Tobias (A CURSED BOYS NOVEL Book 1) (2 page)

  “Then move your ass.”

  Amelia was once beautiful to me, but now I’m barely able to stomach seeing her. Even now, as she stands in the doorway hardly dressed in just a see through bra and lace panties, I can’t bring myself to look at her with anything but disgust.

  “I’m your wife Tobias. Not your slave.”

  “Ex-wife.”

  “Whatever.” I roll my eyes and toss my clean shirt at her.

  “I’m not wearing this.”

  “It’s not for you. It’s for her. Now get her dressed.”

  Amelia stalked across the room to the side of the bed.

  "Who is she and since when did I start dressing your whores for you?  Just drain the bitch and toss her out with the rest of the trash."

  Amelia looked the girl over with a pure disgust visible on her face. In that moment I saw red and wanted nothing more than Amelia’s blood spread across the floor. I grabbed her by the throat and threw her up against the wall.

  "I haven't killed you yet today, but the night is still young. Don't push me Amelia or I'll find a way for you to stay dead."

  I spun on my heels fleeing the room. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. I needed some air. This was going to be a long night.

CHAPTER TWO

WILLOW

I felt like I was hit by a truck. Not just some little pickup truck but a full on semi. My head throbbed and my face was swollen. I didn't even need to get out of bed and look in the mirror to know that I was most likely sporting a black eye.

  I could feel the all too familiar tingling and puffiness. This definitely wasn't my first black eye. Hell, I’m probably more used to be knocked around than I should be.

  Consciousness was tugging at the darkness but my body keeps trying to fight waking up. All I want to do is lie in bed all day and nurse this pounding headache.  My eyes finally start to be obedient but as they open I can’t help but notice this is not the shitty hotel room I’ve been staying in. How comfortable this bed is should have been a dead giveaway.

 Where the hell am
 
I? 
A horrible feeling tugs at my stomach as I try to remember what the hell happened last night. Last thing I knew I was leaving the bar. Everything after that was a complete haze. Kind of like when you wake up from a dream and try to remember what you were just dreaming about.

  That still doesn’t help me figure out where the hell I am. I sit up quickly and instantly regret it as I feel like someone put a bowling ball inside of my head and was having a go at a game of pinball.

  Squeezing my eyes shut I try to force back the wave of nausea that hit me from the pain. 
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.
 I continue my inward mantra as I finally regain control of my stomach. After a minute I open my eyes to try and get some perspective on where I might be. I don’t remember leaving with anybody and I sure as hell don’t remember going home with anybody. Looking down I realize I’m not even in my own clothes anymore.

 Oh
 
god.
 
Please
 
no. I
 
didn't. I couldn't.
 
I couldn’t remember if I went home with someone from the bar ... 
Another wave of nausea hit me full force. I quickly picked up the closest thing, which was luckily a garbage bin and emptied the contents of my very empty stomach while trying to ignore the sudden dizziness. My head was already hurting enough and I had just gotten sick, so dizziness was just icing on the cake. 

  Whoever it is that took me home isn’t here and by the looks of it this room hasn’t been used in a very long time. At least they had enough decency to leave me a bottle of water and two Tylenol tablets, but there was still no way in hell I was touching either of them. Today was going to be hell. It didn’t take much to realize it. On the bright side I’m still alive, although right now even that doesn't seem like a good thing.

 Finally the room has stopped spinning and I’m able to pull myself onto my feet. A part of me - the stupid part of me - wanted to take a few minutes to look around and enjoy the beauty of the room. Even though it was old and needed a good dusting it truly was beautiful. The other part of me – the smart part - was screaming for me to get out of there as fast as I can.

  I’m surprised to find the door hadn’t been locked. Whoever brought me here was either an idiot or somehow isn’t too afraid of me trying to escape. I decided to go with the first one since I really don’t want to imagine what was waiting for me if it was the second.

  It took a moment to work up the courage to stick my head out of the door and peer down the hallway. The house was huge; that much was obvious, the question was which way is going to get me the hell out of here. I closed the door behind me as quietly as I could and slowly made my way down the hall.

