"W-why? What did I do?" Her heart began to pound.

'Why on Earth would he want to speak to me?'

"You aren't in trouble. He's just being dumb and won't believe me when I say you're alright." I handed her the phone. "Keep it on speaker, so I can hear it. Be polite and you'll be fine."

She turned on the speakerphone and closed her eyes, "M-master?" I frowned. He doesn't deserve for her to call him that. It's alright though. By this time tomorrow, she would be legally mine.

"Jess, I missed your voice. How are you? I hope my brother hasn't fucked you up too badly. Are you behaving as I told you to?" Tanner was good at sounding sincere, but I knew he didn't really care. I hope she knew that too.

"I'm fine, sir. But I haven't behaved as well as I could have..." she trailed off.

'He's going to be so mad. He's going to kill me. No, he can't kill me, I'm immortalish. So he's going to perpetually torture me. Even better.'

Why was she implicating herself? I hadn't said a word to Tanner about what has happened between us, she didn't need to either.

"Jessica. What did you do?" His sincere voice had turned into a harsh one real quick.

I hit the mute button. "Jess, what are you doing? You don't have to do this. Don't tell him what happened. You've been fine. Trust me, I've seen a lot and I mean a lot worse than you."

She stared up at me with tears in her eyes. "You told me to be honest. Everything I did was of my own accord. I deserve whatever happens to me and you deserved a better human."

Before I could respond she hit the unmute button.

"I tried to run away when we first got here...and again the other day. I also cussed at Finnigan and lied to him, a lot. I'm so sorry." She tried her hardest to suppress her sobs.

'It's all out in the open now. No turning back. I should have behaved better. It's a good thing I didn't belong to Finn. He deserves better than me. Tanner does too. The only good thing about me is my blood.'

My heart sank. That wasn't true. I should have commanded her to be silent. I had done my job too well, she had told them everything.

"Jess, I told you what would happen if you didn't behave." Tanner scolded.

"I don't know what he did to you to correct there, but know that what's coming to you here will be a million times worse. I'll be sure to pound that reckless behavior out when you get back." Jared's voice chimed in. I guess they had us on speakerphone too. How could Tanner sit back and allow another man to talk to Jessica like that? It made me sick.

"I promise I won't do any of it ever again. I'll be good." Jessica's tone of voice had completely flipped. She sounded so broken and disheveled now like she had completely given up on life. She was a whole other person talking to these two.

She set the phone on the bed and had moved away from it. Her bottom lip is sandwiched between her teeth. Those tiny fists of hers clenched until her knuckles whitened. 'You're so pathetic Jess.' The phrase repeated in her head over and over.

"I told you we should have kept her here. She wouldn't dare run away from me. Would you, slut? If you did, you'd find yourself in some deep water tied to some bricks. How does that sound? Maybe you and I can take a swim when you get back. After all, the last one we took went so well."

'No. Not water! Please, please, I'll do anything! I'll be good. I'll be so, so, so good. Please.'

A whimper escaped Jessica's lips. Her entire body was quivering, so hard the bed was shaking with her. A thousand-mile stare had her eyes locked on the bed.

"We will have plenty of time to figure out how we want to correct any bad habits she picked up from Finnigan later. What I called for was to find out why you guys aren't coming back on time." Tanner stated. He didn't even comment on the awful things Jared had said as if they never even happened.

I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want them to know I was listening in, but something had to be said. I grabbed the phone off the bed "We're coming home tomorrow. Fuck off." I said and hung up before anything else could be said.

Jessica hadn't even noticed. She stared blankly at the spot where the phone had sat. I climbed on the bed and sat cross-legged in front of her. "Jess?"

"Yes, sir?" She whispered in a rush. Her voice was still the distressed one she used with them. Tears were still falling from her eyes. She made no effort to wipe them.

I put my hand on her shoulder and she flinched. "Hey. It's alright. It's me. It's Finnigan. Tanner and Jared can't hurt you. I won't let them."

"I'll be better. I promise." She whispered. 'Please don't hurt me.'

I took her shaking hands in mine. "You don't need to be better. You need to be Jess." She remained silent, staring at our hands.

'I'll be good. If I'm good they won't hurt me too much. I can still fix this. I can't go back in the water. I can't, I can't, I can't.'

I fished my phone out of my pocket again and texted Zach. She wasn't going to go back to normal on her own. Jared had triggered some awful memory and she couldn't come back to reality.

Within seconds Zach was in the doorway. "What's wrong? Is she okay?" He had stripped down to his plaid boxers.

I walked over to him, "Did you bring me the shot," I whispered; the last thing I wanted was Jess to freak out more.

"Yep, got it right here. Why do you need to knock her out? I thought she could behave," Zach said louder than he needed to, holding up the syringe.

"Shhhh!" I glanced to the bed, but Jess had gotten off of it and was now sitting on the floor. Her head was down. Why had she moved?

'Why had I gotten on the bed? I know better. Now I'm in trouble. Stupid Jess.'

Damn it. She knew what we were up to. It seemed like she was resorting to using Tanner and Jared's rules now rather than mine as well. This was going downhill fast.

"I need you to show me her past. Then, I need you to fabricate a dream for me." I needed his help to her calm down, even if it meant cheating.

"Do you want me to stick her? Or do you want to do it?"

I sighed. As much as I didn't want to hurt her. I needed to do it. If she ends up angry or upset that this happened I don't want her to have a grudge against Zach. This was all my idea. "I'll do it."

He handed me the syringe and I hid it behind my back. "Jess, honey." I walked towards her and knelt down.

She looked up at me with pleading eyes, "please don't hurt me. I'll do whatever you want. I promise."

'Why did you talk? He didn't ask you to. You're awful.'

"I'm not going to hurt you. I only want to help you." I pushed stray hairs behind her ear. She tilted her head to the side.

 'Let him inject it. Don't ask what it is. Be good.' "I won't struggle. I swear," her voice was barely audible.

"It's only to help you sleep. You aren't in trouble I promise you, hun." I lifted the syringe to her neck. The needle punctured her skin and I pushed the plunger in. She began to blink slower and her breathing slowed. I lifted her in my arms and onto the bed.

"I'm sorry, Tanner," she muttered before completely passing out. 

I rolled my eyes. She thought I was Tanner. Great. That's what I needed.

Zach walked up behind me, "So what are we going fishing for?"

"I want to see everything those two ever did to her. I mean everything. I don't care how long it takes."