In Chains (5 page)

“Who?”

“The guy who had his arm around you last night?”

Kayden was there? I didn’t see him, but it was dark. “He’s okay,” I say. He’s still looking down at his feet and doesn’t say anything else. The silence feels awkward. “Have you done anymore drawings?” I ask. He doesn’t lift his gaze, just shakes his head. He seems unhappy and I wish I could cheer him up. “I’d love it if you’d do a drawing for me sometime. Who knows, you could be famous one day and I’d have a first original.” I smile at him.

Finally, he lifts his eyes. “Can I draw you?”

“Um, if you want to.” He grins and picks up a sheet of paper and his pencil. “Are you drawing me now?” I ask.

He sits opposite me on the bed and rests his feet up on the mattress. “Yep.”

I don’t know if I’m supposed to sit still, or pose and I need to put my cigarette out. “I don’t suppose you’ve got an ashtray have you?” He reaches over and plucks the cigarette out of my hand, takes a drag of it and then crushes the lighted end between his finger and thumb to put it out. “Didn’t that hurt?” I ask, frowning.

“Only for a second, it saved you going outside.”

His pencil makes quick movements across the paper and now and again he glances up at me. Still not sure what I’m supposed to be doing I sit as still as I can. I hope he doesn’t make me look too awful. After a few minutes he hands the drawing to me. Wow. It looks like me and yet it doesn’t. He’s drawn someone much more attractive than me and yet it’s definitely me. “It’s lovely thank you. You’ve made me look pretty.”

His reply is immediate, “You are pretty.”

Blushing, I hand it back to him. “Will you sign it for me?” He holds the pencil to the paper and sits there, frowning. It’s strange that this man who drew with such ease would be struggling to decide what to write on it. “You don’t have to write anything special, just your name.”

He continues frowning and staring at the page, finally he speaks, “I don’t know how to do my name.” He’s now staring down at the drawing, gnawing on the end of his pencil. Oh my God. He doesn’t know how to write. I feel so guilty for asking him to sign it but how could I have known?

“Didn’t they teach you to write at school?” I ask.

He’s still frowning. “What’s school?”

“Where you go when you’re a child. It’s where they teach you things.”

His eyes meet mine. “Oh, like the pound you mean? They didn’t teach me to do my name there.”

I shuffle across the bed so we’re sitting side by side. “Would you like me to show you how to write your name?” Gazing at me, he smiles and nods his head. I wait for him to hand me his pencil but he continues to hold it, I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my face. Reaching over I wrap my hand around his and move the pencil to the paper, intending to move his hand to form the letters. He lets out a yelp as his body jolts, sending the pencil flying across his bed.

“Shit,” he mutters.

“Shall we try that again?” I ask as I pick up his pencil. “You put your hand around mine this time.” His long fingers curl around mine; his hand feels warm and no longer looks sore, though it feels rough and calloused. I like the feel of his skin against mine. Together we form the letter ‘k’. He’s concentrating hard and his tongue is poking out, he’s adorable.

“What is this pound place you were talking about?” I ask.

“I was born there and they taught me things till I was eighteen and got sold.” Our hands form the letter ‘a’.

“What kind of things did they teach you? Did they teach you how to draw?”

“Nah,” he shakes his head. “I learned that myself. I had obedience classes and cleaning, laundry, farm work and stuff like that.”

“What about your mum and dad? Did they live there too?”

“I had a mum. She lived there. They let me live with her till I was three, until I started classes.” Our hands form the last letter of his name.

“Who did you live with after that? Did you still see your mum?”

He takes his hand off mine. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

He scoots off the bed and crawls underneath it. I look down at his legs poking out from under the bed. What on earth is he doing? “I got something for you,” he says as he crawls back out.

