Page 28 of Kalix

LAINEY

My vision is blurry and my head throbs as I wake up.

Where are my glasses?

I’m blanketed in darkness with a slight glow coming from outside the window where the rain is still coming down hard.

I wonder how long I’ve been out this time. It can’t be too long.

Feeling disoriented, I tug at my hands and realize that my hands have been retied behind my back.

I bolt up in the bed and look around the room. The door is shut this time. I wonder if it’s locked? It’s not like Alex would be dumb enough to leave something for me to get out with. He’s probably outside of the door right now, waiting.

Why the fuck does it have to be so dark in this creepy ass house?

I lick my dry lips, wishing I had a nice cold water. My stomach growls, and the snacks Kalix was going to bring me earlier sound good right about now.

Fuck.

Kalix.

My stomach twists at the need for him in this moment.

I know I shouldn’t want him. Fuck, do I know that.

I shouldn’t, but I do.

There’s something intoxicating about how he shows up when I least expect it.

The night at the bar when he came to my rescue, I realized I didn’t want him to stop.

There was a rush I felt in that moment. He’s always in tune with everything I do.

It’s both unsettling and possessive. Yet it’s the only thing that makes me feel truly alive.

He’s unpredictable, and maybe a little dangerous in a way that should make me bolt in the other direction.

However, when he’s near, I feel the safest I’ve ever felt in my entire life.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that no one else could ever touch me or hurt me because he’d destroy anyone who’d even dare to look at me the wrong way.

I mean, the man went and got a fucking bloodied rabbit tattoo after he realized he took my virginity. He’s clearly obsessive and unhinged.

It’s insane to believe, but my stalker went and made me fall in love with him.

If his crazy ass doesn’t find me soon, I may never get the chance to tell him how I feel.

It might be very bold of me to think that he’s looking for me, but, knowing Kalix, there is very little doubt about what he’ll do to get what he wants.

He’s made it very clear to me that I’m his.

If the tattoo and him breaking in to give me gifts wasn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.

I know he wants me, and that means he’s going to do what it takes to get me back. At least that’s what I keep telling myself, praying that when he came to the library to meet me and saw that I wasn’t there that he knew something was wrong.

Suddenly, my heart drops to my stomach.

Oh, no.

What if… what if he went to the library, saw that I wasn’t there, and thought that I stood him up? I mean, I had just seen the tattoo, so he might have assumed that I thought he was legit psychopath for doing that. I even called him one to his face… and he kind of is, but he’s my psycho.

My stomach feels queasy as I begin to spiral, and I feel like I’m going to barf.

I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths.

It’s okay, Lainey. You’re not going to die today.

Oh, fuck. What if Alex kills me and I never get out of here?

Oh, how I wish I had Mary right now. She always calms my anxiety.

Stupid fucking anxiety.

I have anxiety medication, too. Nope. Can’t take that because I’m in the middle of fucking God knows where with a damn pervert who is probably going to kill me. No medication in sight because it’s in my fucking bag.

If Alex doesn’t kill me, I’m sure to die from a heart attack or stroke.

I bite my lip hard, trying to distract my mind from the reality of my situation.

“You better be looking for me, Kalix, or I’m going to fucking strangle you if I ever get free from this hell hole.” I murmur to myself, irritated, knowing damn well the first thing I want to do when I see him is get lost in his arms and never let go.

A tear slips down my cheek as I try to calm myself.

I shuffle backward toward the wall when the door cracks open.

In walks Alex with a lit candle in one hand and something I can’t see in the other. He sets the candle down and walks toward me, sitting down on the bed in front of me.

“We lost power a couple hours ago.” He lifts the object, making me flinch. When I realize it’s a water bottle, my tensed body relaxes a bit. He opens it and holds it out to me. When I don’t open my mouth, he says, “I just cracked the seal on it in front of you. It’s just water. Please drink.”

I decide to take a sip because my mouth feels like sandpaper and I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to get some again. I notice a bruise forming on his forehead, a matching one is probably forming on mine as well.

When I finish, he pulls a packet out of his pocket and holds it up so I can read that it’s over the counter headache medicine. “Take these. It’ll help.”

He places them on my tongue and then holds up the water so I can swallow, then caps the bottle. He must grab my glasses from behind him, because they appear out of nowhere and he places them on my face. I notice they sit on my nose lopsided.

He pulls a phone out of his pocket. I immediately recognize that it’s mine. Swiping the screen, he holds it up to my face to unlock it. “How about we snoop some. What do you say?” He smiles at me, not waiting for an answer before he opens the photo app.

“What do you want from me?” I ask. He ignores me, stopping on a spicy photo I took the other night before I went out.

“Damn, baby.” He whistles.

“Alex.” I say through my teeth as he continues to ignore me. “Where are we?”

He exits out of my photos and clicks on the gps map. He points to a blue dot in the middle of the screen and says, “Here,” before clicking out and going back to my photos.

“I don’t know where that is.” I say, irritated now.

He lifts a shoulder, not bothering to look at me. “It’s not important.”

This fucker. “What do you mean its not important? You fucking drugged me and kidnapped me. I think its pretty fucking important.”

He laughs and shakes his head, “It needed to be done. ”

My face crinkles in confusion, “Needed to be done?”

I get nauseous when he throws my phone down on the bed and clicks play on the video.

Already knowing it’s the video of me fingering myself.

My stomach rolls knowing this fucking creep is watching me doing something so intimate.

Why the hell did I have to keep that video?

I just wanted to see what it all looks like down there.

I make a mental note to never leave shit like that out in the open on my phone.

I don’t bother watching, so I pin him with a glare instead. He’s looking at the video intensely, biting his bottom lip. “Alex.” I say louder, he doesn’t even flinch.

“Alex. Let me go.”

He sighs with a smirk, “No can do.”

“Please, I’ll do whatever you want.” I beg.

He closes the screen on my phone before chucking it across the room, the screen making a crunching noise as he hits the ground. I jump and try to get away from him as he lunges for me. “Whatever I want? What happened to what I fucking wanted that night at the bar?”

He grabs my face as his nose brushes mine. “You were supposed to go home with me that night…ME!” He shouts in my face making my body lock up, his spit wetting my skin.

I squeeze my eyes shut as the tears start to pool in my eyes.

Don’t fucking cry, Lainey .

“Instead, you let your fucking crazy boyfriend beat the shit out of me!” He yells again.

The tears start to pour down my face, “Please.” I beg

“Oh, please, please, please .” He mocks me.

I start to sob, “Just let me go…”