The Importance of Being Kept

Chapter 19. Giving Them What The Want

Trying to get out of San Francisco proved a lot harder than Kia thought. No matter what she tried to do EVERYTHING seemed to go wrong. First, the doorman who had never caused her problems before insisted on asking where she was going, which she thought was a little strange. The man usually spoke hello to her or nodded and smile, but tonight he seemed to be in a panic, especially when she gave him a dirty look and ignored him.

Secondly, trying to get a cab seemed to be downright impossible, which was again strange since they were usually lined across the street at a luxury hotel. Tonight, they weren't...not one cab was to be found. She tried calling every cab company she knew but for some reason her phone was not getting through to them. It was as if their service had been interrupted or disconnected.

Third, she tried to catch the public transportation, the trolley and the bus. The damn streetcars wouldn't stop at her corner. They kept going as if they didn't see her and the crowd of other people waiting for them. She walked down another block and finally managed to get on the bus. It got her half a block before it stopped, the driver's excuse was that it was having issues and the passengers had to find another way or wait an hour for the next bus.

An hour?! She didn't have that long!

This was absolutely ridiculous. She couldn't get even two blocks away from her apartment before something went wrong. In the back of her mind, she kept thinking that the twins had something to do with this, but that was impossible wasn't it? In order for them to stop her, they would have to have control of the entire city and they couldn't be that powerful....could they?

She got off the bus and stood on the sidewalk, not knowing what to do. She didn't have her car, there was no way she could get it since it was still at her parents' house. They'd want to know what she was up to so late at night. Kaylee didn't have a car. Her brother did, but then she'd have to tell him where she was going. She was stuck...the bus station was too far to walk to with her luggage and she had to walk through a bad neighborhood to get there. She wasn't that desperate or stupid.

"I cannot believe this," she whispered to herself out of shock. Did the twins have something to do with this?

Her cellphone began to ring. She frowned. No one knew about this phone. It was a damn prepaid phone she carried in case she lost her regular cell. She stared at the private number, but curiosity got the best of her and she answered it anyway.

"Are you finished?" Bryan's voice was on the line. "Or do you think you can find another means of escape without us knowing?"

"We insist you return home immediately before we come get you. You are seriously pissing us off, Kia," Darren told her.

"How did you? What the fuck?!" Kia suddenly let out a furious scream and threw the phone on the sidewalk, watching it shatter into pieces. She stood there shaking in anger and shock. These guys...they had control of the entire city. She thought all that big talk about how powerful they were was just talk, something to boost their egos, but she realized right here, right now, exactly what she was dealing with.

Savages, they had called themselves. She now believed them.

However, they had no clue who they were messing with, the type of person she could truly be. Did they think this would scare her? Make her submit to them? So they had won this round. They'd kept her right where they wanted, trapped inside the city. But they weren't the only ones who could turn things around...perhaps it was time to start giving them what they wanted.

They were waiting for her when she walked the two blocks back home. They were in her living room standing in front of the door like two hard statues with angry expressions on their faces.