I Should Have Stayed

Chapter 25

When I finally gained consciousness, I struggled to pry open my eyelids. When I finally accomplished the small goal, I noticed that the room was fairly dark. I moaned a little as my left temple throbbed in pain when I tried to look around. After a few seconds I heard someone behind me speak. It sounded worried.

"Dakota? Are you okay? Oh my god, you've been our for so long I was beginning to worry."

"Huh? Who..." It was Ava. I finally recognized the voice. "How long have I been out for?"

"I don't know. I've been awake for an hour maybe. I'm still not sure, there aren't any windows." As she spoke I felt the restraints on my body. I was hunched over in a chair and my hands were tied behind the chair as well as my ankles being tied to the legs of the chair. I shifted uncomfortably as I analyzed the situation. I tried pulling on the metal cuffs, but nothing seemed to work.

"That's not going to work. I've already tried." Ava said.

"Are you okay? Did Blank hurt you?"

"No, I haven't seen him. I'm fine. I'm in the same tied up situation that you are." She was directly behind me. Blank probably didn't want me to see what he did to her. Just the sounds. He was sick.

We sat there quietly in the faint light. There was only one small light in the ceiling and it went out from time to time. The floor was hard concrete and so were the walls. They were extremely bare. We were the only things in the room. I tried to figure out what room we were in, but I ended up focusing on my tied hands and ankles.

I stopped fighting it when I heard the door squeak open, and out emerged the one person I wasn't looking forward to seeing. Blank. "Ah, looks like you two are awake. How delightful?"

"You're fucking psychotic! What the hell happened to you?"

"Money. That's what happened."

"Huh?" I said in confusion.

"You're probably wondering right now why I betrayed you. Well, I might as well tell you and stop the suspense. Drum roll please!" He started making the drumming noise and then stopped, "Tanner Lane paid me money to betray you and join him. He gave me an offer far better than you ever could." He started laughing manically.

"Really? That's it? That's the only reason you joined him?"

"No. Also because you'd never love me."

I stared at him in confusion, my brow furrowed. "What? I could never love you."

"I know, Dakota. Because you're 'gay'. You abomination. Is this your new lover?" He stepped behind me and I couldn't see what he was doing. I tried turning around but nothing seemed to work.

"Stop squirming you'll only make it worse on yourself. So this is your new lover. Quite a catch I have to admit. What, did you just move on after Lindsey? What happened to her anyway? Why isn't she here?"

"You killed her, you son of a bitch!" I started screaming. I heard footsteps slowly come around and Blank came close to me. He actually looked a little concerned.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did. Your men killed her when they tried to kill me!"

He seemed confused for once and then took a step towards me. "You know, I thought it was Miller that did that."

"It doesn't matter who did it." I answered solemnly.

"Pity." He whispered in my ear. He came around to face me and I spit at him. It landed right beside his mouth and he wiped it off gently on his sleeve and then looked at me fiercely. I felt a hand slap my face and my head fell lopsidedly to the right. I lifted it back up and he was right there in my face.