Page 41 of Left In The Dark

“What are you doing?” Blake demands, voice shaking.

“Go wait in the car if you don’t want to see. This will only take me five minutes.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

Why is Blake fighting so hard for me after showing up here with him? He planned this all out to get me in a weak position, didn’t he? Obviously he was playing me this whole time to get me exactly where I am, and I took the bait. He won’t have this chance again so I hope he fucking enjoys it while it lasts.

“No, but I want to.” Hayden laughs and it’s wicked. He pulls my clothes free from my ankles and drags me until he’s sitting me up against what feels like the bark of a tree. My eyes are covered by some thin material and the next thing I hear are his footsteps trailing away, followed by the screeching sound of tires.

I try to break free of the rope, kicking my feet forward, but I stay trapped until someone finally drives by hours later. They free me, asking me if I’m okay, and as they start to dial the cops, I shake my head.

“I’m fine. You can go now.”

“You sure?” The heavyset man looks down on me, offering me his hand, but I brush it away.

“Yeah. Thank you for your help. I can handle it from here.”

“As long as you’re sure.” His brows bunch together.

“I am,” I say louder. “I promise. You happen to see my pants anywhere?

He looks around, shaking his head. “No, sorry. I haven’t. Look, I really don’t feel right leaving you here. Can I at least call someone? A friend or family member?”

I stare longer into his eyes and nod. “Yeah, okay.”

He takes out his phone and I reach for it, calling Jimmy. The older gentleman waits with me until he arrives, offering me his jacket to cover myself as I sit sideways in my car, shaking.

“Holy shit. What the hell happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to go home.” So I can cultivate my plan. Blake Mitchell acted like he needed me before. He has no idea what’s in store for him now. Soon he’ll only breathe when I let him, eat when I say, and walk when I feel he needs to use his legs.

“Yeah, yeah alright, but whoever fucking did this shouldn’t get away with it.”

“Don’t worry, karma will catch up to them.” I try to hand the stranger his jacket back and he tells me to keep it, walking back to his car. I thank him again, and Jimmy helps me to his car after I slide on a pair of spare pants he brought with him.

“You know you can’t keep expecting karma to handle shit after someone screws you over. What if these fuckers never get what’s coming to them?”

“I have faith they will this time.” I turn my head, looking toward the window, and smile. I’ll make fucking sure they do.

Eleven

Blake

Blinking my eyes open, I rub at my head, and as last night’s events flood my mind, I sit up in bed, searching for my phone. A message waits for me. It’s from Hayden, and I’m hit with a bout of nausea when I open it. A picture of Logan loads on the screen, half naked, blindfolded and tied up against the tree.

It was all real. The tazing and beating. My phone falls from my hand and my heart slams against my chest as I relive it in my mind.

Hayden showed up as I was leaving my house, demanding to know where I was going, and when I said nowhere, he wrestled me for my phone, snatching it from my hands while I was being crushed by his heavy weight.

His nose flared from an onset of anger when he saw the two messages from Logan I’d failed to delete.

Meet me at the old water tower around 8pm.

Lying in an attempt to save my own ass, I told Hayden that Logan was the one who wouldn’t stop bothering me no matter how many attempts I made to turn him down. He was never supposed to come with me to that tower, and I tried to tell him no after picturing Logan’s disappointment in my mind, but it was too late. My no didn’t matter to him, and he shoved me into my car, swiping my keys from my jacket pocket before getting in the driver’s side.

“What are you doing?” My voice was wavering.

“Going to ensure you meet him at that tower at the time he asked you to,” he said harshly. We were late. I’d hoped by delaying the drive there as much as I could, Logan would lose patience and leave. But he was still there, and I wanted to warn him as soon as I got out of the car before Hayden did, but I couldn’t get the words out.