Stronger with You (With You Trilogy) (21 page)

“Fucking untie me!” He demanded angrily the second I pulled the tape off of his mouth.

It had left a pretty angry looking red mark on his skin underneath his morning stubble. I couldn’t believe my brothers had left him like that. I hadn’t really thought they were serious about tying him up.

A thought occurred to me. There was no way Craig didn’t know he was in there, he must have used the bathroom before he went to the gym or wherever it was he’d gone. Even if he didn’t, someone had to have tied him up there last night.

“Did Craig see you in here?” I asked quietly, not meeting his eyes as I started untying his legs. I figured I’d leave his arms until last, just in case.

“Yeah,” he scowled. “Bastard injected me then just fucking left me here.”

I froze for a second.
That’s not good
. If Craig knew Jake was here and hadn’t untied him there must have been a reason.
Oh dear,
I bet it’s because he didn’t want to untie him without permission from Ian
. Jake must have seen my hesitation because he looked both angry and terrified.

I didn’t give him chance to say anything though, I made a split second decision.
I can’t leave him like this
.
He hates me enough already, I need to let him free.
He must have been in agony having been trapped like that all night.

His wrists had been bound to the shower with one of those plastic things used to keep products in their packaging. The sort that get tighter and tighter the more you pull on them and you need scissors to cut. I left those for now and removed the duct tape that held him pinned by the stomach to the shower wall, trying my best not to notice the fact that he was very, very naked.
Not a part of my brother I’m too keen on seeing.

“My hands, Jelly,” Jake grunted, growing restless at my slow attempts to free him and probably just as uncomfortable as I was with his nakedness.

“I…I don’t know how to get it off,” I apologised. “I’ll see if I can find something.” I frowned remorsefully and ran about trying to find some scissors or something similar.

I wasn’t hopeful, sharp objects weren’t the sort of thing one tended to find in a hotel room. Eventually, I remembered my makeup bag and rooted through it to find some nail scissors. Not ideal but I figured they were better than nothing.

“This is all I could find,” I apologised quietly, stepping into the shower cubicle with him.

The plastic had been pulled ridiculously tight, there wasn’t a millimetre left between his skin and the sharp plastic. His skin was lined with angry red welts around the plastic and had begun bleeding in places.

“Jake… I… I don’t think I can get them off,” I admitted before I’d even started. “I’ll go and get one of the others.”

“No!” He shouted the desperate plea.

I don’t think Jake had ever had to beg or plead with me before. It felt wrong. He probably knew as well as I did that none of the others would let him free, maybe that made me even stupider for risking it.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I frowned, feeling my cheeks burn as I held up the tiny nail scissors and gestured towards the plastic to emphasise how fruitless my attempts would be.

“Just do it, Jelly,” he growled. “Please,” he added softly, a note of desperation in his voice.

I took a deep breath and stepped closer, edging the tiny, thin metal blade of the scissors into the infinitesimal gap where his wrists met.

I had to make thousands of tiny movements, opening and closing the blades, just to make a tiny indentation. I was getting nowhere fast. I caught his skin a few times and he jerked away from me and sucked in a sharp breath, uttering a few well-chosen profanities.

“I’m sorry,” I apologised every time, feeling my palms grow sweaty and not caring that it was stupid that I was crying even though he was the one in pain. “Please, Jake,” I begged. “You have to keep still.”

Every time he squirmed away from me, the plastic bit deeper into his skin and the sight of his damaged flesh made me want to throw up. It killed me to see him hurting like this and I felt so helpless for not being able to get him out.

We heard the door open and both of us looked up in panic.

“Shit,” Jake groaned, letting his head fall back against the tiled wall.

I had to agree, no matter who it was, this was not going to go down well. I just prayed it wasn’t Ian.

“What the fuck are you doing?” The voice barked.

Ian. He’s either going to murder me or give me the same treatment he gave Jake.

“I... I’m sorry, I was just trying to-” I began, stepping out of the cubicle but keeping my eyes on the floor.

“You’re going to make things ten times worse with those,” he grabbed the nail scissors out of my hand and cast them aside onto the sink.

