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Chapter Two

Brodie

"My mother can never know," I say as I take a swig of vodka.

The man I'm with, Harry, smiles as he ogles my breasts, stretching my little crop top. "She'll never know," he says.

"Good." I giggle, taking another swig.

Harry leans over and kisses my neck. I tip my head away from him, giving him better access.

I look out the window and see a shadowy figure standing off down the road facing us, and I know who it is.

It's my creepy brother keeping an eye on me.

"Argh, I have to go. My brother is here."

"Ignore him," Harry murmurs, reaching to grope my breasts.

I kiss his cheek. "I'll give you a call." I climb out of the car, and Harry curses quietly. Something about blue balls and excuses: I don't really care.

I walk down the road toward my brother's silhouette. He's in a hoodie and jeans, and he has a bandana up over his face. It's one of those with a monster mouth on it, so it looks like his mouth instead. It's creepy as shit.

"Hello, loser," I say. "I don't need you checking on me. "

He stares at me as I walk past him. "Let's go then before Mom has a fit."

I walk ahead of him, swaying my hips. I hum quietly to a popular song when I feel something move around my shoulder. Before I can turn around, a foul-smelling cloth is clamped over my nose and mouth while another arm holds me back against my brother.

It is my brother, right? It isn't just anyone.

It goes black.

That's when I wake up in the hotel in just the skirt—chained to the bedframe. I scream for help and try to pry the chain free, but nothing helps.

Then, Eitan walks in, and I try to cover myself up.

"What is this, freak?" I ask. "Eitan, let me go now, and I swear I won't kick your ass."

"Oh, Brodie." The way he says my name sends shivers up my bare back. "You're home now."

"Home?" I shake my head. "This is not home. Eitan, this isn't funny. Let me go."

I yank at the chain, but he walks over and sits next to me. His hands are shaking. I always knew that Eitan was obsessed with me, but this is taking it a bit too far .

"If you're trying to scare me, congratulations, it's working," I say.

"I'm not trying to scare you, but you're safer here than you've ever been. I'm going to take care of..."

I slap him and then scramble to search his pockets, but he yanks himself away from me.

"Brodie, I know this is a shock to you, but you need to understand that I just want to protect you."

"By chaining me up half-naked to a bed?" I demand to know. "That's not protection, Eitan. It's sexual assault."

I come to realize his eyes are focused on my breasts, and I throw an arm over them. "You're my brother."

"It just means I love you more, and I mean that, my love." He traces the curves of my body with his eyes. His eyes are looking up my skirt. I squeeze my legs together, and he smiles. "We're going to have so much fun together."

"Fun?" I balk at the idea. "What do you mean fun?"

"You've already been here a few days. You just need to acclimatize to your new surroundings."

He walks toward the door, and I reach out to him."Eitan, what do you mean a few days? People are going to look for me, and when they realize you're missing, too, they're going to know you had something to do with me going missing." I grasp at straws.

He left a few days before he took me, and I know in my heart he already has covered that. This is well-planned. It is all part of a grand scheme he has been thinking about for clearly a long time.

Since then, I've woken to him lying on the bed with me a few times and recently to him stroking my skin. I have to act as though I'm not creeped out, because he gets upset and I don't want him to leave me here to starve or anything.

I've tried to escape, but it just doesn't seem to be in my favor. He brings me a bucket of water to wash with—at least it's warm—and he brushes my hair for me once I've washed it. But I don't even know where I am in this place. I've tried to reach the window to look out, but I can't. The chain is too short.

He at least lets me use the toilet, but there's no door on the bathroom frame, and there's nothing in the bathroom I can use as a weapon. He's removed everything.

I'm stuck here until he says I'm free.

I'm stuck here as his plaything .

I need to figure out his plan and play his game until he trusts me enough that I can escape. I've been asking him innocuous questions about where he goes, and I try to work out how far from town we are.

It's hard to work out because I have to factor in the time he spent there, but from what I can tell so far, we're at least an hour away by car. I still need to figure out the direction and how to reach there on foot.

Also, I need to figure out which way the main road is because I am sure we're not near it. It sounds quiet, as though we're in the forest. Considering we eat a lot of game and fish, I assume we are.

I don't know of anywhere near town that's run down like this place that he could have taken me to, but if I can figure it out, then I can get back and report him to the police.

I can escape if I play the long game.

So I pretend to be nice to him.

Sometimes.

Sometimes, I take a chance and try to stab him with a plastic fork.

It all depends.

A girl’s gotta take her chances.