He’s holding something to his chest and he kisses it on the head before carefully placing it in my hands. It’s a small teddy bear, about five inches tall, a black and white panda with a circle of black fur over one eye. It’s bald in places and what fur it has is matted and grubby. One of its legs is shorter than the other. Its head is permanently bent to the left and its right ear is loose and hanging on by a thread. “His name’s Panda,” he says, rubbing his finger along the bear’s nose. “My mum gave him to me. She said he’d keep me safe,” he laughs to himself. “He didn’t but he was good to cuddle afterwards.” He brushes his hand across the fur. “He’s a bit dirty coz I have to hide him. I’m not allowed to have things. If your brother finds him he’ll take him off me.”

“Why would he do that?” I ask.

Kayden frowns at me. “I’m not lying.” He seems hurt. Damn it, I didn’t mean to offend him.

“I don’t think you’re lying, Kayden. I just can’t understand why my brother would care if you had a bear or not.” I hold it back out to him. “He’s cute, thanks for showing him to me.”

He shakes his head. “You can have him. You said you like bears and you had to leave yours.”

My mouth drops open as I gaze at his little bedraggled bear. I blink back tears. “Kayden, are you sure? I can’t take him from you.”

He leans forward, his soft, warm eyes fixed on mine. “I want you to have him and anyway,” he shakes his head and laughs, “you can give him a better life than I can.” He’s grinning and his eyes are sparkling at me.

“I’ll spoil him. He’ll have the best that money can buy,” I say, hugging his little bear to my chest. He bursts out laughing.

I put Panda in my car, sitting him on my big bears lap. “Take care of him for me big guy, he belongs to someone precious.” I’ll take him into the house and put him in my bedroom when Simon’s not around. I honestly can’t see my brother taking Kayden’s bear from him but I’m not going to take the risk.

By the time I get back to the house Simon is already up and has brewed a pot of coffee.

“Where have you been?” he asks.

“I went outside to have a cigarette.” I pour myself a drink. “I want to talk to you about Kayden and the spasms?”

“Hang on a minute.”

He goes into his study and when he comes out he’s flicking through a book. “Is that a medical book?” I ask.

“No, an owner’s manual.”

I’m confused; I thought we were supposed to be talking about Kayden. “A owner’s manual for what?”

“For the slave.” My mouth drops open. He’s a human being not a bloody kitchen appliance.

Ben comes in and heads straight for the coffee maker. Christina sits down at the table, she’s wearing a red silk dressing gown that reaches to just above her knees, and she doesn’t even look dishevelled when she’s just got out of bed. So much for me getting to talk to Simon alone.

“It could be a problem with its chip,” Simon says, sipping his coffee.

“What chip?” I ask.

“The chip in its neck. It’s guaranteed for ten years, it should be good for another two but maybe it’s playing up.”

“Why does he have a chip in his neck?” I frown.

“Ahh,” Simon looks up from the manual, “maybe it’s not playing up.”

Ben glances over Simon’s shoulder at the manual, slaps his thigh and bursts into laughter. “Slave boy has got the hots for you Savannah.” He’s laughing so hard he’s holding his stomach.

Simon scowls at him. “It’s not funny Ben, it’s my bloody sister it’s lusting over.”

Christina jumps out of the chair and snatches the manual from Simon. “Let me see.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “Would someone care to tell me what the hell is going on?”

Ben’s still laughing; Simon punches him on the arm. “Savannah, its chip gives it an electric shock when it gets an erection.”

My mouth falls open for the second time. “What? Why?”

Christina chimes in, “Think about it Savannah. What if a woman owned it, it could rape her. The electric shocks stop it getting an erection, so it’s harmless.”

Ben has finally stopped laughing and he turns to Christina. “What I’d like to know is, how the chip knows it’s getting an erection.”

She points to a passage in the manual. “It says here it can sense the changes in its body, pulse, temperature, things like that.”

Ben bursts into laughter again. “I’m going to have to buy myself a male and female slave. That could be entertaining.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I’m getting a headache. I’m trying to recall the occasions when Kayden had a spasm. It happened when I held his hand and when our hands touched when I gave him the eggs. I heard him yelp when I first met him at the chicken coop but he also spasmed after I’d given him lunch, when he was sitting at the kitchen table. Unless he got turned on by eating lunch, which I doubt, that spasm can’t have had anything to do with an erection. “If there’s a fault with his chip, will it harm him?” I ask.

