Addicted (Addicted Trilogy Book 1) (18 page)

Sara

It took me three days to feel like myself again. Alek
had insisted I stay with him until I was a hundred percent, and for once, I
actually listened to him.

Thankfully, Matt had been able to step in and run
the shop in my absence. It was the only thing Alek didn’t truly appreciate, the
fact I was relying on another man to help me out. It grated on his nerves, even
though he did his best to hide it from me.

But I saw it.

His jaw would tighten whenever he heard me on the
phone with my good friend. But he never said anything. Only reacted. Minutely. He
was coming around slowly to the idea of Matt.
 
He would never admit it, but I saw his concern slowly diminish the more
time passed.
 

My last night held willingly captive, we watched
movies and ate take-out. I was pretty much back to normal; the only symptom I’d
ever been sick was a touch of weakness. Not being able to eat normally for a
few days took its toll on me. It was the first time I’d been able to eat solid
food in days, the chicken and broccoli the most delicious thing I’d ever
tasted.

I’d been feeling so well, I’d tried to convince
Alek to let me have my way with him. He didn’t budge, though he promised me an
all-inclusive tour of
Deveraville
when I was
completely back to normal.

Even though I was disappointed, it gave me
something to look forward to. Something to fantasize about and something to
build toward.

After we’d watched yet another movie, I’d fallen
asleep on his chest, his warmth too inviting not to.

~~~~

A few hours after I’d drifted off, I awoke with a
start. One of my nightmares decided to pay me a visit, making sure to scare the
living hell out of me, as usual.

The serenity
was nice while it lasted, I guess
.

Thump. Thump.
Thump.

My heart rammed so quickly I felt its pulse through
my entire body. I did my best to push away the feeling of terror which had gripped
me not minutes earlier. Once I deemed back in control, I turned my head to the
side and saw Alek looking at me.

Luckily, he hadn’t noticed the light sheen of sweat
covering my body, or the terrified look in my eye when I’d first woken.

Turning fully toward him, I focused on his eyes. Or
at least, I tried to. He moved away, a look playing on his face as if he wanted
to tell me something. As I prepared to ask him about it, he spoke, tearing me
from whatever thoughts had plagued me in that moment.

 
“Are you
hungry?” he asked as he reached down and entwined his fingers with mine. Leaning
closer, he nuzzled the side of my neck before lavishing my skin with his
tongue. “I know I am.”

His breath tickled me. I laughed and tried to move away,
but his hold on me was persistent. “And what are you hungry for, Alek?” I asked
while still squirming, hoping he’d changed his mind about giving me what I’d
wanted earlier.

“You, of course.” Before I could say another word,
he was on top of me, pushing himself between my legs. My heart beat wildly
inside my chest, but it wasn’t from fear or anxiety. It was from excitement, my
need for him too great to contain any longer.

To show him how much I wanted him, I captured his
mouth, teasing his lower lip with my tongue until he opened up, which didn’t
take long at all. I loved the taste of him, his warm breath mixing with mine.
The way he made me feel was addictive.

With every kiss and caress he gave me, I felt myself
falling for him more and more.

Mind, heart and soul.

“Please,” I moaned, gripping his ass with my plea. But
what did he do instead of giving me what I wanted? He broke our kiss and
climbed off me, walking toward his dresser. Pulling out a pair of pajama
bottoms, he threw them on before he approached me again.

“You have no idea how much I would love to fuck you
again, baby, but I know enough to realize you’re probably still a bit weak. And
what I have planned requires a lot of strength and endurance.” He reached under
the covers and gently ran his finger over my need for him.

I gasped.

He withdrew his hand before I could fully enjoy it.
Drawing it up to his mouth, he parted his lips and dipped his finger inside. “Sweet,”
he teased, winking and walking toward the door. “Since I can’t eat what I want
right now, I’ll settle for a veggie omelet. You want one?” He was halfway
through the door before I realized what he’d asked me.

“Yes, please!” I hollered as he disappeared down
the hallway.

Damn him.

I glanced over at the clock and noticed it was
really late. I didn’t normally make it a habit of eating at that time, but I
had to admit I was a bit famished, my body on the brink of a full recovery.

I didn’t feel like putting my own clothes back on
so I made my way into his very large closet, deciding to throw on one of his
dress shirts. Reaching forward, I grabbed one off the hanger. Well, I tried to
anyway. One side of the shirt was stuck and the more I pulled on it, the more
it seemed to want to stay exactly where it was. I reached in further to
untangle it, harshly yanking it toward me. Not only did the piece of clothing
wedge free, but I’d dislodged something else, as well. I jumped back as
something fell to the floor and hit my foot.

Damn it. He’s
going to think I was snooping.
I was curious, of
course, but it wasn’t right to go through his private things. Bending down, I
