Trusting You (20 page)

In the state he was in there was no arguing with him. I wasn’t going to win no matter what I said. “What about my family and my job, Daniel? You’re taking me away from everything. Don’t you know how unhappy that’ll make me? I thought you w
anted me to be happy with you.”

He sighed and kept his eyes on the road.  “It’s for the best. You’ll see that I’m right in time.”

Oh my God, he
has
completely lost it
, I thought to myself. Turning away from him, I laid my head against the window and gazed down at the watch on my wrist. It was the only thing that was going to keep me sane. It was my only comfort … my only hope.

After three hours of nonstop driving, a screaming bladder, and an empty gas tank, Daniel finally decided to pull over at a rest stop and give me a break. He parked by the gas tank and got out of the car to open my door. I groaned when he took my hand and wrapped his arm around my waist as we walked inside the station.

Daniel smirked and leaned over to whisper in my ear, “You didn’t honestly think I’d let you go in the store by yourself now did you?”

“Are you going to watch me pee, too?” I asked sarcastically.

“Tempting,” he teased. “But no. I have no desire to watch you take a piss. I’ll get us something to eat and drink while you’re in there and then we’ll be on our way.”

Once inside the store, the bathrooms were just off to the left. Daniel walked me over and opened the door for me. “You have three minutes, Mel. Make it quick.”

The second he sidled away, I shut the door and locked it. I used the bathroom quickly and cringed when I saw my face in the mirror. I had makeup smudged under my eyes and my hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a week. I combed my fingers through it and splashed water on my face to wash the makeup off. As I sat there staring at the haunted reflection in my eyes in the mirror, a flash of light caught my attention.

How did I not notice the window!

Up above, there was a small window, that if I stood on the toilet seat I could probably reach. Immediately, I scrambled into the stall and stood on the nasty toilet seat that I just had to squat over to use. The window was one of those that could push out, but not fully open. I could squeeze through, except I knew it would take more than a minute to do so. Daniel would soon be pounding on that bathroom door in just one second.

Undoing the latch to the window, I gently pushed it open and it gave. The cool night breeze flew into the bathroom, and I could already taste my freedom. It was so close. Turning around, I put my back to the wall and extended my arms outside so I could grasp onto the edge. It was a good thing pull ups were my specialty in gym class. Once I had a firm grip on the ledge of the window, I began lifting myself up. As I slid across the edge
it tore through my shirt, and scraped across my bare skin underneath. I hissed as the burn from my straining muscles and the searing pain of my torn skin radiated throughout my entire body. When I was halfway out, a loud knock sounded on the bathroom door.

“Shit, shit, shit. Come on, Melissa, you can do this,” I whispered to myself. I was so close.

Another loud knock.

“Melissa, are you okay in there?” Daniel asked, sounding agitated. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” I growled. “Can I not have a little privacy?”

Gritting my teeth, I pulled myself the rest of the way out of the window and collapsed onto the ground for a few seconds to catch my breath. Except, now my problem was where was I going to go? Being in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night all by myself was probably a bigger risk than taking my chances with Daniel. All I knew was that it was a risk I was going to take.

Looking around, my only option to hide was the woods out behind the rest stop. With my luck I’d probably get eaten by some wild animal and then this whole getaway attempt would be for nothing. Slowly, I made my way toward the back of the building, and when it was all clear I took off for the woods.

My feet pounded hard on the wet, muddy ground as I raced to my freedom and yet through a set of dangerously looking woods. I could barely see since the moon overhead was shadowed by a sheen of clouds not to mention the thick canopy of trees that blocked it out as well. My lungs hurt from the cold bite of the wind so I stopped to take a break and slumped against a tree.

“I’m free,” I whispered.

And just as I said that, a twig snapped in the distance and echoed as if it was right beside me. Or was it right beside me? My breath ceased in my chest and I froze.
Please don’t let it be him, please don’t let it be him
, I repeated over and over. I stayed perfectly still, hoping that if it was him or just an animal that it would pass me by. It was pitch black and my clothes weren’t bright so I knew I could blend in. A few moments passed with nothing but silence, so I blew out a shaky breath and pushed off the tree, except I didn’t get far…

“Did you think you could get away?” Daniel snarled in my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist. “You should know better than that. I guess I’m going to have to do this the hard way.”

“No,” I pleaded desperately. “Please don’t knock me out.”

I sagged in his arms, defeated. Was I ever going to escape him? What was taking Brett and Mason so long to find me? Surely they would’ve caught up to us by now.

“Why should I trust you?” he growled. “You broke it by trying to run away from me. You have a lot of making up to do if you want to gain back that trust.”

Trembling, I swallowed hard and stood there with my back to his and his arm still squeezing down on my neck. What was he going to do? Slowly, his grip started to cease and he swiftly lifted me up and threw me over his shoulders. “There’s only so many incidents I can take before I get fed up, Melissa. All I can say is that you’re walking a thin line right now.”

Daniel hustled us through the trees and in no time at all we were in the car and headed back down the road. My back hurt from the scrapes and I cringed every time I moved. Daniel handed me a soda and a bag of chips that he must’ve gotten at the store. As much as I hated to take his offering, I was starving and my head hurt like hell.

I guzzled down the soda and sighed as the fizziness filled my belly and helped the starving ache. At least the caffeine would help me stay alert and awake for a little while longer. Only when I gazed down at the bag of chips did I start to panic. It wasn’t the chips that had my heart beating out of control, but the absence of something on my wrist.
My watch is gone!

