*sniff* Maggie lifted a shoulder and bent her head down towards it, trying to dry her runny nose and the salty streak of a tear that was beginning to dry and sting her cheek.
She didn't take her anxious eyes off of Tony who was sitting rather ostensibly in the large armchair on the opposite of the room. Her reading chair. She had sat in it only last night, curled up in a blanket with her meditation book and a vanilla candle burning on the desk overlooking the evergreen grass.
Maggie pressed her lips together as another shudder of nervousness went through her and her clammy hands intertwined as best as they could despite the rope he had forcefully slung around her delicate wrists.
She had tried everything. Expressing her fear did nothing, it only made him sterner and snappier. He didn't look at her when she cried silently in the office chair that he had rolled right into the middle of the living room.
Charming him had worked, yes. For a moment there the thought she had wrapped him around her finger. Saw his man brain kick in as she used her feminine charm to make him like her.
Which he did.
But not enough to convince him to let her off.
He liked her.
She was beautiful, witty and despite her precarious situation, tremendously feisty.
It hurt him when after all her attempts or charming him and smartmouthing she realized he couldn't give into her and she resorted to begging.
It wouldn't work. No matter how sorry he felt for her and no matter how much those teary eyes tug at his heartstrings.
He had a job to complete. He was a man or his word.
"Tony" she cleared her throat. " could you give me a cigarette?"
"No" he avoided eye contact. "It's not good for you. Smells like garbage"
"I don't CARE if its good for me or not, you're gonna fucking kill me, the least you could do is give me a cigarette!" She got really into it, masking her fear with exasperation.
"I said no. Keep your mouth shut"
It hurt him to say that. But for his own interest, he wanted to hear nothing more of this woman. He didn't need to be reminded of her anxiously sitting there, waiting for the phone to ring twice.
"I need to pee" she sighed. "Please?" She added and he looked at her. She tried to play bratty.
"Fucking dammit" he got up, walked over to her, his eyes on the floor, hers desperately following him. When he reached her, he couldn't ignore the shaky hands she held in front of her chest defensively.
He slightly touched her arm. She winced. "Please, I'm not gonna hurt you"
"You're gonna kill me, Id say that counts as hurting me" Maggie shook her arms to get his hand off of her and fell silent as he rolled her into the hallway.
"To the right" she just mumbled and he came to a halt in front of the bathroom door.
"Don't try anything. Im right here and I wont be fucking nice anymore if you try to run off. Got it?" He spun her chair around and put one hand under her chin, the other on the gun that was fastened around his belt.
"Mhm" she mumbled and nodded her head in his hand.
"Good" he let her go, gently and if she had been less anxious she would've noticed the slight stroke of his fingers on her jawline.
"They hurt me too" she said in a hushed tone while he unfastened the ties around her wrists and torso.
He didn't answer.
He focused on the task, opening the knots in the rope and unwrapping it from her trembling stomach and wrists.
His heart ached.
"Now go, do your damn business" he scoffed and held the rolling chair as she got up, stroking her wrists.
After a short debate about wether or not she was allowed to leave the bathroom door open or not, which he finally let her close, she emerged from the bathroom again and voluntarily sat back down in the office chair.
