Page 33 of Carnival

Rose

B reathing is hard, as it seems. I struggle to breathe, and my lungs start stinging.

With a lot of effort, I peel my eyes open, but it hurts more than I’d like to admit.

I try to adjust my eyesight to the lighting, blinking rapidly.

Every bone in my body is aching, and I’m having difficulties realizing what’s happened.

Then, I glance down and realize that I’m tied up.

Memories from last night start surfacing back to my mind, and a groan comes from me. All I remember is getting home after another failed attempt to see James, and then… nothing. Something hit the back of my head, and everything went black.

My anxiety starts peeking its ugly head, the thoughts filling with dark ideas. If this was Vivian’s doing, then I’m as good as dead. There’s nothing I could possibly do; if she wants me dead, I’ll be dead before I can properly breathe again.

The silence is killing me on the inside.

This seems to be a basement of sorts — and it reeks. I try to get used to the stench, not wanting to even imagine what the cause of it is, but my nose almost bleeds at the intensity.

“Breathe, Rosalie,’’ I try to pep-talk myself. “You’ll be okay.’’

As if on cue, the door opens, creaking. My eyes snap forward, and the biggest, most massive sigh of relief leaves my lips. My shoulders relax; the tension slowly leaves my body as I lean back in the chair I’m tied to.

“Oh,’’ I snort. “It’s you.’’

The man in front of me is Wyatt Chambers, Aria’s ex-boyfriend. This vile man drove her to the point of attempting suicide after he isolated and mentally abused her and caused her to reach the brink of a depression so deep that I never thought she’d pull out of it.

However, he is still much less of a threat than Vivian.

“Rose,’’ he steps forward, the door closing behind him. “It’s been a while. How are you?”

“What do you think?” I snap. “You kidnapped me; why, exactly?’’

“As long as you behave and don’t provoke me, I won’t hurt you. I need you as leverage.”

“Leverage over what?” The moment the question is out, it dawns on me. “Oh my God, you’re using me to lure Aria. Why, you sick bastard? Haven’t you hurt her enough?”

He leans in, his hand threading through my hair. Harshly, he yanks my head back, and I think he managed to rip a strand of my hair. I yelp in pain, and he gets too close, and for a moment, I falter.

I forgot how insane this man can get — the pure delusion on his face is scary.

“Aria is meant to be with me, Rose,’’ he hisses, and I’m unsure who he’s trying to convince. “And right now, you’ll tell me everything I need to know.’’

“Which is what?”

“That Cove bastard, are they actually serious?”

I blink. “Uh… of course they are.’’

“Details, bitch. I need details,’’ he hisses, gripping my hair tighter.

That’s how I spend the next few hours. He’s asking questions that I don’t even know the answers to — from Aria and Cove’s sex life to the smallest details of their relationship. It makes me realize just how deep into his delusions he is, and there’s no way out for him.

He feeds me some shit food, but I’m hungry, so I eat it all without really questioning what he fed me. For now, he needs me alive to get Aria back. Once he realizes that he won’t get anything out of me, he cusses, screams, and throws a temper tantrum, then blindfolds me and leaves the room.

I’m left alone with my thoughts, and all I can think about is James.

James, James, James.

The man who is stuck behind bars, the man that can’t come to save me, no matter how much I’d like him to. I’ve never been the one to need a man’s help, nor a damsel in distress, but right now, I’d give anything to have James save me and whisk me away from all this madness.

Time passes painfully slow, and I don’t know how many hours, or even days, I’ve been tied to this chair.

I really need to find a way out, but with my entire body being tied to the chair and my hands behind my back, I can barely move an inch.

It’s tight against my body, and I already know I have red marks underneath my clothes.

My head snaps forward when the door swings open, and I can immediately tell it’s not Wyatt — the footsteps are too light. My blindfold comes undone, and I blink a few times, adjusting to the flickering lightbulb above me. My face flashes with relief at the sight of Aria.

“Thank God,’’ I breathe out, my voice shaky. “I thought no one was coming to get me.’’

“Don’t be ridiculous,’’ she smiles, albeit forcefully. “I’ll always come to find you.’’

“Cheesy.’’

She rolls her eyes, starting to undo the ropes around my body. A few curse words slip from her tongue at the realization of just how thick and tightly tied the ropes are. At least five double knots. She takes a deep breath, her hands shaky as she reaches for the knots.

“Are you alright? Did the bastard hurt you?”

I shake my head. “Not physically. Well, my stomach hurts. He fed me terrible food.’’

Aria snorts. “Besides that, are you okay? He didn’t hit, torture, or try to extract information out of you?”

“No,’’ I look directly into her eyes. “I’m fine, I promise.’’

Her shoulders visibly slump, relief washing over her. She relaxes, though I can tell that her guard is still very high up.

“That’s good,’’ she sighs. “Did he happen to tell you anything?”

I struggle against the ropes, trying to help Aria get them off quicker.

Once I realize that it’s futile, I stop squirming in the chair.

My eyes are focused on the door, waiting for anyone to enter.

I’m still in a deep mode of alert, and I don’t want to lower my guard, not even for a moment. Slowly, I look back at Aria.

“I tried asking a lot of questions,’’ I start explaining. “Mainly, what were his plans with you? He wouldn’t give me a straight answer, but I did gather that he is pissed.’’

A scoff leaves Aria’s mouth, and she barely suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. “Yeah, he’s pissed I got him banished from New York, isn’t he?”

