MIA
After our conversation and more assurances that I won’t tell Ryker, Lily heads off to bed. I stretch out along the couch, my mind stuck on Lily’s revelation, too wired to sleep.
Lily is Ryker’s mother. Senior is Everly’s father. It seems impossible, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. It explains Ryker’s dream. He must have walked in and found his mother, beaten and battered, lying on her bed while Senior frantically searched for him and his sister. That’s how they ended up on the streets. The trauma of it all must have made him forget, or maybe it was the fever he said he had when Senior found him. He’s always felt like he owes the Attertons his life. Little does he know that they were the ones to take it from him.
I scan the room, looking for a clock, but I can’t find any. There’s no way to tell the time. No way to know if the party is over or if it’s still going. All I can do is wait for the door to open, and hope that it’s Ryker and not Sebastian.
And if it is Ryker, I must choose whether I tell him. Will this information change his mind about escape? Will he still be willing to risk his life for me, knowing that his mother is trapped in Senior’s grasp and that his sister is also an Atterton by blood?
For hours I simply lie there, listening to the noises of the mansion, the deep thud of bass coming from somewhere inside the house, the occasional groan and creak of a floorboard, a muted trill of laughter. Eventually, I must fall asleep as I wake to someone dragging me from the couch, tight fingers clasped around my wrist.
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Sebastian says in a sing-song voice.
I stumble, clutching the ground for balance. He tugs my hand again and pulls me flush to his body. I blink a few times, trying to clear the fog of sleep from my head.
“I’ve missed you,” he moans, pushing his lips to mine. I turn my head, the smell of alcohol on his breath turning my stomach. Gripping my chin viciously, he turns my head back to face him. “Don’t,” he growls, glaring at me. His pupils are dilated, turning his normally piercing blue eyes dark. Lifting my chin with his fingers, his lips crash against mine. They are cold and dry, and he tastes bitter and sour. When he lets me go, I resist the urge to wipe my mouth.
As he pulls me toward the door, I scan the room pointlessly, looking for Ryker as though he could be here and just hiding. There’s the smallest amount of despair that washes over me. I guess hope had worked its way in after all.
Sebastian tugs me down hallways and corridors. Occasionally he brushes against the wall and laughs manically only to turn and jerk me forward as though it was my fault he had stumbled. His shirt is untucked and loose and the tie he wore before is no longer there. The hallways are foreign, not ones that I’ve seen before, at least I don’t think I have.
“Where are we going?” I ask, knots of fear beginning to twist in my stomach. I haven’t had to deal with a drunk Sebastian before.
He whips around, bringing his face close to mine and raising a finger over my mouth before turning back and continuing without saying a word.
“Are you alright, sir?” A voice drifts down the hallway. It’s Cameron, and on his arm leans a young girl. Her lopsided grin and obvious reliance on him to keep her upright make it obvious that she too has consumed a large amount of alcohol.
“Of course I’m alright,” Sebastian scoffs. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you’re dragging that girl around when we have lots of guests in the house. Perhaps you should take her back to her room.”
Cameron nods to me and I scowl. Even though his participation in my re-capture would have been ordered by Sebastian, I still can’t help but despise the man. It was his eyes that gleamed in the dark. His footsteps that caused my heart to pound rapidly as I tried to out-run him. He winks, and I harden my glare more.
“Perhaps you should mind your own business.” Sebastian’s words come with flying spittle.
The girl at Cameron’s side giggles and tugs on his arm. “Come on,” she says. “Leave Sebastian be.”
Cameron moves out of the way and Sebastian pulls me past them. The girl waves playfully, only with her fingers.
“Is she okay with him?” I ask, then realize the stupidity of my question. As though Sebastian would care.
“Everly’s fine.”
“Everly?” I whip my head back, trying to catch a glimpse of the girl who is both Sebastian and Ryker’s sister, but she has already disappeared around the corner. “What’s she doing here?”
Maybe her presence is the reason Ryker never came. It still didn’t explain why she was with Cameron though.
Sebastian stops walking and turns to look at me, letting our entwined hands dangle between us. “Do you know who she is?”
“No,” I say quickly, too quickly. “Yes, sort of. I’ve never met her or anything, but Ryker did mention something about his sister once.”
Sebastian steps forward, his tall frame looming over me, and I involuntarily back into the wall.
“He did, did he?”
His words vibrate through me as a rumble. I don’t answer. The thud of my heart is loud. I keep looking at the ground, hoping he will ignore my foolish comment.
“And when did you and Ryker have this little conversation, hmm? Did he also tell you that it was my father who saved him and that pathetic girl? That if not for his generosity, Ryker and Everly would most likely be dead right now?”
I stare at his shoes. I can almost make out my reflection in the polish.
“Fucking answer me!” he roars.
I look up, trying to stop my lip from trembling. There’s so much rage in Sebastian’s expression. So much darkness in his eyes.
