Page 149 of Consume Me

“He’s starting to become someone we’re going to need. I mean, he’s our friend and has the skills we could use.”

“He does.”

“Bring the first one in,” Tyson says.

Someone knows what happened. That’s all I focus on.

Hang in there, my life.

My eyelids feel like lead as I try to peel them open. A throbbing pain pounds behind my temples, mercilessly, and my mouth is desert dry.

When I finally push through the fog in my brain, darkness surrounds me, and panic hits me full force. My heart pumps an erratic beat, fear coating my body in a layer of sweat, making me want to back into a corner and hide. My neck is stiff, surely from having my head lolled to the side for too long. But I’m alive. I let that knowledge ease the building panic. As long as I am alive, there’s a way out.

Seated in a chair, I try to roll my shoulders and bring movement to my body, but I can’t. My hands are tied at my front.

I can’t believe I was stupid enough to fall for that trick. Here I am, trapped, completely at their mercy—mercy they don’t have.

Tears well in my eyes. Fear for my life is one thing, butthinking of Blake, my brother, father, and friends, the pain splinters my chest. The night shouldn’t have ended like this.

“You’re awake,” a nasally voice says, ringing of content, the sound grating in my ears.

Caleb turns on an overhead light, and I squeeze my eyes shut, momentarily blinded.

There is no window, just gray walls, a small bed with a metallic frame, and a toilet in the corner.

I won’t open my mouth and give him the satisfaction of hearing my despair. Glaring at him, I can’t believe this man is Blake’s father. I’ve never felt so much rage and hatred for someone as I do for him. He must be a special breed of evil and fucked up to treat his son the way he did.

“No questions, sweet Mia?”

My spine straightens hearing that condescending tone. I have to get out of this, but as I frantically search around, the room is empty of anything I can use as a weapon.

All the fake pleasantry disappears when he marches up to me and grips my chin, tipping my face up. How I’d like to bite into his fingers and spit them at his feet.

“There is no escape. You’ll stay here until my son arrives, and then both of you will die.”

He delivered that threat with no emotion. I should be afraid, but I won’t allow this asshole to be the one who ends my life—and my love story.

“Wouldn’t be the first time you tried,” I say, breaking my silence, but it’s hard to keep my anger under control when hesaid he would kill his son—a son he doesn’t deserve. But Blake ismyman, the love of my life.

“It was you. You made my son into a weakling and a traitor to our cause.”

Caleb won’t get any more reactions from me.

“Hmm, a quiet one. I don’t get what he sees in you.”

I flinch, those words highlighting my self-consciousness in neon colors. I remind myself that he craves my reaction and feeds off chipping away at my confidence.

A grin lifts in the corner of my mouth as I notice his lips pressed into a tight line when I don’t give him the desired reaction.

He jerks me up, and I stumble to my feet at the sheer force and sudden movement. I swallow instinctively. From my friends’ stories, I expect my torture to begin as soon as I wake up.

The door opens, and he gestures for the guard posted there to come inside. I take a step back when I see the knife clutched between his fingers.

“Mia, Mia, you should have paid attention. I will not hurt you. Not yet. Until my son comes, nothing will happen to you. I want him to be desperate, thinking about what you’re enduring at my hands. Only when he’s here will I begin my torture.”

This is good. I have a bit of time to find a way out. There’s no way I will allow Caleb to have Blake at his mercy. The guard flicks the knife through the zip ties, and I rub my wrists together, two angry red lines marring my skin.

“You’re a monster. And you’re not worthy of a son like Blake. He’s everything you’ll never be.” I spit, and his eyes burn with rage.

---