Page 80 of His Toy
Walking through his property was like entering an estranged memory. The surroundings were familiar, but there was something off about everything. A prickly heat in my bloodstream made it feel like it wasn’t me walking. I was being led. This wasn’t my house. These weren’t my woods. This wasn’t my home.
But it still was mine. Wasn’t it?
Suddenly we were there, outside of the door to those cages. The open hatch was a beacon of light, leading us to it.
Zaid had to be alive. I needed to survive. Even if we had our problems, we needed to work together to make it out of this alive.
The man with the angular chin shoved the gag back into my mouth. “One word out of you, and I will kill you. Do you understand? Not a sound.”
Part of me wanted to say that he was going to kill me anyway, so what difference did it make? But then I heard Zaid’s name, and I knew I had to play along. For now.
“Ah, Zaid, the shipment has arrived then,” a gravelly voice said, a voice I recognized to be Eric’s. They shoved me back into the cage and the wooden crate, and then lowered the box to the men underground. A tiny crack in the crate lit the box so that I could see.
“Did you know I used your mother’s services when I met her? You took the name of a fucking whore, Zaid. Did you know that?”
“You preyed on her,” Zaid said. “You prey on the weak, you sick fuck.”
“The Mabens are just like your mother, aren’t they? Whores. Weak-minded, obedient whores. Their cooperation in exchange for their lives. Is that not preying on a whore? Taking advantage of the weak?”
The idea that I was weak disturbed me. Had Zaid made a deal with me because he knew he could manipulate me?
No. Zaid and I joined forces because we wanted the same thing. Eric needed to pay for what he had done.
Zaid’s voice was ruthless, guttural, a man straining against everything. “I will fucking kill you.”
“That is still to be decided,” Eric chuckled. “My bet is on myself.”
The gut-wrenching impact of a fist to a body, the thump dull, but heavy, echoed through the room, audible even to me. “Another,” Eric said. Then punch, after punch, they assaulted Zaid, and he did nothing to stop them.
“Where’s the will to live?” Eric said. “Let’s see if the shipment is intact, shall we?”
The wooden lid crashed to the floor. I craned my neck to see; Zaid was bolted to the bars of one of the cages, his face bloody, his lips cut, his clothing disheveled.
“Get her out,” Eric said. The men moved the cage out of the crate, then unlocked it, pulling me to standing, my wrists still bound. Zaid grit his teeth, snarling at Eric. “There’s that fire.” Eric gestured, and the zip tie was removed. They shoved me to the cage directly across from Zaid and put my wrists into the loose shackles hanging from the wall. “Let’s get a good look at the toy you kept all to yourself. You must learn to share, my son.”
“You will not touch her,” Zaid bellowed.
Eric snickered. “And you will stop me?” Eric walked towards me slowly and I looked away. But he grabbed my chin, maneuvering my face towards him. He touched my neck, gently at first, then dug his fingers into it. It hurt; fuck, it hurt like hell, and it was so hard to breathe. I gasped for air, and Eric grinned. The sadistic bastard.
“Did anyone figure out the control panels yet?” Eric said, turning towards the men.
“No, sir,” one said.
“We could makehimwork the control panel,” another offered.
“Do you really think he will cooperate, you fucking idiot? He will use whatever fail-safe mechanism he has installed.” Eric shook his head. “Better to keep him away. Besides, they’re heavy enough.”
Heavy enough? I realized that the bonds around my wrist were loose. I pulled the chains discreetly. How much slack did they have? Maybe the control panel was what locked them into place. Eric turned back to me.
“Tell me, Heather, did your sister tell you about how we met? She lost a bet in my casino, and the only way she could pay her dues was to kneel down before me. I offered her wage work, but she insisted that she please me the right way.” He sneered, his upper lip curling. “Are you like your sister? Are you so desperate for affection that you will whore yourself out to the first man that offers you kindness?” His hands trailed up the side of my face, stroking my cheek. This felt familiar, the verbal assaults; Zaid had trained me for this emotional abuse. It was part of Eric’s torture. It was taking everything I hadnotto let on that the chains were not holding me in place. “You gladly helped this man, this manipulator, all for the promise of your sister’s safety. Tell yourself it was for her, that whoring yourself was to save her precious life. We know the truth.”
Zaid had never laid a hand on me, unless I gave my approval of the act. He may have been a liar, he may have kept secrets tucked inside of him, secrets that would’ve explained a hell of a lot,had he told me, but he was not evil. I didn’t know if the cages were empty because of Zaid, or if Eric had let them go. But I knew those prisoners, those victims, had not been touched. Abducted. Restrained. Cared for like animals in a crowded shelter. But cared for.
Zaid may have had a monstrous side, but there was good in him too.
Eric turned towards Zaid quickly, racing towards him, then knocked his fist into Zaid’s chin. Zaid’s mouth hung open in pain. “I will enjoy making you suffer. Your face, as you watch her die, will be exquisite. Almost as pathetic as you were when I killed your mother.”
He punched Zaid in the face again. One of Zaid’s eyes was swollen shut. Zaid looked miserable, but he locked an eye with me, and I saw the energy still inside of him. It wasn’t over.