Chapter 30
Elle
I didn't like the look of Brad's face when he sat on the bed next to me. I didn't like the way his eyes were beginning to drift more and more towards my legs, still tied open on the bed.
I'd begged him to take the ropes off me, pleaded with him that they were chaffing and giving me blisters, but he didn't relent. I then woke, the next day, with a softer fabric around my wrists. It gave me hope that eventually mypleas to be released would be heard.
It must have been a couple of days that I'd been there now, my arms aching above my head. I could hardly sleep at night, my outstretched arms preventing me from rolling over and curling up as I usually would.
I'd wake often, the night dark and silent outside. I couldn't hear the sound of anything except birds in the day and crickets at night. There were no cars, no voices, just the odd distant rumble of a plane as it soared miles overhead. I knew from the warmth of the sunshine that I was no longer in Montana. No, I knew this weather well. I'd grown up with it.
I was back in California.
Brad came and talked to me often. I had little to say to him, but tried my best to talk back. He tried to kiss me again, but I resisted. The look on his face made me shudder as I shunned him. I knew that if I didn't give him something he might get violent, force himself on me. But, at the same time, I knew that if I did kiss him back he'd take it as a green light for more. Either way, every time his eyes lingered on me my heart began racing, my body tensing and retracting into it's shell.
He seemed completely unstable. One moment his eyes would be full of compassion and regret for what he was doing, while the next they'd fill with anger as he told me he loved me without getting the reply he wanted.
I knew now that I wasn't just dealing with a man with a broken heart. I was dealing with a man with a broken mind, damaged and malfunctioning.
I lay there now, thinking of what was going on back home. I knew Alice would have raised the alarm by now, seeing as I hadn't been there for days. I knew that word would have reached Crash's ears after I'd failed to turn up fordinner with him. I knew that they'd be doing what they could to find me, that the police would have been informed.
The thoughts surged through my head and gave me hope. Hope that they'd track Brad down and find me. Hope that my torment wouldn't last too long. Hope that they'd realize that it was actually him who was to blame.
That's all I had right now though - hope. Without it, I'd begin to go as mad as he was.