  The ceiling was at least ten feet high and the walls were lined with wood paneling. Each door that I passed had a beautifully carved frame. Although the house had clearly been remodeled I could tell that the house itself, or at least parts of if, were really old. It reminds me of the historical buildings I've seen in town. The museum had all sorts of pamphlets about old historical buildings around town, and even some destroyed houses and ruins scattered in the woods from a very long time ago. Over time nature reclaimed its land and left behind a forgotten history. I’ve always found it fascinating, but could never find the courage to hike into the woods on my own to see it for myself.

  The floor creaked under the weight of my foot which made my heart pick up the pace. So far I haven’t found any sign of another person in the house but that doesn’t mean I’m alone. I passed about six rooms along the way and each of them was eerily silent. I can’t help the fact that I just can’t shake the bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  A minute felt like a lifetime as I stood still waiting to see if anyone heard me. Surely if someone did they would be here by now. I turned the corner and was flooded with relief at the sight of a staircase.  I’m not out yet, but I’m getting closer. I knew I would run out of luck sooner or later but I was hoping it wouldn’t be this soon. I heard voices as I got closer to the stairs and I couldn’t help but listen in. The closer I got the clearer the voices were. Two people, a man and a woman, were arguing. As I reached the railing of the steps I could see the two of them. 

 I didn’t want to be seen, but I couldn’t pull myself away from their conversation, so instead I got as close as I could to the floor and spied on the pair of them where I hoped they couldn’t see me.  

  “Then what are you going to do, keep her locked up in your bedroom for amusement?”

 I felt sick to my stomach. Unless there was another woman locked up in another room somewhere they had to be talking about me. 

  “I don’t need to explain anything to you. She’s here and you are going to stay the fuck away from her.”

  “You’re joking right? As if I’d want to be anywhere near some trash you picked up at a bar.”

   It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to scream. He had snapped the woman’s neck. My hands flew to my mouth to muffle the sobs that threatened to choke me. I could barely see through my tear filled eyes at the sight of the woman who now lay in a motionless heap on the floor in front of the man. He didn’t even have enough decency to move the body. The woman was left there on the ground as the man walked away.

  Oh my god. She’s dead, he killed her and she’s dead. 
The pit in my stomach grew until it felt like it had completely bottomed out. My head was spinning and the nausea was coming back in waves. I sat up and scooted backwards until my back made contact with the cold wall behind me. I have to get out of here. I could be next. That thought alone made me sick to my stomach. 

 I waited a good ten minutes after the man left just to make sure he wasn’t coming back. I was finally able to catch my breath too. Getting to my feet I had to hold onto the wall for support as my legs felt like they would give out any minute.

  From what I could tell there was no one else in the house besides the killer and the dead girl, so this was my chance to escape. I took the stairs one step at a time until I reached the bottom. I want to help the woman that lay on the ground, but I know it’s no use. The woman was dead, her neck was snapped and the man didn’t even blink when he did it. 

 Downstairs was just as beautiful as the upstairs. Under any other circumstances I would love to take a tour of the house but for now all I want is to get the hell out of it. Carefully stepping over the woman’s body on the ground I make my way across the room to what looks like the front door. 

  There were four locks on the door. At this point I’m not even sure if they were meant to keep something out, or keep someone in. Well, I don’t really want to find out.  I undid the locks as quickly and quietly as I possibly could. I turned the handle and when the door came free I nearly cried with happiness. Without looking back I dashed out the front door and to my complete horror it triggered an alarm. 

  My heart felt like a jackhammer pounding against my chest as I ran as fast as I could into the forest that surrounded the house. My lungs burn and my muscles are protesting but I have to keep moving. I know with every part of my body if I were to stop I would be dead. My body finally gave in to the pain and hurled me full force into the ground.

  It didn’t help at all that I made my attempt to escape without finding my shoes first. Although now that I think about it, my shoes probably wouldn’t have done me any good since I can’t run in heels.

