Page 71 of Unbearable

Something had been wrong at the apartment. He remembered seeing red before everything went dark. His mind fought to bring it up, but it was no use. His memories were murky at best. The harder he worked to remember, the more his head throbbed.

“Hello?” he croaked. His throat was so dry. How long had he been out? Was it hours or days? “Tell me what you want. I’m sure we can work out something.” The room remained silent.

The glass in front of him looked thick. He wondered, even if anyone was in that room, if they could hear him. His hands reached up to wrestle with the strap again and brushed against something lying on his chest.

“What the hell?” he mumbled. It was something hung around his neck. He lifted it as far as he could but couldn’t quite make it out. He knew it was oblong with a relief etched into the surface of the disk. It hung on a chain that was around his neck under the strap. He tried to pull it over his head with no luck.

“Not important right now,” he said, dropping the necklace. “What’s important is getting out of here. There has to be something I can use.” His gaze took in the room again. “The only thing in here is me.” He checked every inch of what he could reach of the cable connected to the wall. Nothing.

“Help me,” he screamed. Still nothing.

He gave up, letting his hands flop back onto his lap. Never had he felt so helpless. Though he suspected once whoever took him showed up, that feeling would reach a new level.

The only thing that would save him now was his sister finding him. But how would she even know he was missing? They had never thought about communicating when they weren’t in the same room, but this seemed like a good time to try.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Focusing on just two words, help me, he started chanting them over and over. Chances were that wasn’t how it worked, but it was worth a try. It was all he had left. If no one ever came, he would soon die of dehydration. It would be a nasty way to die.

The heat must have helped lull him to sleep, along with the chanting. He woke up with his head slumped toward his chest. His neck felt like it was on fire from the angle.

Something caught his attention in the other room. A man sat in a chair on the other side of the glass. Slowly, he got up and walked to a door cut into the glass. As the man came into focus, Fox was shocked to realize he knew him.

“Edmund?” he rasped. “Holy shit, I’m glad to see you. Help me out of this. How did you find me?” He had a million other questions. All that mattered right now, though, was that someone was here to rescue him.

Edmund casually walked over until he was just out of reach. Then he crouched on his heels with a smile. Fox watched him trying to understand what was happening.

None of this made any sense. Where had Edmund come from? What had happened to him? He struggled again in an effort to put the pieces from earlier together.

“I think there’s a lock on the side. If you can find something to break it with or maybe there’s a key in the other room,” he added, more confused than ever. “At least call for help. My phone should be in my pants pocket in the corner. You can call my sister.”

Edmund simply watched him with interest. He made no move to help Fox in any way. He didn’t even look at the strap around his neck.

Slowly, Fox began to see that Edmund wasn’t a savior sweeping in to rescue him. He was the devil come to torture. Edmund must have recognized the moment Fox realized how much trouble he was in because he laughed.

“You know,” Edmund said. “I think I finally understand what Brooke saw in you. I’ve spent weeks trying to understand. Not that I wanted her, but I always wondered why she set the bar so low. I mean, a construction worker? What was she thinking? But now I get it. Free room and board were a plus, but not enough. Free babysitting was also a perk. But I think she just wanted something pretty on her arm that she could control.”

“You’re probably right,” Fox admitted. He couldn’t remember what his sister told him about psychopaths. Did he humor them or push back against them. He was gambling on the former.

“I know she was seeing other men behind my back. I can only assume she needs more than I can give her.” He would say anything if it would get Edmund to loosen the strap.

“From what I heard, she wasn’t the only one sneaking around. Best of both worlds, huh? Exciting, crazy Brooke in one bed. Her sweet, soft sister in the other. Well, you won’t have toworry about choosing which sister anymore. Let’s just say I took care of that little problem for you.”

“What did you do?” Fox whispered.

“Nothing you haven’t dreamed about. Put it this way, nothing should stand in the way of that delectable older sister getting the brat. But that’s neither here nor there. I have to meet my decorator to pick out furniture for my new loft in,” he checked his watch. “About fifteen minutes. I’m sorry you won’t get to see how it turned out.”

The two men stared at each other. One with contempt, the other with amused arrogance. Finally, Edmund pulled something out of his suit pocket. Fox couldn’t help but grab at the bottle of water held out to him. Edmund let out another laugh before standing.

“We’ll talk more in a little while,” Edmund said. “I hope you’ll look forward to it as much as I will.” He walked to the glass door before stopping. “No, perhaps not as much as me. I’m afraid you might be a little too…choked up.” With another laugh, he walked out of the room. Fox barely watched him leave the outer office as he took a long swallow of water.

After drinking half the bottle, he recapped it and set it on the floor. Without knowing how long Edmund would wait until he returned, he needed to conserve it.

He tried to adjust his seat with no luck. The strap around his neck wouldn’t budge. His sister hadn’t mysteriously appeared, so he doubted his attempt at telepathy had done anything.

A shimmer in the far corner caught his eye. The shimmer quickly morphed into a person. He should have been more surprised when Memphis appeared in the room. He was so happy to see him, though, that he forgot everything else.

He should have known they would have noticed when he went missing. Hadn’t Knox said that they always took care of their own. But how did Memphis find him?

“Oh hell,” Memphis said. “What have you gotten into? Is there anyone else in here?” Fox shook his head. “Okay. Let’s see what we have then.” He moved across the room to investigate the neck restraint.