My high had worn off as I woke up in a strange bed. The mysterious bedroom reminded me of my place except this one had more furniture. The room had more holes in the drywall than mine did. Did I crawl to my dealer's house to find more drugs? The memories of being taken from my room by a monster hit me like a whip. My body was weak and it took all my energy to lift myself out of bed. That's when I saw him.
Sitting across from the bed was a dark figure in a chair. An empty beer can fell off his lap as he stood up. He wasn't a monster like my drug-riddled mind had led me to believe. But he was still one scary motherfucker. His dark brown hair was cut very short and a little bit of facial hair hugged his jawline. His deep blue eyes looked right at me and I knew I needed to leave.
“What am I doing here?” I asked, looking for an exit. The man blocked the door and the other doorway led to the bathroom. Maybe there was a window in there that I could escape through.
“Don't even think about escaping. In your condition, you wouldn't even make it a block before I caught up with you. And then I'd have to do some bad stuff to you.” How did he know what I was thinking? “Sit back down on the bed.”
I did as I was ordered. Something told me that I didn't want to mess with this guy. “Why did you kidnap me?”
“You have some information I need. And you're going to tell me everything you know.”
My brain was screaming at me to run. I tried to bull rush the guy, sending all my weight into him. It was no use. My body bounced off him like a rubber band and I flew back onto the bed. “Let me out of here!”
The man shook his head slowly. “You're going to tell me everything you know about your dealer. And you're going to tell me now.”
“Or what? You're going to kill me?” I never stopped to consider my words before they escaped my mouth. I just said whatever was on my mind. Even if I didn't want to know the truth.
“There's worse things than death,” he said softly. His words scared me to the core. But his grin was even more horrifying. What was this man going to do to me? He sat down on the chair across from the bed and studied me. The pathway to the hallway was wide open now but I knew it was hopeless. He'd run me down before I even got five feet.
“I'm not telling you anything,” I said, using every ounce of confidence. I didn't even know what he wanted. And when did I become a keeper of secrets? Not that I had any secrets to keep. My life had been in the dumpster the past couple of years. I didn't know anything worth knowing.
“What's your name?” he asked.
“Tell me yours first,” I replied defiantly. For some reason I thought I had some control in this conversation.
“Name's Ryker Ash. Now what's yours?”
He wanted to start off small. Get me talking. I'd give him my name but nothing else. “Tempest Turner.”
The man leaned over in the chair and scratched his facial hair. “Tempest Turner, tell me everything about your dealer.”
What the fuck? That's all he wanted to know? But I couldn't give up my only source for smack. It took me months and months to find a dealer who would give me drugs in trade for blowjobs. Other dealers wanted to fuck me for the smallest amount of heroin. But my first time couldn't be with a drug dealer. I wouldn't let that happen no matter how much I needed a fix. My mouth on the other hand was a different matter.
I hated the way my dealer's disgusting skinny cock tasted. It was a cross between stinky cheese and a rotten banana. It took all my efforts to keep myself from gagging as he fucked my face. But it was all worth it for those hours of being high. There was no way I could give him up. He was too valuable to me.
I put on my best poker face. “I don't have a dealer. Who are you talking about?”
Ryker laughed hard, slapping his knee. “That's a good one. A junkie without a dealer. Don't even try to play games with me, Tempest. Who the fuck is your dealer? I want a name.”
The urge for a fix was already coming on. I could feel the need deep in my veins. My hands began to shake slightly and Ryker noticed it. “Like I said before, I don't have a dealer. I get my drugs from whatever random guy is standing at the corner of the street.”
“If you want to play it that way, we can play it that way.” Ryker walked over to a beat-up dresser and pulled out a pair of steel handcuffs.
“What are you going to do to me?” I crawled backwards on the bed, trying to get as far away from Ryker as possible.
Ryker grabbed my wrist and locked one cuff around it. The other cuff was locked to the bedpost. “You're not going anywhere. And I think you'll be singing a different tune in a few hours when you need a fix.”
I pulled on the handcuffs as hard as I could but all I did was hurt my wrist. “You can't do this to me, Ryker.”
“Oh Tempest, I can and I will.” My eyes widened as he smiled and left the room, leaving me all alone with my addiction.
–
During the night, the withdrawals had taken over. The need for smack was overwhelming. My body was going back and forth between ice cold and scalding hot. Ryker had put a bucket next to the bed that I continually filled with vomit. The room was spinning and the bed sheets were soaked with my sweat. There was no way I was going to make it through the night.
I screamed Ryker's name over and over again until he finally came back into the room. “How are you feeling, Tempest?” He sounded like a doctor looking after a patient. Ryker was one vile son of a bitch.
“Fuck you,” I said through clenched teeth. I rattled the handcuffs against the bed post, making as much noise as possible.
Ryker held a cold compress in his hand and set it against my forehead. “I have a proposition for you that I have no doubt you'll agree to. Give me your dealer's name and I'll come back with some heroin.”
Those words were almost too good to be true. I'd do anything for drugs at this moment. Even give Ryker my most prized possession: my body. “My dealer's name is Jenkins. Now get me some drugs now. I can't take it anymore.”
“Jenkins? Sounds more like a clown than a dealer.”
“Will you fucking stop talking and get me my smack!”
“Where does he live?” Ryker asked.
My brain was so cloudy that I couldn't remember right away. If only I had a little bit of a fix to clear my mind. I visualized his house a few blocks away from my apartment building. He lived in a nice neighborhood for being a drug dealer. “Oak Street. Jenkins lives on Oak Street.”
“Good girl. See that wasn't too hard.” Ryker ran his fingers through my wet hair. “I'll go first thing in the morning and get your drugs.”
My body was about to blow up. There was no way I could survive until the morning. “You have to go now, Ryker. I can't wait any longer.”
“Not gonna happen, baby.” Ryker winked at me and sat down in his favorite chair. He was going to watch me suffer all night. I was going to die in a few hours and Ryker was just going to just watch me wither away. He snapped open a beer and drank. Fuck him.