She could only imagine what his vision
of a “woman” was.
None the less, Jamie would get dragged
down to his body and soon after she would fall asleep against his
shirtless chest. No matter how frustrated she would get with him as
she waited, Jamie couldn’t deny him when he would wrap his arms
around her waist and act like he had to protect her, even in her
sleep.
Jamie hadn’t seen him at all after
talking with Vladimir.
Lucian had given her an apologetic
look before following after him, leaving her to herself. She
wouldn’t have found their room if it hadn’t been for the funny
woman at the front desk. At first, Jamie hadn’t known what to think
about her. The woman had told Jamie that her name was Jessica, and
that she was the receptionist for Lucian. And then she had told her
more.
And more.
And more.
And
more.
Her head had hurt within the first
five minutes of talking, and she felt bad about it, but it had been
a relief when Jamie had finally found her room and the woman had
gone off on her own, leaving her to blissful silence.
The room Talon and her shared
was...quiet. It wasn’t like the rest of the building, either. While
the back of the gas station was full of metal, the room they were
staying in was elegant and spacious. Almost like Auro’s room for
them had been. Old fashioned but with no windows and billowing
curtains and eerie screams from outside.
Right now, she was leaning against the
headboard that connected to the bed. The walls were creamy, the
light reflecting from the hanging light covered with shadows from
the fan. It got hot really easily in the room, so the soft whir of
the fan was a comfort she used to lull her.
Food was brought to her when she found
herself hungry. Clothes were brought to her in the mornings, left
by the door. Shampoos were already available in the shower when she
needed them.
Talon was out with Lucian, or at least
she assumed. There was nothing to do but watch TV and eat, and she
felt like she was getting fatter and fatter. It hurt, to not see
Talon until late in the night when he was too tired to even look at
her. She was so used to him being around her, him listening to her,
being there.
Her throat closed. She would have to
go to that house again. To get more clothes. She couldn’t live off
of these people for very long -- she felt like a moocher. Covering
her face with her hand, depression washed over her. She didn’t want
to take a chance at seeing Chris.
She could always go to the store...
No, all of her money was on credit, and she was sure that by now he
was tracking everything she did through the banks. Her stomach
turned.
Talon was busy and her house wasn’t so
far away from here that she couldn’t get a bus or walk.
She made up her mind.
Jamie got to her feet and slipped on
her shoes, grabbing her ever-faithful Columbia off of the chair
that was set by the door. No one had ever said she couldn’t walk
around the building before -- hell, that was what she had been
doing for half the week.
She pushed open the door and began
walking, shoving her hands in her pockets. It felt like she was
breaking invisible rules or something. By the time she got to the
receptionist, her hands were clammy and there was a small shake in
her legs.
Jessica looked at her with wide eyes
as she walked by, waving as casually as she could. There was a
small shake in her hand that she prayed Jessica didn’t
notice.
“
Where are you going? I
don’t think Talon would like you leaving...he does know, right? If
he didn’t, he would get really angry...”
“
It’s fine, he knows. Just
going to my house to pick up some things,” she replied as she put
her hand on the glass windows of the door. Even
she
could hear the quiver in her
voice. Jessica, thankfully, had no clue what Jamie was about to
do.
“
Well,” she started, her
high-pitched voice uncertain, “give me your address in case they
ask. Please,” she added brightly, already forgetting about how
Talon would be angry.
Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and
rattled it off, thinking that it could have been a lot worse.
Jessica wrote it down and before Jamie chickened out, she was
walking through the door.
“
So you won’t
believe
who called me
this morning,” Lucian snarled, slamming the door closed behind
them.
Talon met his eyes and raised a dark
brow. “Who?”
They were sitting in their conference
room, going over some portfolios and taxes. Now that Talon was
back, everything was going into overdrive and they were opening new
accounts. They were also going over bills and rights, and trying to
get everything into place for when the king finally came
back.
Before, Talon hadn’t known how much of
a relief it was to not remember anything. Now that he did, though,
he was stressed and had had no time to talk to Jamie. Now he knew
why he didn’t take vacations.
God forbid he get a little break.
Lucian must have been busy, too, though, he thought, leaning his
elbows on the table.
Right now, his partner looked pissed
as hell.
“
I really don’t want to
answer this question,” he growled, shoving a hand in his
hair.
“
Just tell me.”
“
Zyn.”
Talon felt his ass drop from
underneath him. All of the breath rushed from his lungs and he
became lightheaded. “No... He’s...”
The door to the conference room popped
open with a click. “Talon, I have received word that your beautiful
woman has left the building.”
Vladimir’s too-happy voice floated
into the room, completely at odds with the fucked up news that
Lucian had just given him. But at the words, Talon’s body went into
overdrive.
“
What do you mean, ‘left
the building’?” he growled, surging to his feet. Where the hell
else would she go?
“
Our Jessica told us that
she went to her house.” He gave them a wave before flaunting out of
his room, his newly-purple hair shimmering in the light. Talon
stared at where Vladimir had been, then at Lucian.
“
God
damnit
,” he shouted, shoving his
chair back, barely noticing it slam against the wall. “We will
finish this when I get back.”
He strode from the room and found
Jessica, typing away at her keyboard. When she saw his face,
though, she paled.
