This Can't Be Real

Chapter 30

My head hurts. There's a pounding pain in the left side of it and I can't help but groan in discomfort. I want to raise at least on of my hands to the area but I can't.

I think my hands may be bound together. I don't know for sure and I won't know until I open my eyes.

"Leigh."

My head rolls back and hits against something hard. It's rough surface has my head bowing forward and groaning again.

"Leigh."

I groan as my eyes open slowly and try to accommodate my new surroundings. Everything's dark and I can faintly make out the wooden beams above me, the wooden pillars, and the wooden walls surrounding me. It smells of dampness and it's cold; so cold to the point where it's giving me goosebumps.

"Leigh."

I narrow my eyes and look off to the left in the darkness. There's a dark figure sitting against a pillar, slouched down to a point where they're almost laying on the dusty concrete floor.

"Leigh, listen to me."

I cough and try to sit up straighter against the pillar I'm at but I don't go far. My hands are well and truly bound together and I can feel the pain in my shoulders begin to generate as I move.

"Leigh . . ."

"Jess?" I groan after another cough.

"Yeah," she murmurs.

"We've-"

"Leigh, shut up and listen to me."

"Where-"

"I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you and Joe when you said Thom was bad one. I'm so sorry for my behavior towards you both, I didn't . . . I didn't want to believe it. You know me, I don't have that much luck with men. I never have."

"Jess, you're rambling."

"I know and I'm sorry." She coughs violently and shuffles around, her dark silhouette moving to sit up so she's leaning against the pillar she's attached to. "You have to listen to me, though."

"Jess, I told you Thom was a bad one," I butt in and tell her. I don't think I have it in me to start an argument with her over the guy that's put us both in here.

"Leigh, you're going to have to shut up if I'm going to tell you what I'm about to tell you."

I smile briefly and nod. "Alright. Go for it."

"Thom's not who he says he is," she reveals breathlessly as she shuffles about again.

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"That day we met you and Joe in the car park, we went for a drive later that night. Thom got a flat tyre and I was putting everything back in the boot when I got hit over the head."

"He told me someone came out of nowhere and hit you both over the back of the head," I point out.

"No one came out of anywhere. It was only us two on a country road that stretched for miles. The closest thing to civilization was a thirty minute drive away from where we were."

"Do you remember where-"

"I don't have a clue as to where we are other than it's barn that he's had converted and has been doing so for the past six years."

"That's weird, Jess."

"I know but it gets weirder. He kept my tied up in here for God knows how long before he finally came to see me. He kept saying that I should have listened to your words and stayed away from him. He kept going on about five years ago and how you knocking Thom back when he tried it on with you was a step too far."

"So he refers to himself in the third person, what else is there that points to him being a creep other than that and everything else he did and does?"

"You don't get it, Leigh." She sighs.

"Then help me get it before I start screaming bloody murder."

"He has a brother, Leigh. Or had a brother, I can't remember exactly what it was he said to me. I was too angry to ask any other question other than why he decided to kidnap me."

"So there's a brother involved in this, too?" I'm trying to piece together all the information Jess has given me already, but it's not adding up.

"Not exactly," she mutters. "He's not in the picture that way."

"Then what-"

"Finally!" Thoms's loud voice echos throughout the quiet barn. Faint lights come on, causing me to blink a few times as I try to see where I am exactly. "You're awake."

Clearly, dumbass. "What-"

"Hasn't you're little friend explained it all to you yet?" Thom happily asks, coming into view from my left side. He's dressed in a worn-out faded blue print top and scattered ripped blue jeans. His worn Timberland boots walk heavily on the floor as he comes to my side and crouches down next to me.

"That you're a creep? Yeah, she didn't need to tell me that one. I worked it out all on my own, surprisingly." I answer sarcastically.

"That mouth of yours is what got you into trouble years ago and ended up with you almost getting raped."

"Yeah, which you're to blame for!"

"Oh," he starts, getting to his feet, "guilty as charm."

"And yet you don't have any remorse for it. You must get a kick out of hurting others if it means you get pleasure from it."

"And that must be why my brother came onto you inside that nightclub five years ago. You've got a sassiness about you which is clear to see why you got together with a footballer."

"Leave Joe out of this," I hiss.

"And that's exactly what you did before you got into my car earlier. You lied to him so you could try to rescue your dear best friend over there. Shame it never worked out."

"Leigh, what the hell?" Jess shouts.

I look over at her and shrug. Her hair is a mess and looks like it could be doing with a wash. There's both dirt and blood on her face and over her clothes from what I can see. Her make-up's a mess, her mascara leaving dark marks round her eyes like she has panda eyes. She's almost hugging the pillar she's attached to and my head rolls back against the pillar I'm at.

"He was convincing. He told me the story about the drive and the flat tyre. He said he escaped and that we needed to help you. I thought of nothing but trying to get you back so it would stop your parents from hurting so much at thought of never seeing their only daughter again. They've classed you as officially missing, so I had to do something."

"It was all a lie, Leigh! He's not who he says he is and you fell for it! Dear God, how are we supposed to escape now?"

"Don't start on me! You were the one who was dating him and chose him over me! I've known you for much longer than you've known him and you still picked him over me!"

"You had Joe! I wanted to be happy like you!"

"And look where you're happiness with the bad boy has gotten us!"

"LADIES!!!" Thom shouts over our raised voices. I scowl as I turn my attention back to him. "I think I know how we can resolve this little dispute."

He walks away and I share a glance with Jess that's full of disgust and anger. I don't care if the words I exchange with her right now are taken as mean and nasty but it's how I feel. Some are the truth, some are exaggerated. It doesn't matter which are which, only the fact that they've been said and that everything each of us has kept bottled up inside for a while is now coming out and being laid out on a table.

Minutes pass before Thom returns. His walking is slow and it sounds like he's encouraging someone or something to walk. The scuffled footsteps are nothing compared to Thom's and they have Jess nodding to the direction they're coming from.

"Told you," she mouths to me before I turn my attention to the footsteps.

She told me what, exactly?

"Ladies, or just Leigh because Jess, you've sorta met him." Thom starts. "This is my brother . . . Thom Swanson."