"Where the fuck have you been?" Naomi glowered at Cook as he walked through the front door. It was almost eight o'clock at night. He had been gone for hours. He looked pale and out of it, at first she thought he was drunk, but he was steady on his feet as he made his way in to the kitchen. He took out a beer from the fridge and just held it in his hand, staring down at it so he didn't have to look at Naomi. "Cook? What's happened?" She placed a reassuring hand on his arm, trying to coax him to talk.
"They got the money." He put the untouched beer down on the kitchen bench and ran his hands though his hair, letting out a deep sigh. "Johnny wants more money…"
"No! Fuck no Cook! We promised her…I promised her she was going home today. Fuck." Naomi kicked out at one of the kitchen chairs before slumping against the sink. She shook her head, her long blonde locks covering her face. "I'll go tell her-"
"No." Cook stopped her in her tracks and picked up his ski mask from the kitchen table. Bringing it down over his face he sighed again and looked up to the ceiling. "I'll tell her."
Naomi listened as his heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. She imagined Emily sitting on the windowsill upstairs, waiting expectantly for the door to open and for one of them to tell her she was going home. She could imagine her expression falling as Cook told her she was staying longer. Her wide brown eyes would fall and her jaw would tighten as she resolved to her continued imprisonment.
"NAOMI!" The blonde jerked from her thoughts as she heard Cook screaming for her. Footsteps pounded down the stairs. She scowled, wondering what all the panic was as she made her way in to the hallway. She heard a second set of footfalls, but it was too late for her mind to pick up on the second set. A blur of red ran straight in to her, knocking her to the ground. She and Emily fell in a tangle of limbs. Naomi's eyes widened as she realised the redhead was staring straight at her. She wasn't wearing her mask.
For the slightest of moments it seemed as though time had slowed down. She heard Cook pounding down the stairs, watched as Emily's lips formed a shocked 'O'. She had seen one of her kidnappers. As well as having their names she could identify Naomi. Her escape had suddenly become all the more important. Naomi lay beneath her in shock, unable to move or reach out for her as Emily scrambled to her feet. She reached the door just as Cook got down the stairs. Her fingers fumbled over the catch. She was shaking and Cook was practically on top of her. The door opened at the last second, just as Cook wrapped his arms around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides. She lashed out, kicking her feet off the front door in an attempt to buck him off of her. Cook lost his footing and fell back, cursing as his shoulders slammed against the stairs. He let go of the small girl as pain tore through his left shoulder blade. The shock wore off and Naomi kicked in to action. As Emily reached for the front door again she slammed in to her, forcing her arms behind her back. She struggled once more, bucking against Naomi's body, but she didn't have the space to kick out with her feet. Cook ignored the pain and got back to his feet. He pulled his belt free from his jeans and wrapped it around Emily's hands. The young woman was hysterical, screaming for help at the top of her lungs and desperately trying to pull her hands free from Cook's grasp. Once she was safely restrained he picked her up and tossed her over his good shoulder. Naomi went to follow him up the stairs but he growled at her to stay downstairs. She had never seen him looking so angry; certainly not at her.
Returning to the kitchen she slumped down in to one of the chairs, waiting for Cook to come down. She heard the heavy wooden door of Emily's prison slam shut and the creaky floorboards at the top of the stairs by the bathroom. When Cook came back down a few minutes later his shirt was off and lying soaking wet across his left shoulder. He sat down beside Naomi, his face contorted in pain as he cradled his injured shoulder. Naomi silently got to her feet and took some ice out of the drawer. Wrapping it in a tea towel she removed his shirt. She gasped at the large purple bruising spread out over his shoulder blade and down his back. Gingerly she pressed the ice over the worst part, wincing as Cook let out a string of curses.
"What happened?" Her voice was timid. She was still in shock from the way Cook had sneered at her. Her best friend dipped his hand in to his pocket and came out with a brass key. Naomi instantly felt the pit of her stomach drop as her own hand went to her pocket. Her key was missing. Cook dropped it on the table, his jaw set.
"She freaked out when I told her she had to stay till Thursday. Hit me over the head with the fucking lamp, unlocked the door and legged it. How the fuck did she get your key Naoms?" His voice was neither raised nor angry. He was back to being her Cook. He held her hand as she held the homemade icepack against his shoulder. "Fuck…she saw your face." Cook groaned in to the palm of his hand.
Naomi felt the shock finally wearing off as burning anger and resentment flooded through her body. The memory of Emily's body on top of her own, her hands roaming over her body, filled her mind, fuelling the fire of her rage. "Where you going?" Naomi put Cook's hand over the icepack before snatching up her key and heading out of the kitchen. "Naomi she's pissed! Just leave her yeah?" The blonde ignored him and pounded up the stairs. She heard Cook following her and left the key in the lock as she locked the door from the inside.
"Naomi!" He banged on the door, rattling the handle, but she ignored him. Emily lay curled up on the bed, sobbing in to one of the pillows. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Her lip was cut from where she had slammed in to the door and her wrists were red raw from the belt. Cook had left her tied up. He'd obviously dumped her on the bed and stormed out before he could do anything stupid.
