Affiction

11

Colby's pov

"What the fuck?" I blinked opened my eyes, realizing that my speech was slurred.

I looked around the room, my eyes adjusting to the bright lights of this basement.

White brick walls, gray floors.

I glanced down at my body, realizing I was shirtless but still wearing the same pants that I put on this morning.

My hands were above my head, and I looked up to see them tied above my head.

I could easily escape if I needed to, but I wanted to see why I was here.

Where was I even?  Everything was a little fuzzy, I couldn't remember exactly what happened.

I squinted my eyes, the lights sending a gentle pounding into my brain that was very intrusive of my thought process.

I was in the car, in the middle of the night. Driving to the office.

A cop was on me, I was speeding a little I suppose.

It wasn't a cop that came to my window when I pulled over though.

And now I'm here, strapped to a basement wall.

"You still look good, it's like you never changed," A familiar, soft voice echoed through the room, and I looked over at the source, a very familiar source.

"Shea," I said with a blank face, "What am I doing here?"

"That's very complicated yet very simple at the same time," She smirked, crouching down by my feet. "How's your wife?"

"Huh?" Shea was out of my life long before Kiara and I got engaged, let alone got married.

I had to push my feelings for Shea away, let them subside before I could be with Kiara fully.

"Word gets out. You have a wife, but she isn't here anymore, yeah?" Shea pouted, popping out her lips in a dramatic way.

"What are you talking about?" I asked in disbelief. "Shea I'm literally going to kick your ass unless you tell me what's going on,"

"Says the one who's tied to a wall," She said with a click of her tongue.

"Is he awake?" Another voice, deeper and laced with authority, said as she stomped.

"Just woke up, Mama," Shea smiled sweetly at the bulky woman, who briefly reminded me of Miss Trunchbull from the Matilda movie.

A low chuckle escaped my lips, causing Trunchbull and Shea to snap their heads in my direction.

"Is something funny, Brock?" Trunchbull asked, "You're not in a good position to be laughing, don't you think?"

"You aren't going to kill me," I scoffed, "Come on, let's think logically about this. I don't even know why I'm here,"

"You didn't know there was a high price for your name right now?"  The woman asked, narrowing her eyes.

"When isn't there?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"This time it's higher, and I'm taking action since my niece is on the line," She said, pointing her finger at me.

"What are you talking about? I'm sure this is one big misunderstanding," I said genuinely.

"You would never confess to kidnapping and raping anyone," She seethed, causing my mouth to drop open.

"I would never do that," I said with narrowed eyes, "Shea, this is really ridiculous. Tell her I didn't rape her niece,"

"You don't even know who she is," Trunchbull snapped.

"Yeah, but I'd never do anything like that to a woman," I insisted, "Tell me who your niece is and maybe I can help you,"

"Why would I tell you anything?" Trunchbull asked.

"You won't tell me who your niece is but you have no problem accusing me of assaulting her," I replied, "Let's think logically for just a moment,"

"You are guilty of so many crimes that I'm surprised you'd even remember this one, Brock," Trunchbull sneered, "But I know what really happened, thanks to my beautiful daughter. Do you think she's beautiful,"

I studied Shea for just a moment, who was watching me with a curious expression.  There was a point in my life when I would have said that she was the prettiest girl in the world.

"She must get it from her dad," I observed, narrowing my eyebrows, causing Shea's mother to gasp.

"Maybe you should show some respect," She advised, "I don't know who you think you're talking to, but you better listen to what I have to say,"

"Keep talking," I requested sarcastically, "It's not like I have anything better to do right now,"

"A couple of years ago, my niece was accused of killing my father," She began, "And a few months later I found her hiding out in New York, and she insisted she was doing fine so I left her be. I went to go and check up on her and there was no word, I couldn't find her anywhere,"

"Thanks to your former love interest being Shea, it was quite easy for her to sneak back to where you live in California and see that she was being held hostage in a bedroom for days at a time,"

"She was gross, her body was swollen and you were there, keeping her there with another man," Trunchbull seemed to be getting emotional, shaking her head and covering her mouth with her hand.

"And then the other man reached into places that no woman should ever be touched under the circumstances. That was all Shea could watch before it became too much for her to see,"

I tried to think back on what this lady could be talking about, and then it hit me.

Nate and I were the only people in the room with Kiara whenever she was giving birth to Gabby in one of the medical rooms of the office.

Nate had helped bring Gabby out, cutting off the umbilical cord before handing her to me.

So what Shea and her whack-fuck mother was describing wasn't me assaulting someone, it was just Kiara having our baby.

Oh, what a story this will be to tell Kiara when I see her.

I wonder if she knows I'm gone yet, since our last interaction wasn't the best.

Maybe she hasn't noticed since she's probably incredibly pissed off right now.

"You know what she's talking about, don't you?" Shea asked quietly.

"Yeah," I sighed, fully aware that I could not tell these women what really happened, "Yeah I do."