Stay (16 page)

“You’re so fucking slow,” he sighed.
 

I took as long as I could to climb up the steps. As soon as I was on the first floor, Zane shoved me forward and slammed the basement door closed. He took a hold of my arm and led me to the front door. He let go, put on a coat and gloves, and opened the door. He pushed me outside and stepped behind me.

I shivered as fluffy snowflakes landed on my skin. The wind had picked up, and the rate the snow was falling was increasing. Two cardboard boxes full of lights and garland sat to my right.
 

“Nate wants the house decorated,” Zane told me. He pulled a silver flask from his pocket, put up his hood, and leaned against the side of the house. I didn’t move. Zane jerked his head forward and widened his eyes. “What, are you fucking retarded?” he snarled. “Put up the decorations.”

“I-I don’t have shoes,” I stuttered. “Or a coat. It’s cold.”

Zane shrugged. “That’s your problem. I don’t give a shit.”
 

I stared at Zane in what should have been disbelief, but by then I knew anything was possible with him. He unscrewed the flask and took a sip. He reached behind him, trading the flask for something else.
 

“And feel free to run. I’ve been wanting to hit some targets,” he growled and flashed his gun.

My hands were already shaking from cold. I eyed the weapon, taking in the long silencer, and swallowed my fear. I just moved my head up and down and reached into the box. Everything was tangled; it took fifteen minutes just to get the garland and lights unknotted. I moved to the other side of the wrap around porch, and Zane came with, keeping his gun in his hands and his eyes on me.
 

My fingers hurt from cold as I wrapped the garland around the railing of the porch. Before I was taken I enjoyed decorations so much better when someone else put them up. Even if I wasn’t shivering uncontrollably, I would have had a hard time keeping the lights perfectly even with the garland.
 

“It’s messed up there,” Zane pointed out. “Fix it.”
 

My teeth chattered, and my arms began to shake along with my hands. My fingers were numb and I couldn’t get a grip on the strand of white lights.
 

“Fix it,” Zane snarled again.

“I’m t-trying,” I mumbled.
 

“Try harder,” Zane said and pushed himself up off the rocking chair. He strode over and smacked the back of my head.
 

I knew I should have felt more pain that I did, though with the horrible stinging that plagued my feet, it was hard for new pain to register. I put my hands on the railing and pinched at the lights. My fingers were so numb, I couldn’t tell if I really had it in my grasp or not.
 

“You are worthless,” Zane said and shoved me to the side. He bit the tip of his glove and pulled it off with his mouth, then he picked up the lights and looped it around. “I’m going to freeze to death waiting for your slow ass,” he complained.

“There,” he said when he reached the end of the porch. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?” he scoffed, ignoring the fact that he had only decorated the last four feet. I had done the rest. He pushed past me and went back into the house. I felt like my feet were going to crack and shatter as I walked, each step jarringly painful.
 

The best thing to do for frostbite was to submerge the frozen parts in warm water. Since that wasn’t an option, I pulled the quilt off of Phoebe’s bed and shakily sank down onto my cot, wrapping both quilts around my shivering body. I curled up in a little ball, tucking my feet as close to my legs as possible. I breathed on my hands and wiggled my fingers, trying to will the feeling back in and the cold out.

I was able to unclench my fists and flex my toes by the time Phoebe and Lily returned. I tossed Phoebe’s quilt back and sat up.

“The house looks pretty,” Lily said.
 

At first I thought she was trying to compliment my shitty job, but realized she had no idea I was the one who stood in the cold putting up the lights. I inspected my hands, looking for signs of damage. I wasn’t sure if it was too soon to tell, but it looked like the damage done from my flesh freezing stopped at first-degree frostbite…or so I hoped.
 

“Is someone special coming?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m assuming so. Why else would Nate want the house decorated?”

“Right.” She sat at the card table and unzipped her boots. “I hate Christmas,” she sighed. “Always have, always will.”

“Why do you hate Christmas?” I asked, sensing her hidden sadness.

She shrugged. “It’s a dumb holiday, that’s all.”

