Page 43 of Bolted

His rage turns into a jovial laugh. This guy is a crazed lunatic.

“Your stupidity is astounding Nathan. You let them take her. Now tell me exactly what you plan to do to get her back for me? Do I need to have someone else better for this job take over? We can work out the rest of your payment some other way, hmm?” He purrs into the phone.

“No!” I say as I sit up quickly on the couch. The room spins and I suddenly feel the need to puke. “Give me a little more time please.”

Lockhart chuckles. “I do love it when they beg. Tick-tock Nathan, your time is almost up.”

The line goes dead and I run to the bathroom, heaving into the toilet.

‘Tick tock’ I think to myself.

Chapter 53

Sebastian

It’s been one week since I found my little mouse again. I’ve barely left my place, choosing to do most of my work and meetings remotely. Riley stays in my bedroom. She hasn’t left the room yet. Her sister and Kaz come to visit her every day. She won’t let me near her and it’s killing me. God knows I’ve tried. Anytime I get too close she flinches, then her eyes get watery and she retreats to the bathroom where I can hear her sobs over the sound of running water. Her bruises have faded and her body has healed but her mind is still a wreck. My only consolation is that she hasn’t left me yet. I heard her sister attempting to sway her into going home with her the first day after we found her. The memory still makes me smile.

“You should come back with me,” Corrine had said. “I’ll take care of you.”

“I feel safe in this room Corinne, I can’t explain it but I don’t want to leave this place right now.” Riley had replied.

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of giggling as my front door opens and Xavier and Corinne both walk in.

“Took you long enough.” I say glaring at both of them.

“Sorry, I was in the middle of something.” Xavier says, winking at Corinne and causing her to blush.

Rolling my eyes, I push past both of them towards the door. “I don’t give a fuck what weird fetish shit you were in the middle of. Keep that shit to yourselves and watch over my little mouse while I’m gone. I have a meeting with Andre to attend.”

Chapter 54

Riley

I wake to the sound of the front door slamming. I listen, instantly on edge, before remembering where I am. I’m safe. I hear Corrine saying something to Xavier as she approaches the bedroom door.

“You’re filthy Xavier,” she’s saying as she opens the door. Then she calls back “Get cleaned up before I go anywhere with you.” Then she turns and flashes me a mischievous grin.

“Having fun?” I ask. Just then the door pops back open and Xavier peeks his head in.

“There’s plenty of room for two in that bathroom. Just saying…” he spins and walks down the hall.

“Lord that guy is insatiable,” Corrine says. She’s shaking her head but there’s also a gleam in her eye. “Can I just tell you what we’ve been doing this morning?”

I cringe. I’ve been a little hesitant to hear about the sexual adventures these two have taken. In the first days since I got here, the talk of anything sexual made me feel sick. I couldn’t explain it to Corrine, other than saying that “sex” had become shameful to me. Nate had used me in a way I couldn’t wrap my head around. Corrine has been helping me work through some of the things that came back to me as I started feeling better physically. Making sense of Nate’s erratic actions, which we equated to drugs and definitely a mental instability. But also, how I can move on from here.

“I think maybe this will help you,” Corrine says.

“Okay, but leave out the super detailed stuff. I don’t need to know that much about one of my bosses.” My own words take me by surprise. I’ve been unsure whether I could see myself returning to the office, given that everyone knows the ordeal I went through. That and the fact that Nate is on the loose still somewhere and could potentially show up at Bolt.

“So you are going back?” Corrine asks, smiling.

“I didn’t think I knew, until right now,” I say. “But yes. I worked my ass off to get there and I’ll be fucking damned if Nate ruins that for me too.”

“Excellent,” she says. “Okay so anyways. We were just having coffee together this morning at the apartment and Xavier mentioned something about control, like how he’s always having to be the one making decisions at work and in bed. And I was like ‘maybe you need to experience a little more flexibility.’” Corrine smiles then and settles herself further into the chair, pulling out water from her purse. I can tell this is gonna be quite the story.

“Xavier looked at me with this expression of curiosity and I knew what had to be done.”

“Oh lord.” That’s all I can say, waiting for the punchline.

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