Seeing Emily lying there, so broken and helpless, Naomi's anger began to slowly dissipate. Her voice was weak and wary as she spoke. "You took my key." Emily didn't acknowledge her presence, just carried on lying there with her face buried in the pillow. "You used me. Trying to get me to talk to you, to sit with you…kissing me. It was all for the key." Silence filled the small room as Cook gave up on banging on the door and went back to the kitchen to ice his shoulder and search for some painkillers. "Fuck it." Naomi gave up trying to talk to her and walked over to the bed. Emily stiffened and whimpered as the blonde knelt beside her. As angry as Naomi was she was still a human being, she couldn't just leave the terrified girl tied up all night. Her fingers slipped on the tight knots Cook had tied, but she eventually loosened the belt from around the other girl's hands and tossed it aside.
As she stood up to leave Emily finally spoke. "If I just wanted the key I could have taken Cook's." Her voice was hoarse and gravelly. She sat up, rubbing her bruised and chafed wrists. "It would have been easy to get in his pants the first night I was here…I'm sorry ok? I saw an opportunity and I took it, but I should be free right now. At home with my family and my friends, but once again you lied to me. And I'm stuck here."
"It's just till Thursday." Naomi knew she and Cook were just as much to blame for the scene that had just happened as Emily. They could hardly blame her for trying to free herself after Cook had just told her she would be staying longer than they had told her. Emily scoffed at her words. "Heard that before."
Naomi sighed and slumped down on the bed. She was tired and sore and wanted nothing more than to have a hot shower and crawl in to bed. Her own bed, back at her mother's house. She wanted to have Effy come over with ice cream and shitty rom-com films that they could laugh over in-between Naomi crying in to her shoulder. Emily was more in need than she was and so she forced herself on to her feet and trudged in to the bathroom. She came out with a wet washcloth. Easing herself back down beside the other girl she gently dabbed the cloth against Emily's lip, cleaning off the blood. She let the redhead take over as she picked up the moisturiser from the bedside table. She dipped her fingers in to it and carefully spread it over Emily's wrists. Her fingers slowly worked up and down the other girl's soft skin, until the angry red bands were covered. Once she was finished she was still holding Emily's hands in her own. They sat like that in silence until Emily finally spoke again.
"You're not wearing your mask." Naomi looked up to find the other girl taking in her every feature. She shrugged, still not letting go of her hands.
"Seems a bit pointless now." She sighed and tried not to think about the implications of Emily being able to identify her. Enough had happened without thinking of the trouble that would erupt if Keith found out they had let the girl see one of them.
"You're beautiful." Emily's gravelly words took her by surprise. She opened her mouth, though she wasn't really sure how she was supposed to respond to that, and gasped as Emily leant forward. The kiss was nothing like their previous encounter. It was slow and almost chaste.
Naomi was the first to pull away, letting go of Emily's hands and getting to her feet. There were tears welling up in her eyes as she shook her head and wrapped her arms protectively around herself. "We can't…I can't…" She trailed off as she ran her fingers over her lips and let out a strangled sob. Emily sat still and silent on the bed, looking up at her with wide expectant eyes. "I'm sorry." She had to get out of the room, away from her piercing stare and her soft lips. She locked the door behind her and went back downstairs to check on Cook.
He sat at the table with the icepack strapped to his shoulder with electrician's tape. He had a strip of codeine on the table in front of him and a bottle of Whisky in his hands. Naomi helped herself to two of the Codeine and washed them down with the beer he had left on the kitchen counter. Cook sat silently staring at the discarded ski mask lying on the kitchen table. Naomi knew what was coming before he even said it.
"She saw your face."
"She didn't see yours." She tried to look on the bright side, but in all honestly they were up to their eyes in shit whatever way they looked at it.
"We should tell Uncle Keith, see what we should do-"
"What we should do is fucking stick to what we said we were doing in the first place! She should have been gone today Cook! Look, don't tell Keith anything. It's my face, my problem." She snatched the Codeine off the table and stormed back up the stairs. Cook watched her go before pulling his phone out. He scrolled through the contacts until he found Keith's number. Biting his lips he considered whether to do as Naomi said or to let his uncle know what was going on. "Fuck it." He tossed the phone aside and cradled his bottle in his hands as he slowly made his way upstairs.
He paused at Emily's door as he heard voices. Leaning against his good shoulder her peered through the peep hole. He saw Naomi standing by the bed, handing Emily some of the Codeine followed by a glass of water. He sighed as he caught sight of the look on Naomi's face as Emily's fingers brushed against her own while taking the glass from her. Emily said thanks and a small smile graced Naomi's lips as she tucked her hair behind her ear, a nervous habit. "Fuck." He sighed as he trudged in to his room and collapsed on his bed. Naomi was too close. She fancied the fuck out of the little red head, and though Cook could hardly blame her, he knew she wasn't thinking straight when she had said not to call Keith. She wasn't thinking with her head, or any northern part of her body. He reached in to his pocket for his phone and remembered he had left it downstairs on the kitchen table. He cursed as he had to sit up on the bed and stretch over for the prepaid phone Keith had given him to send the photo of Emily to her family. He dialled the familiar number and lay back down, waiting for someone to pick up.
"Hey." He sighed in to the phone. "I need some advice."