I just nodded, remembering her telling me about her bad family life. I didn’t think Christmas morning was a joyful time in her house. I felt a stab of sadness in my heart when I imagined Lily waking up after falling asleep watching Christmas specials on TV. Her mom would be passed out and hung over if not still drunk and her step dad…I shuddered. I didn’t want to think about what he might have done to her.

“I’m going to bed,” Lily announced and changed into pajamas. Phoebe did the same. She crawled into bed rubbing her wrists.

“You okay?” I asked.
 

“Sore,” she told me and held up her hands. The skin around her wrists was red and raw. It was something that had happened to me before.

“I hate being tied up,” I said with empathy. “Want me to get you a washcloth?”

She shook her head. “Too tired.” She gave me a feeble half smile and straightened out her quilt. “Night.”

“Night,” I responded and lay back down. I replayed my favorite Christmas memories over and over in my head, feeling more homesick than I had in a while.
 

Eventually I drifted to sleep and had a nightmare about Zane dressing up in a Santa suit and sneaking into my room. I woke the next morning with my heart racing and my forehead covered in a cold sweat.
 

My body was stiff from being so cold. Lily and Phoebe sat close together on a cot with a blanket draped over their shoulders.

“Want to sit with us?” Lily asked.

“Yeah,” I said and got up. I quickly went to the bathroom and tore a leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwich in half. Lily lifted up the blanket. I sat down and wrapped it around myself, feeling instant warmth. Phoebe shuffled a deck of cards and dealt them out. We spent the morning playing Go Fish.

Sometime in the afternoon, the basement door opened. Lily had a moment of panic because she hadn’t gotten dressed and ready for the day. My muscles tensed at the thought of Nate or Zane. Jackson’s ungraceful footsteps offered just a smidge of relief.

His eyes met mine for a brief second the moment he stepped onto the concrete floor. Blood rushed to his cheeks and he looked away. It was odd, the way his embarrassment seemed so … so innocent. I watched him cross the basement, holding his arms close to his body. He couldn’t be like Zane, could he? I bit the inside of my cheek as I thought about it.

It didn’t matter. He was upstairs while we were trapped down here. He wasn’t a good guy. He couldn’t be.

“I need you to follow me,” he blurted. “Dress warm,” he added and crossed his arms over his chest. Phoebe and Lily got up and went to the selection of clothes, having a hard time finding something that provided warmth. “You too, Adeline.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I WAS STARTLED at the sound of my name. I looked at him in question. He frowned and gave a curt nod.

I stood, unease growing, and walked over to the dresser. I put knee-high black socks on and left on the blue pajama pants. I pulled a sheer, long sleeved black shirt over a pale yellow tank top. Lily eyed my mismatching outfit but withheld her comments. I stuffed my arms inside a jacket that was too big and zipped it up to my chin. Phoebe wore a red pea coat with a matching hat and gloves. Her hair was out of her face and tucked into the cap. She was one of those girls with a face so pretty that the unflattering winter hat enhanced her features. I looked like a swaddled skinny troll when only my face was showing.
 
Not that I cared anymore anyway.
 

Jackson led us up the stairs. The kitchen was full of wonderful aromas. I stopped and did a double take at all the food that was spread out on the counter. It made the gargantuan feast my grandmother prepared look like a snack. The smell of sweet rolls was overwhelming. I reached out to take one. Phoebe grabbed my hand.

“Addie, no!” she whispered.
 

Jackson turned around. His brown eyes looked from me to the rolls and then to the floor. He grabbed his coat and opened the back door.

“Where are we going?” Lily asked. “I didn’t think the path to the trailer was plowed.”

“It’s not,” Jackson told her. Only about three inches of mushy snow had accumulated in the last two days. He stuck one of his arms through his coat, putting it on as he walked across the patio. Other than putting up the lights, it was the first time I had been outside since Halloween. Now that I wasn’t worried about freezing to death, I took a deep breath and looked up at the cloud-covered sky. Then sun was setting, and an arctic wind caused goosebumps to rise on my skin.
 

