CHAPTERNINE
Joy felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end just before a hand closed over her mouth.
“Scream, and you’ll die. Right here. Right now. Do not fuck with me,” a man growled in her ear.
Joy nodded her head up and down, wanting to convey she understood his instructions. She tried like hell to tamp down on the panic surging through her body, threatening to overpower her every thought. She needed to keep a clear head if she had any hope of getting the upper hand. Not that she knew how the hell she was going to do that. Not when she could tell that the man was easily twice her size without even looking at him.
“I mean it. One word, and I’ll put a fucking bullet in your head. Got it?” he asked.
She nodded once again, and he let go of her mouth and spun her around. She did the first thing that popped into her head. Her knee rose up hard and fast and slammed right into his balls.
“Bitch!” he shouted.
That was the last thing she remembered before the darkness overtook her.
* * *
“Wake up, sleeping beauty,”a male voice said.
Joy’s ears rung. Her head burned. Her mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton balls. She tried to sit up, but something was holding her arms and legs down. She grunted and tried once again to move her arms.
Nothing. She couldn’t move.
“It’s too bad that you couldn’t listen to me earlier. This could have been such a pleasant trip for you, but you just had to be a bitch about it. Now, you’re just going to have to deal with it.”
Joy instantly recognized that the man’s voice was the same as the intruder from her apartment. She glanced around at her surroundings and couldn’t figure out where they were.
“Who are you? What do you want? Where are we?” She fired off the questions in rapid succession.
“Those are all things you don’t need to know, so shut the fuck up before I knock you out again,” the man threatened, pacing back and forth in whatever hovel he had taken them to.
“I’m Joy,” she said, trying to make conversation. Any conversation could be useful. Maybe he would slip up and tell her something of use.
Like where the hell we are, she thought.
“I’m Donovan,” he said, surprising her that he even bothered to respond without tossing a few more threats her way. “Look, I know you have questions, and I’ll answer them. Later.”
“Okay,” she said in her softest voice possible, hoping maybe she could trick him into … Hell, she didn’t even know. Maybe letting down his guard if she was nice? Maybe if he was distracted, she could find a chance to escape.
She looked down at her arms and saw she had been handcuffed. But that wasn’t the worst part. The handcuffs were attached to some damn medieval-looking chain that was padlocked to the filthy mattress she was lying on.
“Right now, I need to go take care of a few things,” Donovan said before checking to make sure her restraints were tight.
“Wait! Wait! You can’t leave me here like this!” she protested. “What if I have to use the bathroom?”
“Hold it till I get back.” He shrugged and walked through the dilapidated wooden door.
“But …” she yelled, but it was useless. Donovan had already left. Joy yanked at the chain connected to her handcuffs. “Fuck!” she shouted, kicking at the bed, hoping that maybe she could somehow break the flimsy metal frame. All she had managed to do was inch the bed across the floor. She was well and truly stuck. Tears streamed down her face. Fear and panic like she had never felt crushed any hope she had of escaping.
She thought of her time with Adam and how much she missed his handsome face and their lighthearted banter. But what she missed more than anything was the safe feeling she always had when she was around him. Every second of their time together ran through her mind, giving her little comfort, considering the fact that she had been chained to a damn bed by a madman.
A few hours seemed to pass by before Donovan returned. Carrying several bags, he dropped them on a nearby table before walking over to the bed to check on Joy.
“I see you survived just fine while I was out getting the rest of the supplies.”
“No thanks to you,” she growled. “I need to use the bathroom. Can you let me out of these damn chains?”
“No. But I’ll take you back to the bathroom, and you can do your business,” he said, unlocking the padlock and helping her up off the bed.