I kept my mouth shut, my body shaking as panic settled in.
"DO YOU?!" He repeated himself with a shout while leaning his face into mine. I flinched away from him and he chuckled humorously. His features smoothed out suddenly and he lifted his free hand and placed it on my cheek. I flinched again and clenched my eyes shut; both scared for what came next and disgusted by his touch. "I forgive you, baby."
My eyes snapped open at his statement and he brushed his thumb across my cheek in slow circles. "What?"
"I forgive you, Brookey Baby," he repeated softly.
My attention swung to Elle as she let out a scream, muffled by the tape covering her mouth. She was trying to tell me something with her eyes but I couldn't make it out through her tears. She shook her head violently. "Elle, you're okay. Jesse's not going to hurt you." I told her carefully, praying that my words were true. "Right, Jesse?"
Jesse smirked and removed his hand from my face before swinging his arm back, his closed fist crashing against my face. I screamed in pain as the force of his blow pushed my body to the floor. I felt a warm tricked down my face and lifted my hand to see that my lip was split open and already beginning to swell rapidly.
"I'm not gonna hurt that bitch, don't worry." He laughed once. "You're the only one that's gonna pay for what you've done."
"But-but … " I stuttered through my cries of pain. "You said you-you forgive me."
I was only vaguely aware of Elle's muffled cries as she tried to wrestle out of her restraints. Before I could lift myself from the ground my ribs were met with a hard kick from Jesse's boot. The air left my body and I gasped trying to catch my breath from the force of his strike. My sobs were uncontained as I felt the familiar pain course through my body. This couldn't be happening again. From the corner of my hazy vision I saw Jesse pull the gun away from Elle and step toward me, landing one more kick to my stomach. I coughed again, screaming from the brutal ache that he left behind. My lip was throbbing and the left side of my ribs had already begun to bruise. With each breath I struggled to take a sharp pain swept through me.
"I do forgive you, Brookey Baby." He sneered, looking down at me from where he towered over me, his gun resting in his hand beside him. "But you still need to pay for what you've done."
I screamed a loud, piercing shriek as he lifted his gun and pointed it at my face from where he stood above me. Elle thrashed in her constraints, her sobs stifled from the tape pulled tightly across her lips. Jesse's attention was pulled away from me when Elle tipped over her chair and crashed to the floor along with it. She didn't loosen her ties with the fall but she managed to give me time as Jesse turned to her. He spit down at her, his saliva splashing onto her shoulder and she shuddered, gagging through the tape.
"You fuckin' bitch! Sit still or I'll put this mother fuckin' bullet in your forehead!" Jesse screamed at her, bending down and grabbing her by her hair roughly so that he could pull her face close to his. Her whole body shook and she closed her eyes tightly. His grip on her hair was so tight that I could see his knuckles turning white from his hold. I wailed at the torture he was placing on my best friend. He let go of his hold on her, and pushed her face back down, the side of her head smacking onto the hardwood floor. He didn't move the chair upright, instead keeping her in the position she landed in when the chair tipped to the side.
With his back to me, I took that moment to get to my feet, ignoring the searing pain running through every inch of me. I sprinted over to the kitchen and grabbed a large cooking knife, praying it could stop a bullet, but knowing that it wouldn't. Jesse spun around and his eyes widened slightly at the sight of my meager weapon. As soon as his shock appeared it was gone, and he started to laugh hysterically. His rapid mood swings were unsettling and I felt a new wave of horror course through me as I realized that there was nothing I could do to save myself. A sob escaped me realizing my mistake. I should have called the police. I foolishly placed both Elle and myself in an even more perilous situation by not informing anyone of Jesse's return.
"You're so fuckin' stupid," Jesse laughed, nodding his head in the direction of the knife I gripped between both of my hands in front of me. "I'll tell you what," he said, "I'll give you five minutes to try to kill me with that knife before I place this bullet in your brain."
Elle was quiet behind him and I stole a glance at her to see her tied hands scooting towards her phone that was about a foot away from her. She must have dropped it to the ground when he grabbed her. I held back a sigh of relief at my best friend's fast thinking and turned back to Jesse. I needed his attention to remain focused on me while Elle reached her phone and called for help. He was a sick bastard but I would play his game, knowing it was the only thing buying Elle and me five extra minutes to try to save our lives.
"Why are you doing this, Jesse?" I asked him, unable to control the tremor in my voice. I took a few small steps closer to him. He looked down at the watch on his wrist and I noticed that his body was starting to perspire from the drugs coursing through his veins.
"You've got four minutes and thirty seconds and you want to spend it taking a trip down memory lane?" he asked me, smiling sadistically. I didn't say anything, instead taking two more steps in his direction. I stole a quick glance at Elle to see that she was only a few inches from her phone. Her panic and struggle was evident in her wide eyes but she gave me a small, almost imperceptible nod, encouraging me.
"I want to know why you're doing this again, Jesse!" I told him, finding strength from Elle's support. My voice rose as anger started to shove away the fear that was suffocating me. "What happened to the guy that would spend hours trying to win me that damned stuffed giraffe?!"
I winced in pain as my yelling put pressure on my sore ribs. Jesse's eyes narrowed at me and I took two more small strides toward him. I was positioned right beside the door, hoping that someone would be walking by and hear the horror in my voice as I spoke louder.
"That guy didn't realize that his girlfriend was a philandering whore, sleeping around behind his back!" He screamed at me, his gun remaining at his side as he gave me the five minutes that he promised, despite his rising fury. I stole another glance at Elle and she had the phone in her hands tied behind her back. She was pressing against the screen, using the emergency screen built into the iPhone. She couldn't be sure that she was dialing the right number but I forced myself to believe that help was on its way. Her face relaxed slightly and she nodded at me once more, only this time she wasn't encouraging me, but rather assuring me that we were going to be okay.
I swung my gaze back to Jesse, grateful that his focus was unwavering from mine. The rage in his almost-black eyes sent a new rush of terror throughout me but I pushed it aside reminding myself that I had to stay strong, and I had to play his game. It was the only way.
I leveled a glare at him and took one tiny step closer to him. "I never once cheated on you."
"You're still sticking with that story, huh?" he spat out at me, before looking back down to his wrist. "Two minutes and fifteen seconds left for you, you fucking lying whore."
I didn't have time to respond to him before the door to the apartment flew open and I spun around to find Wes standing in the doorway, his hand clutched tightly against the doorknob. I tried to plead with him through my eyes to leave but he his gazed was swinging between Elle who lie helpless on the floor behind Jesse, to me. I couldn't decipher the emotions flickering in his depths as he took in my bleeding lip and the way my body hunched from the sharp pain of my ribs. He looked at the large knife that I was gripping tightly in my hands and his eyes went wide before he swung his gaze to Jesse and the gun that he now raised, pointing directly at Wes.
"Time's up," he stated.
"NO!" I screamed, lunging in front of Wes. "Get out of here, Wes!"
I tried to push him back with my frame but I was too weak. More sobs crept up my throat, violently releasing into the atmosphere surrounding us. Tears streamed down Elle's face and she wailed out when Jesse took a step closer to where I stood in front of Wes.