Page 72 of His Obsession

“You’re so screwed,” I said, laughing, then winced from a prickly pain in my ribs.

I had a feeling things were going to get much worse from here on out. Based on the story Jimmy told me of screwing over, not one, but two motorcycle gangs—it was safe to say, they weren’t here for a friendly chat.

What did that leave for me, though? Would I be caught in the cross-fire? Or would they take sympathy on me and let me go? One could only pray they did.

“Shut up, you fucking cunt.” Jimmy slapped me with an opened hand before flipping me to my belly and placing a knee in my back. He jerked my hands behind me, tying them tight, then gagged me with an old sock. The taste of dirt saturated my mouth, and it sucked any remaining moisture I had away.

Jimmy limped over to the door, his leg still seeping blood, leaving a bloody footprint behind each step. With an eerie squeak, the door groaned as he cracked it open and took a peek outside. I took my eyes off him, looking at the top of the stairs, and got to my knees—I could try to barrel through the door. I looked back at Jimmy in time to see him land flat on his ass when a giant tattooed man walked through the threshold and pushed him down.

The tables had turned, and he was no longer the big bad-ass he portrayed. No sooner did the man with arms thicker than my thighs come through the door did he start blubbering like a wimp. I grinned as I watched the situation play out before me.

Five more guys with equal hatred matching their expressions filed through the door one at a time and surrounded Jimmy, all of them ignoring me but one. His eyes connected with mine, and a newfound fear gripped my gut, making me want to vomit. This man's eyes were pure evil. Jimmy's were dead, but this man instilled a fear you couldn't ignore.

“Well, well, Jimmy. It appears you’ve been a busy boy,” said the man that made eye contact with me.

I scrambled to my feet, quickly falling back over, and tried scooting away on my butt as he approached. My eyes darted to the other men, then Jimmy, then back to the man coming at me.

“Don’t touch her. She’s mine,” Jimmy yelled at him, then cowered away from the man above him as he raised his fist at Jimmy.

“She’s mine now. It’s been a while since I’ve had a little fun,” the bulky man above me said.

I screamed at him through the gag, and he chortled, throwing me over his shoulder with a hard plop. The rib I thought was broken shot excruciating pain across my chest, causing me to cry out.

He laughed and smacked my ass, then dropped me in the middle of my make-shift bed and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

I took a few shallow breaths, unable to breathe deep, and tried to maneuver my hands to the front.

If I could see the tie, I could free myself… maybe. My heart pounded. I could hear the muffled voices through the door and the chaos that ensued behind it. The shouting became louder, and I could make out broken fragments of each sentence. Something to the effect of, “I’m going to kill you,”and “where are they?”

Where is who? Did Jimmy take more than one person? Was there someone else here with me, and I didn’t know it, or did he bring them here before me? Either way, I knew for sure I didn’t want to deal with the enemy I didn’t know—I needed to get out of here.

I squeezed my bindings out from under my feet and noticed a knot that wouldn’t be easy to undo with my teeth. I pulled the gag off, throwing it to the side, and looked around. Where was that water bottle? I needed that lid. If I could get that other screw out, I might use it to saw off the rope. That was the plan, at least.

On its side, the bottle laid perfect but no lid on it. I scrambled around onto my knees, each motion jarring my side and making me wince.

There! I found it.

Sitting behind the toilet lay my bottle cap, waiting for me. I hurried and hold on to it, crawled back to the drain, and worked on the screw.

I’d come full circle, only this time I was battling someone new, and they were scarier than Jimmy.

All the unknowns I accepted were now back and giving me more uncertainty about my future. I might have a chance, but then again, there were six guys out there, five of which didn’t give a shit that he hoisted me over his shoulder and locked me back up. As far as I was concerned, they were just as evil as Jimmy.

The screw turned slightly, and I continued until my fingers could grab it and pull it away. I felt ecstatic, just as I did when I pulled out the first screw and went to work on my bindings.

The chaos outside my door amplified, and then, suddenly, loud stomping on the steps led upstairs. They were leaving?

I rubbed the sharp edges of the screw on the rope as fast as my bound fingers could move when the door opened, and the man with long hair and full beard walked in, leaving the door gaping.

I palmed the screw slowly, hoping he wouldn’t notice. The room behind him was quiet, but footsteps and banging could be heard upstairs. My breathing increased, and I trembled. Sweat broke out over my brow.

“Hey, pretty lady,” he said. His long slicked back dirty-dishwater blond hair showed the sides of his head shaved down to the skin. If he was to place his hair in gel and straight up, he would have a tall Mohawk.

“Go fuck a goat.”

He sneered and came closer.

I swiped my leg out and hit the side of his knee with a pop. Mohawk man yelled and collapsed on one knee. I jumped on him and stabbed him in the back.