Page 19 of Possessive

"I like it louder than Wolf Venom." He tapped his phone against his knee. "There's a space under the house where we put people when we want to get information from them. It's soundproof. I like to go in there and turn up some metal as loud as it will go. Especially if I'm working with someone in there." He grinned. "When I've had enough of metal, I put on some Carrie Underwood. Or Abbie Hart."

"I've never heard of the second one," I said.

"You're in for a treat." He tapped on his phone again and held it in his palm until a song started.

From the first note, I couldn't contain my reaction. I all but leaped out from under the blanket, threw myself away from the sound and landed on the hard floor with a thump.

"Shit." The song was immediately silent. He jumped up and hurried around the bed to crouch in front of me.

I lay on the floor, pressed hard against the wall, curled up in the smallest ball I could manage. Every millimetre of me was trembling. I couldn't make it stop.

The world was folding in on me, pressing in hard, making it more and more difficult to breathe. My head was spinning, my stomach turning again. I had to swallow to keep from losing what little I'd eaten.

"I'd understand that reaction to some music, but…" Gianni looked confused and concerned. "If I thought you'd hate it that much, I wouldn't have played it."

He spoke lightly, but he knew as well as I did the song wasn't the problem. That was just the trigger. He was at a loss as to what to say to settle my racing thoughts.

I shook my head, my trembling so bad my teeth were chattering.

"What the hell is going on?" Reuben demanded from the doorway. His footsteps were heavy as he made his way into the room. Commanding attention and making me shrink in further.

"Sorry boss, I freaked her out," Gianni said. "I'm not sure what happened." He looked straight at me, brow furrowed, trying to figure out how to respond to me and to Reuben. That he blamed himself was clear from the expression on his eyes. He was worried he'd fucked up somehow and pushed me over the edge.

I needed to explain, to make them understand. Even if it made me sound like I was losing my mind. Who's to say I wasn't?

I sucked in a couple of rapid breaths, trying to put together the words as simply as I could.

"That song," I whispered. "It's Kurt's ringtone."

The moment I heard it, I was right back in the basement. Chained and scared. Terrified I woke up after all. I couldn't remember what happened after that. I just found myself on the floor, arms wrapped tight around myself, the hard floor a familiar comfort under me.

"Fuck, I had no idea," Gianni said. "I won't play it again. I'll even delete it from my phone." He held up his phone to do just that.

I closed my eyes and struggled back into my numb place. Shutting off everything and everyone around me. I wasn't in the basement, I was here. Safe, warm, clean and fed.

Get a fucking grip, I told myself.

"I'm okay," I said, half to myself. "I'm okay." My hands on the wall behind me, I pushed myself to my feet and sank back down to the bed. "If it's okay, I'd like to be alone now. Please."

"Of course," Reuben said. "We both have rooms just down the corridor. If you need anything." He waved for Gianni to precede him out the door.

Gianni stopped to give me another apologetic look before stepping out.

I slid back under the covers and pulled them up over my head. If I pulled them tight enough, maybe I could shut out the sound of the music that went around and around in my head.

I wasn't sleepy anymore. I was wide awake. With any luck, I might doze a little bit between now and dawn.

Kurt isn't here, I reminded myself. It was just a song. Just one song out of millions in the world. At least he hadn't chosen one of Asher's songs as his ringtone. That was the kind of fucked up shit he would have done, so he could laugh at the fact I had no idea.

I closed my eyes and willed my heart to stop beating so fast. I should never have freaked out so violently. I needed to be in better control of myself than that. I reminded myself that if I was, I wouldn't have ended up with Kurt in the first place. Somehow, I had to pull myself together, contain myself and keep my emotions and fears from getting the better of me.

I had to.

CHAPTER 8

REUBEN

For the last twenty or thirty minutes, I stared at the page without reading a word.

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