Claimed (22 page)

He struck her face with rage.

She fell to the floor, her cheeks burning from the sting of his slap.

“You’re not going back to that feculent place again! You hear me!” he pointed furiously at her. “I don’t give a fuck what arrangement
you made with that wily bastard; I will not have my wife teaching at a place like that. Do you even know the rumors flying about Sector 8? They’re saying that you’ve lost your mind. Gone all flaky up there. Do you understand how this reflects on me?”

She struggled to get onto her feet, her legs quivered under her, her stomach growing queasy. She pulled onto her bed-spread to aid her up, her face wet with her tears. She had never been hit by a man. She felt humiliated and cheap.

“Well, guess what?” she said, her ears still clamoring with the sound of that slap against her face. “You don’t have to endure the shame any more. I’m not getting married to you. It’s over, Edmund. It’s OVER!!” she screamed.

He glared at her for a brief while and then smirked. “It’s not over until I say it’s over.” He reached up to her and tugged a fistful of hair roughly.
“You think I need you to win your father’s affections? You’re wrong. You lost his favor a long time ago when you started mingling with those dirty fucks in Central. It’s he who needs me now,” he minced into her face. He threw her onto the bed. “You used to disgust me, you frigid bitch. I was simply too glad when you came up with that bullshit about sex after marriage.” He licked his lips, salivating at her broken spirit with his rapey eyes. “For the first time, I feel like fucking you. It’s too bad that there’s something I have to talk about to the old man first.”

He withdrew from her, straightening himself as he walked towards the door. “
Ellie, let this be my last warning. I won’t let you off so easy if I discover you’re visiting Central again.”

He slammed the door behind him, the echo resounding in her heart. She closed her eyes and sobbed.

“You screwed this one, Ellie,” she bit her lips, shaking her head. She lay like that for a long time with her knees cradled up to her chest. Finally, unable to contain the nausea gagging in her throat, she managed to crawl up to the bathroom and towards the toilet. She grasped the edges of the bowl and retched uncontrollably.

*****

Her intercom buzzed and she was too weak to answer it.  All she wanted for now was to hurl into bed and shut the pain away. She had thought a shower would have washed away the humiliation she felt inside her. She had scrubbed at her face, wishing she would just stop feeling the sting of Edmund’s slap. When she had failed, she had fallen to the floor weeping. She had mauled her body with her puffy scourer in an effort to erase every memory of it being touched by Edmund.

Her intercom continued ringing irritably and she finally turned the display on. Her father came onto the screen.

“Ellie, can you come down to the study?” he said. “Your mother and I have something to discuss with you. Edmund is already here.”

“Yes,” she murmured. She turned the display off and then stood staring at it for a while as if it were an oracle, commanding it to show her future.

A few minutes later, she found herself standing before
the door of her father’s study. She took in a deep breath and then gave it a soft knock.

“Ellie?” her father’s voice came through it.

She opened the door and stepped inside. Her mother was seated in one of their lavish chairs, wrought with worry. Her father stood by the window, watching her make her way towards the couch. She couldn’t bear glance at Edmund sitting on a chair at her father’s desk. She wanted this discussion over and done with as soon as possible so she could return to her room where she knew she would be safe.

“What happened to your face?” her mother looked at her with horror.

Ellie immediately raised her hand to touch her still stinging cheek. She hadn’t had the courage to look at herself in the mirror. She had been too overcome with shame and had avoided it as much as she could. She hadn’t thought his slap would have left a bruise. She bit her lips, suddenly feeling guilty for having displayed her bruise in public.

Her mother glanced up at Edmund. “Well,” she huffed. “I hope at least,
Edmund
knocked some sense into you.”

“Mom?
!” Ellie muttered in disbelief. “When is it ever right for a man to hit a woman?”

“Stop smart-shooting me!” her mother growled. “It is that smart mouth of yours that cost you that bruise. You know very well how it is we feel about you serving those low lives in Central.” She grabbed a tissue and sniffled into it. “I don’t understand where we went wrong with you, Ellie. I simply don’t get it. We gave everything you ever wanted. We even let you go to university. I knew though, with
the kind of personality you had… I warned your father you’d be filled with all sorts of ideas.” She shook her head with incomprehension of why Ellie loved Central. “How could you do this to us? How could you accept working for a pauper like Julian Henley? To accept a wage from him? That is unheard of! A Callum girl earning a wage, and that too from someone way beneath us!”

