Page 7 of Serendipity
“What’s wrong with you?” His question made me smile.
“There’s a list, you know. Not super long, but there is one. The more important question here is, what’s wrong with you? Who kidnaps people as a part of their job?”
“I didn’t—”
“Is it childhood trauma? Did you have some issues back then? If so, I know a great therapist that could help you to get over it.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“Also, why are your people not feeding me already? I’ve been kidnapped, starved, placed into a cold cell, and now we’re talking instead of eating. Unless you’d like to kill me, then I can take a few steps backward, so that the blood doesn’t stain your suit. I’m pretty sure it cost more than what I earn.”
“I’m not going to—”
“But like, if you’re going to kill me, can it be something that’s a bit faster? This life was already a complete shitshow, a circus to be very honest with you. So if I’m going to die, can it be fast? I don’t know much about guns, but I know that if you nick my artery, I can bleed out super quic—”
“Will you stop talking?” he suddenly boomed. “I am not going to kill you. Not now, not tomorrow, not twenty years from now. I want to talk to you, to understand.”
“To understand?” I repeated like a parrot.
“Yes, to understand.”
“What exactly would you like to understand?”
Those blazing eyes ran over my chest and then back at my face before he answered again. “Everything.”
“Mhm.” I nodded. “So, you don’t wanna kill me?” I had to be sure.
“No,” he exhaled, annoyance pouring from every inch of his body. “I am not going to kill you,Tesoro.”
“Torture maybe?”
“I’m not gonna torture you either.”
He looked sincere, seeming both annoyed and amused by me, but I really couldn’t understand why I was still here then.
“Okay, I believe you.”
“You do?”
“Apparently, I do, but don’t think too much of it. My brother often jokes that our mom dropped me too many times on my head when I was a kid, and that’s why I’m the way I am.” I stepped back from the bars, realizing that I don’t know his name. “What’s your name? I’m pretty sure that you already know everything there is to know about me, but I don’t know shit about you. I don’t think you’re one of the guards, or whatever it is that they are, and your shoes are shinier than my future, so?”
“You’re really something, you know that?”
“Yeah, something really hungry,” I grumbled. “So, your name?”
One of the guards came closer to him, handing over a key that looked similar to the one the other guard used when he locked me in here. With careful steps and his eyes on me, he came to the bars and unlocked the door, stepping inside.
It was easier to breathe with him on the other side of the barrier, because like this, me craning my neck to meet his eyes, he was everywhere. I inhaled, immediately regretting it, when his spicy cologne tickled my senses, awakening something inside of my chest.
Fuck, it was too early to start developing Stockholm Syndrome.
One of his hands landed on my temple, his face thunderous when I winced as he touched the tender skin.
“What happened here?” His voice dropped an octave, pulling me deeper and deeper into his orbit.
“I fell,” I all but whispered, not trusting my own voice. I was supposed to be a strong, independent, unwavering woman, but here I was. My knees shook, my heart beat a thousand miles per hour, and I knew that if he bent down to claim my lips with his, I would let him.
I might fight for a moment or two, but I wasn’t lying when I said that this was the most exciting thing to happen to me in the last few years.
