Stay(43)

He bit his lip and diverted his eyes, blood rushing to his cheeks. I didn’t want to admit that I found him sorta cute. He was a bad person, just like Zane. When he turned and went up the stairs, I found myself wishing he had stayed.





CHAPTER EIGHTEEN





I CAREFULLY SCRAPED a perfect arch in the frost-covered window. The thin ice melted instantly when it met my skin. I watched thick snowflakes collect on the brown grass and thought about my dogs. Scarlet loved snow. Even in her old age, she would leap through snowdrifts like a puppy. I sighed, my breath clouding around my face. I hugged myself, rubbing my hands up and down on my arms.

“Why are you dressed like that?” I asked Phoebe as I stepped down from the chair and turned around. “You look like a candy cane.”

She looked down at the red and white stripped spandex jumper she had on and raised an eyebrow. “That the point.” Her expression saddened when she saw my confusion. “Addie,” she said gently. “It two days before Christmas.”

“Really?” I asked. I had just returned to the basement from the guest room. My wrists hurt from being tied up all day, and my arms were stiff, pulled unnaturally over my head. The muscles in my thigh quivered, sore as if I had worked out. Really, I tensed every time I was raped, fighting my rapist each and every time. When it was too much for them to handle, Zane tied my ankles to the bed. One time he held me down and watched the rape happen.

I knew Christmas was approaching, but I didn’t realize it was that close. The house hadn’t been decorated for the holiday. Had two months really passed since I last stepped foot outside? “Oh.”

Next to Halloween, Christmas was my second favorite holiday. It was my mother’s favorite by far. She had always gone all out, decorating the house to the point of making me feel claustrophobic. She was good at finding everything and anything Christmas themed. One year she even found holiday printed toilet paper. I wondered if she even bothered to decorate this year. I hoped she had. I didn’t want my family and friends to entirely move on and bury my memory, but I wanted them to be able to live their lives. Nate might have control over my life, but I didn’t want him to have that effect on the people I care about.

“No wonder you’ve been so busy,” I said quietly. I had a hard time keeping track of time. Everything blurred together. “What is wrong with people that they would want to celebrate Christmas with an underage prostitute?” I asked myself and shook my head. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, pushing away thoughts of my family. I wanted to wait until the girls were gone to have another breakdown.#p#分页标题#e#

The basement door opened and Jackson plodded down the stairs. He hadn’t so much as said a word to me since we talked about books right after Halloween. I sometimes found myself wanting to discuss the topic again, but quickly reminded myself that he wasn’t anyone I wanted to be friends with. Still…the topic of reading brought a sense of comfort. It reminded me of my life before being taken.

His right hand was wrapped in a bloody bandage, and he held his arm close to his body. He kept his eyes on the ground as if he refused to acknowledge my presence.

“Ready?” he asked, directing his question to no one in particular.

“Yeah,” Lily said and stood. She put a knee length, red sweater over her tight jeans and a midriff showing white, fuzzy sweater.

I found it odd that Jackson was taking them instead of Zane. Even after I stopped going out, Zane came down to get the girls, and Jackson brought them back. I sat on the cot, feeling lonely and scared as soon as Lily and Phoebe left. Rochelle had disappeared with Zane the night before, and she hadn’t been back since. I was certain she was too important, business-wise at least, to Nate for Zane to hurt her, but I couldn’t help the sick feeling that curdled in my stomach when I thought of her being alone with him.

Feeling restless with fear, I sprang up off the cot and began pacing around the basement. It helped me stay warm, and it helped stop the fight-or-flight feeling from taking over. I slowly crept up the stairs and jiggled the knob, just in case. Of course it was locked.

The wonderful aroma of freshly baked apple pie wafted through the cracks in the doorframe. I stuck my face close to the door and inhaled. The smell immediately made my mouth water and brought up another family Christmas memory.

The floorboards creaked in the kitchen. I gasped in fear and scurried down the stairs just in time for the basement door to fly open.

“Adeline,” Zane called.

“What?” I responded. Just the sound of his voice caused my hair to stand on end.