Page 52 of Forever Mine

“I’m willing to give some leeway given the circumstances, Dakota, but not such blatant disrespect. I’m keeping a tally of every infraction and you will be punished accordingly.”

What the fuck even was this guy? Dakota worked his jaw but chose to stay quiet. “C’mon baby. Let’s get you in the chair.”

The chair in question was a hard-back wooden chair with arms. I winced when Dakota dropped me as softly as possible. He fussed over me for a minute. When the doctor yelled, Kota looked calmly over at him. “I’m looking at his leg. You’re a doctor, you know he could bleed out if he lost too much blood. Let me wrap it.”

But Dr. Psycho stalked over and pressed the gun right into the wound. “He’s fine. It will take hours for him to bleed out. We have time.”

“For what?”

“For you to learn how to behave. If you’re a good girl for me then I’ll allow you to treat Mr. Parks. If you continue to sass me and disobey me then, well…” Dr. Psycho shrugged.

My brain was way too fuzzy to decipher what the fuck was happening. Why was he calling Dakota a good girl? Why was he acting like Kota was some kind of 1950s housewife?

The doctor walked over to an old-fashioned table, complete with doilies. He grabbed a few leather straps and walked back to us. Dakota took that ten seconds to look over me, mainly positioning me in a way so my arms weren’t as trapped and tugging at the already loosening straps around my wrist. He couldn’t do much, but I could twist my left wrist back and forth now, which I started to do as much as possible before Dr. Psycho walked up to me with the straps, but he just threw them on my lap and grabbed Dakota by the hair, painfully pulling him up to his feet and away from me. I launched at him, screaming muffled curses.

Of course, all I managed was to fall on my fucking face and hurt my leg even more. Shit! I had to be fuckin’ careful so I didn’t bleed out quicker. I wasn’t leaving Kota in this alone.

I shimmied forward a few inches, but every movement was brutal and I could feel little bursts of blood shooting out each time. Dakota fought against the hold but was helpless as Dr.Psycho dragged him over to the corner of the room that was decorated like a grandparents’ house in a TV show.

“I didn’t want to do this, Dakota. But clearly it will take a little longer for you to behave. A little reinforcement should help.”

He backhanded Dakota to the ground, both of us crying out at the same time, and then lifted a chain that was attached to the wall. Attached to the heavy metal chain was a hot pink leather collar. It was a few inches thick and I could see the padlock hanging off it. There were words written on it, but I couldn’t see what they were.

Dakota tried to scamper away, kicking at the fucker as he stalked forward. I went crazy, bucking my body left and right. My foot caught the chair and I kicked it until it went sideways, hoping it would distract Dr. Psycho.

It worked long enough for Kota to stumble to his feet. He was reaching for one of the chairs around the table when Dr. Psycho tackled him from behind. Dakota’s head hit the table with a sickeningly loud crack. I fucking wailed, no longer caring about bleeding out, and tried to scoot toward them, as pointless as it was.

Dr. Psycho grabbed Kota’s hair again and bent his head back at a painful angle. Thank fuck his eyes were open, even if they looked a little glazed. “Enough!” he screamed.

“This is why I didn’t want to do it this way! You weren’t ready! I had everything planned, and you ruined it, Dakota! This would’ve been so much easier if you let me do it the way I wanted, but of course you had to be difficult.” He bodied Dakota to the ground and sat on him. I was completely helpless to stop him as the collar was strapped around Kota’s neck and locked closed with the padlock. He pulled Kota up to his knees by the chain. I was panicking because while he was clearly breathing and not unconscious, my man was dazed. He wasn’t talking and could barely balance. His eyes looked unfocused.

From this angle though, I could clearly see the words on the collar.Bad Girl. What. The. Fuck.

“I’ll deal with you later.”

Kota didn’t respond at all. Dr. Psycho walked up to me. I tried to curse and scream at him through the gag. It was a waste of fucking energy, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t good at biding my time and figuring out a plan. I was a fighter. I was born to fight. Even if it was pointless, I couldn’t kill the instinct.

It didn’t matter though, because Dr. Psycho raised the gun again and slammed it on the side of my head, stopping the fight altogether and sending me into darkness.

CHAPTER 23

DAKOTA

I was goingto be sick…again. I’d already thrown up once and was forced to clean it up, and I was trying really hard not to let it happen again. But…it wasn’t easy. Especially with my head still swimming.

I’d never had a concussion before, but I had enough experience with it to realize what this was. Dr. Kiley should know too, obviously, but he was either so lost in his delusions by now that he didn’t notice, or he just didn’t give a fuck anymore. Either way, he still hauled me up by my hair and shoved me into the kitchen, to “make him a proper dinner” while he got appropriate clothing for me. I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, and I didn’t want to know.

The fucking chain was long enough to reach the kitchen, but not long enough to escape. Plus, Jay was still unconscious and now securely strapped to the chair in the opposite corner from the one I was chained to. I’d have to somehow get unhooked, get to him, get him unchooked, and get us the fuck out of here before Dr. Kiley came back. With a concussion. It was unlikely.

As quickly as I could, I dug through the drawers, hoping to find something. A knife, a phone, anything. But they were empty. Even all the bowls were plastic, and so were the mixingspoons. There was nothing that would do damage or allow me to call for help. He was ready for this.

Well, sort of. The whole ride here he blabbed on and on about how he wasn’t ready for me. Jay was supposed to be dead first, and then he’d sweep in, I guess. Then, when I fell in love with him, he’d bring me here and make me his housewife. His words, not mine. Dr. Kiley was chatty on the ride though, so at least I kind of understood what happened. He had been watching me for years, biding his time. He hadn’t planned on the notes or the blatant stalking, but my serious relationship with Jay changed his plans. He said he snapped, and acted out of character.

One thousand diagnoses ran through my head as he spoke, but none of it mattered now. I tried to soak in as much information as I could at the time, even though I was terrified. It was his cousin that cloned out phones and was recording us. I guess Dr. Kiley had something on the guy and he blackmailed him for help. I shivered, feeling exposed, even just thinking about it.

I…honestly was too woozy to process it all. I opened the fridge. What the fuck did he even want me to cook? All I could find was bread and lunch meat turkey.

I couldn’t believe how horribly wrong everything went. All I’d wanted to do was stall Dr. Kiley long enough for Beck and Wes or the cops to get there. I wasn’t prepared for the gun. He had me in the car and flew out of the lot before anyone showed up.

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