Held For Ransom

t h r e e

I don't know what time it is or how long we've been driving when my stomach starts to growl. I feel hunger pains and start to become restless.

"What was that?" Landon exclaims, breaking the silence as my stomach growls again.

"My stomach. I'm absolutely starving." I complain. I can practically hear Landon roll his eyes.

"Oh please, you wouldn't know starving if it slapped you in the face." He retorts and I lean away from his voice.

"We'll be stopping in a minute. Anything particular you'd like?" Boss chirps from the front.

"Seriously? We have food right here." Landon says.

"Do you want to eat old, bruised fruit and warm Pepsi?" Boss snaps. There's silence, followed by "that's what I thought."

"You know she wouldn't be so hungry if you just let me slip her another-"

"Landon I swear to god I will trade you in," I hold in a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm done." The car slows down and we turn a corner.

"You can take off your blindfold now." Boss says. I remove it and look around.

Outside is dark, partially because of the tinted windows, partially because it's getting late. We seem to be stopped at a small convenience store. Beside me Landon is fuming silently and Boss is in the front shuffling through his wallet.

"Okay, so I'm going to go in and get a few snacks, you two can stay in here and I don't want any funny business. Landon be nice and keep an eye on her, that's all I ask." With that Boss leaves and goes inside the small store.

I try to be sneaky, and while Landon is looking away I push gently on the handle.

"Don't bother, it's locked." Landon drawls, not even glancing at me.

"How did you-"

"Because I'm not an idiot." I wrinkle my nose and stare out the window.

"I beg to differ," I mutter under my breath.

"Okay, you know what princess? I've had enough of your attitude. Boss isn't here to save you anymore either. It's just you and me." I look at him and see he's got the duct tape in his hands and an evil grin on his face. If he wasn't so mean and scary he'd be attractive.

"You kidnapped me, remember? It's not like I want to be here." I snap. He rolls his eyes.

"Trust me, if I could return you I would." He retorts, spinning the roll around his wrist.

"You can! You can let me go right now, no one would have to know." He scoffs at the idea.

"Princess, if I let you go, I get no money, Boss gets angry and I'll be out of my job." He responds, ticking each point off on his fingers.

"Stop calling me princess. My name is Haley-"

"Haley Coopers. I know exactly who you are," he interrupts, practically spitting my name through his teeth. "And you, Haley, are a princess." I bite the inside of my cheek and look back out the window.

"I can't believe I kissed you." I grumble.

"Oh shut up, I'm a great kisser. And I'm incredibly hot."

I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, hot-headed."

"Okay, that's it." I hear a piece of tape being ripped off and turn.

"What the-" Landon is suddenly on top of me, trying to tape my mouth. I unbuckle my seatbelt, shrinking down to move away.

"Get off of me!" I yell as I scramble to move as far from him as possible. He ignores me and captures both my wrists in one hand.