“
What is her address?” he
demanded, fisting his hands on the counter. It took everything in
him not to just break her damn computer, but he managed.
With wide eyes, she reached
for a small piece of white paper and handed it to him. “And you let
her
go
?” he
snarled, yanking it from her grip.
“
She... I told her that you
would get angry, but then she said that you said she could go and I
said she had to give me her address and she gave it...”
“
Shut up. Just...the next
time this happens, you have to hear it from me verbally.” He
slammed a hand on the counter before stalking from the reception
area and putting his long legs to use. His bike was in the back,
and it only took a bit to get it out and started. He didn’t bother
with a helmet; fuck, he was too angry.
He looked down at the paper and tried
placing the side of town that the street was on. There was a whole
bunch of rich people on that side of town; he frowned. Jamie hadn’t
been dressed like she was.
But, then, neither had he
when they had first met. Shit, he hadn’t had
any
clothing on.
His bike roared to life.
Jamie crept into the house slowly. The
spare key under the mat had been where they had always left it, and
his truck wasn’t outside of the house. But did that really mean
anything? She had taken the damn thing and it had probably gotten
towed from outside of the hotel.
The first step inside of the house was
like walking into a hospice. It reminded of her of pain and tears,
of everything that she had hated. Her foot brushed the ground
slowly, the door knob cold and hot at the same time in her hand.
When it landed, it creaked. Groaned. Made it seem as if the whole
house were coming alive, ready to torment her.
Her stomach turned and she let go of
the door knob. In her whole life, nothing had ever been so
terrifying as this was now. It was cold. Like an icebox.
Empty.
When she stayed at the entrance for
several minutes, ears ringing because of the silence, she convinced
herself that Chris was gone and he wasn’t going to pop out like
some sort of horror movie character. Feeling a numbness settle in
her chest as her surroundings slapped her in the face with their
familiarity, Jamie debated on whether leaving the door closed, or
opened.
Leaving it open would mean a quicker
escape, although she would have to run to get away from him
anyways. She bit her lip, staring at the freedom that was so close
to her. She wasn’t the track star she used to be, and what if she
closed the door and he thought the house was empty, and she had
time to escape?
Then again, what if she didn’t notice
he even came home?
Was he even gone, in the first
place?
Her head hurt enough that she had to
force herself to stop thinking and start moving. The lights were
off -- but they normally were. No use to waste energy during the
day when they had natural light streaming in from outside. All of
the doors were closed, and as she moved farther into the house and
closer to their bedroom, Jamie started to believe that he wasn’t
there at all.
Nothing was hanging off of the walls.
No pictures, no designs or mirrors. It was so bare, like a white
prison.
Her stomach turned, ready to
vomit.
All she wanted to do was go back to
the gas station, find Talon, and crawl into his arms. Of course,
though, he would be too busy and not even talk to her. She would
wake up the next morning with him already out of the bed, and she
would realize that they hadn’t even said anything to each
other.
When was the last time they had
talked? A week ago?
The thoughts about Talon
served as a good distraction till she got to the bedroom. Inside,
she would either find Chris on the bed, or the room empty and
waiting for her to raid. Technically, she wasn’t stealing or even
breaking and entering. Her bank account,
her own money
, had paid for
everything in the house. The only problem she had with taking her
clothing was that it would be a constant reminder of her life in
this house until she got new ones.
Just like it had been when she had
been opening the door to the house, the knob was like burning ice
under her palm. With an image of Talon imprinted in her mind, she
pushed open the door. At least if she was forced to stay, if he
hurt her, she would be able to think of Talon and remember him
--
No one was on the bed.
No one was standing in front of the
closet.
No one was in the pool that sat on the
other side of large glass windows.
It was so quiet that her ears rang
even more than before. Long white sheets brushed against the
ground, the air current lifting them slowly and gracefully. She
stared at them, believing that Chris would jump out and attack her.
Was that hysteria she felt creeping down her back? Or just the
trickle of sweat produced by the fear that was tunneling through
her body?
Probably both.
She pictured Talon’s hands
on her shoulders, around her waist, threading into her hair. God,
she wished he were here right now. Then she wouldn’t be so fucking
scared, like she was about to pee her pants. If Chris came up to
her with his fist raised, Talon would snap it in half. And she
wouldn’t even
care.
A bitter laugh rose. Yeah, right. If
anything, she would be the one trying to break his arm. Jamie knew
that with Talon near her, nothing would ever harm her.
It was midday. The snow was
all but off of the ground. That scene from the
Human Centipede
popped into her
brain, the one at the very end when the evil scientist and the cops
are in the pool room. Pool lights had reflected off of the walls,
just as they were in her room.
Putting her hands by her sides,
straightening her shoulders, she walked to her closet and flung
open the door. A large Giovanni purse was leaning against the wall,
on the floor, surrounded by shoes. A little laugh burst from her,
edging near hysteria, as she pulled reached for the handles and put
it on the bed.
So much déjà vu. It was just like it
had been a week or so ago. God, had it really been that short of
time since she had been…what, kidnapped? It seemed like a
millennia, except this time, she had a man to go to. One that
wouldn’t hurt her.