But I can’t lay here anymore, I can’t take being a fucking pin cushion and cutting board for that sick, sadistic man anymore. I have to try to escape these restraints, get to Riley and get the fuck out of here before it’s too late.
Then, a memory hits me.
A soft, fading voice singing to me.
Sickening laughter.
A gun.
A scream.
BANG!
…
Oh, god.
Riley.
The trigger of the memory has my heart pounding as I force my eyes open once more, needing to see him. Everything is blurry, a haze settling over my vision as I scan the dark room for his body in the corner, but I come up short when I find that he isn’t there.
He isn’t there.
He should’ve never been here, but he was, and now he isn’t.
Thereisa chair in the corner of the room, but he’s not in it. There isn’t even a trace of evidence that he was ever here with me in the first place. Clean, shiny floors, pristine walls and furniture; everything is tooclean.No rope cutting into thearmrests where he was tied up. No dried blood from the injuries he should never have received. No blood splattered up the wall. All evidence of his time here has been erased.
Oh no.
I fight my restraints harder, trying to call out his name, but no sound escapes. I’d destroyed my vocal cords because I’d believed the lie that Guy would set him free if I gave him what he wanted. Now Riley isn’t here, and I have no clue if he’s alive or not. I pull and fight against my restraints, and I swear I can hear physical alarm bells sounding off. I must finally be losing my goddamned mind. I can’t focus on that when I’m facing the possibility that Riley was taken from me, for good this time. I can’t lose him.He can’t be gone.
No, no, no, no…
H…he can’t be–
“See me, Stardust.”A rough voice cuts through the terror and dread now consuming me. The voice is soothing, like a balm to my charred soul. But it’s distant; it sounds as if it’s underwater as the words filter through to my ears. “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
Who? Who’s here?
Strong, warm hands gently grip each side of my face, thumbs stroking my cheekbones so delicately that it momentarily stuns me.Guy is never this gentle.His touch is only ever intended to inflict pain.
I blink several times, trying to rationalize this sudden tenderness when two bright blue eyes framed by the darkest of lashes materialize and take shape before me. Messy, inky black hair spills over the pale skin of a beautiful face that I have known and loved my whole life. I suck in a breath, unbelieving of what I see before me, certain I must be hallucinating.
Please be real.
“Creed?”I try to say his name, but no sound comes out.
My lack of voice doesn’t stop a beautiful smile from tugging his lips. “There you are, Stardust.I’ve got you,”he whispers, his eyes glistening as he cups my cheeks and rests his forehead against mine. “Fuck, baby, I’ve got you. You’re safe, I swear it.” He repeats the words to me over and over, almost as if he’s trying to convince himself as much as me. The faint memory of a similar moment in time flashes in the back of my mind but quickly disappears.
I do my best to take a deep breath, to breathehimin. His warm, familiar citrus scent wraps around me; it feels like coming home. It feels like peace. I lift my hands to hold him but am met with resistance again. My eyes flash down to where I’m tied up, and I start to panic as sorrow grips my heart. This is the cruelest of jokes for my mind to conjure, because I realize that this could only be an episode or a dream, and Creed might not really be here. I’m still tied up in that dark, dirty room, just waiting for Guy to come in and ruin me beyond repair.
Alarm bells blare again in the same rapid rhythm to match the harsh breaths that saw in and out of my lungs as tears stream down my face. The salt stings as it passes through the open cuts along my chapped lips.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Creed coos, pushing tangled strands of my hair from my face as I release a silent sob at just howrealhis touch feels. “Tell me what’s wrong, baby. Are you in pain? How can I make it better?”
His face wobbles and blurs through the tears flooding my eyes, and another silent wail rips from my chest at the same time I try to reach for him again, and the restraints halt my movements once more.
“This isn’t real.”
