Page 47 of Never To Suffer (The Hollywoodland #4)

CARRY ME HOME

ROYAL & THE SERPENT

“Xander?” The voice breaks through the storm in my mind, but not enough to wake me.

“Come on, Bug, wake up for me. Please? Xander!” My body shifts and I force my eyes open, but they’re struggling to stay that way.

Like quicksand, the harder I struggle to wake up, the deeper into the nightmare I fall.

“Oh bug, what have they done to you?” It’s my aunt’s voice. A moment later, she kisses my head and whispers, “Sorry about this, you can pay me back for it later.”

The sensation of drowning in a frozen pond does the trick, and I sit straight up, gasping for air as icy water drips from my forehead. I wipe the water from my eyes and glance around the room. I’m on the floor with a corded phone in my hand.

“What…how did I get here?”

“Come on, we’ll figure that out later. I need to get you out of here. Now.” She rummages around, throwing clothes that aren’t mine in my direction. I glance around, hoping for some sense of familiarity, but my brain only sends signals to run. Get out.

“Where am I?”

“We’ve been looking for you for a week. A week, Xander. Your father has losing his mind. What happened?”

“I don’t… I don’t remember…” I’m still not fully awake, still trapped with one foot in the world of darkness that likes me a little too much to let go. But I remember there’s something important about my backpack.

“Later, clothes, baby, now!”

I glance down. Why am I naked? If panic didn’t have control of my brain right now, embarrassment would, but I don’t even care at this point.

I’m a tapestry of bruises, dried blood, and cuts, but I don’t remember how I got them.

Every time I move, pain shoots through my entire body.

Melody helps me off the ground and pulls a pair of jeans on me as I wince and whine.

“How did you get here? Did you see who did this?” She’s asked questions since I woke up, and I don’t have an answer for any of them.

I flail around, pulling the comforter from the bed, searching everywhere and finding nothing. I drunkenly stumble around the room, checking the closet, drawers, and bathroom. No backpack.

“Xander! We need to go!”

“What the hell is going on, Melody? Where am I?”

“You’re in a shitty hotel in an area of town that didn’t even exist to me yesterday, Xander. Your father wasn’t sure if it was a kidnapping or a sick joke you played as payback. You turned on your phone, that’s how we found you.”

“My…phone?” A spike goes through my head, and I grab my face, dropping to my knees.

“I’ve got you, bug.” Melody holds me until the screaming stops. My screaming. “Oliver said you were having headaches, what are you on? What did you take, Xander?”

“Oliver?” There’s something wrong with her face, like she wants to smack me but hug me at the same time.

“Yes, he saw you last, so security questioned him. He said you had him drop you off at a bar and he hasn’t seen you since.” She bites her lip, and I shake my head as she whispers, “He said you were going there to…to meet a man. To…Xander, why do you let them do that to you?”

I search around the room again, slower this time. Condom wrappers. Empty bottles of wine and alcohol. I can stop shaking when my eyes land on the empty bed frame and the mattress ripped off of it and left on the floor. I don’t want to remember, but I have to.

“Oliver. I remember. It was him, he… he…” I grab my head, pressing the sides with the heels of my hands as hard as I can to squeeze the memories out of my brain.

“That’s not possible, Xander. Oliver said?—”

“I can’t remember—No, it was him. He did things…” I don’t recognize my own voice. Even as a child, I never had this much fear, this much pain laced into it. I’ve never begged like I’m begging her now. “Please, don’t make me remember.”

“What did you take, Xander? I need to call a doctor. You’re covered in bruises and?—”

I turn and grab her shoulders, begging her to listen to me. “I didn’t take anything! I swear! I left dad’s office and I…I…”

I try to remember, too much static in my brain makes it difficult and my mind wants to protect me from whatever happened over the last week. When I go to scratch the itch on my hand, I find Theo’s words.

You. Deserve. Better.

You have them on your face, too?

“Tattoos. I got a tattoo. Oliver found me a tattoo place. We were there for like an hour, tops! The guy kept feeding sake to Oliver until he couldn’t walk straight. When we got in the limo. He asked me about… my tattoos. The job.”

I grind my teeth together, struggling to bring more memories back.

“He…He knew about Dani and…Theo…but it goes blank. I can’t remember. He showed me a mini bar. He gave me whiskey and pills for my head. I remember the floor, watching him take my backpack. He took my computer.”