 I needed to get up. These woods weren’t safe. I wasn’t safe. Not until I was back in my hotel room with the door bolted long enough to pack my shit and move on to the next town. I screamed at myself mentally to get my ass in gear and start moving but it was no use.

  My body had shut down and put up a proverbial do not disturb sign. I should have worked out more or at least been more active. At one hundred and twenty pounds I was far from out of shape, but I definitely wasn’t active enough to be running for my life.

  “I know you’re out there. It would make things a whole lot easier if you’d just come out instead of playing games little girl.”

 My whole body went stiff. That voice belonged to the man from the house. He was here. He was here and he was going to kill me. I couldn’t run and I’d be a fool to try. My only option was to hide.

  I crawled along the forest floor until I reached a tree that had been knocked over by the last big storm to pass through. The pine needles provided plenty of cover. I wiggled my way in between the branches until I was sure I couldn’t be seen. 

  “Come out come out wherever you are.”

  That was odd. That voice sounded almost exactly like the one from earlier except it was different. Something about it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was almost like the man was two different people.

  Maybe he had multiple personalities. If the personality from earlier was the psycho killer then which personality was looking for me now? It didn’t matter. There was no way I was going out to greet any of his personalities. I just wanted to get the hell out of this town.

  It was quiet. Either this guy moved like a ghost or he left. I wasn't about to climb out of my hiding spot to find out though, for all I knew he was still out there waiting for me. This could be a trap. I hated this, why me? What did I ever do to deserve being kidnapped and hunted?

 The only thing I could hear was the sound of birds singing and the wind blowing. I’m not sure how long I've been laying here but I need to start moving again before he comes back. My whole body hurts. First thing I’m doing when I get to the next town is soaking in a hot bath for hours.

 The white shirt I’m wearing isn't exactly white anymore and my hair smells like a mixture of dirt and pine. I feel filthy and half naked since this shirt only comes half way down my thighs and I’m only wearing panties underneath it.

 "Ouch!" I hissed a curse under my breath as I dragged myself out from between the branches.  I felt the sting left behind from the scrapes on my bare legs and face.

 "Those dirty words would sound a whole lot better if I were making you scream them in my bed."

  I spun around so fast that I managed to lose my balance and fall flat on my ass. I'd be humiliated if I weren’t completely terrified. There he was perched against a tree playing with what looked like a hunting knife. My blood ran cold.

  As sexy as he was perched against the tree trunk with one foot up and slouching like he didn’t have a care in the world, I knew what he was capable of. He was going to kill me. I was going to die half naked in the woods and no one would even care enough to look for my body.

  "If you come near me, I will kill you." Yeah, because threatening the man with a knife was totally a good idea.

 The silence was broken by the sound of laughter. Was he mocking me? Seriously? I don't know why that pissed me off so much but it did. If he thought that I was going down without a fight he had another thing coming.

  "Tristan, leave her alone."

 I nearly jumped out of my skin at the voice behind me and I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was two of him. What the hell. I scrambled to my feet and glanced back and forth between the two of them. Well fuck. My chances of survival were already shit, now they were completely cut in half.

  "We were just having a little fun, isn't that right blueberry.”

  Blueberry? Was he talking to me? I swear if he is making a wise crack about my hair I will find a thick branch and beat him with it. My hair is my baby. I give him the dirtiest glare I can manage then somehow find my voice.

 "Tons! I can’t think of anything better than spooning with a bush that pokes me with a whole lot more than just morning wood!"

 The guy named Tristan busted out laughing, and even his doppelganger cracked a smile. At least my humor was still intact.

 "She's feisty, I like this one Tobias.”

  “Tristan said as he finally sobered up and started walking towards me. I wonder how good his aim is. If I tried to run would I get a knife in my back? Fuck it, it was worth the risk.

I spun away from the two of them and only ended up running into something that felt like a brick wall.

  Before I could even stumble backwards two arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground completely. Tobias had thrown me over his shoulder and began walking in what I assumed was the direction of his house.