reached for the fallen object and realized it was a folder, the contents scattered
all over the closet floor. They appeared to be photographs, but I couldn’t be
sure because they were all face-down. Picking everything up as quickly as
possible, I noticed something familiar written on the lip of the folder.

It was my name.

Odd.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to push away the
sudden uneasy feeling coursing through me. Part of my brain was telling me to
throw everything back together without looking. But the other part was urging me
to look and not ignore what was staring me in the face.

Of course, my curious side won out.

I quickly reached down and grabbed some of the
photos. Still having some reservations, I sucked in a deep breath, counted to
three, exhaled and flipped the pictures over so I could get a good look at
them.

Trying my best to rationalize what I was looking
at, I studied each and every one of them. But there was no explanation.
A cloud of confusion engulfed me,
threatening to tear the very breath from my body.

All of the items I held in my trembling hands were
pictures of
me
. There must have been
at least a hundred in total, all taken over the past eight years or so, long
before I’d moved to Seattle.

There were some of me coming and going from the
house I’d shared with my grandmother; pictures of me at my job at the bookstore
I used to work for; pictures of me pumping gas, shopping and even hanging out
with friends.

The list went on and on.

There was one picture which really caught my
attention. It was of me leaving my therapist’s office, looking beat-down and
emotionally drained. As my heart picked up speed, something dawned on me. All
of these pictures were taken
after
the
incident. To be sure, I looked
through all of them again, but the conclusion was the same.

None of them were taken before my life had changed
forever.

My mind drifted to a time when I was a very
carefree and trusting person. I always looked for and believed in the good in
people, often ignoring warning signs which should have been obvious to me. Even
though I had endured tragedy early on in my life with the loss of my mother, I
still lived a pretty sheltered upbringing. I believed everyone had a loving
grandmother like I did. I believed everyone was honest, loving, kind and generous,
simply because it was how I grew up. I was raised to be kind to others, to help
them when they were in need, in any way I could. I lived in a bubble, sheltered
from the harshness of the world around me. I used to be thankful I had that
kind of naivety, but it ultimately shattered my protected way of life.

A cold chill ran up my spine. I couldn’t dwell on
the past. I had to forget and move forward…always move forward or he would win.
I wouldn’t let that happen.

I
can’t
let that happen.

I forced my mind to come crashing back to reality.

Why does he
have these?

Did he take the
pictures? Was he following me the whole time? Did he have someone else
following me all those years?
I wanted answers. No. I
needed
answers, but I couldn’t face him
right then.

I had to get the hell out of there.

Sara

My cell almost slipped from my fingers, I was so
shaken. Dialing Alexa’s number, I held my breath until she answered. Finally,
on the fourth ring I heard her voice.

“Hey, Sara, what’s…
”
I
didn’t let her finish before I spouted out a barrage of words.

“Alexa, can you please come and get me right now? Please…I
have to get out of here.” I didn’t sound like myself, and I was probably
starting to scare her.

“Oh, my God. Sara, are you all right? What
happened?” She sounded as panicky as I did.

 
“I can’t get
into it over the phone. Please tell me you’ll come pick me up.” Of course, she
agreed. I gave her the address and told her to text me once she reached the end
of the road. After that, all I had to figure out was how I was going to get out
of there without him noticing.
And how the
hell am I going to get the damn security gate open?

I threw my clothes on, getting dressed faster than
I ever had before. There was no time to waste; I had to devise a plan and do it
quickly. I debated on whether or not to put the pictures back where I thought
they had fallen from or leave them sprawled out on the ground. I ended up
leaving them there. That way, he would undeniably know why I’d left.

As I threw on my heels, I heard him coming up the
stairs.
Shit!

“Sara, the food is almost ready. Do you want to
come down now?” I could hear him walking down the hallway as he called out to
me.
He’ll be in the room any minute.
I
had to hide, so I went to where everyone eventually tried to shield themselves.

I hid under the bed.

Hopefully,
he’ll think I’m already on my way down and won’t spend too much time up here searching
for me.

My breath hitched as I saw his feet come into view.
I wanted to desperately close my eyes but I needed to pay attention. I needed
to know when he was gone so I could make my escape.

“Sara? Are you in here?” He proceeded to enter the
master bathroom, probably assuming that was where I was. But obviously he didn’t
find me in there.

Once he came upon the mess on the closet floor he
stopped.

He didn’t move.

He seemed frozen in time, not quite sure what to
do.

Then came the cursing, various expletives flying from
his mouth so fast it almost didn’t sound like English.

