Page 119 of A Foster Fling
I watch his ass shamelessly as he walks quickly to the bathrooms checking over his shoulder at least twenty times to see if I’m still here. I chuckle and roll my eyes leaning against the wall next to the door. The bar is a little busier than usual because of the tourists passing through town so I people watch for a minute and pick at my nails.
I hear our group hollering that its Caerus’s turn and to hurry his ass up. I wait about thirty seconds after that before I determine nothing will happen to me if I cross the parking lot of the only bar in the town I had grown up in, by myself. It was about sixty seconds after that, that I realized it was a mistake. And it would change my life forever.
The beginning of events that would lead to the end of me.
Chapter Two
He loves me, I love him, adore him I do.
He’s crazy for me, from tip to root.
I smell him first. Funny, isn’t that how these stories usually go? I had made it to the car and had just leaned into the backseat to grab my shoes when that strange bourbon pie scent wafted into my nose.
I furrow my brow and stand back trying to remember if I had to unlock the car before opening the door. I try to turn and survey my surroundings but a large hand slams over my mouth and an arm comes around my neck halting the movement.
Most people would try to scream, kick, scratch.
I’m not most people. My survival skills are a different flavor and not for a lack of trying. When you’ve been through the things I have, a lot less seems like a threat. You start to feel invincible with every trial you survive. Even if it’s painful at the time. I’ve learned to deal with what I have for instincts and just deal with them.
My hands go up, palms out, the keys dropping to the seat and I stay quiet. The action seems to give him pause because for a split second he seems to lean down and check to see if I’ve passed out or something. He quickly recovers and moves backwards shutting the car door with his massive foot.
Again, most people would probably handle the situation much differently but the first thought in my mind is,where the hell does he buy those jaeger sized boots?I can only feel him with the backs of my shoulders, but he is at least a foot taller than me and I would bet my meager life savings on him not having an ounce of fat on his body.
I try to get my feet to keep up with him as he drags me backwards. It feels like he’s gonna peel my fucking head off in his grasp, but I’m about to complain to him about it. My foot catches on a rock and I wince in earnest falling back into him and clutching his thighs to catch myself.
Of course they’re made of titanium or something.Did I just hear gears whirring as he leaned down to pick me up by the waist?Was I being abducted by the fucking terminator?
My obituary is going to be insane. Wait is he going to kill me? Obviously, assault is more likely, but you can live through that. You can recover from that. I have. Dead isdead.
My foot bangs the ground as he lifts me and I grunt against his palm, lifting my leg towards my hand to soothe it. He shakes my body once with a warning, hissing into my ear.
“Kick me and I’ll snap your fucking spine.”
Since when could they melt honey and violins tossed in gravel into a voice and shove it in a man’s throat? I literally shiver. My eyes may roll back into my slightly vacant cranium.
“I won’t.” I choke out; my voice muffled by his bear paw.
He again seems to pause, taken aback. I guess he heard me. I raise my knees up slightly on reflex when he spins me around the back of a nearby SUV. The sight of my toes reminds me of my boots which remind me of the secret compartment.
Hoping he won’t notice; I press my big toe into the release plate feeling the door pop on the heel of my boot. I catch a slight reflection off my ID in the moonlight and wait for a sign that he saw what I had done. The swoosh of a liftgate opening tells me he hasn’t.
“Don’t move.” He says quietly before removing his arm from my throat, still smothering my mouth with his other palm.
He leans back into the vehicle with me tightly against him for a moment before standing straight again. I hear the distinctive zip of duct tape coming off the roll and hear him rip it off with his teeth. The tape is slapped over my mouth in a flash of movement and he brings both of his hands to my wrists, throwing me off balance.
Believe it or not, it’s not when I feel the plastic of the zip ties cutting into my wrists that I start to finally panic. It’s not even when a hood is cinched over my head. It’s not when he uses my waistband to haul me into the SUV either.
It’s when I feel the empty air as he steps back. It’s when I hear the liftgate close that I realize I’m probably about to die. My shoulders slump in defeat and my eyes fall closed.
In the brief silence I can hear Caerus calling my name outside.
“Lyst? You out there?” His voice carries across the lot like a lovers farewell.
My heart skips as he calls my name again. I didn’t realize just how much I love that he calls me that until now. I was always Sayler to everyone but him. I swallow a sob realizing I may never hear it again.
I miscalculated this situation. Point A is about to meet point B and that is never good. Point B is where everyone dies.
Chapter Three