9:00 PM
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Alec shoved Rachel back into the bedroom, slamming both the front door and the room's door behind them.
"You're upset about this book, right?" he threw it in her face and the wire scratched her neck. She made no sound as she backed away in fright. "Is that what your fucking fit was about?"
His nose was still gushing blood, but from the stains on his sleeves, she could tell he'd hastily tried to stem the flow. He grabbed her arms again and pushed her onto the bed, throwing himself on top of her.
Rachel tried to roll out from underneath him, but he caught her legs and wrapped his around hers to prevent movement. His hands had her shoulders pinned to the pillows.
"You're a liar!" she screamed at him. "You're a stupid murderous liar! You said you never lied, but, well, that must have been a lie, too!"
"The plan was to kill you, Rachel," he growled. "And, up until now, I was pretty sure I was going to nix the original plan."
"What, so because I hit you, you want to kill me now?" Rachel snapped. "Sounds to me like you've got a pretty big self-esteem problem."
He dug his nails into her neck. She winced. "This job initially had nothing to do with you other than the fact that you would be bait. I was going to lock you in the closet with no food until your uncle came around. But after watching you, I changed my mind."
She was about to speak, but stopped when his hand constricted speech. He continued. "I decided that you deserved better. I've had hostages before. None of them have been as lucky as you have. If any of them had acted out like you, they'd be dead."
"But here's the thing, Rachel—none of them did. You, on the other hand, are being a royal pain in my ass and for some reason…" he paused, his features tightening. "For some reason, I love it."
"If you love it so much, then why the hell is my neck bleeding?" she snapped.
"My plan's been extended," he continued, ignoring her comment. "I've been talking to people about you."
"How are you going to do it, Alec?" she growled. "Strangle me, shoot me, cut me, or will you be human for once and do it painlessly?"
"I'm not going to kill you," he said, his voice strained. "I want to. But I'm not going to."
"You're going to let me go?" Rachel's heart lifted.
"No."
It sank. "Then….what? Sell me to the circus?"
"I'm going to keep you."
"Wait…." He'd lessened his grip a little more now, but not enough for her to move. "What?"
"I've decided one thing, Rachel," he said. "And that is that I want you. I'm not going to lie. You belong to me. And I want it to stay that way. I'm not going to let you go when this whole thing is over. Now we can do this the hard way, or the easy way. If you satisfy yourself with a life with me, I can guarantee that you won't be sorry. It will be a hell of a lot less painful and I'm sure that after a while you'll grow accustomed to-"
"No!" Rachel began fighting against him, pulling at his hands. "Get off me! Leave me alone! You can't do this!"
He pinned her back down. He was angry again. "I can do whatever the hell I want, Rachel. I could have you right now if I wanted to. And the little movements you're making are really making me want to, so I'd cool it if I were you."
She stopped fighting but couldn't help but tremble. "Please, let me go. Don't keep me here. This isn't right."
"I don't care if it's right or not. I want you. Every employee in this company is granted one companion and it doesn't have to be legal. With a few signatures I can make you a whole new person. You'll have a new life."
"I don't want to stay here," she pleaded. "I want to go home. I hate this place. I hate you."
"Oh, Rachel, I really don't think you do," he smirked. His face grew closer to hers. She felt his warm breath on her nose. "Because if you did, you wouldn't have cried to me. You wouldn't have fallen asleep on my lap, and you wouldn't have the look in your eyes that you do right now."
"What look?" she whispered. "I'm scared, Alec, okay? I admit it. I'm frightened to death."
He bit down on his bottom lip, hard. She felt a shuddering pulse of adrenaline rush through her veins and she twitched her jaw beneath his grip. "Why do you care so much?"
"I don't know," he murmured. He wasn't lying. "But when I want something, Rachel, I get it. And I want you."
"I'll kill you," she growled.
"If you kill me, you're as good as dead," he answered with a coy smile. "My company will in turn hunt you down and torment you to insanity or fatality. And I can assure you that Jackson will lend a helping hand in the process."
She was without words, for once. There was nothing else to be said.
Alec's face was hovering inches from hers. His breathing matched hers in a down down up down up up down pattern, an uneven conglomerate of chest movement. Her mind was reeling, her brain filled with voices not her own.
They were Dan's.
Don't let him do this to you, Rachel. You know what he's going to do.
Do you want him to? You do. You're being unfaithful. You've betrayed my memory.
Alec came closer. Everything was very slow. "No," she cried, twisting beneath him. "No, no, no…"
The voices grew louder. What are you doing? Get him off of you! Get him off or betray me forever!
His lips grazed hers, softly at first, and then he was kissing her.
"No," she muttered distraughtly beneath him. "No, get off."
"It's fine, Rachel," he murmured distractedly. "You're allowed to do this…relax, just for once…"
"I don't want…"
"You do want. Leave it-"
"GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!"
Alec rolled off of her.
But it was too late.
The damage had been done.
She was unclean.