Red Tiles

chapter 11

  Jinx looked annoyed by my sudden outburst, yet seemingly satisfied by my sudden realization. She got undressed, completely naked, revealing her dark, attractive, curvy figure, and crawled over me, sitting on my waist. I let out a small squeak as her heavy, yet slim frame lowered onto me, crushing my pelvis in the process.

"Get off," I begged, quietly. "Please!" I turned my face the other way, keeping my eyes shut. She grabbed my face with a gentle yet firm grip and pulled my face up so I was looking straight up at her.

"Open your eyes." She ordered, clearly not in the mood for my disobedience. I jerked my face away.

"No!" She held my face still, tightening her grip a bit, and leaned in closer.

"Jasper Kyle, I said open them. Right now." She demanded through gritted teeth. I wouldn't. I refused to give her the satisfaction of my submission.

Slowly and silently, she slid off my waist and opened the nightstand drawer, taking something out. I couldn't see it. She got back in her place sitting on my waist, and slowly unwrapped a shiny object from the cloth wrapped around it. It revealed a small, felt, drawstring bag, maybe the size of the palm of her hand, and a small pocket knife. It had an old English "J" carved into it. I wondered if it stood for Jinx, but that was the least of my worries right now.

"Ok, so, let's get one thing straight here, Doctor." She snarled, quite obviously irritated. "You don't get to say "no" here, you do as you're told. I'm going to let you off with a warning and just a little reminder of who's in charge here." She held the blade in front of my face so I could get a good view. I noted the little nick in the blade, near the pointed end.

"Now, here's the thing, Jay Jay. I've been watching you for a little while now. I know you aren't the most fun, risky person. That's why I like you so much. You're not afraid to be yourself. And I've always wanted to see a good girl turn bad." She ran her finger over the smooth part of the knife, admiring the shiny metal. Then she looked down at me again, her eyes cold and dark.

"I'm not your average cop, Doc. I'm a dirty cop," she whispered, a smirk forming on her face. I could practically smell the lustrous aroma secreting from her pores, which forced my body to tense up. How could I possibly get turned on by this? How could anybody?

She placed the blade right up against my left clavicle and dragged it down my chest, hardly applying any pressure, all the way down to my small, pale breast. The line was slanted. She drew another line from my right clavicle, vertical to the first. My eyes were squeezed shut tighter than what I thought was possible, and I was biting down on my tongue so hard that I could taste the salty, metallic blood slowly seeping out of each little puncture. Then she stopped.

"This is your first warning. Trust me, you don't want another." She laughed deviously. Then, with her left index finger, she lightly traced over the flat part of her knife, collecting the blood on her finger, and put it in her mouth, slowly licking my blood off.

I winced as the cool air hit my exposed wound, causing the large X to sting. She got up and disappeared into a little room, which was a bathroom, and came back with a small, damp towel. She got back into her place on my waist and gently dabbed each protruding part of the X with the cloth, soothing the pain. I was confused.

"W-what are you doing?" I stuttered. She smirked.

"Because, my darling, you need to learn." I was still confused.

"Learn what? I know everything I need to know. Like how to tell when someone's bluffing, or they feel guilty for an action and try to make it better, if not fix it. And about how to tell when someone's lying about being a cop," I said coldly, trying to act tougher than I was. She laughed aloud a bit.

"You're a smart girl, JayJay. But you still have much to learn. You have yet to learn that I'm in charge, and if you don't follow the rules, you'll never be rewarded with the satisfaction of freedom." My eyes widened. Rules? What rules? Freedom? She'll let me go?

"You see, you have two wrists," she began to explain.

"On each one, you will get a total of 3 X's. Each X marks one strike for not listening. The chest X is just a warning. If you bleed from shallow cuts there, it won't bleed for long, so you're going to be fine. But your wrists, well, you know as well as I do that if I cut you deep enough, you'll be dead in minutes. Maybe even seconds." I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This crazy bitch wants to kill me!!

"Ok, ok, what do I have to do?" I said, giving in. I had to live. I just had to. I have a job to do, a case to solve. If I don't survive, nobody will know what happened to Chance. I have to get out of here alive. I won't go down without a fight. She smirked.

"Well, just play along with me if you wanna live. If, after 24 hours, you have less than three X's, you're free to go. But, here's the twist. If you have none after the first 24 hours, I'll let you go, and, I'll even turn myself in to the police for immitating an FBI agent, the murder of the agent in West Virginia who I stole the badge from, and for the murder of your friend. But, if you have more than three," she got close to my face. I could feel her breath against my cheek as she gently stroked my cheek with her index finger.

She spoke softly.

"You'll be mine forever."