Aphrodite

CHAPTER 1

2 days later

Day 1 I woke up lying on a damp cement floor.I sat up and immediately wished I hadn't when my head ignited into throbbing, pressurized chaos. The room spun, and my vision blurred for the first few minutes as I tried to piece together what happened.Then everything came flooding back like a tsunami. The bar. Logan getting ready to sing with his band. Kat telling me how gorgeous I looked.Going to the washroom and hurrying, because I didn't want to miss Loganon stage for a single second.Then an arm hooked around my waist just as I placed my palm on thebathroom door. A sweet-smelling rag was shoved over my nose and mouth.Then nothing.Oh, God.Fear catapulted into me. It was like being zipped up tight in a sleeping bag with no escape. I was suffocating, couldn't breathe. 

I felt pins and needles in my limbs as the fear became the stepping stone to a full-out panic attack. Shivers racked my body, and I started hyperventilating. Tears streamed down my cheeks then dripped onto my collar bone and slid in to the material of my dress.My dress. The one I picked out for Logan, agonised about for hours at the store with Kat. I wanted to look beautiful for him, and me looking beautiful was a hard task considering I never felt beautiful. It was something I lived with and accepted after years of hearing my mother tell me I was ugly.But with Logan ... Even if I wasn't pretty, he made me feel that way. He made me feel protected and cared for, and it was because I trusted him. 

He knew what I needed even if I didn't. There was this natural desire to give up my control to him, not so he could use it against me. No, it was so he could give me what I needed. And what I needed right now was Logan.Rolling over I crawled to my knees, and my stomach objected to the movement. I slapped my hand over my mouth and made it to the corner of the room where I vomited the two beers I'd had at the bar then dry-heaved several times until my sides cramped.When I finally stopped, I breathed in the smell of stale urine, and my stomach reeled again, and I gagged. I put my head down, taking several deep breaths through my mouth while I leaned my hands against the wall for support.

I knew I was in a basement, and it was dark outside. I could see a single beam of moonlight streaming in from a small window high up on the far wall. The damp cellar was small and completely empty except for a wooden staircase that had a railing that looked like it would crumble the moment you put your hand on it. The walls were greenish tinged on the bottom half as if the basement had at one time been flooded.Something crawled across the back of my hand, and I stumbled backward shrieking. My spine hit the opposite wall, and I squelched, turning, wrapping my arms around myself as I backed into the middle of the room. What was happening? Why was I here? Where was Kat? Was she somewhere here too?I ran up the stairs and started yanking on the door. When it wouldn't budge, I pounded on it and screamed then threw my body against it until every part of me was bruised.My white chiffon dress I'd bought especially for watching Logan perform was covered in brown smudges. Two snags ripped the lace right off the front, leaving the silk material beneath exposed. My arms were sore and tender, and my legs had several bruises on them, and I was bleeding from a small cut just above my right knee.I had no idea who had taken me or why, but everything inside me was screaming to get out.

I staggered back down the stairs, and then, on my hands and knees, began searching the floor for anything to help me escape. I prayed that my purse had been thrown down here with me. Even though I knew who ever was doing this to me wouldn't be stupid enough to leave my purse with my cell phone in it. But panic surpassed sensibility, and I searched every inch of the floor, my hands sweeping the damp cement, occasionally hearing something scurry away from my movements.I tried to keep my sanity, but the terror was like a red flag on the beach warning you to not go swimming because of the strong undertow. I was in the undertow, and I couldn't get out, and it kept pulling me further out to sea.I was crying full-out now, my chest heaving with each ragged breath.No. Please no. Logan. He'd find me, wouldn't he? He was looking for me right now. The police ... Did they call the police? Would they look for me?How long had I been gone? God, I didn't even know what day it was or how long I'd been passed out.Finding nothing on the floor, I bolted up the stairs and started pounding on the door again.