Page 28 of Love is Blind

“I’m taking the phone, Doc.” Is all Jax says before he too storms out, with a look on his face that would scare the grim reaper.

I watch as they go before turning and facing Doc and Abby. “Doc, we need you to stick around. We all need a bit of patching up, but we will need you with us when we find Wren.” I glance down at Ares, the dog looking sad and depressed, with his owner gone as well. “Abby, keep an eye on Ares and help Doc if you can.” She gives me a tiny nod before I to leave the room.

I feel lost, not used to being this empty feeling in my chest, as I head for my room to quickly shower and change. I have to remind myself that my angel is a fighter. She won’t give up so easily, and I have a feeling Adrian isn’t done with us either.

Chapter twenty-one

WREN

Haveyoueverreacheda point in your life where you think ending it all would be better than the alternative? Laying here on this dirty wet floor, head pounding, body aching, I’m thinking it might be a better option. I awoke not too long ago with my hands tied in front of me and my mouth taped shut. I was thrown on the floor like a piece of trash they think I am. Now I have to wait and see the fate I’ll have.

I slowly roll to my back to get into a less painful position, but it doesn’t help. There’s a coldness to where I’m at, and I’ve pinpointed a leak in a pipe nearby for the reason of the wet floor. It smells musty and rotten where I’m at. My guess is some type of basement or maybe a garage? I can’t hear anything but my own thoughts and the drip, drip, drip of the leaking pipe. Shifting a bit more, I feel something hard on my left. Reaching over, I feel a cold rough brick texture, a wall. Pushing past the arch, I pull myself up into a sitting position and lean against the wall.

Taking a second to breathe through the pain, I grip a corner of the tape on my mouth and yank. I have to swallow the scream that wants to escape as the adhesive rips away my skin. Next, I bring my hands up, dragging around the rope until the knot is facing me. Forcing myself to move, I use my teeth to pull apart the knot. It takes me a few tries before I get it loose enough to yank my wrist apart and the rope gives. Rubbing at my wrists, I can feel the raw skin from how tight some asshole tied them.

Slowly, I slide my back against the wall and stand, wincing at each stab of pain I can feel in my head. I can feel the dry blood flaking against my forehead and face as I move, along with other parts of exposed skin. I must look like something out of a horror movie right now. Attempting to rotate my injured shoulder, I realize it’s pretty useless. Minor movements send sparks of pain shooting up my arm, but once again I have to focus on pushing past my pain and instead find a way out of here, or maybe a weapon.

Keeping to the brick wall, I quietly shuffle my way down. I take small side steps, keeping my attention on making little to no noise, also listening for any that might alert me to when someone is coming. I make it to a cross wall and move my back to it to continue on. Ten steps into this wall, my foot leading hits something hard. I jump but manage not to scream. Moving my good arm out, I kneel and touch whatever I just kicked. Using touch, I follow the shape up to a flat surface. My guess is some type of worktable.

Memories of the night I lost my sight come racing back. Being tied to a chair in the middle of a basement room. A worktable on the far side of the room was in front of me. A set of stairs behind me and a couple of small windows to the right of the stairs. I could hear the dripping of water coming from somewhere as well.

It hits me then. This place. I know this place. I’ve been here before. I lost everything here. Focusing, I recall the set-up again. The worktable had a bunch of shiny tools on it, but I couldn’t see what from where I was seated. Assuming nothing has changed, and that Adrian has underestimated me and my lack of eyesight, I’m guessing there is something on the table I can use to defend myself.

Taking a deep breath, I release it before biting my lip and reaching forward. I pray I don’t injure myself in the process as I slide my hands across the flat surface. I shuffle to the side, moving my body as I go, but find nothing. My heart and hope begin to sink when my pinky hits something cold. The biting of my lip helped my startled response, but I can now taste blood. Moving past that sense, I wrap my hand around what I touched. It’s lightweight and feels kind of small, even in my hand. Running my finger across it, I yelp at the sting when I realize it’s some type of small blade. Gripping it tight, I continue on.

Keep moving Wren. It’s not just us we have to think about now. We have something to live for now.

Reminding myself of all that, I move to where I think I remember the windows. They seemed highish from my memory, but I was tied to a chair then. I can feel a small cool draft as I approach an area, giving me hope that I might have a chance to live, when a door opening sends icy dread through my veins. Throwing myself against the way, I rush back to the last corner of the wall I felt. I’m a caged animal at this point, and my best defense will be my back against the wall. With the knife I found at the ready, I wait.

