chapter twelve

tatum thought lydia looked so beautiful. even when knocked out, she was absolutely stunning. in the beginning he was afraid that he was going to regret taking her, but he felt absolutely not an ounce of regret for his actions. lydia was meant to be with him. and now, she always will be.

when tatum had knocked her out she went limp and slumped back into her seat, but he had a problem with this. her neck was at a strange angle, and he knew that if he had kept her like that she would feel immense discomfort in her neck when she awoke. and of course, tatums little couldn't get hurt, huh? naturally, tatum took responsibility for her comfort while she was out. he had placed himself back into the drivers seat, with the rag on hand in case she happened to wake up before arrival. he gently took hold of lydias head and placed it on his lap, so she was more comfortable. but also more importantly, so he could admire her.

tatum admired her so much that he felt like a fan of hers. he was almost obsessed. in fact, he was obsessed. but of course, he wouldn't admit to that. the two sat in the spot that tatum had pulled over on for about ten minutes as he simply took the time that he had to examine and admire her. actually, he would've stayed there forever if he could've. the only thing that was stopping him was the fact that he had a soon-to-be missing girl in his car, and nobody could get the chance to see that.

before finally driving off, tatum took the phone that he had collected from lydia and attempted to open it. of course, he would need a passcode to do this, but he was smart enough to know that he could simply use her thumb to open it. and that is exactly what he did. upon unlocking it, he laid his eyes on the last text's that lydias mother had left her.

hello lidie, i do not expect an immediate answer as i know you are out having fun at the moment. your father and i have had too much to drink, and we are going to be staying at cheryls tonight. i would ask for a ride but i know you are with your friend. text and say goodnight when you can. love you

tatum read the text and glanced at lydia while thinking of a response. he wondered in his mind about what the best excuse would be for all the time that lydia is going to be away. would she be coming back? no. would he make it seem like she was? absolutely. tatum scrolled through all of lydias recent texts and landed upon someone named "💕and decided it was best to use her name as an excuse. from reading the texts they sent one another, he had discovered that lily was a friend that lydia had made at summer camp awhile back. they had also planned surprise sleepovers for days at a time together sometimes, so the potential of a good excuse was there.

okay. i'm sorry i didn't see this until now. i ran into lily at the fair and we made plans to spend some quality time together since it's been so long. is that okay? also goodnight love you xx

absolutely! how are you going to get home if your friend picked you up? is lily going to drive you back? she lives a bit far and an uber would be expensive

tatum paused and thought for a moment.

"fuck" he murmured quietly to himself. he had forgotten about her car completely, which arose a new problem in which he quickly needed to solve.

he couldn't call someone and ask for help, as it looked extremely suspicious to be moving a car to a location more than an hour away with no explanation. obviously he couldn't ask lydia to do it herself as she was unconscious. and even if she was conscious, he knew he wouldn't be able to get her to cooperate enough to move her own vehicle for him, as she didn't even know what his plans were for her.

with a sigh, he decided that he would plan his next few moves after he had arrived at the home with his little.

-

"oh, little. you're so tiny. so precious." he hummed to himself as he carried the girl into his little home. lydia was still knocked out cold, and tatum was struggling as to figure out why. he hadn't given her more chloroform than she was supposed to have, but then again she's tiny. he scoffed under his breath as he unlocked and opened the front door. of course she was supposed to be given less than a normal amount for her age, she's small.

"i'm sorry small," he apologized, receiving no answer from the limp girl in his arms.

tatum shut the door as he walked in, taking in his surroundings. he hadn't been to this home in almost a year, and everything was just the way he left it. clean. he didn't like a dirty house, especially not this house, which meant a lot to him. the house was a smaller home, but very spacious. in its prime time, which was over twenty years ago when his entire family had lived in it, it housed two kids and a set of parents. some of tatums happiest memories were in this house, which is why he refused to let it go.

the master bedroom is where tatum slept when he came to visit the home, which would now house both him and lydia. the two smaller bedrooms were made into guest bedrooms, but one of them was worse than the other. if lydia had decided she wanted to act out, tatum had planned that he had the perfect room for her. his older brothers former room was very dark, had no lights, holes in the wall, and no windows. it was almost like a basement, and because tatums brother had always been very hot headed his parents placed him into that room as it was the worst room in the house.

no one ever step foot into tatums brothers room, as it was almost scary. all of tatums memories with his brother were negative, as he was very violent and reckless. it was almost as if his brother wasn't even apart of the family in their eyes. he just didn't fit in, and no one knew where his angry genes came from. but what tatum did know, was that he learned a lot from his brother.

it was sort of a "monkey see, money do" type of arrangement, and tatum had always wanted to be like his brother. this was normal for siblings, usually the younger sibling thinks that the older sibling is the coolest thing ever and decides to copy everything they do. what was unusual, though, was the violent acts that tatum had picked up from his brother over the years. it was not good.

tatum made his way onto the couch, gently placing his little down before him. slightly picking her head up to sit next to her body, he again placed her head on his lap. he had a lot that he needed to figure out and he knew that, but he felt as though he was meant to never take his eyes off of her. it felt like he could never be close enough to her, and he genuinely wanted to be inside of her skin and apart of her.

the two were never close enough.

he softly ran his thumb across lydias pink lips in admiration. however, she let out a soft whimper and began to stir. his eyes widened, and his emotions saddened as he realized what he had to do to her in order for her to stay knocked out. quickly re-positioning her head and springing up from the couch, he made his way back to the vehicle to retrieve the familiar white cloth. he proceeded to pour a bit more of the drug onto the rag until he felt content with the amount in which he was giving her.

as he made his way back into the house, his eyes were met with nothing less than his littles. she was now sitting upright with her eyes glowing, but she held a confused look on her face. tatum rushed over to the girl, and she began to slowly crawl backwards away from him.

"baby," he began.

"w- where am i tatum?" she asked groggily.

"home." tatum firmly stated.

before she could even respond, he cupped her small face and put the rag to it once again, causing her to fall back asleep.