Stolen

26

His fist made contact with my face for the fourth time in a row. He'd been hitting me all day, but now he had me pinned to the wall.

Five.

I'd upset him by pushing him off of me.

Six.

My face felt numb and swollen.

Seven.

I kept waiting for him to stop or for the other man to come and stop him.

Eight.

I held my arm up to guard my face as a tear escaped my eye. He took a step back and rolled his eyes. I sank to the floor and kept my arms up to guard myself.

"That should teach him." Chance muttered grabbing a soda from the fridge.

"Teach him what?" I asked as loud as I could manage.

"Teach Blake how easy it is to f*ck you up. Now do you want me to do more or are you going to shut up?!" He yelled, stepping closer to tower over me. I dropped my eyes to the floor and slightly raised my arms again. "Good girl."

I nodded and he left the kitchen and went to the livingroom. I heard the TV turn on and I closed my eyes for a moment. I'd been fighting him all day and I was exhausted.

I heard footsteps come into the kitchen and I curled up tighter into my knees. I was waiting for his fist to wrap around my hair again, but instead something cool and nice was put on the back of my neck.

I peeked up and saw that it was the other man. Garret, I think. He had placed a damp cloth on my neck and he was wringing another one out. He placed it on my cheek.

"Don't wipe off any of this blood. As long as you look bad, he'll let off. I've been talking to him about sending you back tomorrow. Just keep fighting for tonight and all this mess will be over tomorrow." He spoke quietly so no one else could hear us. I nodded and closed my eyes again. "My brother used to be a good man. He's just a little lost. I'll talk to him."

I heard his footsteps leaving the kitchen and relaxed a little, leaning onto the wall. I didn't think I'd miss my kidnapper and it was a strange feeling to miss Blake. This has got to be Stockholm syndrome.

...

"I said kiss me, Jade." He ordered. It was almost midnight.

"I don't even kiss Blake. Get off me." I pushed him back and he hit the wall. He straightened his posture and walked back to me. At first he surprised me, he gently reached up and touched my cheek. He slowly lowered his hand until he reached my neck. Putting his hand on the back of my neck he pulled me a little closer before he kissed my neck. He slowly brought his other hand up and wrapped them both around my throat, cutting off my air supply.

I felt panic rising in my chest. He kissed my forehead as he pressed his thumbs into my throat. I felt tears falling down my cheeks and clawed at his hands, digging my nails into his skin as I tried to pull his hands away.

He finally stopped as my eyes started to feel heavy. He backed away from me to look me over.

"Hmmmm..." he hummed. "I think you're about ready to go home. Almost. By tomorrow you will be. You'll go back to Blake."

I didn't respond. He'd gotten mad with everything I said or didn't say. So I stayed quiet and waited for him to get angry again.

As far as I understood, this was all about Blake, he'd hurt Chance or something. Chance wanted to use me to hurt Blake back. So no matter what I did, he'd get angry and hit me, that way it'd be worse for Blake.

"Do you want to go back?" Chance asked. I kept my eyes down and lightly nodded. "Why?"

I didn't answer. I wasn't sure how. I sat quietly for a moment until I felt him grab my hair to make me look at him.

"I asked a question."

"Because he's kind." I spoke quietly.

"Kind? Have you met him?"

"He doesn't hit me. He doesn't mean to hurt me. He tries to protect me. He might be planning something, but right now he's kind." I said looking past him at the wall as I thought. He let me go and pushed me back.

"It's time for bed." He said turning away. "I'm sleeping on the couch. Thank Garret for that."