Tangled Beauty (18 page)

“What in the hell are you d
oing?” I blurted out. “Why did you kidnap me?”

He set the tray of food down on the nightstand. “I must admit, your language and anger are quite disturbing, my dear. Please calm down.”

I stepped towards him. “Calm down?! Are you fucking nuts?”

His face turned red and before I knew w
hat was happening, his hand was around my neck and I was being slammed against the wall. “Shut up,” he whispered, his eyes bulging out of his face.

My own were
filled with tears as I struggled to break free, but he was much too strong. “Please,” I gasped as his fingers dug deep into my neck.

“Please wh
at?” he asked.

“Please,” I begged, in a hoarse whisper. “I beg you.”

His eyes wi
dened and he let me go, backing away. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Why?” I choked.
“Why are you doing this?”

He took a step towards me. “
I didn’t mean… you shouldn’t…”

I moved
away from him. “Please, just leave me alone and let me go home.”

He began wringing his hands.
“No, no, no. This isn’t going the way it was supposed to.”

“Why are you doing this?
” I tried, again. “You’re supposed to be a man of God, aren’t you?”

“This has nothing to do
with
God
,” he said, his lips thinning.

“Obviously,” I said, wondering if I should try to make a run for it
.

“You still don’t remember me?” he asked, incredulously.

“Am I supposed to?”

He
sighed. “From the salon. You cut my hair in the past, several times.”

My eyes widened. I
had
cut his hair. The last time was about two months ago. But now, he looked so different.

Thinner.

“You’ve lost weight,” I said.

H
e smiled and stood up straight. “Yes. I’ve lost about forty pounds. I did it for you.”

I stared at him in horror.
“For me? I just don’t understand, why?”

He ignored
the question. “Here,” he said, pointing towards the tray of food. “Eat something. You’re probably very hungry.”

I licked my lips. Obviously, he was crazy but he was also obsessed with me.
If I could somehow manipulate him…

“I have a headache, Pastor,” I said, forcing a smile. “Do you have any aspirin?”

“Yes, of course,” he said. “But call me Michael. I’m no longer a Pastor.”

“Oh, okay. Michael, could you please get me something for this headache?”

“Yes. Would you like to come upstairs?”

“Sure,” I said.

He reached into back of his pants and pulled out a set of handcuffs. “Okay, but I’ll need to handcuff you, first,” he said, pulling a set out.

Crap.

“You don’t need to use those,” I said. “I’m not going to try and escape.”

He smiled. “That’s good, but I still can’t take that chance. Hold up your hands.”

“But…”

“The cuffs or you stay down here,” he said.
“Until we come to an understanding, at least.”

“What kind of understanding?”

His eyes moved to my cleavage and I immediately understood.

“Oh, why didn
’t you just say so?” I asked. There was no way I’d have sex with this guy but I could at least hurt him.

He gave me a surprised look. 

I took a step towards him and pushed out my chest, hoping he couldn’t see the disgust in my eyes. “Michael.”

He touched my cheek
and I tried not to shrink back. “I knew you felt the same way,” he beamed. “I just knew it.”

“I did too, the moment I met you,” I said. “In fact, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

“Would…would you touch me?” he asked, breathing a little harder.

“Wh
ere?” I whispered, hoping he had some kind of weird hair fetish and only really wanted my hands there.

He grabb
ed my hand and pressed it to his lips. “Touch me wherever you’d like,” he whispered.

At that moment, I
really wanted to just kick him in the balls and make a run for it but I was still too frightened.

What if I missed or didn’t kick him hard enough?

Instead, I placed a hand on his chest and began rubbing it. “Does this feel good?” I asked.

“Yes, oh yes
,” he said stopping my hand with his. “But I need…” he lowered my hand to the bulge in his jeans. “You here.”

I swallowed back the bile
in my throat and forced myself to touch the disgusting thing hidden under his pants. If he had an orgasm, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to throw up. I had to get out of this.

“Yes,” he groaned, staring at me, his eyes half-hooded. “Now, take it out.”

Oh God, no…

“Please,” he said, unbuttoning his jeans. “Just touch
… a little. It’s all I ask.”

I stared in revulsion as he pu
lled out his penis and began stroking it himself.

“I…I,” I stammered, glancing up towards the stairs, wondering if
I could make it.

He grabb
ed my hand and put it on his naked penis.

Horrified beyond belief,
I reached down below his penis and grabbed his balls, squeezing them with everything I had.

“Uh!” he grunted
, falling to his knees.

In desperation, I ran around him and flew up the stairs, to the open door. I slammed it shut and locked it.

“Bitch!” he raged, from down below.

Sobbin
g, I ran through the small house and out the door.

Reed

“Where is Sinclair?” I asked Jesse, passing him outside of the library. I was exhausted and had just spent the last hour arguing with Sela until she’d finally called a cab and left. As far as I was concerned, it was over. Fortunately, she didn’t have many things at my condo in New York, so I could ship them to her place instead of having to deal with any further tantrums.

