Page 78 of Nitro

He climbs into the front of the van. I don’t know if he bought it after I left him or if he stole it. We didn’t own it when we were together. This isn’t good. Even if Nitro somehow realizes Jeff has me, he doesn’t know about this vehicle. It’s probably not even registered to Jeff, so Matrix won’t know Jeff has it. This is a disaster. I can’t believe this is happening.

As we pull away from the farmer’s market, I try to look out the windows. They’re painted black on the inside, but there are places where sunlight seeps through. All I can see is a bit of sky and an endless parade of trees. From this angle, there’s no way I can identify where he’s taking me.

Jeff drives for over an hour. We’re not headed to our house. If we were, we would have been there already. My worst nightmare’s coming true. He’s taking me out into the forest to kill me. I’ve had that dream a million times. I thought it was just my anxiety causing it. Now I wonder if it was a premonition.

I sit straighter. Wait a minute. Premonition. Nitro knew I was in trouble the night Jeff beat the shit out of me. If I can somehow project that pain again, maybe he’ll realize I need help. We only talked about his abilities a little bit, so I’m still unclear about how they work. From what I remember, Nitro wasn’t sure either. But it’s my only hope.

Using as much energy as I can manage, I bear down, tensing all my muscles while silently screaming for Nitro in my head. I visualize my cries for help radiating out like the ripples in a lake after you throw a pebble into it. This has to work. I don’t know if it will, but it’s my only hope.

By the time the van stops, I’m exhausted from trying to project my fear out to Nitro. There’s no way to know whether it worked, but at least I tried. Now I just need to stay alive long enough for him to find me.

The door opens. Sunlight blinds me. When my eyes adjust, I spot our cabin. We spent a lot of time here right after we were married. Even before we got engaged, we’d come out for the weekend during the summer. I used to love it here because it’s such a secluded location. Now I wish we’d never bought this place.

“Get out,” Jeff snaps.

I inchworm my legs toward the edge. Instead of letting me stand, Jeff grabs me around the waist and throws me over his shoulder like I’m a bag of sand. My head bounces against his back as he carries me into the cabin. He dumps me on the floor then kicks the cabin door shut.

“You’ve gained even more weight since you left me. It’s a wonder any man wants you considering how fucking fat you’ve gotten.” He walks into the kitchen and grabs a huge knife from the butcher block. “Let’s make you more comfortable, fatty.”

Tears brim in my eyes. Although I hate him already, this makes it ten times worse. I’m a little chunky. He’s not wrongabout that. But Nitro said he loves my curves. He doesn’t think I’m too big. Jeff’s the only person who has ever commented on my weight. He expects perfection, and he has never missed an opportunity to tell me that my size disgusts him.

“Quit sniveling.” Jeff slices through the zip tie around my feet. “Get up.”

I try to stand, but my balance is off because I can’t move my hands. I can’t even feel them. The plastic’s cutting off my circulation.

“God, do I really have to do everything for you?” He lifts me into a wooden chair, then uses fresh zip ties to resecure me.

I try using my tongue to shove the rag out of my mouth, but it’s no use. He sees me struggling and rips it free. He tosses it into the fireplace. Logs form a teepee-like structure inside the hearth, but it’s not lit.

“Water,” I gasp.

He stares at me with a look of pure evil. I tremble under his malevolent gaze. When he finally walks away, I shiver. I follow his predatory movement through the kitchen. He gets a glass, fills it with water from the sink, then returns to tower over me.

“Here’s your water.” He jerks the cup, splashing the entire contents across my face. It soaks through my light pink shirt, molding the fabric to my breasts. His eyes darken with hunger. I lean as far away from him as I can manage.

“Stay away from me!”

“Or what? Do you think you’re in any position to make demands?” His lascivious gaze returns to my chest. “You were such a hot piece of ass when we met. So young. So innocent. So pure. What happened to you? How did you end up like this?”

I want to ask the same question but for a totally different reason. I should never have left Nina and Julia at the market. Splitting up was so stupid. We got complacent because Jeff had been missing for months. We all assumed I’d be perfectly safe.This might end up being the biggest mistake of my life, maybe my last mistake.

“What to do … what to do…” Jeff strolls back and forth before kneeling in front of the fireplace. “The sun will go down in a couple of hours, but it’s already getting chilly. As much as I like seeing your nipples get hard, I don’t like being cold.”

He strikes a match, setting the woodpile on fire. The rag he used to gag me smolders before igniting. He’s burning the evidence.Oh, God.

I close my eyes for a second and pray like I’ve never prayed in my life.Please, God, let my silent plea for help reach Nitro.I don’t know if it will work, but trying to alert him is the only thing I can do. With my hands and feet tied together, there’s no hope of escape.

Or is there?

Wait a minute. Maybe that’s exactly what I need to do. I can’t wait around for Nitro to rescue me. I can do that myself. Instead of giving in to panic, I need to focus. I need to think of a way out of this mess. First things first, until I’m untied, I won’t be able to get out of the cabin. So that’s my goal. Step one: get him to cut off the zip ties.

“Jeff, can’t we talk about this? I get that you’re mad at me.”

“You’re a cheating whore.”

I swallow, unsure of how to respond, so I go with my gut. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have hooked up with Nit—the biker. The bikers.” Maybe if I make it seem like I slept with more than one of the guys, he’ll be less focused on getting revenge against Nitro.

“See, I knew it wasn’t just that one guy.”

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