Page 88 of Ice Me Baby

Walking back the way we came, I follow the signs to the exit. I know going outside by myself is a bad idea, especially since I still have the niggling feeling that something else is going to go wrong. So, I wait next to the door and pull out my phone.

I scroll through the posts on social media, most of them about the game tonight. Someone managed to get a photo of the rookie hitting Mac. How they got the photo? I’m not sure, but the sports photographers’ are amazing at their job.

At the sound of someone shouting my name, I look up and see Dean heading down the hallway. I lift a hand in acknowledgement, then spin and begin making my way out thedoor. He yells my name again but more panicked this time. “Liz!”

I turn to look at him again in confusion and see the panic written all over Dean’s face. He’s screaming my name, but before I can figure out why he’s yelling, I feel a sharp pinch in my neck.

My last thought before my vision darkens is,well fuck.The image of Dean running my way, panic clouding his face is the last thing I see before I’m pulled under.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

When you’re stuck in the dark, it allows too much time to think. The one thing that keeps repeating in my head is how I’m a damn idiot for not trusting my instincts. I knew something felt off, and yet I still went off alone.

The image of Dean’s face when he realized he wouldn’t reach me in time will haunt me. His eyes wide with fear as he yelled out for me. I saw him rush my direction before the world went black.

“Izzy. Izzy. Izzy. Such a bad girl,” a deep, distorted voice says from behind me.

My spine stiffens. There has only ever been one person who called me Izzy. “Emmitt?”

“Took you long enough to figure out who sent all those love notes. I told you you belonged to me. And what did you do?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Emmitt grabs a fistful of my hair, and I scream when he uses it to tug me up from my spot on the floor. My scalp burns with how hard he’s pulling. He turns my face, so I’m forced to look up at a masked man. I know it’s Emmitt, though.

The mask covers his entire face, but it has neon x’s for the eyes and a wide joker smile. It’s creepy as fuck. His head tilts as his distorted voice comes from the mask. “You belong to me. Me! And you went off and whored yourself out to those men.”

Before I can stop the words from falling out of my mouth I yell, “I’ll NEVER belong to you.”

His head tilts to the other side as he shoves me to the ground. “We’ll see how long that lasts.” He turns and begins to walk away.

I rush after him but screech when my momentum suddenly stops and pain flares in my leg. I look down at the blasted ankle cuff keeping me here. I’d forgotten about it in my haste to get out of this place. “Where the fuck am I?” I yell after him.

He continues to walk away as he lifts my phone. My eyes widen when he looks over his shoulder. “If you think I’d let them find you easily, you’re mistaken, Izzy.”

I watch him drop my phone and stomp on it, shattering it so it can’t be tracked. I glare up at him, his grinning mask mocking me as the last source of light disappears behind the closed door. I let the tears I’d held back flow. A choked sob makes its way out as I settle on the makeshift bed. I’m too afraid to close my eyes because I want to know the moment the light returns. Whenhereturns.

Eventually, I feel myself losing the fight with sleep but startle when the door slams open. That stupid mask grins at me before he raises a gun. I scream as he pulls the trigger. Pain sears my shoulder, and I look down to find what looks like a dart.

I reach up and pluck it out of my skin, hissing at the figure moving toward me. A surge of panic fills me when one figure turns into two before blurring together.

Dark laughter greets me as I try to fight off whatever he dosed me with. “I had to make sure you wouldn’t fight me. I couldn’t knock you out the same way.”

My words are slurred. “F-uck y-y-you.”

“Such a dirty mouth for a beautiful snowflake, Izzy.” I feel his disgusting hands on me, but I can’t do anything to fight him. My body grows numb, and unresponsive to the commands my brain issues.

He positions my body on the bed, then ties my arms out to each side before moving and doing the same to my legs. They are spread wide as he ties my ankles down. Tears stream down into my hair, and all I can do is stare at the ceiling wondering what I did to deserve this. What does he plan on doing to me?

The clothes I’ve been wearing for fuck knows how long are ripped from my body. I whimper as he exposes my bare skin. The only things that prevent me from being completely naked are my bra and underwear.

I can’t do anything but watch as he hovers over me. He removes the mask to reveal the muddy-brown eyes I remember. A dark glint that was never there before brightens as he takes me in, my body on display. With a salacious grin, he pulls what looks like a marker from his back pocket.

He taps it against his lips as he looks over me. “I don’t want to mark up this beautiful body permanently by carving my name into it. But...” He bites the lid off the pen before spiting it across the room. “I can certainly leave my mark with this. Blood isn’t really my thing, but youwillremember who you belong too.”

I want to writhe and fight and scream against the feeling of his hands on my body without consent, but my body refuses to do what it’s told. All I can do is lie here as silent tears continue to fall. Each letter he marks on my skin makes my stomach turn, and the only thing I want to do more than run away is vomit.

He finally gives me a reprieve from the torture of his company when he stabs me with another dose of whatever drug he gave me before. “I do enjoy your silence much more than your constant shouting and screeching.”

I watch as he walks toward the door. He glances over his shoulder one last time with a smirk. “I do love seeing my name all over your body, Izzy.” He reaches down to cup his dick through his jeans and groans, his eyes closing in pleasure. “Fuck. The thought of you screaming my name.”

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