Jesse ran a hand over his face and sighed. “I don’t know. She doesn’t have her cell phone and the last time I saw her was with that Pastor Richie guy.”

I frowned.
“What was she doing with him?”

“The valet attendant said she followed him out to his car
because he had an anniversary gift or something.”

I raised my eyebrows. “And she hasn’t been back yet?”

“I know,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense. The valet said he was talking to another guest and didn’t realize they’d left until the Pastor’s car was already gone.”

“So, both of them are missing?”

Jesse nodded. “Apparently.”

“Why
in the world would she leave with him? I just don’t understand.”

“I don’t either.
It’s not like her, at all.”

“Hmm… have you seen mother lately?
Maybe she knows something about it.”

“I’m here,” she called from the top of the stairs. She was swaying slightly and looked
slightly disheveled.

“Are you oka
y?” I asked, climbing the steps.

Mimi
smiled weakly. “Oh, I’ve been better. I found out about Jack’s little scene over by the pool, tonight.”

I sighed
. “I’m sorry about that, mom.”

She wiped a tear from her cheek
. “You have
nothing
to apologize for,” she sniffed. “He’s gone too far, this time.”

I cocked an eyebrow
. “This time?”

“
Yes, I know… he’s a
scoundrel
. You can’t always choose who you love and it certainly isn’t easy to love a man like that.”

“I know, mother,” I said, hugging her.
It was the same speech I’d heard growing up. She would complain but never leave. “Just remember, if you need us for anything- support, money, a place to stay, Jesse and I are always here for you.”

She nodded. “Thank you, dear.”

“Not to change the subject,” I said, as she dabbed at another tear. “But, would you happen to know where Pastor Richie has gone? Apparently, he and Sinclair left together, quite a while ago, and neither has returned.”

“What?” she asked.
“Why in the world would she leave with
him
?”

I
told her about the gift.

“Gift?
I sent him home after I’d decided not to renew our vows. He never mentioned anything about giving us a gift,” she said.

“
Do you have his phone number?” I asked.

She frowned
. “Well, he called me this morning, around nine o’clock, on the home phone. We can see if it’s been saved.”

“Okay,” I said. “Jesse, go
check the phone records and find that number.”

He nodded and left.

“How do you know this pastor, anyway,” I said. “Do you go to his church?”

She shook her head. “No, actually I’ve never spoken to him
before in my life. He told me that a friend of the family suggested he call us to see if we wanted to renew our vows, since we were having a big anniversary party. I thought it was a lovely idea and just agreed.”

I frowned. “So, you don’t know which church he’s from or where he came from?”

“Well, he mentioned a church, but I forgot the name. He’s a man of God, surely you don’t suspect anything foul?”

“Fuck, I hope not.”

She tilted her head. “Language.”

“Sorry.”

We went in search of Jesse and he was perplexed when we found him in the kitchen playing with the phone.

“It looks like someone erased the call logs,” he said.

“You’re kidding me?” I said. “What in the hell is going on, here?”

Jesse bit his lower lip. “I don’t know but Sinclair would never have taken off like this. Not without letting me know about it. Something is very wrong
, here.”

“And mother doesn’t really know this Pastor Richie, either,” I said. “For all we know, he could be some criminal off of the streets, who may have kidnapped her.”

“Oh,” cried Mimi, putting a hand to her lips. “Do you think so?”

“I don’t know but I think we’d better search the property again and if we can’t find her, get the police involved,” I said. “That’s what I think.”

Sinclair

I stumbled through the dark woods, not sure of where exactly I was or which way I needed to go. My head was throbbing and my bare feet were bleeding from the sticks and rocks that I couldn’t see in front of me but felt every step of the way.

Where the hell am I? 

From the shadows of mountains peaking over the trees, I knew one thing was certain, I was not
anywhere
near Huntington Beach anymore.

This realization was hard to swallow but after escaping the clutches of the perverted pastor, I was happy to just be alive.

You can do this
, I told myself as my side began to ache.
Just keep moving
.

  I pushed on.

***

Reed

“You have his license plate number?” I asked the valet, for the second time.

He handed me a clipboard. “Yeah, it’s right here. We write down each one,
in case there are problems. See, the signature? I parked his personally.”

I scanned the information. “Great, thanks.”

“Something wrong?” the kid asked.

“I hope not. Did the woman leaving with him se
em nervous or frightened at all?”

He shook his head. “No, they were very friendly. In fact, she held on to his arm as they w
alked down the street.”

“Did you see her get into his car?”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. One of the other guests came out for a cigarette, a blond with long legs, and I stopped paying attention to the other two.”

“Well, thanks for the help,” I said. “Stick around here in
case we need to get the police involved.”

He nodded
, vehemently. “Yeah, no problem. I hope that lady is okay. She was something else, you know what I’m saying?”