I’m not even a bit surprised when a certain voice calls down the stairs, but it sends terror through my soul all the same. “Oh Dolly. I’m home!” The wooden stairs creak as Adrian makes his way down. I hear a click of a light switch, not that it does me any good. He must get to a point where he sees I’m not where I was left, the rope and tape discarded on the floor. “Dolly?” He moves down the stairs faster until I know he sees me. The bastard chuckles. “Oh Dolly. What do you think you’re doing?”

“My name’s not Dolly!” I scream.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now — now. All those lessons and you didn’t learn a thing. You were doing so well until you ran away from me.” I can hear him moving around as he speaks so casually, but I can’t pinpoint him.

“I didn’t run away. You tried to kill me! You thought I was dead and had one of your lackies throw me out like I was trash.” I snarl. I’ve always thought Adrian had a marble loose, but no one is perfect. I thought we were in love, but I was so stupid then.

“Dolly, watch your tongue, or I’ll need to take that, too.” I feel the air shift and I strike out, knowing it’s him. I must get him because he curses a second later, but I’m not fast enough to strike again because he returns the strike with one across my face, sending me flying back against the wall. My already pounding head intensifies as he wrenches the blade out of my hand and grabs my face, pinching my chin in a hard hold. He’s pressing in against me and I almost gag at the feel of his hard dick settling against my leg. “That wasn’t very nice, bitch.” He steps back but tosses me back at the same time. I stumble, hitting the wall again, but this time crumpling to the floor. Instinctively, I wrap my arms around my stomach, afraid of a kick while I’m down. To him, it probably looks like I’m just curling in on myself.

“You know Dolly, your eyes were always my favorite part of you. Those big, round blue eyes were so doll-like. That’s why I call you my Dolly. All those lessons were for you, you know. You should have been grateful. I made you into the perfect woman. I was going to make you my wife, but then you had to go and ruin it. Now look at you, back at the beginning. I’m going to have to teach you everything all over again.” He slowly runs his fingers across my face, causing me to jerk back.

“I’d rather die than be your little pet again.” I spit and it’s true. He’ll kill me at some point regardless once he finds out I’m with child.

“You know, it was so easy to take you from them.” He snarls the word “them,” like a curse. “I knew I could get them out of the house if I simply repaid their little favor from last night. It wasn’t what I had originally planned, but I improvised. So, I set a few fires of my own, but I made sure the last one was set just right. Unfortunately, they’re like little cockroaches and don’t know how to die properly, so now we are moving to Plan B.” I hear the rustling of fabric before he speaks again, this time closer. “Now smile for the camera, Dolly.”

“What are you going to do?” I ask, fearing the worst likely outcomes. Of course, the asshole simply laughs before getting up.

“You’ll find out soon enough. I need to make sure everything is in order, then we can start relearning our first lesson. Don’t talk back.” I hear the creak of the wooden steps as he ascends, then the click of the light getting shut off, followed by the door closing, then locking.

The moment I’m alone again I break, my silent cry followed by tears that come in waves as I curl tighter in on myself. The only thing that gives me a little hope is that Adrian said my men didn’t know how to die, which means they were alive. I still have a chance because deep down I know my men will come for me and if they found Abby, they will know they have more to fight for as well. Our child.

Chapter twenty-two

JAXON

AfterXanderleftina rage, I followed him out, Doc’s phone still clutched in my hand. Abby’s and Doc’s words float around in my head as I make my way to my room. Once there, I kick the door shut and lock it. Ripping my shirt off over my head, I head for the bathroom. Glancing in the mirror, I realize I’m covered in more blood than I thought. I look like a serial killer who just went on a spree. I know some of the blood is mine from the few shots I took and some knife wounds from the one or two hand to hand I dealt with. The blood doesn’t even bother me, but I still grab a towel, wet it in the sink and at least wipe off my face and chest. Once I’m done with that, I head to the closest to quickly change. I don’t even pay attention to what I grab, just throwing on whatever I touch first.

Feeling halfway clean, I take a seat on the bed and stare at the phone, still in hand. Pregnant. I hit play again, turning up the volume and listen. The rapid rhythmic thumping causes my heart to skip a beat. Our woman is pregnant. I’m going to be a dad. We’re going to be an actual family. I’ve never thought far enough into the future to comprehend having a family of my own.

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