Page 81 of Always Watching
My breathing is shaky, coming out in small bursts. “Olly, don’t.”
“You let him touch you.” He looks at me with stormy eyes, anger bleeding from them menacingly. “You let him fuck you. How dare you?” His hand connects with my face, snapping my head to the side. With rough hands, he drags my face back around so I’m looking at him. “Why would you do that?”
“Olly, please.”
“You can be mine, Ranen. I know you better than anyone. We can be together.”
He leans in and plants a kiss on my lips, trying to shove his tongue down my throat. I turn away, shaking my head so he no longer has access. The knife pricks at my face, but I don’t want his mouth on me, the knife be damned.
He doesn’t seem to mind. Olly sighs. “That’s okay. You’ll see soon that we’re meant to be together. After a few days down here, you’ll see the error of your ways.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“To show you that you belong to me.”
“I belong to North,” I say with conviction.
Olly scoffs, then wraps his hand around my throat, squeezing. My eyes bug out as I stare up at him, wondering where my friend went. Where is the man I thought would protect me and always be there? Where is my best friend?
He jostles me roughly, making my head throb and my vision swim. “Is that why he hasn’t called you?” He lets me go and I drag in a deep lungful of air. “Yeah, I know he hasn’t.” Olly pulls my phone from his pocket and shakes it in my face. “Your phone hasn’t rung once. If you belonged to him, he would have checked up on you.” Olly scoffs and slides my phone back into his pocket.
I hate to say it, but he’s right. One thing North does is keep in contact with me. I had to tell him to chill with his texting when I was with Olly. Did he listen and decide to wait for me to message him? Is North even worried about me?
My chest feels tight and I can’t take in enough air. My head spins and I shake it to clear it, but that just makes the pain worse. I hiss through my teeth, trying to breathe and dispel the pain and the panic attack.
Olly gets to his knees in front of me and takes my chin in his hands roughly. “He’s filth, Ranen. Trash. He wanted you for your virgin ass. Now that he’s had it, he’s done with you. Not like me. I’ll be there for you always.”
“Get away from me.” I try to infuse as much venom in my tone as I can, though it comes out soft and pleading. My head is killing me.
Shaking his head, Olly stands. “I’ll give you some time alone to think about the situation you have yourself in. When I come back down, I hope you’ll be in a better mood.”
With that, he turns his back on me and walks up the stairs. They creak under his weight, the sound almost deafening in my ears.
When I hear the door close behind him, I pull at the bindings, hoping there’s some give. No such luck. I don’t give up, though. I continue to pull and tug and twist and turn until I can’t take the pain throbbing in my head anymore, and I lean to the side and vomit.
My head hurts so bad. I’m not sure if it’s sweat or blood dripping down my face, but I can’t wipe it. God, I feel like shit. My stomach is still rolling and trembling.
I’m not sure how long Olly is gone, but I don’t try to get away again. I don’t want to feel like I did earlier. The scent of my vomit permeates the air, making my stomach hurt even more.
After an untold amount of time, the door above me opens and the stairs creak with Olly’s descent. I’m pleased to see he has a bottle of water in his hands, since my mouth tastes disgusting and is as dry as the fucking Sahara.
He looks at me, then at the vomit beside me. He tsks. “What happened? You okay?” His voice is soothing and almost loving.
I don’t answer, just look at the water. Instead of teasing me with it, he rushes over and opens the bottle. Cupping the back of my head, he tips the water in, first letting me rinse my mouth, then helping me sip the cool liquid. If I weren’t so thirsty and my head didn’t hurt so bad, I’d spit in his face. But as it is, I don’t have the energy for that.
He drags my chair to the opposite side of the basement, facing the window. The sunlight shining through stabs my retinas, but I ignore that. It’s better than breathing in the smell of my own spew any longer.
Olly kneels in front of me, his hot hands going back to my thighs. I want him to stop touching me, but I don’t have it in me to fight him right now. My head is still reeling. I want him to leave me alone so I can figure out how to get out of this. I need to get away from Olly. “Have you calmed down now? Ready to talk?”
“About what?”
“Us. Me and you. Our future.”
“What are you talking about? Why me?”
“Because I love you, Ranen.” He runs his hand down the side of my face, his eyes reverent as he touches me. “I’ve always loved you. You know that.”
Olly is fucking insane. Nothing I say could dissuade him from thinking we’ll fall in love. I’m sure he has some kind of Stockholm Syndrome plan that will make me fall for him. It’s not like anyone knows where I am. I’m isolated. North probably thinks I’m still at Olly’s, having a normal movie night.