I watched as he pulled a Swiss army knife out of the back pocket of his cargo trousers and cut Jake free in one quick, easy movement.

Jake breathed a sigh of relief and bolted for the toilet, emptying his bladder with little regard for the fact that Ian and I were both in the room. I turned away, blushing and walking back into the bedroom to give him some privacy. Ian followed me and I felt my body tense, sensing that he was less than pleased with me.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, my eyes on my feet as I twisted my fingers idly. “I couldn’t just leave him like that.”

“It wasn’t your place, Jelly,” Ian said calmly, too calmly.

I knew that if I looked up at his face it’d be expressionless and it would terrify me so I kept my eyes on my feet.

“If I’d wanted him released I would have released him,” he continued.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I apologised again.

I saw him move quickly and before I knew it I was pinned face down against the bed with my arms twisted painfully behind my back. Ian stood beside me, holding me in place.

“Why’d you do it, Jelly?” He asked calmly.

I found it hard to get the words out with the pain shooting through my shoulders. His fingers dug into my wrists and the pain made it hard to concentrate. He pushed my arms further up my back as a reminder to answer his question.

“I couldn’t just leave him there,” I cried, my arms burning. “I’m, sorry sir, please don’t be mad at me.”

“You always have to be difficult, Jelly,” Ian sighed, sitting down next to me on the bed on the side I wasn’t facing. He held both my wrists in one hand with sufficient force that I couldn’t move.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I apologised again. I knew I was repeating myself and that it was probably pissing him off, but what else could I say?

“Don’t defy me again, Jelly,” he warned, finally releasing my arms.

I nodded glumly and began rolling my shoulders and flexing my wrists, trying to get some of the feeling back into them.

A small part of me was furious. The part that remembered that Ian had almost killed Jason. The part that thought what they’d done to Jake was beyond contempt. The part that resented being pinned down and made to stipulate to their demands. This part of me wanted to kick, and scream, and hurt Ian. The much larger part of me that knew what Ian and the others had sacrificed for me and how much they cared for me, that part wanted to mentally kick itself for pissing Ian off yet again.

The larger part won out. Instead of lashing out, I unwillingly felt my body begin to tremble. Huge unrelenting waves of anguish rocked through me. I felt myself curl up into the foetal position on the bed to ride it out. These weren’t the normal tears that I was always trying to bite back. This was something else entirely.

I couldn’t stop thinking how pathetic it was that I was crying like this. Four months ago, I’d been living at home and I’d never have reacted like this. All Ian had done was pin me down for doing something that I’d known I shouldn’t. I should have been thanking my lucky stars that I wasn’t nursing sore ribs. Instead, I was crying like a baby. The small angry part of me knew what Jason’s reaction would have been if he’d witnessed what Ian had done. He’d have been furious and tried to force Ian off me regardless of the consequences.

Jason was much stronger than I was. Thinking about him under the circumstances just made the ripples of grief more violent and painful. I felt an inexplicable need for him to hold me in that moment but I knew it wasn’t possible.

Ian was watching me silently. I suspected he was probably furious at me for crying my eyes out like a little kid. When the tears subsided a little, I chanced a glance up at him to gauge how bad his reaction would be.

Instead of standing there with his soldier stance, or looking angry, he looked completely confused. He held himself awkwardly, looking down at me as though he wasn’t entirely sure how to react.

“I’m sorry,” I sniffled, wiping my face on my t-shirt and sitting up with my legs crossed, my eyes in my lap.

“Jelly, I…” Ian started, sitting down on the bed next to me with his feet on the floor. He was silent a second or two before turning his head to look at me.

“What’s wrong?” He asked gently.

Good question
. I wasn’t entirely sure I had an answer. It felt like there were lots of little things that were getting to me and I couldn’t pinpoint just one of them.

“I couldn’t leave him like that,” I sniffed, choosing the problem that was closest at hand. I could hear Jake in the shower and was imagining how much the water must be stinging his sore skin. “I can’t believe you would have left him like that. He looked so uncomfortable.”

