Page 119 of Caged
Kieren sits poised and calm in an armchair at the center of the room, grinning at me like a Cheshire cat on crack.Found you kitty.
The three steps I’ve taken inside the common room happen in slow motion. Swirling around me are cries, shrieks, bodies slinking past me in an attempt to exit unnoticed, and the thunder of heavy footsteps as people try to run. Not Kieren. He doesn’t move an inch. I see Jace out of the corner of my eye duck behind a chair, and I pray to God that Gabi sticks to the plan and stays in the hallway.
With one more stride, I close the distance between us, now face to face with my once-captor. I lift up my mask. A strange numbness has cocooned my mind. My body continues to move, but of its own accord. We lock eyes, and his dark brown irises, filled with pure desire, feel like they bear the weight of my soul. His chin tilts upward as I get closer, so close that I now stand between his casually spread legs. Without thinking, without breathing, I let the handle of my axe fall from my hand and climb onto his lap, straddling him as I yank his head backward by the scruff of his hair.
My lips, smeared with blood-red lipstick, crash against his. His tongue spears my mouth and I taste what once was the most raw and carnal love I’ve ever known. I rock my hips into his groin as his hands trail along the curves of my body, hungry yet surprisingly tender. I expected a fight. I assumed we both would have weapons drawn, but he doesn’t launch a counterattack as I expected he would. He doesn’t even try.
Pulling back until my lips barely graze his, I find his left hand and wrap my fingers around his ring.
“Give it to me,” I say, my voice sounding more like a plea than a demand. I press the sharp edge of my knife to his neck as I try to pull it over the first joint of his finger, leaning forward to kiss him while I work. It begins to slide, now almost halfway off, but my angle is awkward.
“Never,” he rasps against my lips, trying to yank his hand away, but I planned for this, faster and stronger than I was five months ago. The tension from our opposing forces, like a finger trap gag toy, creates the perfect opportunity.
In one rapid motion, I slam his pinky finger down on the armrest of the chair. My thick carving knife is through his flesh and bone in an instant, chopping the part with the Sigma ring cleanly off.
I can’t believe that worked…
I’m stunned, but I don’t have time to be stunned. I only have time to run.
It happens so fast that Kieren doesn’t initially register the pain, but in the seconds it takes me to scramble off his lap, he unleashes a scream I’ve only heard him make once before -the night I escaped. Kieren’s scream echoes down the hall as Gabi and I sprint for the stairwell. Unfortunately, the only way out is to go back the way we came. I toss the knife to the ground and pull the gun from my holster as I clutch Kieren’s bloody half-finger and Sigma ring for dear life.
Gabi still has her gun and axe as threats to clear the way, but the large living room is empty due to the continuous blare of the fire alarm.
“Drop the axe,” I shout at Gabi as we dash out the front door, hurling ourselves down the steps like gazelles, and weave through the mingling party-goers now clustered on the lawn.
“Ditch the masks,” I yell in reminder as we race across the grass. We make it to the car I left unlocked, because why wouldanyone try to steal this ancient piece of shit? The ignition turns over with agonizing delay.
“Go! Go!” Gabi screams as the car finally jolts to life. I shift the gear into drive and slam the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Wheels churn atop the pavement before the car lurches forward.Do not fucking die on me,I curse.
“Monroe!” Gabi shrieks, looking behind us, as headlights careen down Sigma’s driveway.
There is absolutely no way this car can outperform a BMW, the kind of car both Kieren and Jace drive. I just hope I’ve given us enough of a lead to make it to my final destination.
60
GABI
Present Day
“Monroe, where are you going?” I scream as she drives like a maniac down the twisted road.
Headlights close in on our car, and panic consumes my mind. I can’t think straight. I have no idea how Monroe is driving a car right now, because I can’t find words to speak.
“Take off the ring and give the finger back to me,” Monroe shouts, handing me the bloody finger. “In the glovebox!” she instructs over the roar of the engine. “Open the condom.”
“Monroe, you’ve fucking lost your mind!”
“Do it!” she screams at the top of her lungs.
My fingers shake so badly, I’ve lost all dexterity. I free the bloody ring and hand the appendage back to Monroe. The car jerks violently from side-to-side, and papers spill from the glovebox but I manage to catch the condom. The ring is going in the condom, I’ve figured out that much on my own, but why?
“Hurry!” Monroe shouts, which only makes my fingers shake more. Using my teeth, I tear the condom wrapper open and free the slimy, translucent latex.
“Tie it and shove it up your vagina!” she yells, daring a glance over at my lap, which almost costs us the next turn.
The headlights have caught up to us and now honk violently. They keep trying to pass, but Monroe cuts them off. As terrified as I am of whomever is in the car, I’m certain we’re going to crash.
“I can’t!” I wail, reaching inside my panties. My vagina is a steel trap of fear right now and there’s no way I can fit this bulbus ring inside.
