Lost & Bound (9 page)

Callum

Eric pulls his heap of shit car up at the
curb and kills the ignition. I’m too weary to look at our surroundings, my head
still resting against the passenger window.

“This is it.” Eric turns to me. When I
don’t react he shakes my shoulder. “Wake up, Mathers.”

“I’m awake, jackass.” I tilt my sunglasses
down my nose and glare at him.

We spent the majority of the drive in
silence. I was thinking about Leila mostly. Wondering if I’ve made the right
decision to try and help her, doubtful I could live my life without even
attempting to save her.

“That’s the place.”

Eric points to the house on the corner of
the street. It has a shabby fence, overgrown grass and a sofa on the porch.
Apart from the car in the driveway the house looks
abandoned
.

“Seriously?”

“We’re not in Merling anymore, Toto.” Eric
smiles at me. “Cal, this guy is good. Real good.”

“I trust your judgment,” I say and I mean
it. I trust Eric with my life and if he says this guy will help us, I believe
him.

I undo my seatbelt as I wiggle my toes. The
two-hour drive numbed my body, but not my mind as I hoped it would.

We walk down the rickety path, surrounded
by overgrown grass and weeds. It seems Cruz has no time for gardening.

“I don’t want to know how you know this
guy,” I whisper to Eric.

His mouth lifts at the side. “You’re right,
you probably don’t.”

When we approach the two steps that lead to
the porch, a gruff voice barks at us. “Who the fuck are you and what are you
doing on my property?”

We halt immediately. I can only make out
the outline of a man hidden behind the hazy screen door. I imagine Cruz
standing there, cradling a shotgun and waiting to offload a few rounds.

“Cruz, Cruz…” Eric holds his hands in the
air as if he imagined the same gun. “It’s me, Eric.”

The man otherwise known as Cruz pushes
through the screen door and steps onto the porch.

“Who’s your bitch?”

“Excuse me?” I step forward, ready to show
him that I may dress well, but I am no one’s bitch.

Eric pushes me back, his hand hitting my
stomach, telling me to step down.

“He’s my old friend, Callum.” Eric shrugs.
“And hopefully your next client.”

Cruz smiles, revealing a
surprisingly perfect set of pearly whites.

“Well, you better come inside so we can get
down to business.”

The house is as I expected.
Small, dark and dreary.
Every crevice filled with some type
of gadget or some other piece of junk. I sit next to Eric on an overstuffed
sofa, the stench of stale cigarettes makes its way to my nostrils and I hold
back the urge to cover my nose with the collar of my shirt. Cruz lights up a
fresh cigarette. A cloud of smoke blows past us and I let out a not-so-subtle
cough.

“So, what do you need?” he asks, his words
coated by tar.

“I need a tracking bracelet removed.”
Straight to the point, no pleasantries, just the way I like it.

“Ankle?” he asks, tapping the ash from his
cigarette onto the floor.

“Wrist,” I answer.

He nods his head.
 
“Nothing to do with prison?”

I shake my head. “Not the type of prison
you’re used to.”

Eric’s elbow smashes into my ribs, but Cruz
just laughs.

“The model?” he asks.

The model that would help, I feel like an
idiot. “I have no idea,” I answer. “I can get a photo for you.”

Cruz looks vaguely unimpressed.

“It’s white,” I say.

Genius.

Cruz lets out a sigh as he slumps back on
the sofa. He stretches his legs and rests his feet on the coffee table. For the
first time I notice he isn’t wearing any shoes, the soles of his feet stained
black.

“I need to know the model. Get the photo to
me and I’ll study up beforehand.”

I nod my head once. I’m not entirely
disappointed by this bump in the road. It’s an excuse to visit Leila during the
week while my father’s at work. The thought excites me more than it should.

“You’ve done this before?” Eric directs
toward Cruz.

“Yeah, man.” He stubs out his cigarette in
an empty beer bottle before reclining back in his chair again. “Piece of cake.”

“Cool.”

“When is this going down?” he asks.

“Next week, probably Thursday night,” I
say.

He grabs his phone and scrolls through his
calendar. “Next Thursday should be fine.”

I fight back the urge to laugh. I’m glad
Cruz can fit us into his busy schedule.

“We’ll aim for nine,” I say.

Cruz nods his head as he types something
into his phone.

“Listen, man, how much will this cost?”
Eric asks. “Cal is a good friend of mine.”

Money. We haven’t even discussed a dollar
figure yet, but it seems irrelevant at this stage. Cruz is my only option at
tripping this bracelet, which leaves little room for bargaining.