“Jelly, I was coming to let him down,” Ian assured me. “It’s tradition.”

“I knew you’d be mad but I couldn’t just leave him there,” I shook my head and then swallowed because I knew what I was saying was probably a mistake. “It hurts that you were annoyed at me just for trying to help Jake.” I swallowed again and kept my eyes on my lap, studying the stitching on the cover beneath me.

“Okay,” Ian nodded.

Is that all he has to say? No explanation, no admonishment, no lecture about how ungrateful I am?
I looked up at Ian to see his face soft and warm. He bent over and kissed the top of my head gently, which just confused me even more.

“Aren’t… Aren’t I in trouble?” I asked tentatively, already mentally kicking myself.
Why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut?

“No, Jelly,” Ian chuckled, standing up. “Why would you be in trouble for speaking out?”

“I usually am,” I grumbled, yet again cursing my current inability to engage my brain-to-mouth filter.

“You think so?” Ian frowned.

I didn’t respond, but instead returned my gaze to my lap.

“You get in trouble when you fuck up, Jelly. When you mouth off, or neglect to show respect. You don’t get in trouble when you stand up for yourself with good reason. You stand up for yourself too little,” he chided.

Too little? How am I supposed to stand up for myself more when I never know if I’m going to get in trouble for it?
I opened my mouth to voice this but Ian cut me off.

“Sometimes that’s a good thing,” he reassured me. “It means that when you do stand up for yourself, it’s because it’s important to you. Like with Jason, or because you don’t want Jacob to get hurt.”

I nodded slowly, his words sinking in. I thought back to the day I’d stood up to Ian about the way they were torturing Jason. I’d called them all assholes and they’d let it slide. I’d been pleasantly surprised but not dwelled on it too much.

“Don’t use this as an excuse to start kicking up a fuss about everything,” he teased, pulling me up to standing with both hands.

“I won’t,” I said quietly, shaking my head.

Ian pulled me into a hug before turning to leave via the door between our adjoining rooms.

“Remember, breakfast downstairs at eight,” he nodded to me before disappearing.

I sat down on the bed, thinking back through our words as I listened to the water still running in the shower. One of the reasons I’d gotten so upset was because I felt like my brothers never cared what I wanted or how I felt. They always made me do what they wanted regardless. Ian implied it was my own fault because I never stood up for myself. But the reason I never stood up for myself was because it usually just got me in trouble.
He’s so confusing
.

I let my body flop down on the bed in reflection of my frustration but quickly pulled myself up again when I felt my back land on something hard. I twisted over to see what had pushed into my already bruised back.

My phone!
I grinned with glee. This must have been Ian’s version of an apology, or perhaps an olive branch. I switched it on and waited anxiously for it to come to life. I had tonnes of missed text messages, all from Jason in various stages of worry and panic. I checked the time, 06:54.
Is it too early to call?
I wasn’t sure but I had a feeling Jason would rather I woke him up than wait until later.

“Jamie!” He answered almost immediately.

“Hi, Jason,” I said quietly, smiling at the sound of his voice even though he sounded both irritated and relieved.

“Christ, I was worried about you. You weren’t answering your phone.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” I gushed. “Ian had my phone.”

“I know,” he sighed. “Craig text me last night.”

Oh, that was nice of him
. At least Jason had known
why
I wasn’t answering and didn’t think I was ignoring him on purpose.

“I miss you,” I pouted, wishing I could reach down the phone and wrap myself around him.

“I miss you too, little squirrel,” he soothed. “Did you have a fun day yesterday at least?”

I thought about it. Aside from a few hitches, it had been pretty awesome.

“Yeah,” I said happily. “It was fun. Are you and Ben having a good time?”

“Of course,” he answered and I could practically see his million dollar smile in front of me. “We’ve talked about some stuff.”

“Oh?” I prompted.

“Yep, I’ll tell you about it later,” he said. His tone of voice told me that he wasn’t hiding anything from me and was fully intending to fill me in and that made me smile. I hoped it was part of his promise to open up to me.