Page 103 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘Police radio,’ she informed me, seemingly proud of herself. ‘This way I’ll be able to know what’s going on.’

What the actual hell, was she seriously thinking of outrunning the police and taking me along for a joyride?

She pulled a large Home Depot orange mixing bucket that I recognized from the many Drew had in our garage. I sighed, looking down to my belly, my connection to him, growing inside of me. I could only imagine what he was going through right about now, worried out of his ever-loving mind, no doubt.

Lisa walked over to me carrying the bucket and put it down next to me. ‘It’s been a while, thought you might need to piss,’ she said.

What the hell did Drew ever see in this psycho bitch?

Yeah, so what, I could be crass also.

She pulled me up with more force than was needed. ‘Thank-fuck you lost your fat ass, would have made getting you out of your house a lot harder.’

Was she working alone? Did someone from the Taggart’s pay her to do this, and if so, what was their end game?

She pulled my yoga pants down, and I let out a yell as best I could despite the fact that I still had a gag in my mouth. I squeezed my legs together. ‘Oh sweetheart, we both know you’re a whore who spreads those legs to get what you want, to steal what’s mine,’ she snarled, lowering me to sit on the bucket. It was the most degrading experience of my life. At least with the nurse she was a trained professional, and I wasn’t bound like a prized pig ready for a luau.

As I sat down, my body betrayed me and I relieved myself immediately.

I thought about what she said, accusing me of taking Drew from her. This was all about Drew and likely had nothing to do with the Taggarts at all. Relief washed over me as I processed the information. Knowing that the Taggarts didn’t have anything to do with my kidnapping made me somewhat relieved, however, it still didn’t make the situation great by any stretch of the imagination. It was the best-case scenario, but I still didn’t have answers, a way of asking questions, or any way to escape this psycho bitch’s clutches.

I stood after I was done with my business, looking around, but I didn’t see any toilet paper.

‘Did I say you could stand, cunt?’ she yelled at me, slapping my face, causing me to turn and crash into the metal wall, feet and hands still bound, pants around my knees. My head hit the wall, and I used my ab muscles to steady myself leaning into the wall, wincing from the pain in the side of my head. I looked down at my pants, only for Lisa to respond with a huff, ‘Ugg, you’re so useless. Spoiled little princess.’ I was thankful that I had on one of my old Harvard hoodies that was rather large on me now, but it covered my ass and the top part of my thighs. It was also loose, holding my small bump that was getting harder and harder to conceal.

It was only last night that Drew and I had the conversation about telling my family of our special news now that I was just entering my second trimester. We were waiting for Abby to finalize everything with the District Attorney’s office, as I didn’t want to be wearing an ankle monitor when we delivered the news. We thought it would have all been sorted out within a few days, but a week on, it felt as if they were dragging their feet. I didn’t want my family to worry about me any more than they already were. I could only imagine what they were all going through at the moment. Even though I didn’t know what time it was, I was pretty sure that my family knew I was missing. Jose would have called Drew right away. I wasn’t stupid, I knew he was there to watchmeas much as I was there to keep him out of trouble.

I was leaning up against the metal wall, watching Lisa move the bucket with my urine out of the way to a corner by the door. She then walked back towards me, causing me to tense up and sink further into the wall, wishing it would swallow me whole.

'Oh calm the fuck down,' she laughed an evil laugh. 'Don’t think of trying anything, unless you want your pants kept down.’ I shook my head to acknowledge her. It wasn’t like I could try anything even if I wanted to. I hated that my hands were bound behind my back; I was completely vulnerable and unable to defend or protect myself or my belly.

She bent over and pulled up my pants, but they got caught on my butt, which was still large compared to the rest of my body. ‘Looks like you didn’t lose that fat ass after all,’ she spit out and reached behind me to pull them up over my behind then moved her hands along the top of my pants to the front to pull them up the rest of the way.

But once again, there was a barrier, my baby bump.

I had been hoping that my sweater would conceal this, but she lifted up my sweater and looked at my stomach. It was clear I was pregnant. I was far too thin to have a stomach that looked like mine did. She let out an audible shocked gasp, rose slowly and looked me in the eyes, anger radiating through her.

‘You fucking bitch,’ she screamed and hit me in the face again before she started pacing around the small room she had sequestered us in, muttering things to herself that I was unable to make out.

‘No, no, this can’t be right.’ That I was able to understand. ‘You just came back last week. You can’t be that far along.’ She looked to my stomach, she was trying to rationalize that there was no way I could be carrying Drew’s baby. Perhaps that would be the best-case scenario for me. Or perhaps since she was obsessed with Drew, she’d want his child to be unharmed, that he’d want his child safe. ‘You stupid whore, did you really think that you could trick him into being with you by pretending you’re pregnant with his child?’ She looked at me. ‘Answer me, bitch,’ she screamed, slapping me again.

I tried to speak but the gag was in the way. She pulled at the gag. ‘Don’t even think about yelling, I promise you, you’ll regret it if you even so much as think about it.’ She loosened it. ‘Besides, there’s no one around for miles, it’s useless, just like you.’

As soon as the gag was off, I took a few deep breaths, the first in so long that I was panting as I’d just ran a marathon.

‘Can you bind my arms in the front?’ I begged.

‘Why, do you think you can protect the bastard inside you?’

I let out a sob. ‘Please, you can have Drew, please just don’t hurt the baby.’

‘It is his?’ she screamed at me, but I didn’t get a chance to answer her before she took a deep breath, and a second later she was talking sweetly, almost in a dreamlike state. ‘Did he tell you we were together?’ I nodded, he never told me per se, but I knew, I wasn’t about to egg her on by telling her he didn’t talk about her. ‘He loves me,’ she went on, ‘He just needed some time, so I gave it to him. He was on his way back to me when you showed back up last week out of the fucking blue to ruin everything.’

I stared at her, willing my face not to give anything of what I was thinking away, like the fact that this chick was seriously delusional and seemed certifiably insane. She continued to pace back and forth in front of me.

‘I’m thinking that it’s time you go away, and this time I'd prefer it was a more permanent arrangement.’ She stopped and looked at me with a crazy-ass look in her eyes. ‘I mean, the police already think you’ve skipped town again. They’re not going to be so stupid a second time as to waste valuable resources on some spoiled bitch who doesn’t want to be found.’

CHAPTER 36

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