“And how is that humiliating?” Ellie
challenged, her head tilted up at her defiantly.

“You wretched girl!” her mother screamed. “
You don’t care about this family. No, you don’t love us.”

“Mom, I don’t understand why teaching at a school is shameful,” she protested.

“No, not school!” her mother wagged her finger at her. “A school in Central!”

“So if I were teaching in one of Sector 8’s gated communities, you’d be fine with it?!”

“No, but we would have tolerated it as some other weird fetish you had,” her mother snapped back. “You know what, I’m done with you. I wash my hands off you, Ellie. You hear that Aaron?” she said to her husband. She turned back to Ellie. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t go being all charitable in Central, pretending to understand them and then return to a house where you’ve got everything. It doesn’t work that way! You’re throwing your future away to those slum dwellers. You have Edmund here, for god sakes. Do you even know how many girls would love to trade places with you? No, no, no. Suddenly, you decide to break it off with him. And what will all of Sector 8 think? What will the entire New America think of this lunatic behavior of yours? You’re gone absolutely demented, that’s what!” She cried into her tissue. “Ellie, if you need a doctor, we’ll get you one. But please, stop this madness.”

Ellie eyes welled with tears as she stared at her mother. “You think I need a doctor?” She turned helpless
ly to her father. “Do you think I’ve lost it too, Dad?”

Her father swallowed and looked away. “You need to get a hold of your life, Ellie. I would have to agree with your mother on this occasion. If you break it up with Edmund and continue to teach for Julian Henley… then you would have to do it from somewhere else. I can’t let you stay under my roof and have you
drag our name through the dirt.”

“
Mr Callum…,” Edmund protested.

“I’m sorry, Edmund. But that is how it has to be. Ellie can’t live in this house and do as she pleases. It’s up to you to deal with her however you want.” He turned away and headed towards his chair.

Ellie stared after him in shock, unbelieving her father had uttered those words about her.
It’s up to you to deal with her however you want? However Edmund wanted? Like she was nothing more than a commodity?

“I’ll save you both the trouble,” she muttered, standing to her feet. “I’ll move out today.”

“Ellie!” her mother cried. “Why are you so stubborn?!”

“Isn’t that what you wanted, Mom? If I am the cause of all your shame in the community, then I should
just simply remove myself from this family. I am never going to be like you or Lynnie. It isn’t me. I can’t bear to go through life doing nothing but polishing my nails while in the complete knowledge of how people are struggling to get by another day. The guilt itself would kill me. But you know what does hurt me now? It’s you and Dad knowing that a man has hit me, and yet you’re begging me to stay on with him for vanity’s sake. It hurts me that you’re still allowing him to sit comfortably in this room instead of dragging
his
ass out of
this
house!”

With those words, she marched out of the room, slamming the door hard behind her. It was only until she stood alone in that corridor, did she realize what she had said and done. She didn’t know where she would go. But
she was sure of one thing. If she didn’t make her escape now, then she’d never be able to. Edmund would make sure of that.

She stumbled through the corridor in a daze, unsure of what
to do next. Perhaps, she should call Tara. But if she did, she might try and stop her from leaving. She wringed her hands, sifting through whatever sanity was left in her.

“Miss
Callum,” Samuel interrupted her.

“Sam,” she blurted out in a shaky voice.

“You don’t look well at all. Why don’t you come in for a while?” He opened the door to his office.

She nodded and stepped inside-
much too appreciative for just sitting down to process everything that had happened so quickly; so suddenly.

He looked at her bruise disapprovingly and frowned. “Can I offer you a cup of coffee, Miss? It might do well to calm you down.”

She nodded and he immediately set off to mix her a cup. The pictures of his family on his desk caught her attention and she turned to look up at the walls adorned with more pictures of his family.

“It reminds me why I am here,” he put simply, watching her. He handed over her cup and she took it gratefully.

“I just realized I’ve never been here in a long time. Perhaps, when I was a child…” she trailed off, still glancing about the office.

“When you were a child, you loved to skim through the books on my desk. You spent a lot of time bothering me. I really thought that that was g
oing to be your mission in life- to bother me.”

She smiled, receiving some flashes of that early life.

“You remember this one,” he said, picking one up to show her. “
Breaking the Chains- African Slavery in the Americas.
You used to love for me to tell you the stories in this book. I suppose you enjoyed them more because they were true.”

She reached out for the book and skimmed through it. How could she have forgotten such a primal incident in her life; one that
could have possibly influenced her future?

