Esmerelda the Flower

Chapter 17: Esmerelda

I woke up, my head throbbing painfully as I realized I wasn't in a familiar place.

Shit.

I looked around, I was inside a motel. I could tell because it was a dingy, broken down place. The window was half drawn, showing that it was daytime outside. The tv was on, playing a sitcom and next to my bedside was a cup of water.

I wasn't stupid, I ignored the water cup and quickly got up, regretting it as a sharp pain shot up into my thigh as I had to sit down again, trying to figure out how the hell I would get out of this place.

I started to remember yesterday, dropping food off to Chris, leaving and then getting hit by a car on purpose. Somebody was out to get me.

I looked around for my phone, limping around the motel room, ignoring the excruciating pain in my leg. I somehow found it sitting under a pile of what seemed to be male clothing. I grabbed it to open up my phone which was shut off and call the police when it was gently knocked out of my hand.

"Hello Esme," a disgustingly creepy voice whispered into my ear. I jerked back, loosing my balance as the mystery man caught me, leading me back to the bed saying, "you shouldn't be walking, it's not good for your legs you know."

I finally looked up and saw his face. Nathan. By instinct I delivered a harsh slap to his face. He looked irritated for a moment, rubbing the red mark on his face where I hit him but his fake-friendly demeanor retuned.

"I know you aren't happy," he started, "but you have to understand Esme, we're meant to be together. I love you! I had to go to the extremes to get you because you kept playing hard to get. So honestly, this isn't really my fault. I want us to be happy, we won't be in this motel for long, I've got a job! We can move around a bit, just us two, how does that sound? Huh baby?"

I didn't know whether to be shocked or disgusted. This deranged man actually had the audacity to chase and almost kill a woman who had never shown any type of interest in him! I didn't know what to do. Obviously he wouldn't let me escape, I knew that. So I would just have to pretend. Make him think I believe him. I just had to get my phone and get to Chris.

I looked at him cautiously, "okay. Okay I'll be with you Nathan. But my leg really, really hurts and I need something to help with it, okay?"

He looked at me worried, "oh gosh baby, I'm sorry I only meant to break the car, not hurt you. Here," he said as he dug into his pocket, "I have some painkillers for you."

I looked at the bottle, it was already open. The packaging old and tearing off. There was no way in hell I was taking those.

"Nathan," I said softly, which seemed to work since he looked at me like an obedient dog, "I can't take these. The bottle is old and I don't want to get sick, okay? So could you go get new ones? Please? I love you."

My last sentence must have really sold it because he nodded his head frantically, getting up and grabbing some keys from a hidden spot. "The pharmacy is a couple minutes away, I'll be back" he said as he reached the motel door.

"Oh, and I put cameras in here so I'll be watching you. Please be good baby, don't do something you'll regret," his last sentence was sinister as he locked the motel door from behind.

Fuck!

I didn't know what to do, my legs were killing me. I was kidnapped by a psycho, and he has cameras in the room! The only thing I succeeded in doing was getting him out, so I would just have to think. I looked around again, grabbing a motel brochure showing that the town I was currently in was almost 2 hours away from Chris's penthouse!

"Think Esme, think!" I told myself, on the verge of tears when a the motel door blasted open, kicked down by battering rams as 4 police officers entered the room, shortly followed by Chris as he ran towards me, embracing me tightly.

"Christopher!" I cried out in his embrace, he hugged me carefully, making sure not to add to the pain in my legs.

"Oh gosh Esme," he  cried into my shoulder, "I thought I lost you! I was so worried when you weren't home last night. Baby, I don't think I could live without you. Please don't go missing on me again, I love you."

His last three words played in my head over and over again, he loved me? I was still processing what he was saying when he quickly added, "and you don't have to feel the same way. But I really do love you. I want us to be together forever and I can't believe this jackass tried to ruin it."

I suddenly realized that Christopher was able to find me in the middle of nowhere. We did have each others location, but Nathan shut my phone down completely, disabling it.

"Chris, how did you know I was here?" I asked carefully.

He looked down sheepishly, "don't be mad baby, but...the earrings I gave you were tracking and listening devices."

"What?" I asked, almost jumping up from where I was sitting then remembering I couldn't.

"Christopher why would you do that? That's an invasion of my fucking privacy and you already had my location and you were being super protective already!"

He looked at me gently, rubbing my arms, "I know, I know baby but you can't be mad. I didn't want Nathan to hurt you."

I looked at him questionably,urging him with my eyes to continue explaining, "okay. Well. When you told me what Nathan sent to your house, I was furious. I didn't want him to hurt you since the police department didn't catch him so I..." He suddenly became aware of his surroundings. The police officers were still in the motel, searching the room.

"I'll have to tell you this later baby, but I'm so glad you're safe."

My annoyance went away, realizing that without the tracking device in my earrings, Chris would have never found me as I was grateful.

I realized that Nathan wasn't back yet, and he definitely wouldn't be back if he saw all the police cars outside the motel and inside the room.

"Officers!" I shouted out to get their attention, "I sent Nathan to the store to get me painkillers but I don't think he'll come back if he sees you guys here."

They nodded, one of them answering, "thanks for telling us. Officer Vasquez, Officer Pullman, take a car or two down to the pharmacy. Our suspect may sitll be there or could be coming back.

The two police officers left, soon after an ambulance came outside. I then remembered I was in really bad pain as they wheeled me outside into the ambulance truck. Chris came with me, sitting beside me as he held my hands.

"I love you, Esme. I really do."

I smiled back at him, "I love you too, Chris."

A/N: this is soo much fun to write and I'm surprised I have reads on this 😹