“No. No, he didn’t tell me anything. I think I just overheard him talking to Marcel.”
He glares at me for a while longer before leaning down to suck my bottom lip between his teeth. I breathe in sharply when pain slices through my flesh, but I don’t cry out. A smile appears when he releases me and sees the blood, wiping the trickle with his fingers and bringing it to his mouth to lick clean.
“Come,” he orders gruffly. “You’re ruining your surprise.”
He walks at a pace I find difficult to keep up with, struggling to hold the skirt of my dress in one hand while the other is wrapped in his. He doesn’t stumble or sway this time, and soon he pushes open a door and pulls me inside. My shoes clip on the tiled floor. A large screen covers patterned black and grey walls and a massive bed dominates the room. It’s Sebastian’s bedroom. Dark and cold like he is. Pulling open the door to his closet, he pulls out a thick thread of satin.
Standing close, he whispers in my ear. “Don’t say a word.”
The undercurrent of cruelty to his tone is stronger than usual. My blood turns cold as I sink to my knees reluctantly, tears unwillingly seeping out the corners of my eyes.
“Hands behind your back.” He ties them together at the wrists and then takes another strip of material and pushes it into my mouth, tying it securely in place. I expect him to cover my eyes next, it seems to be a favorite of his to deny me sight, but instead, he pulls me to my feet and leads me over to the closet.
“Get in.”
I look at him pleadingly, confused by his command.
“Get in,” he repeats and shoves me forward.
I wedge my way between hanging clothes and turn to face him, leaning against the back wall. He bends down and twists another strip of material around my ankles, binding them together.
“Don’t move.” He laughs and brings his finger to his mouth. “Shh, I’ll be right back.”
And then he closes the doors, leaving me able to see him through the slats. My nerves start to take over at the thought of the unknown. Why has he bound me and locked me in his closet? The thought of Star being used as a punishment races through my mind, and I pray desperately that Sebastian isn’t about to do the same. Ryker had mentioned something about an auction happening tonight. Could she be here?
The combination of the gag, my bound hands and feet, the closeness of the clothing, and the locked door start to overwhelm me and I squeeze my eyes shut, attempting to calm my breathing. I start counting, inhaling and exhaling through my nose. When I open my eyes again, I attempt a scream, but the sound gets stuck in my throat and fades into nothingness.
The seconds tick by until finally, I hear voices. Sebastian’s deep growl floats into the room, followed by laughter.
Roxy’s laughter.
My heart starts pounding so wildly I have to mentally tell myself to calm down in order to hear what they are saying. Roxy’s laughter is loud and carefree. The sound alone breaks my heart. I shuffle forward, closer to the slats so I can see and hear more.
Sebastian sits on the edge of his bed, hands resting behind him as Roxy attempts to seductively walk towards him. It seems almost everyone in the mansion is drunk tonight. She kicks her high-heeled shoes from her feet and wiggles her skirt up her thighs so she can climb onto his lap. She pushes herself against him eagerly and threads her hands through his hair. Annoyance flicks through his eyes.
“You know I don’t like to be touched.”
Roxy laughs, grinding her hips into his lap. “And you know I do, and yet you’ve barely touched me all night.”
He removes her hands from his hair and holds them securely behind her back. She lets out a moan and shoves her chest toward him, leaning forward to suck the lobe of his ear into her mouth.
Sebastian jerks her hands backward, causing her to fall off his lap and onto the floor. “I told you I didn’t want to be touched!”
Scrambling back to her feet, Roxy starts to remove her dress, peeling it from her body and leaving her only in lacy black underwear that barely contains her breasts.
I try to yell, scream, but I’m unable to make a sound, the material pressing too far into the back of my throat.
Roxy shimmies her hands down her sides and walks back over to him, resting her hands on his knees and jutting her backside into the air. Sebastian’s eyes darken even further as his gaze lowers to her chest.
“What’s the matter?” she asks. “You’re not yourself. Usually we’d be fucking by now.”
Sliding himself backward onto the bed, Sebastian pats the empty space beside him. “I haven’t seen you in a while. I know a lot has happened. I just want to check you’re okay.”
Roxy sighs and clambers next to him. “Aren’t you sweet,” she coos. She moves to straddle him, once again grinding her hips. “But I’d rather fuck.”
Sebastian shoves her off him and swings his legs over the side of the bed, turning his back to her.
“Sheesh,” Roxy says. “What climbed up your ass and died? You’ve never wanted to talk before. In fact, you barely talk at all.” She climbs off the bed and grabs her dress.
“Is it so bad that I just want to check you’re okay?” He gets to his feet and walks over to her, ripping the dress from her hands and flinging it across the room. Wrapping his fingers around her throat, he backs her into a wall and runs his tongue over her cheek. “We’ll have plenty of time to play later.”
Roxy’s eyes roll back into her head and her entire body trembles under his attention.
She’s enjoying it.
She wants it.