Simon snatches the manual back from Christina. “I’ve just sent a text to C.S.S and asked them to run a diagnostic on the chip.”

“We should still test it ourselves,” says Christina. “You can’t rely on C.S.S. I know what we can do,” she says. “I’ll go and speak to it and see if it happens with me. Then Savannah should speak to it.” She’s jumping up and down with excitement. “If it spasms with us women we’ll know it’s because it’s horny.” She’s looking so proud of herself for coming up with that idea. I sigh and clench my fists. I hate this; I hope Simon gets a reply to his text soon.

Apparently Kayden is washing Simon’s car now and in the absence of a text everyone else has agreed to put Christina’s plan into action.

“You’re not going out wearing that,” Simon says, raising his eyebrows at Christina. She’s still dressed in nothing but the short silk dressing gown.

“We need to guarantee it gets an erection,” she says, her hands gesturing towards her body, “how else are we going to know?”

Simon closes his eyes and shakes his head and I storm off into the lounge. This disgusts me. We’re treating him like some kind of experiment. Simon calls out to me, “Savannah.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What?”

He gestures towards the stairs and we all troop up to the bedroom window. As I watch Christina saunter over towards Kayden I feel a ridiculous pang of jealousy. I don’t want to witness him getting aroused by her. I sigh, shaking my head, he’s not mine, I’ve got no right to be jealous and it’s likely a faulty chip anyway. She’s standing close to him and I’m relieved that so far he hasn’t even twitched. He’s not looking at her; he’s concentrating on washing the car. She moves closer, of course he’s going to be turned on, how can he not, she’s stunning and she’s barely dressed. She puts her hand on his back, leans over and says something to him. I’m grateful for double glazing; I couldn’t bear hearing what she’s saying. I turn away from the window, I can’t look anymore. “No, nothing,” says Simon.

I hear the door close and Christina runs up the stairs. “It must be a faulty chip,” she says. “It didn’t spasm once and I gave it a good flash of my legs, which never fails.” Simon doesn’t look too happy at that comment.

“Your turn Savannah,” he says.

Stomping down the stairs I decide I’m not going to do this. I do need to know if his chip is faulty, I don’t want him hurt by it but I’m just going to ask him why he spasms, I’m sure he knows. As I step out of the door he calls out to me, “Hi Savannah?”

He’s smiling at me while he’s wiping the top of the car with a cloth. I can’t look at him, I’m wringing my hands and I know my face has gone red. Taking a deep breath I ask in a small voice, “Kayden, do you know why your body jerks the way it does sometimes?”

His face turns a deep shade of red and he looks away from me. He continues to wipe the cloth over the car, he’s not answering and he’s still not looking at me. Why ever did I think this was a good idea? It’s obvious his chip is faulty; we can just wait until Simon gets a text and deal with it then. I wish I hadn’t even mentioned it to my brother. As I turn to go back inside he finally speaks. “It happens when…,” he still can’t look at me. “It happens when…” he drops the cloth and puts his head in his hands.

Great, now I’ve embarrassed him. I started this whole thing, I need to finish it. I take a deep breath. “Kayden, does it only happen when you get turned on?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he mumbles, his head still in his hands. “It only happens with you. I like you.” I put my hands to my mouth. He likes me. My stomach feels funny and a grin begins to form on my lips. He likes me. Me. He likes me. I feel like jumping up and down.

My voice comes out as little more than a squeak, “I like you too.” His head snaps towards me. He’s staring at me wide eyed, his mouth open. Then he yelps as his body jolts. I can’t help it, I start to giggle. He shakes his head and then starts laughing along with me.

A loud banging comes from the upstairs window and we both turn to look. Damn, I’d been so thrilled to find out Kayden liked me that I’d forgotten all about them watching. I’ve no intention of giving them free entertainment. “I have to go,” I say, as I run towards the house.