Crave(16)

“Or he has a concubine doing it for him,” Elizabeth stated.

“You know, together we could start a country.”

She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. The relief, and finally hearing his deep husky voice did things to her body that made her want to weep.

“Well, that was a nice sound, Bethy. Promise you will do that again when we are face to face.”

“Face to face?”

“Yes, no more of this online bullshit. I just finished my semester and I’m going to meet you. I stayed up all night researching. I couldn’t sleep, I was too stressed out. I was worried, I didn’t want him...” He couldn’t finish. Elizabeth didn’t want him to either. “Anyway, you are literally in the belly of the beast, Bethy. Like Satan’s main haven of followers. It is even rumored that a gateway to hell is under the convent.”

This time her knees melted right under her and she hit the stone flooring hard. A whimper escaped from her parted lips and she felt the tears fall down her cheeks. Fear, regret, and anger all rioted for a front row seat with her emotions.

“I’m sorry. I mean, you looked it up too. We all thought it was legit.”

“It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault, Jared,” she whispered.

“It is, but let’s not talk about that now. Right now you need to know two things. One, I think your parents are still in on this. I think they knew about this place, or were told and sent you knowing you would be heading right into the jaws of the asshole.”

“How do you know this?” she nearly screamed into the phone, but maintained an odd level of calm at this knowledge.

“Because they were just in Forbes magazine last week boasting as one of the top ten business of 2014 after a huge financial loss the year before, Bethy. I mean, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it fits. According to the contract, once he has the female, the family prospers until her death.”

She nodded, not even realizing he couldn’t see. Her silent tears still fell as defeat became a very real thing.

“But I have good news.”

“Oh, really, what?” she scoffed. God, she sounded bitter.

“Hey, I need you strong, Bethy! Do you hear me? Get your ass up. I have a plan. You need to work with me here, got it?”

Elizabeth didn’t answer for a long time. She just stared in a daze towards the front door and the pretty dawn that waited to greet her and send her to her fate.

“Fuck,” she heard him mumble under his breath. “Please, don’t give up on me now.” She could have sworn she heard a faint English accent come out in him. His rich, husky voice dropped to a deep baritone and it knocked her right out of her stupor.

Elizabeth got to her feet slowly. The heat of the rock in her pocket distracted her for a moment before she smiled.

“I’m here. It’s okay, go on,” she whispered.

“Okay, you need to get yourself to Polignano A Mare. You are about eight hours out from it. It is a small sea side town. Just before you hit the rise that will take you down to the coast is a very small farm with a vineyard attached. Three monks are living there. One doesn’t speak, and that is who we are looking for. I already wrote to him. He got back to me and said he would be more than happy to help you. I have a car that will be waiting for you tonight to take you at this same time. You have cash, right?”

“Yes, I gutted my savings. I have a lot actually.”

Hope started to fill her. She might just be able to do this. The stone in her pocket seemed to get uncomfortably warm and she reached in for it. It sizzled and she yelped.

“Beth! Beth, what is it?”

She hissed as she pulled her hand out of her pocket and looked at the angry red tips of her fingers.

“The stone—it burned me.”

“Fuck, Goddamnit! He’s there.”

“What, wait, hold on...” She darted her gaze around and the only person she saw was Mr. Crose at the front counter stacking up gum on the racks. “No, I see no one.”

“Look, Beth, you need to leave now, and act normal. Same fight, same you. He can’t suspect anything. You might need to stay up again another night—dreams, well, he can get into dreams.”

Elizabeth froze. A tremor sliced through her body as she parted her lips to answer but nothing came out but a violent whine.

“No, Beth, tell me you haven’t been dreaming about him, please, bloody hell!” the accent was back and it wasn’t enough to rid her of the fear.

She decided to lie.

“No, nothing happened. Just worried about not sleeping again.”

Elizabeth heard his very loud sigh of relief through the phone. The air brushed against the mouthpiece and she had to move the phone away from her ear.