I fought to keep my eyes open, the drugs still coursing through my veins and keeping me groggy as I tried to get my bearings. The fluorescent lights flickering above me and being handcuffed soaking wet to a metal chair in nothing but a tank top and boy shorts was not helping me stay coherent. Where in the hell did my uniform go? I tried to think back to what got me to this point, my memories fuzzy and blurring together. A call for an open door, that's why I was here, I had been checking the house when someone struck me from behind. That still didn't explain how I ended up naked and shivering in this basement, where the hell was my backup?
"You thought I wouldn't find you here Isabella?" I flinched as he ran the knife down my throat, nicking me just above my collarbone. "Like I wouldn't find you here?" He yelled inches from my face, I closed my eyes and wished like hell I could wipe his spit off of my face as he continued to circle around me, my silence angering him more and more.
"Nothing to say now bitch? Huh? Not running that big mouth of yours now that I've caught you?" He laughed as he walked toward the work bench, the grip of my handgun peeking out of the back of his jeans and angering me even more. I prized myself on self-defense and James getting the drop on me was not something I was happy with, I knew better than to let my guard down, especially with his past threats.
"What did you think would happen Isabella? You thought you could just murder my brother and run back to Daddy's house and start a new life? Replace Jacob like nothing happened and play house with your new boyfriend and I would just forget?"
"I didn't murder Jacob, he was sick James. I tried everything I could to help him, you know that. I begged for your help with him." I sighed, knowing it wouldn't do any good. It didn't do any good when Jacob was alive and it sure as hell wouldn't work now.
His face clouded with anger, his eyes dark and wild as he stared at me. Engaging with him was not a good idea and I knew it but Jacob was not exactly a topic I could talk calmly about. I watched as he paced, barely containing his rage before he finally strode toward me the sting of his hand across my face making me bite my now bruising cheek as I tried to breathe through the pain.
"Don't you dare say his name bitch." He spat before backhanding me again, I took a deep breath through my nose before spitting out the blood out onto the concrete floor. The sound of the gun slamming into my skull echoing throughout the damp basement catching me off guard, disorienting me even more as blood instantly coated my hair and continued down my neck and over my once white tank top. James smiled at the sight of me before walking over to the workbench and quickly snorting a line of white powder, cocaine. Fuck that explained so much of his behavior and made him even more dangerous in his unpredictability.
"You know I was really hoping I'd get a two for one tonight Isabella, where's your little partner? Officer Masen is it? You guys are awfully close I was surprised not to see him tonight." James taunted, his movements even more frantic than before and his words hurting me more than any blow he landed to my body.
"We aren't partners James, I went back to patrol as I'm sure you know since it seems you've been watching me for a while now."
"Oh? Trouble in paradise Isabella? Did he learn that you were a murderer? Didn't want to be your next victim when you grew tired of him too? He may be smarter than I gave him credit for then." He smirked as he circled me again, the knife back in his hand as he ran the edge across my swelling cheek, sighing.
"It's a shame such a nasty girl comes in such a beautiful package…mmmm the fun I could have with you if you didn't disgust me completely." I sent a silent prayer of thanks up at the fact that I wouldn't be violated by this psychopath that way as movement caught my eye from one of the basement windows. James landing another punch to my face as Edward looked through the dirty glass separating us from each other. Our eyes locked briefly for the first time in weeks before his eyes widening brought me back to reality just as James pulled the gun from his waistband and aimed it directly at my chest. The sound of glass breaking and tear gas grenades exploding at the same moment the bullet left the chamber, was all I could hear as chaos erupted around me. Gun after gun discharging in the damp concrete room echoing around me as the chair fell backwards, pain ripping through every part of my body as I landed on the concrete, my head slamming against yet another hard surface and pulling me under as everything faded to black around me.