Eluded (19 page)

"The difference is, I don't
threaten people. I make promises. You'll do what I say. You'll tell
me everything, or maybe I'll give you back to Derrick, who I'm sure
treated you with the upmost respect."

He was right and way too
convincing. The more I looked at him, the more I wanted to tell him
everything that had happened. Maybe I would, anyway.

"Where are you taking me?" I
asked.

"A place where you can't be
touched."

Maybe he would help me. I felt
like I was flying over the unsteady waters of the Bermuda triangle,
and no matter which way I turned, I was destined to be lost in
flight.

ABBOT

Twenty-five

A
woman who I thought had
been dead for days was sitting beside me, breathing and well. Just
by looking into her eyes, I could see something wasn't right. But I
was happy to see her. She stirred emotions inside of me that I
thought had died years ago. But I needed to find out what the
agenda was and why she was so willingly sent to me. Derrick had
her, and here she was, sent to me dressed like a cheap whore to
prove his point. Control. I suppose he got the message that I left
for him after all.

We arrived at the warehouse and
Liam pulled into the bay. He turned off the headlights so as not to
illuminate everything we had going on inside. "Out," I said to her
while I stayed inside and spoke to Liam.

"You won't kill her,
Abbot."

I looked at him. "If she crosses
me, I will. I don't trust her."

"You've been searching for her for
a week and there is a part of you that really cares. And here she
is. Don't be an arse."

I laughed. "Just doing what I do
best." I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed, then scooted from the
backseat. "Send someone to pick up my bike. Tell them to enter
through the back entrance of Vanity." I removed my leather jacket
and handed it Liam. "Have them wear this and tell whoever goes to
pay attention to whether or not they are being followed, because
they most likely will be."

I opened the door, grabbed
Lauren's hand, and led her up the stairs in the warehouse. Before I
shut the door, I pulled a handle down on the wall that auto-locked
every door. No one could enter or exit without the proper codes.
Overkill, maybe . . . but one could never be too
careful.

We stepped inside the studio flat
that I had built for those weeks when I stayed at headquarters.
With the lights on, I admired every inch and curve of her through
the paper-thin dress she wore. Derrick prepped her to be pleasing
to the eye, but not in the way I liked my women. I walked to her,
grabbed the material of the dress in my hands, and ripped it from
her body. Horror covered her face as I threw the shredded dress to
the ground.

"I had to make sure I didn't miss
any wires. There are some spare clothes in the dresser and closet.
Not sure if they are your size, but I'm sure there is something
that will work."

She bent over, removed the whore
heels, and threw them to the side. I couldn't help but look at her
ass as she did it. Round and smooth, and it led down to long toned
legs. She turned, watching me as I stared, and then looked away.
Every movement she made, I watched. She was mesmerizing in a way
that pissed me off. I fucking loved beautiful women, but her
natural beauty did something to me.

Once she’d looked through every
piece of clothing in the closet, Lauren slipped on a t-shirt and
some jogging pants. After she dressed, she turned and looked at me
with her hands on her hips.

"Is this better?"

"I think so. You don't look so
easy and ready to fuck any man who has a dick."

She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't
wearing that by choice. You know that, right?"

I nodded my head and crossed my
arms as she moved closer to me.

"I think it's time you start
talking, Lauren. I need to know everything that's happened since
you were taken. Where you went. What you did. Anything Derrick said
that seemed a little off."

She sarcastically laughed when I
said the last part. "
Everything
he says is off. As much as I
want to, I can't. This isn't easy for me."

I moved to her, and she backed up
against the wall. I pinned her there with my leg between her legs
and looked down into her eyes. She didn't falter. She didn't move.
The woman who stood in front of me at that moment wasn't the woman
that I had met before. She was different.

When I looked down at her, I saw
faint bruises on the side of her neck.

"What did he do to
you?"

She moved her eyes from
mine.

The more she resisted, the angrier
I became. "You're not leaving here until you tell me. It could be
weeks, months, or years. I have nothing but time, and I have a
feeling that you don't. So the sooner you start talking, the sooner
we can get this over with and you can go back home."

"He did horrible unimaginable
things to me, Abbot. Horrible! I wanted to die. I hated the way he
touched me. And if I don't listen to you, you'll just kill me. And
that's okay. I think I'd feel better dying by your hands than his.
Home—" She laughed sarcastically. "I don’t have a home to go back
to."

I couldn't believe what I was
hearing from her. When she looked back into my eyes, tears fell
from her face. Mascara ran, leaving streaks of black on her cheeks.
And as she cried, a small piece of me felt pity for her. She stood
in the middle of a forest fire with no escape. The heat was
becoming too much for her and eventually she would burn. But no
matter what Derrick's plan was, Lauren would not be leaving my
side, not now, not until he was dead. Maybe never. I wanted to hold
her and tell her everything would be okay, that no one would ever
hurt her again. I could promise her that.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be
so…insensitive. You're safe now. Alright?"

I moved away from her, to give her
some space, and she placed her face into her hands and quietly let
it all out. A deep, body-moving cry overtook her, and I wasn't sure
what to do. So I sucked it up, went to her, and pulled her into my
arms. She melted into my chest. "I won't kill you," I said, as I
tried to comfort her and pet her soft straight hair. She mumbled
into my chest, and I didn't understand a word she said. So, being
curious, I pushed her away by the shoulders and asked
her.

She shook her head not wanting to
say.

"Tell me what you
said."

"Thank you."

