Breaking Free

Harper

After Noah left I sat on the couch for a little while longer and tried to get myself together. I was completely thrown off when he told me what else he did for work. I've never had good luck in my life and it seemed like some sort of sick joke that he would want to help me. He told me to take some time to think about it so that's what I was going to do.

When I was sure my legs would hold me I went upstairs to take the bath he'd suggested. I only had the jeans from yesterday, a few tops, some underwear and one other bra with me. I refused to take anything Kaden had paid for, not that I wanted anything that revealing. After grabbing some clothes I went to the bathroom. Across from the door there was a clawfoot bathtub under the window. A shower stall, with dark marble tiling covering the inside and glass see through doors, stood to the right of it. To the left there was a marble counter the same color as the shower with a sink in the center. The toilet was set behind the door. The floors were a solid black tile while the walls were an off white with the border in black. The color of the walls helped the room seem bigger.

I turned the water on as hot as I could stand it and let the tub fill. I got undressed and climbed in while it was still filling. I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I did know I wasn't sure of the next time I'd get the opportunity to relax in such a nice bath so I was going to sit here for a while and try hard to clear my head. I shut the water off and sat staring at the trees in the window, waiting for the water to get cold. I wasn't sure how long I sat there before I decided to shower off and go back downstairs.

I went into the kitchen to make another coffee and decided I would clean up a bit while I was in there. I rinsed out the bottles from last night and put them in the recycling bin. After wiping down the table, counters and the island in the center of the kitchen, I swept the floor and started the dishwasher. I decided while that was running I would take Benny outside for a while. I grabbed my cup and called for him and went out to sit at the table.

His backyard was relaxing. The table sat on the small patio of red stone to the right of the kitchen door. The small pond in the back left was surrounded by larger stones of the same color. A few trees sat in between that and the fire pit to the right in the back of the yard as well. There were four lawn chairs covered in a red and white floral pattern surrounding the fire pit. The whole yard was fenced in by a tan wooden fence.

I sat in the chair watching Benny roam around the yard and thought about what I was going to do next. I haven't gotten very far away from Kaden. You can only get so far on two feet and I didn't have the money to be wasting on transportation. I hadn't made much of a plan when I left. I just knew there was no way in hell I was going to let him sell my body. I can dance on a poll with the best of them but I never took all of my clothes off. Kaden hated it because it made him less money but once he realized I'd rather take the beating than take my clothes off he gave up. If he beat me too much I couldn't dance either.

I knew a few months ago my time there was running out. Walking in on him and Ronan was the biggest mistake of my life. Well besides falling for Kaden to begin with. I had nobody to turn to thanks to growing up in foster care. Kaden had always found a way to keep me from speaking to any friends I had until it had been so long since I'd spoken to anyone that reaching out just didn't seem right. I only had a couple hundred dollars to my name. I had no car. My options were looking very limited. Yet how was I supposed to trust a complete stranger? Noah had been incredibly nice so far, but Kaden was sweet when I met him too. I'd never felt so lost in my life and I was giving myself a headache sitting here thinking so much.

I called for Benny and headed back inside. After filling his water bowl and putting my cup in the sink I went to sit on the couch. I pulled my legs up underneath me, hugged one of the throw pillows to my chest and rested my head against the back of the couch. I had not slept well in a long time and it was starting to catch up to me. I closed my eyes to try to fight off the headache I was getting and before I knew it I was asleep.