“How much?” Cruz drums his fingers on his
chin as he seemingly calculates a figure in his head. “Short notice, travel to
the country…”

“Merling is hardly the country,” I scoff.

“It’s not a thirty minute drive either,
pretty boy,” he adds sarcastically.

I roll my eyes and notice his lip quirk up
at the side. Cruz is already annoying the shit out of me.

“As I was saying,” he continues. “Short
notice, travel time, I can’t do it for less than ten.”

“Ten?” Eric chokes out. “Thousand?” he adds
as if he’s never seen that amount of money in his life. He probably hasn’t.

“It’s the best rate you’ll find.” Cruz
announces. “Please shop around, ya’ll be coming back.”

I sigh. This guy is definitely a character.

“I’ll give you eight thousand.” I hold his
gaze, daring him to challenge me. “Cash,” I add as if that one simple word will
tip him over the edge.

“What are you doing?” Eric whispers to me,
his eyes wide with worry.

Cruz leans forward in his seat and holds
his hand out to me. “Deal.”

He laughs gruffly as he shakes my hand and
I hear Eric let out a sigh of relief.

For some reason, Cruz doesn’t intimidate me
in the way he does Eric. Maybe that’s because at the end of this all, I will
conquer my father and in the scheme of things, he makes Cruz look like a
little, defenseless puppy dog.

Leila

“Hola. Cómo estás?”

The sound of his voice causes me to jump on
the spot. He’s standing at the top of the stairs, leaving the door slightly
ajar. I can see a faint smile on his lips as he waits for my response.

“That’s Spanish.”

He brings his hand to cover his mouth in
mock horror. “I had no idea.”

As he descends the stairs I casually assess
what he’s wearing. He’s dressed simply in a dark, long sleeved sweater and
light jeans with holes strategically placed in them. He looks casual and
effortless, but good. Oh, so good.

When he reaches the foot of the stairs he
stops. There’s this awkward moment, where neither of us talk or move, we just
stare at one another, both waiting for the other to dispel the awkwardness.

He nonchalantly walks over to the bed where
I’m sitting, but freezes as soon as he sees the rope tied to the bedpost. The
same piece of rope has remained tied to the post for better half of a year. I
don’t even notice it anymore—that is until it’s tied around my ankle.

“I—I can’t,” he stutters.

I stand and walk through the archway into
my sitting room. “Come in here.” My words only have a hint of discomfort laced
through them. I don’t want Callum to be so uncomfortable that he has to leave.

I run a hand over my hair and realize I’m
hardly dressed for company. I’m wearing simple yoga pants with a less than
flattering tank top. My hair is bundled on top of my head and my face is clean
of any makeup, bar some
lip gloss
I’d put on earlier.
I usually enjoy the nights Osborne is out of town, being free to wear whatever
I want and tonight is no exception.

“I look a mess,” I say.

I wrap my arms over my chest, trying to
hide myself in my oversized top.

A look crosses Callum’s face and then he
shakes his head. “You look perfect.”

I feel my cheeks warm as I shy away from
his gaze, looking everywhere except his face.

“I heard the beast is out of town?” his
words come at the right time. The uneasiness subsides and I finally feel as
though I can relax.

“He’s only gone for today,” I tell him.

“I know. I called him earlier.”

Callum takes a seat on the sofa and I
settle next to him, tucking my legs underneath me as I turn my body to face
him. I study his profile as he casually gazes around the room.

“How’s it been?” he asks.

I sigh. “Okay.”

“Really?”

No, not really.

“Yes.” I nod. “But I missed you, Callum.”

I regret the words as soon as I utter them.
I clamp my hand to my mouth and watch Callum’s face change from casual to
somewhat uncomfortable.

“I mean…it’s been difficult,” I add, trying
to dispel the awkwardness.

“Has he been here?” he asks. I can see by
the expression on his face that he is dreading my answer.

His eyes flicker to mine. No matter what I
say, he won’t believe me because the truth is written all over my face.

“Leila,” he whispers and then closes the
distance
between us.

Leila,
I repeat the name in my mind. When Callum says my name it’s like I
remember it’s mine. No one has called me Leila in so long, it almost doesn’t
sound right. It’s like hearing it for the first time and I like the way it
sounds when it rolls off his tongue.

His hand inches closer to mine on the empty
space between us, slowly his fingers graze my skin. My whole arm freezes. Tingles
shoot up my forearm and reach the rest of the way to my shoulder. Just from one
innocent touch he makes me feel things that I haven’t experienced in a very
long time.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I’m sorry I
wasn’t here to save you.”

