The Orange Blossom's Lullaby

Chapter 9 - Taking What's Not Yours

Chapter 9

You got this, you got this, you got this.

The young woman repeated to herself over and over as a reassuring mantra, hoping to herself that she wasn't overthinking the situation again. Her small crush she'd stared at "sneakily" from over the side of her cubicle quickly snowballed into full-blown infatuation.

The only problem?

She kept overthinking the whole situation.

The miniscule amount of courage she had built up was the only time this feeling had lasted long enough for her to act on it.

It was now or never.

She quickly stood up from her rolling chair and shakily approached her crush. Her knuckles wrapped on the acrylic glass desk divider.

"Kathrine?" The young woman chirped out, a bit too high pitched out of nervousness. She internally beat herself up.

"What's up, Tara?" The chair squealed slightly as she turned around to face the young woman.

"I wanted to know if you-you were free this weekend. I know this really good bar off of 23rd."

Kathrine smiled sweetly and nodded.

"I'd really love to! That sounds like a plan.

*****

I let out one last yelp as Damion finishes crudely cauterizing my wound with his lighter. Sneering, he puts his lighter away as I peer at my seared flesh. God, it smells like shit in here. His warm fingers grip my chin and turn my head to him.

"Alright, I'll wrap your wound up and then I'll get you some water. Sounds good?" He plants a chaste kiss onto my forehead and leaves to grab some bandages. With the pain I'm experiencing, I just want to pass out. I don't even want to look at Kitty, to see her sympathetic face. It would make me cry again, and my face is already tight enough with dried tears.

Damion comes back over with gauze and a sickening smile.

*****

After the last rope around my ankle is untied, I sigh in relief and rotate them, hoping for the feeling in them to come back as he unties my hands. Just as I try to stand though, he grabs me by my shoulders and whispers into my ear.

"Not yet. We still have to finish our show with Kitty before she has her turn." My head cocks to the side slightly as he says this, only to hear a clicking sound from behind him. Before I can even react, he latches a handcuff around my wrist and drags me over to a small metal arch bolted into the wall, around adjacent to my height. He loops the cuff through before latching my other wrist.

I twist and turn, hoping for the cuffs to be cheap enough to break, but it's very wishful thinking. My eyes finally glance over to Kitty, who is trying to inch her way over to us like a worm.

No no no.

Please stop Kitty...

I can't see you hurt.

Damion quickly latches his hands onto the band of my sweatpants, and I struggle a bit.

"Damion, what are you doing," I whimper out, my eyes watering with fear.

"Something I've been wanting to do for a while. Be good. You know the rules." The cool air hits my now bare legs, my sweatpants gone from me, showing my black underwear. My head shakes as I start to struggle and scream, not wanting the inevitable, but I'm stopped as a hand slams down on my abdomen, pressing me into the wall as he starts to remove my underwear.