Multi-colored lights had been strung up along the fence that surrounded the covered pool. One of the pine trees along the lawn’s edge had even been decorated with big, shiny, red ornaments. I turned around and saw that the whole house was outlined in icicle lights. A big wreath rattled in the wind on the back door. The whole Stepford Wives vibe sent a chill down my spine.

We left the patio and walked several yards through the lawn until we reached a storage shed. Jackson spun the dial on the padlock and opened the door. He held out his arm, motioning for us to go inside.

I stopped dead in my tracks. “No,” I said firmly.

“Nate wants us all to stay in here,” Jackson told me, as if that explanation was enough to make me listen to him.

“I don’t care,” I spat. Phoebe reached behind her and took my hand. “I don’t want to be locked in.”

“You won’t be locked in,” Jackson said slowly. “I’ll be in there with you.”

I almost scoffed. Like that made it any better. Phoebe gave my hand a tug.

“Please, Addie. It cold out here. Don’t get hurt,” she begged. “Come in with me.”

I pressed my lips together in a frown and stepped inside the shed. Jackson clicked on a flashlight and set it on a shelf. He moved out of the shed and began pushing snow around with his foot until he found the end of an extension cord. He shook the snow off, gave it a tug, and dragged it a few feet into the shed. The doors wouldn’t shut all the way with the cord sticking out, but I was grateful for the small space heater it powered.
 

“You gonna tell us why we’re out here?” Lily asked Jackson.
 

“Nate’s sister and her family are in town,” he began. “They’re coming over for Christmas dinner. He doesn’t want us in the house.”
 

The words were like a sucker punch to the face. Nate, who I considered the scum of the earth, got to spend Christmas Eve with his family, and I didn’t. Suddenly, I decided that I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself anymore. A new kind of rage burned inside me, one that made me want to find the nearest pointy object and stab Nate repeatedly.

“That’s fucking bullshit!” I spat. Jackson looked at me in surprise. I had barely spoken to him, let alone cursed in anger. “He gets to sit in there and act all normal and be warm and eat good food while we freeze our asses off huddled around a little heater in a shed!”

“Act normal?” Lily questioned, her blue eyes wide.

“Yeah, normal.” I shook my head. “Or at least like a decent human being.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, and a bit of innocence was visible on her young face again.

“His sister doesn’t know what he does. If she did, he wouldn’t have to hide us outside.”

“Oh,” Lily said. She looked down, her thoughts salient in her expressions. She knew everything about it was wrong, but she was so brainwashed, she was having a hard time figuring out just
why
it was wrong. “What he’s doing is illegal,” she concluded.

“And immoral, and degrading, and objectifying, and—”
 

I cut off when headlights illuminated the road in front of the house. A van pulled into the driveway, disappearing from view when it parked in front of the house. Then the back door opened, and Rochelle stepped out, looking behind her as she ran through the yard and joined us in the shed.

Everyone huddled around the space heater. I stayed by the door, watching the house through the crack in the door. We weren’t far; I could easily get Nate’s sister’s attention. I could see them through the kitchen window. His sister was tall and blonde, just like him. I wondered if she had any idea just how sick and twisted her brother was.
 

I looked behind me. The four had their backs to me. They wouldn’t notice if I slipped out. Slowly, I pushed the door open. I walked several feet toward the house and bent down, picking up a handful of snow. I balled it in my hands, ignoring the instant sting it brought my fingertips and waited for the surface to melt just enough to help the snowball hold its shape.
 

 
I focused on the kitchen window, pulled my arm back, and swung it forward. Right before the snowball left my fingers, Jackson grabbed me.

“What are you doing?” he cried and pulled me to him. The snowball flew through the air and smacked into the side of the house, missing the window by only a few inches.

“Let me go!” I screamed.
 

Jackson put his hand over my mouth and wrestled me to the ground. Someone rushed to look out the window and find the source of the noise. Jackson pressed his body over mine, pushing me down and out of the line of sight.
 

“Adeline!” he whispered. “Stop! You’re going to get yourself hurt!”

I continued to struggle. The back of my pants felt wet already and snow found its way down the neckline of the jacket. I pushed against Jackson, realizing for the first time just how strong he was.