Page 20 of Ensnared
Going into the empty dressing room, Eve walked over to the mirror and stared at herself. Her skin was dewy and her skin shone from the essential oils rubbed into it. She felt pretty. Smiling, she took down the rollers and grinned at the big fluffy curls. Her grandmother would love to see her hair like this. It was so pretty, it was almost a shame she only had an empty house to go back to. Not for the first time, she missed her college girlfriends back in California. It would be nice to spend a day with them while feeling pretty like this. Not wanting to ruin the indulgent high from her symphony of pampering and self-care, Eve shook the thought from her head and headed to her locker. Opening it up, she froze.
Inside there should have been her purse, a faded pair of jeans, a tank top, and grungy white sneakers. Instead, she was looking at a pair of black wedge heels and a deep plum dress. Even her underwear was missing. Instead folded into a neat pile under her gold-rimmed glasses was a frothy black lace set that may as well be nothing at all. Horrified, she slammed the locker door shut and opened the one next to it. Maybe she got the wrong one. Maybe there was someone else here in the spa. But it was empty. Locker after locker, Eve opened them all until she was standing in the middle of the room surrounded by dozens of open lockers. All empty except one.
Cinching the tie on her towel tighter, Eve walked purposely out of the dressing room and into the dimly lit hall and walked back to the main reception.
"Excuse me but…" Her voice died down as she realized the reception area was empty. Looking around, she waited and listened for the sound of someone, but there was nothing, just absolute stillness.
"Hello," she called out loudly.
Nothing.
Maybe they stepped outside into the main hall, she reasoned. Holding the lapels of her robe closed with one hand, Eve pushed on one of the heavy doors. It didn't budge. What the hell?!
Her heart began to race. "Hello?! Is anyone here?" she called out.
She knew she sounded frantic but she didn't care. She was frantic. Her purse with her phone, keys, and IDs was gone. Her clothes and shoes were gone. And apparently, all the staff were too. Walking around the counter, she pushed on the staff door but it was locked too.
Hurriedly she backtracked down the hallway going into each room. Each massage room she opened was empty. The wet area with the hot tub and steam room was empty and shut off. She even found a large staff storage room with supplies—it was also empty.
At some point, the franticness turned into all out fear and she ran back to the front reception. She grabbed the phone. She would call hotel security. Yes, it would be embarrassing to explain all this and have to get rescued, but what choice did she have? Holding the phone to her ear, Eve's heart clenched. There was no tone. Going around the counter, she pressed every button on the phone panel and nothing happened. Setting the phone back down, she tried to think just as the computer lit up.
Her blood froze to ice in her veins as she read the gold letters on the black screen.
"Put on the clothes, Eve. Once you're dressed the door will unlock."
Was this some sort of prank? An elaborate prank to get her to come up here and enjoy herself only to make her look a fool or something?
Paranoid, Eve looked up and around until she spotted the discreet bubbled domes on the ceiling. Were they watching her on the cameras right now?
Angry and terrified, she clutched her robe tighter. "What do you want?" she shouted.
Again, the words on the screen flashed meaningfully. The icy fear in her veins rushed beneath the surface of her skin. Stepping back, she looked between the locked door and the dead phone on the desk. Without anyone here and a way to call out, what choice did she have?
Besides, some clothes were better than no clothes, right? she told herself. If she was going to get pranked, she would rather not be stark naked beneath a robe. Back in the dressing room, Eve grabbed the foreign clothes and went into the private changing room after checking the ceiling for cameras.
If it were any other occasion, Eve would have found the deep plum dress cute. With its long sleeves that flared subtly at the wrists, pin-tucked bodice, and sweetheart neckline the velvet dress was perfect for her curvy body. Slipping on the black wedge heels, Eve pushed her glasses up higher on her nose before walking out of the dressing room and back into the reception.
The screen on the computer was blank, the previous instructions gone as if they were never there.
Hesitantly, she pushed the tall door to the spa, relieved to find it moving this time. Eve squinted under the bright light of the hallway as she peeked out the heavy door. From what she could see of the long hallway it was clear. What time was it? She had been in there for three to four hours, right? Without a watch or phone to check, Eve didn’t have a clue. Pushing the door open a little more, she stepped out of the spa and turned to look the other way down the hall.
She nearly screamed.
Standing just behind the door was a giant of a man. Every single cell in her body called on centuries of evolution and told her brain to run. But out of the three options of fight, flight, or freeze her mind chose to freeze as she stared dumbfoundedly up at the looming figure. The stranger's imposing stature commanded attention, standing as tall and strong as a pro football player. There was an aura of intensity around him that was practically palpable as he stared down at her with calm eyes that contrasted with his terrifying presence. With terracotta skin adorned with dark tattoos that traced up his neck and down to his hands, he exuded an air of mystery and most certainly danger.
Eve opened her mouth to say something but the man spoke first.
"Come with me, Miss Thomas." The words sounded like rocks falling down the side of a mountain.
Eve immediately stepped back and shook her head. "Whatever this is I don't want any part-"
The man's unreadable expression did not change as he took one step forward. "I insist."
She could hear the finality in his tone. It only stoked the cold fire of fear in her gut. Turning around, Eve judged the distance of the hallway and how fast she could run to the end in her tall shoes, but as if reading her mind, two more men dressed in matching black suits appeared at the end of the hallway. Standing side by side with their hands folded in front of them, they blocked the end of the hall like a wall.
"This way, Miss Thomas," the giant's voice was further away now and Eve turned to see him walking to a gold elevator at the other end of the hall.
Warily Eve bit her lip as she examined her options. The gift shop on the other end of the hallway near the men standing guard was closed, its windows dark and its doors shut. Besides the spa there was nothing else down this hall, no one else to ask for help.
