While Peter was in anguish looking for Mary Jane and fighting thugs to get a location, Kevin was in none of this turmoil. Actually he was pretty ecstatic. He had carried Mary Jane to his car and gently laid her down in the back seat. Finally they arrived at his Hardy Boy type shack and he carried her inside, laying her tenderly on the mattress, grabbing a chair and a sandwich and watched her in her state of unconsciousness.
She was mumbling something now. Interested, Kevin wiped some mustard off his chin with the back of his hand and put his head close to Mary Jane's to hear what she was saying.
"Peter..."
DAMN IT!!!
Kevin was furious and punched the wall. Groaning and cursing he pulled his hand back, examining the new bruise.
At the sudden noise Mary Jane stirred and slowly opened her eyes, immediately regretting it as the burst of light made her throbbing head worse.
Finally she cracked open an eye and managed to comprehend she was in a dingy room with cracked walls, desperate for a new paint job and worse, Kevin Hayes, cursing enough to make even her hardened ears flinch.
The events of the past few hours flooded back to her and for a second she just laid there, wondering why on earth everything happened to her.
She wasn't actually very frightened, although she knew that's the reaction any sensible person would have... Actually thinking of everything she was angry. She had been nothing but nice to Kevin Hayes and now he had dragged her off to God knows where and knocked her unconscious. And Peter... He'd be frantic. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut for a moment, praying to be home with Peter and his aunt and uncle. The people who had made her feel like family. The people who loved her.
She opened her eyes, praying it'd be Peter's face she was seeing and grimaced when she saw Kevin's.
With a grunt of extreme effort she managed to sit up and cleared her brain enough to stare Kevin in the eye.
He looked at her, not with malice, as she expected but with an odd expression of relief and apology.
"I'm so sorry Mary Jane."
That stopped MJ's snappy remark in her throat.
"Why did you... take me here?"
Don't get him mad MJ...
"So we can begin our life together!" He gave her a wide smile and continued on before she could say anything. "See? Don't you see the brilliance of everything? I know how you wouldn't want to hurt Parker or his family by telling them you loved me more so I brought you here, so you wouldn't have too!"
He looked at her with an almost doglike expression of loyalty.
"See what I did for you? Can't you forgive me for hurting you?"
Mary Jane unconsciously backed up. If she wasn't scared earlier, blinded by her anger, she was scared now. He was... insane. He looked almost hurt by her backing away and he said he loved her?
With a whimper of surprise and fear she noticed a gun peaking out under his jacket, on the table in the back.
As Kevin was moving closer to her, a step at a time, she did the first thing that came to her mind.
"PETER!!!! HELP!!!!"
The only response to her plea was to hear birds chirping outside and for Kevin's smile to dim.
"Listen MJ," Kevin forcefully grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and pulled her up to him. "You have to stop this Peter crap. I love you and he doesn't! So shut up."
He instantly looked apologetic and released her.
"I'm sorry MJ, I didn't mean to yell."
Mary Jane's head hurt from trying to figure out this guy. He loved her... so he kidnapped her... and is... extremely jealous of Peter Parker.
At MJ's icy silence Kevin rose up and threw his hands in the air.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?" He yelled out, kicking the wall again. With a squeak MJ moved to the wall and saw Kevin's eyes flick nervously to the gun.
Ok, ok, stop making him mad MJ! He's a raving lunatic and you're insulting him.
Just roll with everything.
Mary Jane's eyes glanced around the room and finally fell on his half eaten sandwich.
"Uh... I'm a bit hungry, can I have a sandwich?" She called on all her acting skills to keep the edge from her voice and instead smiled up at him.
At once Kevin's face broke out into another smile and he nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course! Sure, what kind do you want? Turkey? Ok I'll make you a turkey sandwich."
He was about to turn and leave when he turned back around remorsefully.
"I'm sorry MJ, I just can't trust you completely yet, not after you screamed."
He pulled out some rope from a drawer and after struggling with a fighting Mary Jane he got her in the stiff backed wooden chair and managed to tie her to it tightly.
"Please stop struggling, I don't want this to hurt you."
