Page 29 of Another Girl Lost

“Fuck off, bitch. You put me here.”

“It’s not my fault,” she said quietly. “He makes me do these things.” She turned on a small flashlight, which glowed eerily under her pale, round face. Shoulder-length brown hair kinked with grease skimmeda strong jaw. Wearing an oversize T-shirt but nothing else, she looked more like a spirit than a human, and for a moment I thought I’d died.

Tears welled in my eyes. “Go away.”

“He does it to me, too.”

I tucked my knees toward my chest. “Is that why you tricked me? To get him off you?”

The flashlight shifted, and the light skimmed over the concrete floor toward me. She set a cup of water in front of me. “Drink it. I don’t know when he’ll give us water again.”

With the light shining, I winced, but as my eyes adjusted, I saw the cracks in the aqua ceramic cup with a broken handle.

The light clicked off. “I have to save the battery.”

I stared in the direction of that cup for an hour. I didn’t want anything from the bitch who had lured me to this hell. I wanted to leave. I wanted to hurl the cup against the wall. But the thirst grew stronger with each breath.

Della didn’t speak, but I could tell by her breathing she was awake. Finally, I became so thirsty, I fumbled for the cup and drank. The water was warm and had a metallic taste. And there was just enough to make me want more.

“Are you better?” she asked.

“What do you think?” I ran fingers over naked arms and cringed when they trailed over bruises. “Where are we? Where ishere?”

“Hereis a farmhouse in the country,” she said. A southern accent added a moody edge to her softly spoken words. “You can scream all you want, but no one will hear. This house is in the middle of nowhere.”

I glanced in the darkness toward the ceiling, more tears brimming in my eyes. No one was going to find me. “Why did you do it?”

Silence settled. “He made me.”

“You knew what was going to happen to me, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

Rage filled me. I screamed and jerked hard against my restraint until I could smell the coppery scent of blood. Warm liquid ran down my ankle and puddled around my foot.

My memory swung back to the sliver of light illuminating Tanner’s face twisted in an unholy mixture of desire and rage—a jackal ready to devour. There had been no hints of the lovely man I’d seen before. “I’ve seen his face. He didn’t hide from me. I know his name. Does that mean he’s going to kill me?”

“It means you must be smart. You must make him like you.”

Disgust soured in my belly. “Never.”

“Never say never.”

My head dropped back against the brick wall. Hopelessness rose in me, tightening my throat. I thought I was going to be sick. Closing my eyes, I drew in deep breaths. As my stomach calmed, my thoughts cleared. I had to get out of here. “How long have you been here?”

“A year, maybe.”

A year. “In this room?”

“Upstairs at first. Down here three or four months on and off.”

Three or four months. Suffering in this hole. “I want to kill you.”

Della’s laughter held no mirth. “Killing me won’t solve anything.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll feel better.”

“Then you’ll be all alone with Tanner. You don’t want that.”

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