Tortured - Jaele

|| Chapter Thirteen ||

Jace -

"Rise and shine angel face,"

I splashed bits of cold water onto Riele's face from a bottle in the fridge. She moaned and her head rocked from side to side in groggy denial. I shook her shoulders a little more and tried to make her sit up.

"Come on, get up."

Her eyes fluttered open as I held her in my arms. She squinted at me, yawned, and then found the strength to make a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. She must be feeling better.

"You need a shower, try to wake up. I don't know what the hell you were thinking but you could have died in your fucking sleep."

I said, helping her to stand up on her feet.

"Best decision of my life. Get away from me, I can do it myself."

Her voice warbled between a rasp and a sleepy grumble. It was kind of hot and demanding but I didn't let go of her hand or her waist, and led her carefully out of the guestroom to the bathroom down the hall. I could understand her not wanting to use my shower since it didn't preferably have the memories she wanted to remember.

"I said I can do it by myself!"

Riele gave me a forceful shove out of the bathroom as she pulled her shirt over her head and hid behind a towel.

"Fine. Just hurry up you have 10 minutes."

I let her walk it off and closed the door to the bathroom, rolling my eyes. In my bedroom I yanked a suitcase from the closet and threw a bunch of clothes into it. Last night I got a tip from one of Xander's secretaries saying he had decided to flee the scene somewhere off the coast of South America. I didn't know exactly where yet, but answers were coming around. Today I needed to go to the office so I had no choice but to take my little brat with me.

"Hurry up!"

I knocked on the door repeatedly outside of the bathroom. The shower wasn't on and it was completely silent in there. Waves of anxiety rushed through my abdomen.

"Riele?"

"Go away!"

She replied.

"I'm coming in..."

No answer. I turned the knob of the door and opened it. She was leaning over the side of the bathtub with one arm lazily thrown over her face. She had only managed to take her shirt off so far.

 "Get... Out..."

She said weakly, her head lolling to one side. She was completely fucking stoned.

"God,"

I grabbed her under her arms and held her up, turning the shower on with one hand I undressed her with my other. I peeled her shorts off and hesitated when I came to her underwear.

"Get off of me... Go away, I can do it."

She muttered, her eyes half closed. She clearly didn't understand what was going on. I was stuck in a hard place. I helped her into the shower and leaned her in the direction of the wall for support. My fingers popped the claps of her bra opened and I tossed it into the pile of clothes collecting on the floor. Then I pulled her underwear off and turned my head away as her skin was grazed by the steaming water. Walking out of the bathroom I made sure there was a towel ready for her when she got out. I left and closed the door of the bathroom and sighed, leaning against it. That might have been the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

---

I let an hour pass before I checked on Riele again. When I knocked on the door she responded aptly.

"I'm getting dressed!"

"We should have been gone by now, hurry it up."

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder!"

She growled and mumbled on the other side of the door. I grinned at the ceiling and licked my lower lip.

"You wanna come out here and say that to my face?"

The door opened, spilling a thin mist of steam. Riele didn't expect me to be standing right there and she bumped into my chest.

"I didn't say anything."

She looked up into my eyes and froze.

"Yes, I think you did."

I nodded, studying her from the tips of her toes to the top of her damp curly hair. She held her clothes in front of her like a shield and shook her head.

"I didn't. Aren't we in a hurry?"

She said, her left leg was moving restlessly beneath her.

"As a matter of fact we are and we should have left a long time ago."

I turned away from her shoved my hand into my left pocket for my keys.She followed me to the front door and at the back of my mind I was thinking about what a relief It was to see her with her eyes wide open, and her mouth full of a sass I'd grown accustomed to.

"Where are we going?"

"My office."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Can't I stay here?"

She whined.

"No, you can't now shut the hell up and get moving."

I held the door open for her and she stomped past me into the hall with her chin raised. I rolled my eyes and locked the door, following her to one of the elevators. The halls were usually quiet but this time I heard the gentle hum of a walkie talkie radio, and heavy footsteps that seemed to be approaching the corner of the hall. My ears turned sharp as I listened closely.

"Ughhh..."

Riele groaned, rolling her neck from side to side, complaining of an ache in her back.

"Shut up."

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