"Yeah well it is you-" Forgetting her resolve to be calm and not make him mad she finished her sentence with a stream of unprintable words.
She immediately regretted it as she saw Kevin's mood change from delighted to livid in a short second. He jerked the knot extra tight in the back and hit her, his face hard as he left the room.
MJ gasped as the pain spread across her stinging face and tried to shift positions, but found the knots barely allowed any room to shift at all.
Finally, she submitted to hopelessness as her head fell forward, a few tears making their way to her eyes. Kevin had turned off the lights as he left and the room was almost pitch black. A sliver of light was coming from the moon through the window, illuminating a side of the room. Finding the light better than the dark, she pushed her head that way, looking as the soft moonlight illuminated a spider crawling across his web stretched out on the sill.
She watched the spider gracefully move up its web and thought about home. She wondered if she would see it again or if Kevin would just submit to madness and shoot her. She had no idea where she was, she could be all the way in New Jersey for all she knew. Finally she began thinking of everybody she would miss if she never made it back. She sadly thought, that of all the people she would miss, her mother was only fourth with her father not there at all.
May and Ben Parker, that's who she would miss the second and third most. They had taken her in when she would otherwise be all alone. They had barely enough money to support themselves yet they took her in no questions asked...
And Peter Parker... She missed him already. She loved him, she actually loved him. The first man she ever truly loved. She knew Peter was probably frantic worrying about her and she hung her head back down, upset at herself for getting into this and causing him all this pain and worry. She hoped if she died here that he would remember her.
I sound suicidal! God MJ, SNAP OUT OF IT.
Mary Jane squeezed her eyes shut again and blocked out all the self pitying thoughts.
You are going to get out of this. You just have to get Kevin to trust you, then you can escape and make it to the police. Then you can just have a nice drive home and spend the rest of the night watching reruns, snuggling with Peter.
Mary Jane looked up, her blue green eyes determined. She saw how Kevin's anger had taken a complete 360 turn in direction when she nicely asked him to make her a sandwich.
Just gotta play him like that Mary Jane. Keep him happy, make him trust you, escape when he's not looking.
Her eyes flicked to where she knew the gun was.
And don't think about the gun.
The door finally opened and Kevin strode in, turning on the lights, a sandwich in hand like a peace offering.
"Hey beautiful, I hope you still aren't mad at me."
Come on MJ...
Mary Jane forced a bright smile on her face.
"Of course I'm not Kevin." She managed to chirp out cheerfully. "I'm just awfully sore, these ropes really hurt."
Kevin's eyes light up when he saw she wasn't yelling at him and she rushed over to her.
"Do you promise not to run away if I untie you?"
"Of course Kevin, I won't run away."
Kevin flashed her what she guessed he deemed as a sexy smile and untied the knots.
"Here, I brought you a sandwich."
"Thanks."
MJ took a big bite out of the sandwich and chewed hungrily.
When he goes to sleep, that's when I can escape, I just have to convince him he can trust me enough not to tie me up again.
As Kevin watched MJ chew he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring.
"Mary Jane," MJ looked up and saw he was looking at her kindly.
"I love you. Do you love me?"
Grimacing in her mind Mary Jane spoke the repulsive words.
Just do it MJ, just get this over with.
"Yes,"
"Can you please say it? The words I mean? I...love...you?"
MJ inwardly rolled her eyes.
"I love you." She said, as sincerely as she could.
I don't love you, I hate you, I don't love you, I hate you.
"That's wonderful news Mary Jane!"
MJ forced out a weak laugh.
"Yup..."
"Then will you marry me?" Kevin got on one knee and handed her the ring.
MJ almost choked on her sandwich and looked up, eyes wide in apprehension. Kevin was looking at her expectantly.
Oh crap.
..............
Alright, sorry for the delay of this chapter. Remember this chapter takes place the same time as last chapter, so Peter's probably just about to kick those guy's butts when this chapter ends.
Anyways thanks so much for the supportive reviews, even for the boring chapters! I really appreciate it.
I'll get chapter 14 up ASAP.
Oh yeah, thanks JJonahJameson for pointing out that sentence, I corrected it, you're right, it DID sound odd, thanks!