“Thank you for saving my life,” she said, looking up at him so he could see her eyes. She hoped he could read the love and gratitude in their blank depths.
He caressed her lips with his thumb and then with his lips, lightly pressing the softness of her mouth with his harder lips. She exhaled and opened her mouth to his. He darted his tongue briefly into the silken recess before withdrawing.
“Sleep, Addison.”
Addison woke suddenly, a cry echoing in the room around her. She covered her mouth with her good hand when she realized the broken sound had come from her own lips. She’d been dreaming that she was drowning in that damn river in the park, struggling to surface, but constantly swimming down toward the bottom. At the bottom of the river, Erica was waiting for her, laughing and screaming, waving her arms at Addison, her fingertips topped by razorblades. A kaleidoscope of red and pink had swirled in the river around Addison’s body where Erica’s finger blades had sliced away at her.
“This is going to take years of therapy,” Addison grumbled, sitting up in her bed and shoving the suddenly suffocating quilt aside.
Cool air touched Addison’s arms and she realized it was dark outside. The sun had set on another day. Which meant it had been nearly twenty-four hours since her ordeal in the park. It felt surreal to her that so much time had passed and she had spent most of it sleeping. She knew Daniel wasn't in her apartment, he would have come to her instantly if he’d heard her cry out in her sleep.
She winced as she stood up on her sore feet and it took a few painful steps before she was able to make her way painfully around the bedroom. She pulled on a pair of old sweatpants and a T-shirt and tried calling Daniel on her cell phone. It rang, but there was no answer. Her heart hammered in her chest and she broke out in a cold sweat.
“You’re okay, Addie,” she whispered to herself, knowing it was true, but she desperately wished Daniel had stayed with her until she woke up.
They really needed to come up with some kind of system where he could leave his blind girlfriend a message letting her know where he was going to be and when he was going to be back. She sighed. If he was even willing to take that step in their relationship. Though she thought getting kidnapped, stabbed and nearly drowned in a river should earn her a few more privileges on her list of relationship goals.
She decided rather than waiting around for him to come back while she paced restlessly and chewed on her already short fingernails she would go upstairs and try to find him. He was probably organizing security stuff so he could take some time off to take care of her. He likely hadn’t expected her to wake up when she had. Though that didn't explain why he wasn't answering his phone. He’d seemed so concerned about her before.
Addison took the elevator up, deciding that her flight through the forest, swim in the river and swollen feet entitled her to at least a month of no exercise. She tapped the code to the security door and pushed it open. Silence greeted her. Which seemed odd. It wasn’t that late in the evening, there should’ve been someone on security.
“Hello,” she called, starting to make her way down to his place. “Daniel, are you up here?”
She heard a muffled moan to her right, which made her freeze midway down the corridor. What was that? She was about to continue on to Daniel’s apartment when she heard another sound and then the rattling of one of the cages. Heart pounding, Addison stood in frozen indecision, terribly afraid she knew exactly what she was hearing.
“Er… Erica, is that you?” she whispered hesitantly, really hoping she was wrong.
A muffled scream confirmed her suspicions. Addison leaned against the wall, torn between the need to run away from her tormentor as fast as she could and curiosity over what Erica was doing up there on the security floor. She knew it couldn’t be anything good, given the muffled quality of Erica’s voice and Daniel’s tendency toward cold-blooded murder and mayhem.
“Okay,” Addison breathed out quietly. “She can't hurt you.”
She began feeling her way back along the wall until she reached the edge of the cage that housed the surveillance equipment. As soon as her fingers touched it she felt the slight vibrations from where Erica’s body was struggling. Addison moved along the chain link cage until her fingers touched Erica’s arm. She jumped back from the other woman as though burned and then cried out as her hip struck a table.
“Darn it!” she yelped.
Because she needed another bruise. She felt along the table. There were keys, a roll of duct tape, a wicked feeling blade that was a heck of a lot bigger than Erica’s had been and a hand gun. Oh god, a gun! With shaking hands Addison picked the gun up off the table, making sure to point it at the floor. She had no idea how it worked. She didn't know how to tell if it was loaded or if there was a safety on the gun that was on or off. But Erica didn’t need to know all that.
“Erica?” she said cautiously.
“Mmmmm…!” came the reply.
Addison took a deep breath and approached Erica, reassuring herself over and over that Erica was helpless and couldn’t hurt her. That Daniel had her well secured. He was extremely good at his job. Whatever job led him to knowing how to chain people up. Erica wouldn't be able to hurt Addison in her current position.
“Erica, I have a gun here, as you may be able to see,” she pointed it where she hoped Erica was and was gratified to hear a terrified squeal. In a hard voice she continued, “I will shoot you if you upset me in any way, Erica. I’m not feeling very sympathetic toward you right now. Nod if you understand.”
Addison had no way of knowing if Erica had nodded, but she heard the cage rattle, so she assumed Erica understood the instruction. Taking a deep breath, she reached up and felt along Erica’s arm until she reached Erica’s face. She tried to suppress a shiver of fear and distaste at having to touch the woman that had stalked and terrorized her for the better part of a year. She felt the edge of the duct tape against Erica’s mouth and yanked, gratified when she pulled some of Erica’s hair out too, causing her to yelp.
That was for the multiple stab wounds, bitch!
“Addie, oh my god, Addie, thank god you came! He’s going to kill me… !” Erica’s hoarse voice whined hysterically.
“Shut up!” Addison snapped pointing the gun at Erica’s chest. She was careful to make sure her finger was off the trigger.
Erica stopped talking.
“You’re right, Erica. If I leave you here, he will kill you,” Addison said coldly. “Why should I help you after what you did to me?”
“Did to you… but Addie, I love you, I never mean to hurt you,” Erica said, her voice rising. “I just wanted to show you how much I love you and admire you. I wanted to make you love me back.”