Tears fell more frequently, and I
thought she would never stop. I held her until she had nothing more
to give, then I led her to the full-size bed in the corner of the
room.

"You look tired. You need sleep.
We'll have to share the bed. I'll stay on my side."

She gave a faint smile and climbed
under the blankets. I opened the closet, pulled off my clothes and
slipped on a pair of cotton pajama bottoms. The door had several
locks that I latched before I turned off the lights and climbed
into bed.

She rolled onto her side and I
rolled onto mine. We didn't touch one another, and before long, she
fell asleep.

I stared into the darkness of the
room for hours before tiredness captured me. Whatever Derrick was
up to, I would turn around and use against him. I wasn't sure what
he’d done to all the women he captured, but I'd make sure that all
of his sins were paid in full before I killed him.

LAUREN

Twenty-six

D
arkness filled the room.
There were no windows in the flat, and if the clock on the
microwave wouldn't have been set, I wouldn't have even known what
time it was. Five o'clock in the morning was too early. After
rolling over, I felt the bed was empty and heard the faint sound of
water running in the distance. I turned the lamp on beside the bed,
sat up, and waited.

A few minutes later, Abbot opened
the bathroom door with nothing more than a towel wrapped around his
waist. I couldn't help but admire the circle tribal tattoo that
snaked around his arm and shoulder, and the two stars on his
shoulder blades. Drips of water streaked down his chest and body.
He slicked his hair straight back then cleared his throat. He
lifted an eyebrow before walking to the kitchen and pulling a
bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" he
asked.

"I can't sleep for very long, not
since . . . "

"Nothing will happen as long as
you're with me. You have my word." Sincerity coated his voice and I
couldn't help but believe him. If a man didn't have his word, he
had nothing at all. When I looked over at him, he was scrolling
through his phone, then typed a quick text. I pulled the chair out
that was in front of him and sat at the table, then stared at the
knife reflecting light. The handle was worn, but the blade looked
sharp, like it could slice through metal. Neither one of us spoke
for minutes.

"He forced me to have sex with
him," I said.

Abbot stopped what he was doing
and put the phone down.

"He forced me to have sex with him
in a room full of people. He fucked me anytime he wanted and
brought my cellmate and me to a building that had several floors. I
unwillingly did drugs and was treated like an animal. Derrick is a
horrible man."

I hated reliving every second of
what he had done to me. Abbot interlocked his fingers and
encouraged me to continue.

"I don't have a hateful bone in my
body, but he did things to me that make me want to kill
him."

"He won't get away with this. I
won't allow him to," Abbot said. His voice was calm, but there was
a hint of ferocity in it. He leaned back in his seat, then slowly
breathed in deep and released it. I knew he meant what he
said.

"You said there was power in a
person's name. I believe that now. After I said yours,
Derrick—"

"—why did you say my
name?"

I blushed and tried to find the
right words. The ones that wouldn't make the situation sound so . .
. crazy.

"I was thinking about you. Derrick
forced me to snort a line of cocaine and then proceeded to fuck me
on the balcony as people scurried below. Though I hated every
minute of what was happening, my body fooled me into thinking I was
experiencing a euphoric feeling, out of my body almost, and Derrick
said something to me, something to the effect of having something
that he wanted. And I thought of how you had said something
similar. I guess as I was drowning in the high, and I said your
name. Then he choked me until I almost passed out and, well . . .
here I am."

"A pawn. A fucking Trojan horse.
How could I be so stupid?" He stood and rushed to pull clothes from
hangers, then dropped the towel to the floor and slipped them on.
My eyes widened at his bare ass, but I was confused as to what he
was talking about. Within seconds, he pulled a shirt over his head,
slipped on a pair of pants, and walked past me.

"What do you mean?"

"I've got to go downstairs right
now."

"Let me go with you."

"Out of the question." He bent
over, slipped on a pair of black boots, lacing them up tight, then
snatched the knife from the table.

"I want to go."

He stopped. "You want to see what
I'm capable of doing? Derrick is a piece of shit, a terrible
person, and I can't say I'm much better than him."

"That's not true." As soon as I
said those words, Abbot grabbed my arm and led me down the metal
stairs. His rough touch was piercing.

In the distance, muffled voices
and the sound of metal chains scraped across the floor. Abbot
grabbed the knife tighter and walked faster, heading for the light
at the end of the long hallway. He didn't wait for me as his anger
fueled him forward. When we arrived at the opening, he suddenly
stopped, and I crashed into his back, slightly knocking him off
balance. He shook his head at me and placed a finger over his
mouth.

Punches and grunts echoed from the
other side of the wall as bodies slammed and crashed against
things. Then, as if he were summoned, Abbot went to them at a full
sprint, fisting the knife with white knuckles. I watched as he
delivered relentless retribution to the trespassers.

I had never heard the sounds of
flesh being slashed to shreds. Never watched anyone get stabbed in
the heart, back, stomach or skull . . . until then. His movements
were smooth, fluid, and calculated, as if he were an expert
executioner. Blood covered Abbot's face, arms, and clothes, and it
didn't faze him. It was like he had willingly bathed in it, and he
practically did, as he ripped his way through the crowd of men. The
bodies of five lay face down, dead . . . all by Abbot's hands, and
in a matter of minutes.

He helped the injured from the
floor and made a phone call. A doctor would arrive within the next
thirty minutes, he told them.

"We are on fucking lockdown. We
need to check the perimeter."

A few men who had cuts and
scratches moved toward Abbot. As he passed me, I could barely meet
his eyes.