“Not quite.’’

Aria gets the second knot undone, then pauses momentarily. “Go on.’’

“He’s pissed you moved on.’’

Aria’s eyes close, and she pinches the bridge of her nose. The anger she’s been trying to suppress slowly starts to resurface, and I know that once she gets the chance, she’ll let the anger consume her and kill the bastard.

“That’s his main issue? Cove?”

I nod. “And it’s like… really creepy, too.’’

“Elaborate, please.’’

“He chose me because he thinks I know the most about you. He asked a lot of questions about your sex life with Cove.’’

Aria’s brow raises up to her hairline, a mix of shock and disgust on her face. She blinks a few times, digesting the information, then nods, signaling for me to continue.

“He wanted to know about your current kinks. He needed to know what you were into these days so he could, uh… satisfy you.’’

“As if I’d let the motherfucker touch me again. It’s bad enough that he was my first.’’

I look away. “I know. But, Aria, I don’t think he cares about your consent here. He’s delusional; he thinks he can whisk you away, and you’ll be his all over again.’’

“Is that what all of the fuss is about? He wants me back?”

“I don’t think he wants you back because he loves you,’’ I snap my eyes back to Aria’s. “He just hates that someone else has you. That’s all. And I think that obsessive thought makes him far more dangerous than we thought. So, please, don’t tell me you came here alone.’’

Aria looks away, focusing on undoing my ropes. She tugs on them, then bites the inside of her cheek. I roll my eyes, resigned, then shake my head disapprovingly, a small chuckle slipping.

“That was very stupid of you.’’

“Don’t worry.’’ She tugs on one knot, and it comes undone. “I’m chipped.’’

“What?”

She nods. “I have a tracker in my necklace, my thigh, and my neck. Don’t worry, they’ll find us soon.’’

“You did that voluntarily?”

“The trackers in my body? Yeah. It helped me feel a lot safer after Wyatt left New York. And the necklace was a gift from Mom for Christmas last year.’’

“Jesus Christ,’’ I mumble.

“Remind me to have you chipped, too.’’

“No, thanks.’’

“I wasn’t asking.’’

I lift a brow as the final knot comes undone.

I tug them off my body and stand up, stumbling a little.

Aria catches me before I can fall face first, and I can’t help but lean on her for support, regaining control of my feet.

I take a few steps forward and stretch, my back snapping, and so does my neck.

“Do you plan on having me kidnapped again?”

A wave of guilt threatens to spill from her eyes. “I’m sorry, Rose. It never occurred to me that he’d come for you. I’m really sorry for putting you through this.’’

I wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug, softly stroking her back.

No matter what happened, she came for me.

We may have disagreements, and I may be a bit angry that she kept everything away from me, but she’s still my sister.

Not by blood, but my chosen sister, and I’d never be able to truly hate her, especially not now that she is forced to face her abuser because he took me.

“It’s not your fault,’’ I mumble and pull back, giving her a soft smile. “You couldn’t have predicted this. But I wouldn’t tell James about this. He’ll go ballistic.’’

Aria laughs, and it warms my heart.

She straightens up, and I look at the door. Lo and behold, Wyatt comes in, his hair slicked back, with one strand falling over his forehead. I’d never tell Aria this, because it would make her feel even worse, but the bastard is hella ugly. What did she ever see in him?

Something forms in the pit of my stomach. Something inexplicable, something I cannot even give a name to. Aria and Wyatt argue, but I can’t hear the words that are being exchanged.

No, my eyes are glued to the door.

Because my heart starts beating rapidly, the smallest hairs on my neck stand up straight. Goosebumps prickle my skin, palms sweating, and no matter how much I wipe them against my pants, they keep producing more. A knot forms in my throat, and I don’t know what to make of all this.

I’m snapped out of my trance when a sound fills the room. A gasp comes from me, eyes widening at the sight of Aria’s face turning to the side. The motherfucker slapped her. Hesitantly, I reach up, touching her cheeks.

Rage fills me, and I’m all but ready to pounce on Wyatt. Would I be able to take him down? Probably not, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t give it my best. Aria pushes me to stand behind her and gives me the most pleading look.

She doesn’t want me to interfere, and with a shaky intake of breath, I nod.

I know how much she needs to handle this herself, how much she needs to take back her power, and deal with Wyatt on her own. I take the smallest step back, letting her focus on the motherfucker, but silently, I’m fuming, imagining what his head would look like on a stick.

It all happens too fast. In one second, Aria’s putting the motherfucker in his place, and in the other, the door of the basement swings open, and Cove whacks the back of Wyatt’s head with a baseball bat, knocking him unconscious.

But that’s not what I’m focusing on.

My eyes are glued on the door, and the beating of my heart quickens yet again. I’m paralyzed on the spot when I see a figure stepping inside. Wind gets knocked out of my lungs, my breathing getting labored.

It’s James.

He comes straight to me, looking at me. But he has his mask on. It’s filled with blood, his white shirt dripping with blood, his tall frame towering over my shorter one, the intimidation tactic that always seems to be working on me.

I can’t speak, I can’t breathe, and I can’t think.

James fills my senses — his scent, the darkness, the intensity in his eyes, and the way his fingers, which are coated in blood, are twitching by his side. He’s itching to touch me, but it’s almost as if he’s trying to memorize this moment forever, eyes skimming all over me.

James is back.

And it’s only now that I understand that I’d never be able to escape him.