A lump of nausea rises to my throat, making it almost impossible to breathe. I want to call out to her. Warn her. She doesn’t see Sebastian for who he really is. But that’s because he’s never treated her like he has me. His actions may be similar, but the difference is in her consent.
Sebastian backs away from her and sits back on the edge of the bed, facing the closet. “Tell me how you’ve been.”
Roxy narrows her eyes, this behavior more cause for suspicion than him wrapping his fingers around her throat, but she relents and sits beside him, her demeanor softening.
“She’s been gone for eight days now. The police are almost certain that whoever wanted her the first time, took her again, but they’ve got nothing. No leads. Nothing. It’s almost as though she’s disappeared into thin air. Her parents are beside themselves. Getting her back only to have her taken again devastated them. Abigail barely leaves the house. She sits by the phone just in case Mia calls.” Roxy’s voice breaks and Sebastian places his hand on her knee gently. She looks over at him cautiously.
“I know I’ve kind of ignored you lately,” she says, “and I’m sorry for that, but it’s…” She lets her voice fade away. “It’s just the most surreal feeling, you know? I don’t mean surreal in a good way, not like I’m in a dream, more like I’m in a nightmare. Sometimes, for a few minutes when I wake in the mornings, I forget. I lie there thinking life is normal and everything, and then I remember that she’s gone. And then my mind starts spinning with all the things that could be—” She chokes, a giant sob escaping her. “You see?” She half-laughs, half-cries. “This is why I wanted to fuck. This is why I didn’t want to talk. For just one night I wanted to forget and I thought that you’d help me, but now you’ve gone all sensitive man on me and that’s not what I signed up for, Sebastian Atterton.” I can’t tell from the sounds she’s making if she’s laughing or crying. I’m not sure if she knows either.
Turning my gaze to Sebastian, I notice he’s staring straight at the closet, his blue eyes piercing through the slats as though he can see me behind him. There’s the faintest of smiles on his lips. More the suggestion of a smile. One twisted with sadism. Slowly, he turns his gaze back to Roxy.
“I’m so sorry,” he says, the lie falling from his lips easily.
“She called her mother, you know.”
That gets his attention and he straightens his posture. “When?”
“The morning she disappeared. There was a missed call on her phone.”
“So there was no message?”
She shakes her head. “They found the phone on the road I live on all smashed and broken. They think she dropped it trying to get away from the bastard who took her.” She sighs and leans against him, resting her head on his shoulder.
I can tell from Sebastian’s expression he doesn’t like the affection, but he doesn’t move away from her. It’s like I’m frozen, watching the scene before me play out like a movie. It’s cruel being this close to her, this close to freedom and escape and not being able to do anything. I try to call out again, but it’s pointless. The sounds in my throat are as trapped as I am.
Roxy turns her head so she’s looking into Sebastian’s eyes. “Be rough with me,” she pleads. “Make me forget.”
I thrash my whole body but the sounds just get muffled in the clothing. But when I look back through the slats, Sebastian’s head jerks over to me. Maybe some of the noise got through.
Twisting his hand into the back of her head, he yanks her hair, exposing her neck. “Tell me you want me.” His voice is a low growl. “Tell me all the things you want me to do to you.”
She moans and tries to move her head, but he holds it in place, her neck stretched out before him.
“Beg for it,” he commands.
“Please,” Roxy says, her voice heavy with need. “Please Sebastian, fuck me. Make me yours.”
He gets to his feet, controlling her to do the same by the grip of her hair and pushes her to her knees.
“Suck me.”
She starts fervently fumbling with his pants, slipping them over his hips once the buttons are released. She pulls him out but looks up at him questioningly when he flops before her, only slightly aroused.
“Suck it!” he yells.
She takes him in her mouth and he leans over her, resting his hand on the door to the closet. His eyes gleam through the slats as he twists his other hand back through her hair and forces himself further into her mouth.
I thrash and scream and Sebastian moans loudly to cover the muffled sounds. “Good girl,” he coos. “This is what you wanted, wasn’t it?”
She releases him and lifts her head. “Yes,” she breathes. “I want you, Sebastian. I want you to—”
Rearing my head backward, I ram it into the door.
Roxy lets go of Sebastian with a pop. “What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Sebastian tries to shove her head back down, but Roxy shakes out of his grasp.
“No, seriously. I heard something. Did you not hear it?”
I throw my head against the door again, screaming and crying into the gag, flailing any part of my body I can into hard surfaces.
Roxy’s eyes grow wide. “What is that?”
Sebastian tucks himself back into his pants and grabs her hand, tugging her toward the door.
“What was that?” Roxy asks again, and she reaches down to grab her dress.
Sebastian pulls her out of the door. “Okay, so you caught me.”
“Doing what?”
Sebastian replies but he speaks too softly for me to hear.
Then Roxy laughs loudly. “You pervert.”
And then they are gone, their laughter and their voices fading down the hall.