Page 28 of His Toy

“Bella is my girlfriend. I love her so much. I can’t believe she disappeared on the same day as my best friend. Lisa—Alex’s girlfriend—and I, are leaning on each other for support.” The camera panned out to show Lisa holding a tissue and standing beside Ken as he reached out to put his arm around her. She dabbed at her eyes, which leaked tears but weren’t at all swollen or red. Bella suspected the use of eye drops and then felt a little bad for being so cynical—but come on! “All we can do is hope for their safe return. If someone knows where they are, please contact this number.”

A phone number Bella didn’t recognize flashed across the screen. It was probably for some kind of investigative authority.

“Are you worried that they were taken by the Wolf?” one of the surrounding reporters shouted. It was always the first question everyone asked when someone was reported missing on Earth. Sometimes something else had happened to them, but everyone was always more interested in stories involving the Wolf.

Lisa sniffed delicately. “We don’t know. We haven’t received any contact from anyone about them.” And she covered her face as she appeared to burst into tears again.

Bella watched dispassionately. Had anyone bought Lisa or Ken’s act? She felt incredibly far away from them and their betrayal, as though in the couple days she’d been missing, she’d already become a different person. And wasn’t that true? Her priorities, her motivations, and her thinking had realigned to deal with the situation she was in now. Lisa and Ken seemed so very small by comparison.

“Attention whores,” Alex said, just behind her, and Bella turned to look up at him.

He didn’t look angry, just disdainful. Contemptuous. And that was exactly how Bella felt. While her parents and his waited for some kind of contact, some indication of what had happened to their son and daughter, Ken and Lisa were putting on a show for the masses. One that was patently false.

Although…

“Maybe they’re feeling guilty,” Bella said, her voice empty of any sympathy.

Alex snorted. “That’s possible. Whatever. So, obviously we’ve been reported missing.” He raised his voice enough to drown out the words coming from the television. Ken was saying something more. Bella decided it wasn’t important and turned her back on his face to watch Alex throw himself down on the bed.

“Yeah… How long do you think it will take for them to figure out where we are?”

He shrugged. “I guess it depends on when the Wolf releases that other girl… Abby. She’ll be able to tell everyone that she saw us.”

Bella approached the bed, hesitant to ask, but she really wanted to know. “What did the Wolf want you to do in exchange for lunch?”

Alex turned his head away from her as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Even though she was naked, for the first time, she didn’t bother trying to cover herself. What was the point? And being naked was starting to feel almost natural.

“He wanted me to suck his dick.”

“And you didn’t.”

“No.”

There was a long pause while Bella tried to think of what to say next and to block out the news story droning on in the background. The broadcast had moved on to popular analysts, who were talking about all the facts and figures of the disappearances of Moon family members on Earth and how many of them were eventually revealed as captives of the Wolf.

“I’m going to have to eventually,” Alex said softly. He looked back at her, his expression troubled. “He made it clear that I won’t get a meal until I do.”

“So why didn’t you today?”

He shrugged and looked away again. “I don’t know. Pride. To show him that I wouldn’t just give up immediately. To show him that he can’t control everything.”

“You need to eat, Alex.”

“I know. I will.”

Eventually.

He didn’t say it, but the word hung in the air. Bella chewed on her lower lip; Alex wouldn’t be eating today. He was making some kind of stand that was important to him. And to be honest, Bella wished she could do the same. Salvage something of her pride. But she was also back to worrying that when Alex did finally bend, it would be because he’d been broken.

“Come here, Bella, stop worrying.” Alex held out his arm. Bella crawled up beside him and lay down with her head on his shoulder. He was so big and muscled, a firm anchor for her to cling to. Maybe she shouldn’t worry about him breaking, but she wasn’t afraid of being alone in this situation. “I can hear your thoughts running around your head.”

“I’m scared, Alex,” she whispered.

“I know, sweetheart. But we can get through this. We can. It’s just games. He’s playing lots of nasty little games. But we can survive, and we can win by getting free.”

With the way she’d pinned down Trish today and how disassociated Bella felt from her former life, would she still like herself by the time the Wolf was done with his nasty little games? Maybe winning wasn’t survival; maybe it was staying true to herself. That’s what Alex was doing. That’s why he’d gone without lunch today.

And what had she done? She’d forced Trish to orgasm for the entertainment of the Wolf and his soldiers.

---