Chapter Seven

In the presence of so many males, self-consciousness finally caught up to me. I smelled like a dog, my hair contained more oil than a frying pan, and I lost an unhealthy amount of weight.

“Can I take a shower?” I still had on the same dress from the night at the club and it was stained with food, asphalt, and sweat. Perspiration rolled down my forehead to the tip of my nose and down between my cleavage. I had got a quick glimpse of my face in the mirror during bathroom breaks and my pores were nearly visible. I was sure Xander could smell the odor coming from my armpits and my breath. He sat across from me flipping through a GQ magazine. His eyes went from the pages back up to me and back down again.

“We’ve been here for about two weeks and it took you that long to ask for a shower?” His smile was crooked and beautiful, but it faded quickly. “I thought you’d have better hygiene than that. You’re a pretty girl.”

“I thought it would be stupid to ask for a shower when you barely fed me.” He shrugged.

“I can tell you what is stupid,” he said flipping through the pages of the magazine, “Lying.” My eyes lowered to the table ahead. I sat my hands in front of me and starting playing with my fingernails. The silver nail polish was still hanging on two weeks later.

“I’m not an idiot, Xander. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. I’m not going to rat out my dad.”

He sucked his teeth and tossed the magazine on the table.

“You are an idiot. If I had a father who took a normal life away from me, I’d be singing like a damn canary.”

“You don’t understand--”

His voice overpowered mine.

“I am so tired of playing games with you, Valerie.” He stood up. “Now, you will sit in this room. I will let you rot. I will not feed you, I will not give you anything. If you want to pee, there is a corner. If you want food, chew your own damn arm off. All I know is there is a bad man out there,” he pointed to the door, “He is murdering people. He is ruthless. He even lets his own daughter do his work. That man will be stopped with or without your help.” Our eyes were magnets for a good two minutes. There were no words, there was only us. For once in my life, my words were piled into the back of my throat. I could not utter a single word or breathe properly. Tears began to fill my eyes.

I stood up and walked up to him, looking over his face, his gorgeous face. My chained hand rose, and slammed hard against his face. The chain echoed throughout the room. Words still piled in the back of my throat and I could not swallow. Xander’s face was red, but he didn’t move. He only looked at me, his eyes watering. I rose my chained hand again, his grip wrapped around my wrist. My other hand rose but he grabbed it in time and spun me around, causing me to hug myself.

“Let me go!” I finally screamed. The words came out like vomit. I screamed at him over and over. “LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”

I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me. As I screamed at him, he was whispering in my ear.

“Val...Val....Val, please.” His voice was comforting, but I continued to scream until all the energy in my body was drained. My legs buckled and Xander held me close to him.

“Just, let me go.” I whispered. Xander spun me around, grabbing my face and kissed me passionately. I could taste tears on his lips, his face hot against mine. His hands cradled the small of my back pulling me closer into his arms. I wasn’t going to let go, but he pulled away from me. He didn’t look at me. He only turned his back toward me and cupped his forehead.

“Xander...”

He turned around, still avoiding eye contact, grabbed the magazine, and the jacket. When Xander reached the door, he stopped, turned around, and unlocked my the chain from my wrist. “Xander...I---,” He put his hand up.

“You want a shower, go ahead. But, God help me. If you try to leave...if you even think of leaving....” His words trailed off as he shook his head. Xander gave one last look at me as he left the room. “I can’t let you go.”

The door echoed behind him. Though I was unchained, I still was his prisoner.

I had forgot the feeling of hot water on my skin, it massaged my pores and rejuvenated my fiery red hair. I had no idea where we were, but their showers relaxed me like a soft king sized bed. The glass walls of the shower were fogged up so that I couldn’t see outside the bathroom. I knew neither Xander, Nicholas, nor Norman were watching me.

Norman had decided to stay by Nicholas’ side. He didn’t approve of what they were doing to me. He also didn’t like me that much, or so I assumed. Xander had assigned Norman watch duty. While Nicholas and Xander went out to gamble away their money or grab food, I was stuck with the princess. He would pull the chair away from the table all the way to the opposite side of the room and sit with his legs crossed, typing away on his iPhone or reading Cosmopolitan. Occasionally, Norman would giggle and look up at me while rolling his eyes.

“What’s funny?” I’d ask while I stared him down. He would smack his lips and grin.

“You. You look a mess. If you make it out of here alive, maybe I could give you the number to my hairdresser. Those split ends are tacky.” I would smile back at him as he continued to do what it was he did.

“Bitch.” I would say.

“A fabulous one.” He would always respond. Each word we spoke to each other was progression in our relationship.

I came back to reality as I heard a knock on the shower door. I turned the shower off and let my head peak out at Xander.

“This isn’t a five star hotel. Get out.” He had a towel wrapped around his body. His torso sung a lullaby to my eyes. I didn’t move, only stood staring at him. He laughed.

“Enjoy the show?” I looked up at his eyes.

“Hand me the towel.”

He handed me the white towel from off the sink and turned his back. I felt like a pervert looking at each muscle in his back while I wrapped the towel around my bare body.

“You done, Princess?” He turned his head slightly.

“Ye-Yeah.” I floated out the bathroom with such a quickness that Flash couldn’t even compete with, and left him to enjoy his shower. I passed Norman on the way out.

“Don’t let Nicholas see you like that. I might have to kill you, myself.” He smirked while filing his nails into a oval shape. I stopped in front of him.

“Trust me, Nicholas is the last person that I’m worried about.” He shrugged and I left him to finish his nails. Relationships were going to be valuable if I wanted to make it out of here alive.

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! I'm Shannon. Or Shannonigins.

I love doing this story! I'm glad to be able work with so many great authors. I'm not sure what to say in the Author's Note, except that if you like this story, please vote and comment! We love the feedback! Thanks for reading!