He fiddled with the little paperweight in his hands. “So, where are you going to go, Miss?”

“You heard?” she looked up at him in surprise.

“I guess the whole house did. And you all weren’t exactly quiet.
Especially your mother. But we staff have learnt to keep a tight lid on everything we hear. And anyone who does leak the privacy of this house to the world is severely reprimanded.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything to be sorry about, Miss. I’m very proud to be at your service now and whenever.”

She looked up at him hopefully. “Could you arrange me a place to stay?”

He raised his brow thoughtfully and thought for a brief while. “If it doesn’t offend you, you are always welcome to stay with my family.”

She widened her eyes and then shook her head. “No, I couldn’t burden you with my problems. If Dad finds out, he won’t be too pleased with you. I just need a ride to Central and a room in an inn for now. I start teaching with the school in a week and I would be getting my wage. I should get by comfortably with what savings I do have.”

“Miss, you can never be a burden to me. And I’ll be damned if I dropped you off at a filthy motel room. As for your father, you do understand that he is probably threatening you in the hopes you will return to beg him to let you back into the house, right?”

“I can be just as stubborn, Sam,” she mumbled. “I’m never coming back.” She pulled in a deep breath and said “I’ll take your offer to stay with your family. But you must accept my contribution to the household expense.”

He smiled and nodded. “It would be most appreciated.” He coughed and then started nervously. “But first, why don’t you talk it over with Jared Ryder? He might have an alternative for you?”

“Jared?” she rep
eated with surprise. “How did you know… about Jared… and me?”

“I work a second shift at the Saunders’ residence,” he said.

“Oh …right,” she replied dazedly. “I heard.”

“Times are tough, Miss,” he put simply and then hesitated. “Should I give Jared a call?”

“I… I don’t know,” she stammered. Her thoughts recalled the old comic in her room. “I suppose. In fact, could you do me a favor?”

*****

Sam dropped her off at the cliff.

“You sure you know what you’re doing, Miss?” he asked yet again.

“Yes, Sam. Thank you.”

“Well, your luggage is in my trunk whenever Jared comes by to collect them. He will be coming soon for you. But why did you ask him to meet you here?”

“I can’t say, Sam,” she muttered. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded as if he understood.
“Very well. But if he doesn’t turn up or things don’t go as you had planned, you give me a call. And I will come right back to pick you up, okay?”

She nodded. “Thank you, Sam.”

He paused, not wanting to leave her alone in this lonely spot but then returned to his car.

She watched him drive off in his rickety old hand-me-down her father had last driven some ten years ago. But the pride he felt for his vehicle was never the same
pride she had seen her father have for it when he possessed it. Even pride had classes.

She sighed and walked to the cliff edge. The soun
ds of the waterfalls across it reverberated deafeningly through the air.

A car whizzed behind
her and came to an abrupt halt. Jared jumped out of the car and ran towards her.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted at her.

She spun around. “Stop right there!” she warned, pushing out her hand.

He licked his lips, completely frazzled by what she was doing. “Just step away from the edge, Ellie,” he said softly. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I want to ask you something,” she replied sternly.

“Step away from the edge and we will talk.”

“Not until you answer my questions.”

“Ellie…,” he stammered in frustration.

“Yes or no?” she said, walking backwards, closer to the cliff’s edge.

“Okay!” he shouted out nervously. “Yes, yes!”

“Do you love me?”

“I… what has that to do with anything? You’re engaged to Edmund.”

“I broke it off with him,” she said bluntly. “Do you love me?”

“Ellie, please, you’re making me dizzy.”

She tilted her head up to him.

“Yes, okay,” he answered frantically. “Now please get away from the edge.”

“Are you The Winged Archer?”

“What? Who? No,” he blurted out
confusedly.

“Are you sure?”

“Ellie, does it look like I have wings?”

“No…,” she said. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath to rouse her courage. If she was wrong, this would be the end of everything. But her body knew she wasn’t mistaken. “Why don’t we find out?” she rushed out the words and then dived off the cliff.

“No!!” he screamed as he scrambled to the edge.

Ellie watched him cry out with shock
as she continued to fall down the hill and into the raging falls. She closed her eyes again, a tear escaping from the corner of her eye. She had been wrong. She had been very wrong.