In that moment, everything came tumbling down. I could feel the blood draining from my face and the dread settling in the pit of my stomach like a ton of lead. My only hope of getting away from Daniel had just been lost by my stupid attempt to run away. It was probably lying in the woods somewhere all broken, shattered, and untraceable.

“Are you okay?” Daniel asked, looking back and forth from me to the road. “You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t feel good,” I choked out. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t feel good at all. The car felt like it was swaying back and forth and my eyes were getting heavier by the minute. Everything moved in slow motion as I turned my head to look at Daniel. My tongue felt thick and dry when I opened my mouth to speak, slurring my words, “What’s happening to me?”

Daniel smirked and reached over to rub my thigh. “I decided I wasn’t going to take any more chances on you tonight. You need to sleep anyway if you’re going to be worth a damn to me, so rest up. You’re going to need it.”

My mind couldn’t form a coherent thought from the dizziness, but I did understand one thing. He drugged me. Probably with the sleeping pills I knew he
took on a regular basis. “How…many?” I asked slowly.

“How many what?” Daniel retorted innocently.

I swallowed hard and opened my eyes to see him one last time. “Pills…how many of your sleeping pills did you give me?”

His hand traveled up higher on my thigh and I didn’t have the strength to push him away. I couldn’t even feel where he was touching anymore. Devilishly, he smiled and licked his lips. “Don’t worry, baby. I didn’t give you much. Just enough to put you out for a few hours while I find us somewhere to stay.”

The last thing on my mind when I passed out was the cold realization that there was a huge probability that I would never see Brett again, but by God, I was going to try my hardest to find a way.
I am going to find a way.

When my eyes fluttered open, I had no idea if it was day or night. All I knew was that I was lying on my stomach, naked from the waist up in a bed. Daniel must’ve gotten us a hotel room and carried me in because I sure didn’t remember a single thing. The shower water was running and I could feel the steam billowing out into the room and coating me in the moisture. My back didn’t hurt nearly as bad, but I could still feel the sting.

Groaning, I moved my arms and legs and sat up, covering my breasts with the sheet. It took a few minutes for my blurry vision to adjust and focus on the room we were in. It wasn’t a fancy hotel by far, but I assumed Daniel did that on purpose. If the police were looking for us they sure wouldn’t think to look for him in a dumpy motel.

The bedside table had some brochures on it so I scooped them up and read over them quickly to find out where we were.
Holy shit, I’m in Ohio!

Daniel exited the bathroom just as I was about to have a meltdown. Wide-eyed, I held up the brochures. “Are we really in Ohio? How long was I out?” I asked incredulously.

“Yep,” he quipped, sitting on the edge of the bed. “We’re right outside Cincinnati. By tomorrow we will be two Canadian newlyweds on their way to their honeymoon. I have a friend who lives in Toledo who’s going to fly us over the border and give us all the paperwork we need. I talked to him while you were out and he said everything’s good to go.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed, closing my hand over my mouth. The bile rose in the back of my throat and I felt sick. Running to the bathroom, and taking the sheet with me, I collapsed onto the floor
and dry heaved into the toilet.

I could feel Daniel’s presence behind me but I didn’t want to look at him, or even begin to think that my life was really that screwed up. “Are you okay?” Daniel questioned cautiously, but then immediately turned angry. “You’re not pregnant are you?”

The thought made my chest ache, but from out of nowhere I actually sat there and laughed. I laughed until I cried and Daniel stood there staring at me as if
I
was the one who was crazy. Wiping away the tears, I got to my feet and glared at him. “For your information, no I’m not pregnant. It might happen to be the fact that you drugged me with God knows how many sleeping pills. Not to mention I haven’t eaten anything since you kidnapped me.”

Daniel crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. “I wouldn’t have had to drug you if you didn’t go running off. That was your own fault.” He tilted his head back in the direction of the room. “I actually picked you up something to eat while you were passed out. Why don’t you take a shower and then you can eat. Your back looks like shit and needs to be cleaned. When I saw all the blood I had to make sure it wasn’t serious.”

“Well, thank you for your concern, but I don’t need an audience while I take my shower. You can leave now,” I remarked through gritted teeth.

Daniel’s grin widened and he bit his lip, his eyes wandering down my body. I held the sheet tighter and swallowed hard. “Okay, I’ll leave you alone … tonight,” he said, backing out of the bathroom. “But soon, baby. I have needs, too.”

The second he was out of the bathroom, I slammed the door shut and locked it. There was no escaping out of this bathroom, but at least I could have some privacy for a while. I turned on the shower water and waited for it to get hot. I glanced at the door one last time before I stripped off my now ragged jeans and tossed them to the floor. My toiletry bag wasn’t in the bathroom and I refused to walk out, so I decided to make do with what was already in there.

The water had a dingy smell to it, but anything would do for the moment. Once the shower water hit the sores on my back, I gasped and turned quickly away. Biting my lip, I slowly washed the front of my body before letting the water hit my back again. I knew it would hurt like hell, but my sores needed to be rinsed off. I did my best to soap up a washcloth and run it over my tattered skin to help clean off the dirt and dried blood. I wanted the pain to go away. I wanted to feel numb.

Instead, my body didn’t listen and I felt every ounce of heartbreak, every single ounce of loss, and it all came crashing down on me. Sinking to the shower floor, I did something that I hadn’t done since the night I told Brett everything that happened with Daniel. I cried and shook until the shower water turned ice cold; and even then, I cried some more.