Hostage

Anything In This World

Kimberly's POV

"I think time out of her room would be good for her." A firm masculine voice said. I stirred as I turned to lie on my other side. I felt warm....too warm.

I opened my eyes slowly and then glanced down at myself. I was lost. Literally lost in a grey sweatshirt I didn't remember wearing. I sat up slowly and then looked around. I felt panic rise up from within me.

I wasn't in my room and worse still,I didn't know where I was. The room was extremely large and the bed was massive. I noticed it was softer than the one in my room too. A tall bookshelf stood at the other side of the wall,covering a reasonable amount of the bright silver walls. Bright chandeliers hung from the ceiling and my eyes wandered to the gold coated couch at the far end of the room. A huge flat screen TV hung directly across the bed. The other half of the room was designed to look like an office...a black leather chair and a glass table. A laptop sat open on the table alongside some very disorganized pieces of paper and a teacup. I noticed there was a painting there too but it was too far and I was too weak.

The room smelled strangely familiar and I felt myself relax when I heard Keenan say. "Thank you doc."

I felt my cheeks turn a very bright shade of red and I tried to convince myself that it had nothing to do with the fact that he'd seen me naked.

We were reasonable adults afterwards and we were kind of married.

Still I flung myself on the bed when I heard the door open and close behind me. I shut my eyes and then pulled the duvet closer to my body. I felt the bed shift under his weight when he sat down beside me,followed by the strong,addictive scent of his perfume. He was quiet for a while.

"Hi." He said slowly.

I lay still for a short while trying to decide whether or not to open my eyes. Being in zero mood to play around,I opened my eyes slowly, pretending he'd just woken me up. Awkward silence filled the room for a moment.

"How--" He paused. "How're you feeling?" His eyes searched mine for a minute before they moved down to other parts of my body as though he was conducting a test on me with his eyes. I cleared my throat.

"I'm okay." I paused. "Sorry about earlier. I don't know what happened." I said quietly.

"You passed out." He paused. "The doctor says you're under a lot of---emotional stress." He said. I licked my lip and then tucked some loose strands of slightly damp hair behind my ears. "He thinks leaving the house for some time would do you good--"

"No thank you. I'm good." I turned to lie on my back and tried to focus my gaze on the ceiling even though I could feel his intense gaze on my skin. I felt as though he was trying to read me....to see what was going through my head.

"I know--" He licked his lip. "I know I haven't exactly been good to you since we got married." He started quietly.

"You don't owe me anything." I snapped. "We don't owe each other anything."

"I left you on our wedding night. I shouldn't have done that."

"You had more important things to do. I understand that." I said and then turned my back to face him,totally forgetting it was his bed.

"I lost my dad at quite a young age." He started. "It-It was one of the most difficult moments. I was young,and confused, and I was the first child." He paused. I tilted my head a bit finding it difficult to believe that he was sharing a part of his life with me. "But I had my family with me. They buried him with me,mourned with me." He added and then paused. "They survived with me."

"Well guess what?" I asked as I turned to lie on my back once more. "Some of us have no family." I looked at him with the corner of my eyes. "Some of us are used to being alone. Mourning alone." I stopped to breathe when I noticed my voice shake. "Surviving alone." I told him,my voice a little more inaudible towards the end. He was quiet till after I spoke. His gaze was fixed steadily on mine and even though I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach,I couldn't deny that they were there. I couldn't help that I felt nervous whenever he was around. I couldn't help that I completely lost myself whenever he looked at me.

"Nobody deserves that." He said quietly after a while. "And so if there's anything." He paused, his eyes giving me an assuring look. "Anything in this world that I can do to make you feel better." He said,laying emphasis on the word 'feel'. "Don't hesitate to let me know." He pursed his lip and then looked away. "If there's anywhere you want to go, anywhere you want to visit." He paused. "So long as it falls within the week. My trial's on Friday and I'll have to return to work after that." He returned his gaze to me. I starred at him for a moment.

"Why?" I asked. He raised an eyebrow.

"Pardon?"

"Up until yesterday, you thought I didn't belong here. And now you want to help me get better. Why?" I rubbed my already soar nose with the sleeves of his sweatshirt and his gaze followed the gesture till I dropped my hand beside me once more.

"You told me about Mrs. Brown. Why?" He answered my question with a question. I rolled my eyes and then sniffed.

"I don't know." I answered slowly.

"If we're going to spend the rest of our lives together then--" He paused. I tensed at the sound of that. I hadn't even thought of it that way.....

Living the rest of our lives together... Growing old together... Having kids together..

The thought of it made me shiver and he must have noticed because I noticed his eyebrows drop.

"What I'm saying is we are married and if we are to live together for a long time we have to at least make it bearable for one anoth--" He was saying when a loud knock was heard, followed by a careful opening and closing of the door. His gaze moved from me to the figure that'd walked in. I turned a bit too.

"Paul." He muscles relaxed a bit. "Is everything alright?" He raised an eyebrow. Paul looked at me and then at him. He nodded as a sign for him to continue.

"I just got off the phone with Detective Jared." He said slowly. Keenan sat up straight and I noticed his muscles tense up once more. His jaw tensed too. "Mrs. Brown died this morning." He said slowly.

I sat up immediately.

"Mrs. Brown--she--" I stammered. "She's dead?"

"Detective Jared will like to have a word with you." Paul continued. Keenan looked at me for a few seconds and then cleared his throat.

"I'll--I'll be right bac-- "

"Not you sir." Paul cut him off and then turned to me. "Mrs. Monroe."