Page 68 of Teach Me
An officer stepped to the front door and called Gaines, who went to get more details.
Conlan rubbed his fist, wishing he could slam it into a wall. He’d never felt so helpless, not during the hundreds of cases he’d work. Not even during the war. If they didn’t find Jess soon, she was dead, and they all knew it. Rebecca Wellsley’s body guaranteed it. A low growl escaped his throat.
“Easy, man,” Jack said, one hand gripping his shoulder to steady him. “We’ve got to keep our heads on straight and figure this out. That’s the only way to save her now.”
“How?” Conlan’s voice was high with desperation. “Tell me how, Jack, because right now I’m lost. I love her so damn much.”
Jack snorted. “That is fucking obvious, even to me. Come on; let’s get your girl back. I’ve got an idea.”
* * *
Jess stirred. The sandy, metallic taste in her mouth made swallowing hard. Thinking was even harder, but she knew immediately that something watched her, waiting for the first sign of awareness. The sense of evil smothered her. She forced herself to keep her eyes closed, breathing even, trying to hear the slightest move or sound that might tell her where she was.
Where Brit was.
Oh yes, she remembered him taking her.
She hurt. Everywhere. Yet no matter how hard she strained, all she heard was silence. Trying to ease the ache, she dared the slightest move.Quiet. Quiet.A zing of panic hit when she came up against rope. A harder pull. Nothing, no give. Her hands and feet seemed to be bound, spread-eagle. Underneath her, crisp cloth and padding told her she was on a platform, probably a bed. The realization added a sour undertone to the current tang in her throat.
A draft of cool air whispered across her skin. Forget hiding; she had to know. She struggled to lift her head, to glance down. What looked like a towel rested across her belly. If it had been tied around her, it wasn’t any longer; her breasts and between her legs were bare.
A whimper scratched through her dry vocal cords. What had he done to her? The instinct to struggle overwhelmed everything else, but no matter how hard she pulled or twisted, she succeeded in nothing but uncovering even more of herself.
Futility swam through her. She lay, listening to the frantic beat of her heart, and remembered seeing one of theSawmovies on TV late one night. As she’d watched, she’d wondered if she would panic, caught in a situation like the characters were forced to go through, no way out, no escape, just the inevitability looming over your head. Now here she was, caught in a spider’s web with absolutely no choice but to wait and see what horrible things Brit would do to her. The realization brought a slightly hysterical laugh to her lips.
The sound of a door opening across the room had her snapping her head around. Brit. His blond hair and blue eyes looked angelic, even now. He covered the crazy so well, but she knew it was there, lurking in the background, waiting to pounce. That was the evil she sensed, and she knew she could never get rid of it.
“Awake, I see.”
Dread flowed through her veins like molasses, but she tried to shut it out.Keep him talking.“What did you give me?” she asked hoarsely.
He smirked. “Just a little something to make it less complicated for us to get here. You refused to come along nicely.” He moved closer to the bed. “Sedatives are fairly easy to get your hands on if you know where to look.”
He’d had the syringe in his pocket; a syringe, not a dart like the one he’d used on Mark. “You knew I would fight.”
“Of course I did. I thought you were fun when you huddled in a corner”—a flush swept his cheeks—“but this was even better.”
One hand dug in his pocket, and her heart jumped as he pulled out the long black switchblade he’d used at the house, its now familiarsnickringing in the air as it snapped open. Silver light reflected off the sharp edge as he twirled it in his hand. “You have been a bad, bad little mouse.”
“Stop calling me that.” Her voice quivered as anger built. “I’m not yours, and I sure as hell am not a mouse. Not anymore.”
He quirked a brow. Another twirl, slow and relaxed. “All the more fun when I beat it out of you.”
Slitting her eyelids, she prayed he couldn’t see her relief. She had some time—how much, she wasn’t sure, but every little bit brought her closer to the possibility of escape.
“For now,” he said, continuing to twirl the knife, “I think we do need to talk about your punishment. You disobeyed me, Jess.” He stepped closer. The knife mesmerized her, the sight of his pleasure as he stared at her body terrified her—all the more so because it wasn’t sexual in any normal sense of the word. There was hunger, yes, but like an animal, a predator, not a lover.
She knew the difference now.
“I told you to stay away from him. I told you, and what did you do? You hid from me.” He stabbed the blade toward her face. “Just being seen with you was a sacrifice, all that sniveling, whining, ‘oh Brit, I’m not ready,’ and you repay me by giving it up for that worthless…” His lips tightened. “I think you need a reminder of exactly who I am.”
“Is that what you did to Rebecca?”
A flash of surprise lit his eyes. Brit lifted the knife, bringing the blade to his mouth, and stroked the flat of it across his bottom lip. A bright red bead of blood appeared, and he licked it away. “Ah, Rebecca.” Stroke. Stroke. Stroke. “Becca made the mistake of thinking she could leave me. Hustling off to that Arizona art commune. Do you think I could let that get out, allow everyone to know she was screwing me over? That’s not how this works.” His voice rose as he punctuated his words with sharp stabs of the switchblade inches from her face. “I’m the one with the power. I’m the one in charge; she belonged to me. She earned everything she got, and so have you.”
Brit pushed his knee onto the bedspread and bent close. Jess held her breath as the thin silver blade caressed the exposed skin of her inner arm like a deadly lover. The light of madness shone in Brit’s eyes, growing brighter as he watched his toy move.
“Becca loved it when I touched her like this. The slide of the knife, so smooth, so easy.”