Taking off like a bat out of Hell, he ran through
all of the upstairs calling out for me. “Sara! Sara, where are you? Please,
baby…please, let me explain.” His voice disappeared. I could only assume he was
running through the downstairs looking for me, as well.

Now’s my
chance.
I had to escape his house immediately. I
crawled out from underneath the bed and quietly made my way from his bedroom,
peering down the long hallway to make sure he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

As quietly as I could, I creeped down the
stairwell, being very cautious not to make any noise. I thought I heard him toward
the back of the house, near the dining room, but his house was so large I
couldn’t be sure. I sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around long enough to
find out.

Before he had the opportunity to find me, I bolted
down the rest of the stairs and went straight for the front door. I yanked it
open and ran down the steps, heading down the long driveway toward the gate.
Alexa should be arriving soon, so I only have
a limited amount of time to try and figure out how to open that damn metal
confinement.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be going anywhere, which was
so
not an option.

A text came through from Alexa as soon as I reached
the gate. I didn’t text her back, choosing to call her instead.

“Lex, I’m at the gate, but I can’t figure out how
to get it open!” I yelled, knowing I sounded as frantic as I felt.

“Try to calm down, Sara. See if there’s a button somewhere,
maybe off to the side of the frame.”

I fumbled around in the dark, trying to use the
light from my phone to guide me, when I heard Alek screaming my name. I knew he
saw the open front door and was coming my way. I had to hurry, or I’d find
myself in a situation I wouldn’t be able to handle.

Even though I knew he was hiding something big,
possibly something dangerous, my heart was having a hard time catching up with
my brain.
So the sooner I get out of here,
the better.

“Lex, I can’t find it. I can’t fucking find it!” When
I thought all hope was lost, my finger found a button higher up on the metal
frame than where I’d originally been searching. It was hidden behind part of a tree
which was hovering over the side of it. The way it was positioned no one would
be able to access it from the outside.

Please, let
this work…please
.

It did. The gate started opening.

My name drifted on the light breeze, goose bumps of
fear breaking out all over my body. I could hear Alek getting closer and closer.
I pushed my way through the small opening the gate provided, almost getting
stuck waiting for it to open wider.

I saw Alexa’s headlights down the road so I ran
faster than I ever had before, praying I didn’t trip over anything in the dark.
It wasn’t until I’d reached the passenger door did I finally turn around to
look behind me. That was when I saw him running down the pathway.

“Sara, please stop! Please, let me explain. It’s
not what it looks like. Please!” he yelled as he ran toward me.

I had to leave and do it right then before he reached
me.

Grabbing the handle, I yanked the door open and
jumped inside as if my life depended on it.

“Sara, are…”
          

I cut her off before she could finish asking if I
was okay. “Go, Lex! Go!” She peeled off down the road at my command, not
questioning me any further. When I dared to look behind me, I saw Alek in the
middle of the road, arms down at his side, looking defeated.

The shrill ring of my phone caused me to jump. I looked
down and, of course, it was him calling me. I pressed the ignore button but as
soon as it went to voicemail, it started ringing again, and again, and again. Finally,
I had to turn it off completely.

“What the hell happened back there? You damn near
scared the shit out of me. I thought someone was trying to kill you.” She glanced
over at me, thinking the worst, I was sure. “What the fuck did he do to you? Tell
me.”

“Nothing. He didn’t do anything
to
me. It was what I found in his
closet, by accident. I found pictures of me, probably close to a hundred of
them, all taken over the past eight years or so. He has either been stalking me
for years or having someone else do it. What I can’t figure out is why, Lex. Why?”
I asked, as if she was going to have an answer. “Why would he do this? I don’t understand.”
My last rambling was more rhetorical than anything.

Alexa remained silent, probably trying to process
everything I’d just dumped in her lap. Hell,
I
was still trying to process it all, and I was the one who was
directly involved.
      

 
“I guess we
never really know people,” she said, finally breaking the silence. “If he could
fool us, then I guess anyone can.”

For some reason, her words were the last straw. I cried.
Uncontrollably. I couldn’t believe after all this time, I’d finally found the
man of my dreams and he turned out to be someone I couldn’t trust.

What was the point of it all?

His incessant need to always make sure I was safe
seemed odd to me at that point. But if he was following me all those years then
he knew how easy it would be for someone else to do it.
Is that why he always wanted to keep me close and out of harm’s way? So
someone else couldn’t do what he was doing?

My heart broke as I realized I would never find
out.