Chapter Fifteen
Branson
Though I’ve never woken up in this position before, the cold metal on my naked back is familiar and somehow soothing. I know immediately where I am, but it doesn’t make me feel panicked. I’ve dreamed of being on this table since I was a child, always knowing this would be my only escape from this place.
I try to move my hands to see how I’m bound, more out of curiosity than anything, but find I can’t move my limbs yet. No matter, I think, it’s just the drugs still coursing in my body. Soon, the tingles of feeling will come back, and I’ll flex my fingers. Or maybe they’ll kill me before then and I won’t even have to feel it. I don’t expect to be that lucky.
Calm, at peace. This is right. This is where I should be.
Voices ring out from down the corridor, the sound of Jane’s voice bringing me back.
My eyes shoot open, all vestibules of calm deflate. How I let myself go back there for even a second is beyond me. It’s the same pit of mind bullshit I’ve caved to for years. I can’t go back there.
Rage courses through me, and I let out a loud scream. This table was just never something I feared. Perhaps that is all it is. Because I’m still not scared, I’m pissed.
The door to the workshop opens and Jane comes barging in, Teddy behind her.
"Lying bitch," I snarl, pulling myself off the table toward Teddy. "At least I expected this shit from her." I nod my head toward Jane. Teddy's eyes widen, like my outrage at her fucking betrayal is some huge surprise. Honestly, I'm probably the asshole here. How did I let her fake-ass apology convince me?
Doe eyes and a blowjob, and she almost fucking had me.
Jane laughs, and my glare turns to her.
"Oh, pet, I knew something had changed," Jane comments, staring down at me with inky black eyes, wide and a bit frantic looking. An increasingly familiar expression for her. I don't move or say anything. I know she is waiting for me to beg, but I will never give her that satisfaction.
“I can get into the city easily!” Teddy argues, her arms animated and her eyes darting my way. "Just give me a few hours and I'll get someone."
“I should have done this years ago,” Jane mutters, and Teddy exhales deeply.
“Let me get a new victim,” Teddy says. “I can—”
Jane turns to Teddy with a scalpel in her hand.
“Go upstairs if you don’t want to watch,” Jane tells her, nodding her head toward the hall. “I get it, you’re young and weak. I’ll take care of it, we’ll close down the shop, and get out of here for good. It’ll be just like before; I’ve got it all planned. They can’t take it away from us.”
“Jane, you can’t,” Teddy says. Jane darts a glare at her and I realize I’ve never heard Teddy call her Jane. My brows knit together as I watch, still not even sure if it's Teddy or Amelia standing before me.
“You’d protect him,” Jane says calmly. “After all I’ve done for you, you’d protect him over me?”
Teddy takes a step closer to her. “I understand,” she practically whispers, “Jane, I saw the stuff in your desk. Branson isn’t him.”
Jane makes a choked sound, but my eyes are on Teddy. What is she talking about?
“You’d protect him,” Jane says again, this time a statement, not a question.
Teddy:
The same words Branson spoke to me earlier don’t have the same effect coming from her. I feel my jaw tick as I watch Jane, my eyes tracking her every subtle movement. She's between the table and me, and I try to shift to the left to get closer to Branson.
"He doesn't deserve this," I tell her. Jane's face tightens at my words and despite myself, I feel the sting of disappointing her. I dart a glance to Branson who is watching us both, his entire body tense. When our eyes meet, I see the pain inside and realize he does think I betrayed him again. Though I feel a flash of annoyance, I can't blame him.
"Just let him go, and it can all go back like before," I tell Jane, keeping my voice low and soothing. "We can even go into town together, get a new victim just like we used to."
Jane's eyes drift to Branson as she toys with the scalpel in her hand. My heart is pumping loudly in my ears as I wait to see what she'll do.
Don't attack him, I will her in my mind. I don't want to kill you, but I will.
Branson: