Page 59 of Reid's Fixation
Chapter 14
Reid
When he woke, it was pitch black outside and he was shivering with cold.
He had put on a light jacket earlier, but it was doing no good against the freezing temperatures of early November.
Not up this far in the mountains. His teeth were chattering, and his arm felt like it was on fire. The cut was deep, and his sleeve was drenched with blood. Both dried and new.
He heard a grunt, and then another.
He looked up and could barely see Xavier through the darkness, but the man was trying his best to get free from his ropes and was not having any luck.
Xavier’s gag was gone, and Reid put his mouth against his good shoulder and with some maneuvering, was able to get the gag out of his own mouth.
“Xavier,” he croaked, “Are you alright?”
Xavier went still, “Thank god.” He blew out a breath of relief, “Reid, you were out of it for hours. Are you okay?”
Reid gave a tight nod, “I am dizzy, and my head feels like it is stuffed with cotton, but I am fine.”
He shook his head, “God, Xavier, how long has he had you?”
Xavier growled, “The day after Kian left, Mark came to my house and kidnapped me. Goddamn it! I have been out of it for days, and I have been trying to shake the sedatives off. It sucks, and I am exhausted. My body is slow and won’t work the way it should. I can’t get these damn ropes off.”
He kept grunting and then swore again. “My fucking stomach keeps bleeding, and I am scared that the blood will attract a bear or something. If we can get free, we can try to find our way back to town. I don’t want to die on this fucking mountain Reid. Fuck, I haven’t even kissed a girl. I’m almost thirty years old. I don’t want to die without finding her Reid. My girl. She could be out there right now waiting for me.”
Reid nodded; he didn’t want to die up here either. He just found his girl and refused to give her up. To give up the life he wanted with her.
He needed to get the drugs out of his system and tried his best to shake off the sedative, but it wasn’t easy and with the pain of his deep cut and having his shoulder pulled wrong, he let out a groan.
He wanted to get out of his ropes, but he was cold and sleepy. The lull of sleep trying to wash over him again.
Xavier noticed his head starting to lull and yelled, “No, damn it. Reid, you have to stay awake. You can’t sleep. It’s too cold and we have to get out of here. I for one don’t want to get attacked by a fucking bear. And I don’t want to die knowing that fucker is out there, getting away with it all. Living a free life when he deserves to be put behind bars for the rest of his fucking life.”
Reid shook his head, “I am exhausted Xavier. I don’t think I can.”
Xavier let out a growl, twisting and turning in the ropes. “Yes, you can. Damn it Reid. I have seen your courage. You stood your ground when Nikolai’s house was attacked. You refused to back down when bullets were flying past and did all you could to protect people. You pulled that woman out of a dumpster Reid. Saved her fucking life. You have done more good things in your life than anyone else I know, and Kian told me that you fucking pushed your friend off a bomb. A FUCKING bomb Reid. Come on, you have to do this. You don’t want to leave your girl either do you?”
Reid shook his head, “I just proposed to her. Yesterday. She is mine.”
Xavier was grunting again, “Then fight! Fight to get out of here. Fight the fogginess out of your system. Come on, we need to get out of here.”
Reid nodded and took a deep breath, and started twisting his body, trying to use the rough bark on the tree to fray the ropes.
It would be slow going, but he had to do this. No, he would do this.
As the hours wore on, it seemed that they made no progress. They had to stop more than once, as Xavier’s stomach kept bleeding.
Making Xavier groan in pain often because the rope dug into it and Reid knew it must have been more than pain.
His arm wasn’t as bad, but it too kept bleeding, jarred from the movements of his body, and that combined with the drugs they had both been given, made them tire easily and they fought to keep going, and still the rope seemed to never give.
He was getting frustrated, and exhausted, like Xavier was. “Where did he get these ropes? Are they made from fucking metal? Lord.”
Then a snap sounded from Xavier’s tree and the man fell to his knees, the ropes no longer holding him up.
Xavier looked up at the black sky and muttered thanks.