His words have an effect on me that I don’t
recognize, nor understand. I feel the tears trickle down my cheeks before I can
stop them.

“I’m sorry.” His thumb brushes against the
back of my hand tenderly.

He inches closer to me. His fingers gently wrap
around my neck and draw me toward him. I allow him to guide me—to hold
me. For once, I like the feel of a man touching me. I relax against his chest,
enjoying the gentle rhythm of his heart beating against my ear. I breathe him
in. He smells so nice. Like expensive cologne and Callum.

“It’s okay,” I say. “I’m okay.”

He pulls back to look at me. “It’s not
okay. It’s never okay. This bastard will pay for what he’s done to you. I
promise you, Leila.”

I timidly let my eyes trail up his body and
allow them to settle on his lips. They are so moist and full and in this moment
they look so goddamn kissable. As if he knows what I’m thinking, he releases me
from his hold and reclines back, letting his head rest on the back of the
sofa—a safe distance from my face—and my lips.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he
says.

By the look on his face I’m expecting bad
news. He’s probably going back to Italy and leaving me here. I knew I shouldn’t
have gotten my hopes up. I knew it.

He takes a deep breath before he says the
words that will change everything. The four most beautiful words I’ve ever
heard.

“I’m breaking you out.”

I feel breathless for a moment. Like the
wind has been knocked out of me.

Me.
Callum. Free.

“Really?” I whisper.

He nods his head yes. I watch a smile tug
on the corner of his lips, but he fights it, keeping his face neutral, his
expression neutral.

“When?”

“I checked at my father’s office. He will
be in Richmond next Wednesday and Thursday for a conference. Everything is
planned for Thursday. We’ll do it at night. It should be seamless enough.”

“So I will just leave?” I ask. It can’t be
that simple. I’ve tried this before.

I’d run and Osborne made me regret ever
trying to regain my freedom. I still have nightmares of my punishment, haunted
by the abuse that lasted weeks.

“I will bring a guy here, he’ll trip the
bracelet, get it off your wrist without activating the alarm and then you’ll
come with me. I don’t know where we’ll go yet, but it’ll be far away from
here.”

I smile genuinely. My cheeks hurt from how
wide I’m smiling.

“Obrigada,” I whisper. “Thank you, thank
you.”

He places a comforting hand on my forearm
causing the tingling feeling to return.

“I promised you I would get you out.”

“Yes.” I fight the emotion that threatens
to overtake my body. It’s a strange feeling. I want to burst into tears and
roll around in a fit of laughter at the same time.
 

Callum pulls his phone out of his pocket and
takes my hand in his.

“I just need to get a couple of photos of
the bracelet,” he tells me.

I don’t question him. I hold my hand still
as he snaps a few pictures from different angles. It will be weird to have this
thing removed after wearing if for close to three years.
I barely notice if anymore. The display pad
shows random numbers that change every time I move positions. A green light
flashes every few seconds, the same light turned red the night I attempted my
escape.

Once he’s done taking pictures, Callum
shoves his phone back in his pocket and slumps back on the couch.

“What’s the first thing you’re going to do
when you’re out of here?” he asks.

I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.
Where I would go,
who
I could trust. It’s
all foreign
to me.

Would I need to go to the embassy and tell
them I’m alive? Technically I’m illegal, by now my visa would have expired and
if I were found they would question where I have been for all this time.
 

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly.

Callum seems disappointed by my answer. The
technicalities don’t seem to bother him. Or maybe it’s that he doesn’t care
what happens to me once I’m out, once his conscience is clear.

“Well, what’s the first thing you want to
eat?” he asks.

I don’t need to think about the question,
it’s all I’ve craved for the past three years.

“That’s easy. Passion fruit and Pão de
Queijo.”

He raises his eyebrows. “I know what
passion fruit is, but what the hell is the other thing you said?”

I smile widely. “Pão de Queijo is something
we eat in Brazil. It’s a ball of bread and has cheese in the middle. A lot of
cheese.”

“A cheesy ball?” he questions.

“Yes.” I nod my head enthusiastically.
 

“Wow. You’re really passionate about these
bread balls aren’t you?”

I giggle. “Yes, it reminds me of home.” I
can practically taste the little morsel of heaven.

He smiles and then covers my hand with his.
Spears volt up my arm as if shocked by electricity.
It’s such an innocent thing really, but to me it feels like so much more.

“Just keep thinking of that, okay? The
foods you want to eat once you’re out of here. That will keep you going when
I’m not around.”

I nod my head.

From now on, I will think of cheesy balls,
passion fruit…and Callum.