A Deal With Dark

Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

It was as if I was stuck inside the coin toss nightmare that I had experienced months ago, towards the beginning of the deal I had made with Dark. We were in the same place, the same dangerous and scary situation, and I could only imagine that Dark wasn't planning on doing anything kind to either of us. But this time, I was very much aware of how awake I was. I felt the friction of the rope against my skin every time I moved, and the rapid beating of my heart as it tried to burst out of my chest.

Mark was silent - somehow he had been since Dark had teleported us there. Despite the duct tape covering his mouth, he could still make noise, and for a split second I wondered why he hadn't tried to warn me of what was happening as I blindly let Dark tie me up. But then I noticed bruises and cuts on Mark's skin, and I knew exactly why he had kept his mouth shut. He had already been warned not to ruin Dark's surprise for me.

"It's a pity that the two of you had to ruin what we had going. I was quite enjoying myself. And you were too, weren't you, Mads?" He pulled my hair out of my face, tucking a few strands behind my ear. I wanted to slap his hand away, but obviously couldn't. That was probably for the best - I wasn't sure how much he'd hurt me if I tried something like that.

"How'd you know?" I questioned him, my voice timid and shaky.

"Oh, there were plenty of signs from both of you. Maddy calling me by the wrong name - an honest mistake, but one that had never happened before. Her nightmares and her distancing herself from me - I never could be sure of exactly what you were up to when you did that, Mads. And then there was Mark pretending like everything was fine, being seemingly unbothered by me and oddly happy all of a sudden. But of course, with enough digging and asking around, I was able to pinpoint the hotel the two of you stayed at and get information. I'm awfully good at getting what I want." Dark sneered as he spoke, clearly proud of himself. But I knew that along with his cockiness came incredible anger. I feared that Mark and I would be witnessing that soon, especially if we said or did the wrong thing to him.

"And then when I confronted Mark, he told me that the hotel wasn't even the first time the two of you had met up! And you thought that I would never find out. Me, the king of manipulation!"

"We just talked when we met before, we kissed, but it wasn't the same-"

"As if any of that matters! You knew what the deal was, Maddy, and it's hardly worth being with me if you're going to turn around and make him believe that he still has a chance with you. And this deal might have been with Maddy but you knew you were to stay out of it, Mark. I reminded you of that several times."

"I reminded you too, Mads, just more nicely. But I think we're all done playing nice."

Dark pulled a knife out of an inside pocket of his suit jacket and Mark did his best to yell through the tape on his mouth, writhing in his chair.

"Oh, you want to speak now?" Dark bounded over to Mark and ripped the tape off.

"Don't hurt her! Don't you dare hurt her!" Mark screamed, losing his shit completely.

"Don't YOU dare tell me what to do!" Dark roared back. "And why should I listen to you anyways? The goal here was to torture you, and you'd hate to watch me carve my name into her skin, wouldn't you? You'd hate to see me hurt her while you're forced to sit here, helpless. And if I happened to kill her in the process, that would absolutely destroy you. That would be the best torture of all."

"Stop it, Dark. Fucking STOP IT!" Mark was sobbing now, crying angrily as he continued to try to wriggle out of his binds.

Dark sighed. "I don't want to have to hurt her. I don't want to have to hurt anyone. Unfortunately, you can't just break a deal with me and expect there to be no consequences, either," he explained cooly, through gritted teeth. He was no longer yelling, but it was clear that he was still mad, and he could snap again at any second. That was perhaps the scariest thing about Dark - he was frighteningly unpredictable, always switching from calm to crazy in seconds. Even though I had spent a lot of time with him and felt like I knew him somewhat well, he still surprised me. I never knew quite what to expect. But for the moment, while Mark and I were tied in those chairs at the mercy of Dark, I had to tread lightly while trying to figure a way out of the mess we were in.