couch and two chairs faced each other across an expanse of open floor. There was even a small bathroom in the front of the cabin, near the entry door.

The show of outrageous luxury impressed me, humbled me, and even frightened me. A man who could afford all this was clearly accustomed to getting anything he wanted.

“Have a seat and give me your shoes,” Mark said, motioning to one of the table and chairs set. I sat down, slipped the sandals off my feet, and handed them to him.

Jason sat across from me and Mark sat across the aisle from Jason. When the others had gone into the back, the interior lights dimmed, the propellers began to rotate, and we were up in the air a few minutes later. I dug my fingers into the armrests and stared out the window at the disappearing lights of the airport below. We crossed over a wide river of some sort and then the terrain became a never ending carpet of green.

Jason held my hand on top of the table and looked out the window. I wondered what he was thinking about. I had been so caught up in my own misery, I hadn’t even considered the fact he was leaving a family behind. His parents and brothers would have no idea where he’d gone. That had to be eating him up inside.

I squeezed his hand and he glanced at me. “How are you doing?” I asked.

A myriad of emotions flashed through his eyes and they watered slightly. He pressed his lips together and nodded, turning his gaze back to the window.

“I’m sorry I haven’t taken your feelings into consideration, Jason,” I continued. “You must miss your family.”

He nodded again, refusing to look away from the window. His eyes glistened in the dim lighting and my heart broke. I glanced at Mark, who stood and walked to the back of the helicopter. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I moved to kneel next to Jason, taking his hands in mine. “I’m so sorry, Jason,” I whispered.

He glanced down at me and pulled me onto his lap, holding me tightly and burying his face in my hair. I could feel his body shaking as he tried not to cry, though the sniffing indicated he wasn’t entirely successful. I wrapped my arms around his neck and repeated his own mantra back to him. “I’m here… I’m here… “ It was foolish to try to tell him everything would be okay; he never said that to me and I wouldn’t say that to him.

After a long while, he took a deep, shaky breath and kissed my cheek. “Thank you, Kyra,” he said in a hoarse voice. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you’re here with me.”

I laughed softly. “I know what you mean. I’m glad you’re here with me.” I felt so close to him, closer than I’d ever been to anyone. I’d shared my body and spirit with him and I felt like he was a part of me and I was a part of him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He cupped my cheek and kissed me. I nipped at his lower lip and he chuckled. “Naughty girl,” he whispered. “I have a feeling I’d get in trouble if I tried anything with you.” But his hand slid up my thigh, anyway, making my whole body tingle.

The kiss deepened, his tongue darting into my mouth and teasing me. His hand slid higher to my hip and I parted my legs slightly as his fingers brushed my curls and then teased my slit, making me gasp and wiggle on his lap.

“Jason,” I moaned softly.

Someone cleared their throat and we both looked up to see Mark frowning above us. “Don’t.” He took my hand and pulled me back into my seat, fastening my seatbelt and then returning to his seat. “You are now property of Nathan Pierce,” he said to me in a firm tone. “No one touches you without his permission.”

Tears burned my eyes and I clasped my hands together in my lap, staring at them.
And it begins.

About a half hour later, I began to see flickering lights ahead. The lights gradually grew brighter and a dull, orange rectangle came into view. Inside the rectangle were several clusters of lights, the biggest cluster being at the far corner in the form of a giant yellow ‘U’ with three separate rows of lights. The main house maybe? As we got closer, long buildings appeared, dimly lit, around the perimeter of the rectangle. I thought I even saw the blue glow of a lit swimming pool before we landed on the helipad.

“C’mon. Let’s go.” Mark stood and unbuckled my seatbelt. His eyes had hardened and he was all business as he yanked me out of my seat.

I tried to look at Jason before Mark led me off, but Mark blocked my view and pushed me ahead of him. I stopped at the edge of the helicopter. “What about my shoes?”

“You don’t need them. The grounds are kept very clear, except for places you shouldn’t go.”

I looked down at his feet. “You’re wearing shoes.”

“I’m not a woman.”

“Oh.”

He pushed me gently and I stepped out onto the cool cement of the helipad. The air was much cooler here and I rubbed my arms to get rid of the goose bumps. I looked around but couldn’t see much. The grounds were obscured by the glare of the landing lights, and I couldn’t see anything beyond the fact that there were buildings. Mark took me by my arm and led me off the helipad and into the cool grass in the direction of the large building in the corner of estate—what I guessed would be called a hacienda.

My legs felt wobbly as I walked beside Mark past the pool I had seen from the air. Lights in the turquoise water illuminated the surrounding greenery. The three-story building seemed to grow and grow and grow in front of me, and several minutes later, we walked up stone stairs and onto a huge, stone courtyard with a tall, cheerful fountain in the center. The stone beneath my feet felt cool and smooth, but they weren’t totally even.

The courtyard was bordered on two and a half sides by the house; a narrow passageway separated the house from another building which took up the rest of the third side. The fourth side of the courtyard—the direction from which we approached—was open to the rest of the estate.