Page 16 of Fighting With Light

“We have had a few drinks,” I say.

She takes another sip and angles her head to kiss me again. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see she’s drank about half of her glass. So I set my glass on the nightstand, then take hers out of her hand.

She lifts her chin to kiss me and I lean in to be as convincing to her as I can be about where she thinks this is going. Her nails scrape up against my neck and a little groan slips from my lips. I pull away and her eyes are sleepy. Her grip on my neck loosens and her eyes shut while her arm drops a little. I gingerly get off of her and poke her shoulder a few times. She doesn’t move and a snore bubbles from her lips. I stifle a laugh, she’s out cold.

Moving quickly, I grab my handcuffs from the drawer and lift each wrist toward the headboard. Looping the handcuffs through the bars of the coated steel bed frame, I lock each of her wrists into them. Next, I grab her feet and tie them together, then rope them to the edge of the platform bed.

I wait for a minute, wondering if the jostling woke her up, but she’s still sound asleep. I grab her phone, type in the code I saw her use, and get to work copying the phone to my computer. When that’s done, I put her phone back where I found it.

After that I gather my knives, a washcloth, duct tape, and settle in the chair next to the bed to wait. I didn’t give her much, but the point of the sleeping pills is to help you stay asleep, so this could be a long night, but it doesn’t matter, she will wake up sooner or later.

8

Liam

A few hours passand she snores softly. I pace and make myself some coffee, trying to stay awake. I sit in the chair scrolling through my phone and her body shifts and begins to wake up, moving her hands and arms. Ready to cover her mouth to keep her from screaming, she looks at me with cold indifference instead of fear, and she sighs, dropping her head back onto the pillow.

“I’m all for the kink, but you’re usually the one in handcuffs.”

I rub my chin, pushing my smile away. Any other person would have panicked or screamed, maybe started crying. But Aelia? She cracks jokes. We are more alike than I thought.

“Did you drug me?”

I wince. “Yeah,” I rasp.

She purses her lips and glances at the knives laid out, likely calling my bluff. I won’t hurt her, but she doesn’t know that. I just need answers.

“Based on that look on your face, you didn’t take any pleasure in drugging me, which means that you’re probably not going to kill me.”

Reaching for my knife I flip it around in my hands. Only she stares blankly back. Interrogation 101–the illegal side of things states that showing your hand too soon gives the detained leverage. It’s important to show that you don’t have a line you’re afraid to cross. But if the kidnapped already has the interrogator pegged, it’s pretty simple: they just have to wait for someone to find them or they have to bide their time to escape.

“Okay, well let’s make this quick because I have to pee,” she says.

I have a list of questions in my head I wanted to ask, but her attitude throws me off. “Why are you so calm? Most people don’t react like this when they wake up tied to a bed.”

She shrugs as much as she can with her arms tied above her head. She wiggles her fingers and toes before relaxing again. “I’m assuming you know who I am then.”

I dip my head.

“Right, then you know the answer to your question is yes. Can I ask you a question?” she asks.

I nod again even though I didn’t know the answer to her question. That’s…interesting.

“What’s your last name and is Liam honestly your first?”

“Yes, Liam is actually my name, and my last name is Coldwell.” I watch her, waiting for some form of anger, smugness, anything. Instead she sits there for a moment, eyebrows scrunched together as if she’s trying to recall who I am then her eyes widen.

“You’re aColdwell.”

I tap my fingers on the handle of the knife.

“Your father is a bastard,” she snaps.

“Tell me something I don’t know, princess.”

She grits her teeth and wiggles in her handcuffs. “These are very uncomfortable, you couldn’t have used…I don’t know,silkor something?”

I shrug, not sure how to answer that.