I can’t find anger in her face about what Oliver did, only pity. She doesn’t believe me, and that’s a punch right to the gut. Like Dani, I don’t lie to Melody. I may not tell her everything, but I don’t lie to her. Whatever Oliver’s done or said has made her question me.

“Sweetheart, Oliver claims you seduced him, got him drunk, and…took video of him as blackmail. You forced him to take you to meet some man.”

“No. No, that didn’t happen. I’m not lying, Melody. He handed me a drink and the next thing I remember, you’re tossing a bucket of ice water at me! He gave me pills for my headache.”

“Grab whatever you need. I’m taking you to the airport.”

“Airport? No, someone needs to go after Oliver!”

“I need to get you home, Xander. Safely.” She strokes my face and her eyes well with tears.

“We saw what you were letting those men do to you, what you were doing to yourself, what you did with Oliver. Your father broke down and went into a rage. I didn’t see it had gotten this bad, Bug.

If you can’t tell me the name of the client you met, I understand. But we need to get you home.”

“He…saw?” I stumble into a chair. The possibility of my parents finding out always existed, but they weren’t supposed to. Knowing they’ve seen it, seen how depraved I get, that’s not something parents should see. Even if they are shitty parents.

“I’ll get the jet cleared to take off and?—”

“I can’t. The backpack has my computer, my ID, and my passport. I don’t have anything.”

“How did you get so careless?” She pulls her phone out and taps rapidly before handing it to me. It’s this room. Oliver. Me. Quick, jerky cuts and…

“No. No, this didn’t happen. He…” Flashes come back, hitting me like a truck. “Hands. Men. They tied me up. They—” I sprint for the bathroom. When I’m done retching, I close my eyes and focus.

Dani. Theo. Skylar. Dani. Theo. Skylar.

I need to get back home.

I repeat the mantra that kept me alive. When I open my eyes again, I get up and stumble to the other room, pulling on a t-shirt and keeping my head down I don’t want to think about what did, didn’t, or might have happened.

I can’t stop shaking. I can’t catch my breath.

They’ll believe me, even if no one here does.

“Oh, Bug. What did they do to you?” She marches across the room, digging her phone out of her purse and unlocking it before holding it to her ear.

“Alec, I want you to keep Oliver in the building. Search his room for a backpack with my nephew’s things in it or anything else that he shouldn’t have.

Search his car, his house, everything, understand?

” There’s a pause while she glances around the room and lowers her voice.

“Check for used condoms, wrappers, anything of the sort while you’re at it.

Anything with DNA. Pictures of everything and bag it up.

Do the same in this room. Do not involve the local police in this until I say. ”

When she hangs up, she stands in front of me and holds her arms out. I fall into them, letting her perfume take over my senses. “I’m sorry, Xander. I’m so sorry. I just, the videos, they broke me and I… I’m sorry. Come on, I’ll get you somewhere safe until we can figure this out.”

I’ve gone over what I can remember as many times as I’ve traced the tattoo on my hand.

Bits and pieces coming back, but nothing I can grab and hold, nothing I can make stick.

I want to scream. I’ve worked myself into at least three panic attacks since I’ve been stuck here in this hospital room, and I’m not even sure how long I’ve been in here.

Ten minutes? An hour? Most of the day? I’m fighting my own mind, trying to remember and not sure I want to remember.

The handle on the door jiggles, and I watch my aunt and one of her buff as hell security dudes walk into the room, locking the door behind them. Melody drops a plastic bag on the table before walking around the bed and cupping my face to stare into my eyes.

“How are you, Bug?” She wipes the tear streaks from my cheek. “I’m working on getting a hold of Dani, but I also want you to get checked out by a doctor I trust, okay? Oh, and I brought some food. Nothing too crazy, some rice and steamed vegetables until you’re sure you can stomach more.”

I nod and glance over at the guy still guarding the door. It takes me a minute to register that he’s holding a bag. My bag.

“You found it!” I take a closer look. “What the hell happened to it?”

“We found it about a block from the hotel where you were. At the edge of a pond. Your phone and a few other things were inside, they’re getting cleaned up now, but I’ve brought a temporary phone in case we can’t get yours working again.

No laptop, though, and no passport.” She takes the bag from the guard and walks it over to me.

She pulls out my glasses and slides them on me.

The world coming back into focus makes me a little nauseous for a minute since it’s been out of focus for too long.

“I need to call Dani.”

“You do. I spoke to her earlier while you were resting, and I’ve told her what happened. Well, some of it. I offered to fly her out here?—”