He tore off his shirt as he raced desperately over to the cliff’s edge. He jumped off it; his eyes pinned on her fast descending body. He angled his body for acceleration, his eyes continually gauging the cloudy sprays of water leaping from the fall’s giant plunge pool. If she reached the sprays, he would never be able to find her in that. No eagle would. As for his wings, he didn’t know if it would carry them both out through that wet chaotic mess. He drew closer to her, his hands outstretched and ready to swoop her into his arms. He grabbed her and he immediately extracted his wings to slow him down.

She opened her eyes, looking up at his face with disbelief. “Jared?”
she uttered shakily.

“Yes, it’s me. I got you,” he whispered.

She thankfully tucked her face into his neck, her tears still rolling down her face.

He felt her damp face as he continued to rise into the clear blue sky. “
Shhh,” he whispered. “I’m here, now.”

He descended into the deep forest, holding her as tightly as he could to him. He landed on the front yard of a house and she looked about her curiously.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Saunders’ holiday cottage in the forest,” he smiled. “What? You thought only you Callums could afford it?”

She smiled and then touched his face, delicately running over his contours with her finger tips.

It did something to him because he was growing hard and uncomfortable, and in utter desperation to get inside the house as soon as he could.

“Ellie,” he begged.

But she refused to stop, caressing his lips with her fingers.

“Ellie, if you don’t stop, I’d have to…”

She tilted her head with curiosity.

He stood outside the front door, staring at her in a complete hypnotic state. And then
just as suddenly he brought his lips crushing down onto hers. He kissed her frenetically like a mad man. He burst open the door carrying her inside, nipping at her lips, playing with her tongue.

He carried her to the main bedroom, only setting her down once they reached the bed.

“Ellie, if we do this, I don’t think I could stop…”

“I don’t want you to,” she whispered against his lips.

He caught her lips with his mouth and then devoured it slowly. She groaned, lifting her face to rub it against his stubbles.

He trailed his kisses down her neck, his hand cupping her breast. He had not known when they had torn their clothes off of each other, but right now seeing her in her complete nakedness, took his breath away.

“You’re more beautiful than I imagined,” he whispered.

She blushed. “Jared, please…”

He leant down and took her nipple into his mouth. She groaned, threading her fingers through his hair in wild passion.

He kissed her stomach and her mid-riff with desperate need. Her legs
quavered beneath her and he immediately cradled her lower back as he laid her softly onto the bed, his head nestled in the valley of her bosom.

His mouth searched for her other breast, tasting it, his tongue circling her dark areola. His free hand caressed her side, down her body and between her legs.

He glanced up at her, his eyes glazed with his passion. She pulled in a sharp breath as he grazed her womanhood. She was wet to her core and he desperately inserted his fingers into her, needing to feel her. She arched her body, crying out his name, begging him to take her. He moved quickly, pushing himself into her. They rocked in unison slowly and gently. And as they heated their way up to a climactic release, he captured her mouth again, promising to never let her go again.

They lay there naked, their bodies entwined together as he peered down into her face.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” he whispered, playing with her hair. “Don’t
you ever scare me like that again.”

“You wouldn’t tell me if you were The Archer?”

“There was a reason.”

She put a finger to his lips. “
Shhh… don’t tell me. At least not now. Let us just stay like this for a little while longer before we start arguing about the morality of it.”

He grabbed her finger and took it into his mouth. He kissed her palm, slowing moving up her arm.

She giggled and he frowned. He rolled over to her side, taking her with him so her chin was now resting on his chest.

“What’s wrong?” she teased.

“You’re laughing at me because I can’t get enough of you.”

She kissed his chin. “But I can’t get enough of you too.”

He caressed her back, loving the feel of her soft bare skin.
“Ellie?”

“Hmmm,” she uttered, nipping at the flesh on his neck.

“I heard about your parents throwing you out of the house.”

She stilled. Sh
e laid her head on his shoulder. “So?”

“Where will you go?”

“I’ve arranged to stay with Samuel Glover.”

He grew quiet, his hand catching
her fingers that played with his nipple.

“Marry me,” he whispered.

She raised her head again to stare at him. “But Jared…”

He threw her over onto her back as he looked down into her face. “You know I love you. When I saw you falling off that cliff, I realized
how much. Ellie, my life is meaningless if I don’t have you in it…”

“You can stop the groveling,” she laughed. “Yes.”

“Yes?” he asked, pulling back in disbelief. “You know though, I can’t give up on the revolution?”

“I know.”

“And that it might take us years before we even make edgeway in achieving some equality?”