Lover for Pay: The Escort & the Teacher (manxman)

XXII - Fear

Chapter Twenty-Two

London felt like his brain was spinning in the confines of his skull, held still while being thrust in all directions, and he wanted it to stop. A tight pain clung to his wrists, and when his mind began to waver in and out of consciousness, the humming sounds of his surroundings echoed around him. Lain in a fetal position on his shoulder, his mind swayed back and forth as his eyes fluttered open. The first thing he perceived was a wall of dark stone before a cold tile flooring. With chilly air cooling the room he was in, London tried to shake the drowsy faintness from him.

When he tried to bring his arms in front of him, he tugged at a restraint tying them together. "What the..." he whispered. Quickly, upon realizing his predicament, London worked himself up, sitting up on the floor and tried to pull what felt like a zip tie apart. "Ah!" he gritted his teeth, feeling the tear of the skin on his wrists. When he failed to free himself, he turned around on his bottom, shocked to see what kind of place he was in. This basement was a well-furnished and maintained entertainment area more than a storage room. There was a small bar across the way, theater television section, and a lounge area just to his right.

Sat there for a second, he tried to recall what could have happened to drive him into this situation. One minute he was at home, and the next...here he was.

Suddenly remembering the short struggle he had to put up after being attacked, London froze on the floor when he heard footsteps coming from a staircase leading to an upper floor. He watched, tentative to see who would appear, and then knitted his brow when an unfamiliar face stepped down. He was a burly blond man in dark blue jeans and a red flannel, a prickly trimmed beard bushed around his jaw. "Who the fuck are you!?" London shouted without thought.

Theo, seeming to just notice the tattooed boy's consciousness, flinched at his demand. "Oh, shit," he said, "You're awake."

Able to work himself to his feet, London stood his ground, and said, "Who the fuck are you and what the fuck to you want with me?"

Raising his hands in carefulness, Theo smiled toward London, "Damn, maybe I should have thought about restraining your legs. Let's play nice now, boy. Don't bite me."

London looked about the room for anything he could use to free himself. There were no knives anywhere in the impressive basement, but if he could manage to get a hold of a sharp object, he'd be able to cut through this damn tie. Glaring darkly at Theo when he took a step closer, London didn't think and charged him.

Knocking into the man, London tackled him to the floor with the brute force of his upper body. They landed on top of a glass table in the center of the floor, shattering the surface into jagged shards. He and Theo groaned upon the floor, but London quickly rolled onto his feet, searching for a piece of glass that'd surely do the trick.

Catching sight of one, before Theo could work himself up after having struck his shoulder blades painfully, London reached backwards for the glass and fixed it between his fingers. With haste, he dug the sharpness of the glass into the tie and cut it loose, freeing his wrists. Not even for a second did he contemplate staying behind to question Theo, instead he hightailed it for the stairs, bounding up each step until he reached the top.

When he threw open the door to race away, he jolted to a stop when the front barrel of a pistol stared him in the face, Vivian behind it with a scowl of anger furrowed into her brow. "Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?"

With a swift kick, Vivian shoved London at the top of the stairs, sending the tattooed boy tumbling harshly down to the bottom.

London crashed onto his backside, slamming his shoulder into the hard wooden surface of the stairs, and then crumbled upon the tile flooring of the basement. He held his breath at the sharp line of pain split into his lower back. Gripping his sore forearm, he hissed in agony, feeling the fractured sprain pinched into his bone.