Scandalous Love

21. | Riley

I was outside the den they kept James locked inside of all night. My back leant against the wood of the door and my head rested in my arms which I had folded over the top of my knees.

I hadn't slept at all. I tried to but I only just managed to get a wink of sleep.

I knew James was finding it hard to settle from where he was locked up in too because every time I jolted up, it was due to the noise he was making inside the den, shuffling restlessly.

The next morning, I woke up extra early just in time for Uncle Jenson to retreat back down to the basement with Blake by his side, carrying a set of keys in their hands.

As soon as I heard their chatter coming from the circular staircase in the furthest corner, I instantly stood myself up onto my feet and brushed my hands over my night gown to make it look like I hadn't been sat here all night.

"Riley, what are you doing down here?" my mother's brother begins to ask but I quickly shake my head and cut him off, disregarding his question.

"I'm not leaving until you let him out of there. He did nothing wrong and you arrested him for no reason," I state, rushing my words.

I watch as Blake unlocks the padlock, beginning to open the door and I keep my eyes peeled on the room ahead, waiting to see what sort of state they had thrown James in.

The conditions down here had never been good. Everyone who was forced to come down here was always hurt in some sort of way and it was the one thing I had been praying against James. I don't want or need him to be going through any of this just because of me...

"It's a twenty-four hour agreement, Riley," Jenson says, looking me straight in the eye as Blake attends to James. "The only person you can ask to change that is your father."

He places his hand on my shoulder and rubs it lightly before walking inside the room too. I knew why he had done that. He agreed with Mum as much as I did. Mum never wanted this for the towns and neither do Jenson and I.

The only person who has the power to change the way things work around here is Dad though. Unless I talk to him but I doubt he would ever listen to me. Even if he did listen, it's not like he would obey.

Emily's going to be the one making the rules around here soon enough. All Dad wants me to focus on is finding the perfect guy for me. But it seems that just when I think I've done that, he's the one who gets punished for it instead of me.

I bite my lip and turn around, allowing my pupils to meet mine and James's fate when I find him sat on the dirty ground with his arms behind his back, his wrists tied together by the two handcuffs.

His ankles had been tied together, holding him against the wall and the second I lay eyes on him, I could see just how drained he was. I could see the amount of colour which had been sieved from his face and the way his head hung was enough to scare me.

"James," I whisper, feeling a crack in my heart form the second I see him.

I step forwards, ready to hurry over to him but I'm stopped by Blake putting his arm out towards me, his knuckles in front of my chest, stopping me from stepping any closer.

"No kids allowed in this room," he huffs, making Uncle Jenson rotate his head as well to look at me with concern.

"I'm not a kid," I say through gritted teeth. "I'm almost eighteen. Let me see him."

My hands form fists before I even had the chance to realise it and I look past both men to try and grasp James's attention but he was hardly looking at me. They had completely drained him and I could see the red imprints forming on his arms and legs.

"Please," I whisper.

"Riley," my uncle warns, looking at me. "You know you aren't allowed in here. How do you even know this boy anyway?"

I look down, biting my lip again and dropping my confident facade as I cross my arms over my chest. "Cotillion," I mumble. I wasn't necessarily lying.

"How? He's from South Side," Blake responds, raising an eyebrow at me as if it was even him I was talking to.

"No," I mutter. "He's from North Side. I don't know what he was doing on South Side but he was doing Cotillion with me. He still is. Just let him do Cotillion for the next two days and then we can discuss from there. But for the next forty-eight hours I say you release him."

"Riley-" my uncle tries to interrupt again.

I raise my head, looking straight at him and sending him a harsh glare.

If there was one thing I got from my father, it was the ability to get those below you to do as you say with just one strict look. It just took a little bit of confidence. Fake it till you make it.

"Forty-eight hours, Uncle Jenson," I say to him. "But please, let me talk to him." I give them both a harsh look and it falls silent as they contemplate it.

Blake was definitely the most stubborn out of the two because he remained stood by James's feet, hovering just above him.

Uncle Jenson, however, was a lot softer. He had a soft spot for me. He missed Mum as much as I did and considering he didn't have any kids of his own, Em and I were basically like daughters to him.

"Come on," he eventually gives in, nudging Blake in the arm. "We can check CCTV for now and take it from there."

Blake scowls at me, showing his hatred towards me but it was something I mirrored back.

Within a short couple seconds, the two were making their way back up the circular staircase in their uniform and the second they're gone, I immediately run over to James before flinging my arms around him, holding him close and crying into the crook of his neck.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. I brush his baby hairs and bring my lips to the skin of his cheek, bringing the smallest bit of warmth up to him. "I'm so sorry, James."

My hands draw down to his hands which I hold in my palms, tracing over the shapes that made up his prints.

He looks at me softly, swallowing before he shakes his head.

"Wait here," I whisper. I drop his hands gently to place down on his lap and then I stand up on my feet before making my way over to the cupboard in the furthest corner to the right.

The keys for the drawer were under the mat on the floor which I use to unlock it before I grab the next set of keys to undo the handcuffs on James's wrists.

As soon as that's done, I unlock the ones on his ankles and then I drop the keys in the ground. The second I do so, I pull him into me and I curl up by his side, lowering my head by his chest as I held his hands in mine, warming him up as best as I could.

"I'll stick up for you, I promise. I won't let them hurt you again," I mumble.

As I settle in his arms, I feel his touch as he slowly brings his hands down to stroke my hair, holding me against his chest. He intertwines our fingers together and lowers his lips to press against the top of my head.

"I'm sorry, Ri," he breathes out, making me cling onto him more tightly. "For going off on you like that."

"You don't have to be sorry," I tell him in response, bringing his hand up to my lips to kiss it lightly.

I just needed him to be okay...