My body felt like it was being weighed down by bricks when I opened my eyes the next morning. I was just thankful that I was able to open my eyes the next morning, and Tbag hadn't killed me in my sleep. I tried to lift my head to see if Tbag was still asleep, but my whole body was straining to complete the task. I opened my mouth and said his name softly, but there was no answer. He could have just been in the bathroom, but I didn't hear any water running either. I realized that I was lying on my stomach and had my arms out in front of me. My shoulder was killing me and I lifted my eyes to check and gasped when I saw my hands cuffed together at the head of the bed. At first I panicked because I thought Tbag had done something to me in the night. I flailed around a bit trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and I realized that Tbag was nowhere in the room. He had gotten out of bed, handcuffed me to the bed, and left all without waking me up. I pulled myself up onto my knees and started tugging on the cuffs, but they were locked tight. I titled my head up towards the ceiling and let out an extremely loud groan. I just prayed that Tbag wasn't going to be gone and leave me like this all day. I stretched myself back out of my stomach and started twisting and turning every which way trying to find a comfortable position. Unfortunately, none could be found and I was stuck on my stomach.
My arms felt like jelly by the time I heard the door to the hotel room click open. I turned my head to see Tbag stroll in twirling the keys around his finger whistling some tune in his sunglasses. He glanced over in my direction and I gave him a small smile, but he went on strolling into the bathroom. I don't even think he was doing anything because he was just whistling with the water running. I was suddenly furious and started pulling and tugging at the handcuffs with everything I had. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to break these handcuffs and beat Tbag within an inch of his life. I knew though that however much I wanted to kill Tbag, I would never be able to actually go through with it because he was all up inside my head. Tbag came strolling from the bathroom and started stretching out his arms and his legs. Why did he even to stretch his arms, he was missing a hand? By this point, I was extremely frustrated and I gritted my teeth together. I pulled against the handcuffs and cleared my throat in a very loud and annoying way. Tbag finally looked over at me and smirked at me.
"Why good morning Laneykins." He said as he started to approach the bed.
I gave him an obviously fake smile. If he was going to come over here and not undue the handcuffs then I would have a few choice words to say to him. My shoulder was really killing me and I needed to put my arms down.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked trying to stall.
I buried my face in my pillow trying to prevent a scream. Why couldn't he just uncuff me first, and then we could chat about the God damn weather. I looked up to Tbag with my lip pouting in the hopes that this would convince him to uncuff me.
"Please T, take the cuffs off." I said fighting back swear words . I was really trying to be nice.
He titled his head to the side smirking at me.
"Now how can I say no to that face." He said leaning over my body.
He quickly removed the cuffs and I flopped onto my back finally enjoying the new position. I was massaging my wrists when Tbag hoisted me up into a sitting position. I shook just a little as his eyes danced across my body. Now was not the time for this, and I hoped that he wasn't going to try anything because my body was weak and I wouldn't be able to fight him off. He quickly grabbed both of my wrists. He turned them so my palms were facing upwards and he started rubbing my raw skin where the cuffs rubbed against my skin. I sat in silence and just watched Tbag's gentle movements. Once, he was done he wanted to clean the wound on my shoulder again. Luckily, I was in the tank top he bought me so I wouldn't even have to take my shirt off. I slowly slid the strap off my shoulder and Tbag started removing the bandages. It was hurting less and less every day. I grimaced when I saw the alcohol sitting on the table and braced myself for the inevitable burn.
"Where did you even go this morning, why did you handcuff me?" I asked when he was finished.
"I had some more errands to run, and I didn't want to wake you because you were sleeping so peacefully. But, of course there was no way in hell that I was going to leave you alone with the chance of escaping."
"What errands had to be run?"
"I had to get some essential things. There is this little town not far from here and it has these little shops."
I raised my eyebrows and was suddenly curious as to what kinds of things he bought. I looked behind his shoulder but I didn't see any bags. What game was he playing with me? He looked at me funny and started shaking his head back and forth.
"The bags are still in the car, but you need to put your clothes back on," he ordered.
"Why didn't you buy new clothes?" I asked a little annoyed.
He grinned wickedly at me.
" We are going out!"
I rolled my eyes as I moved to climb out of the bed. In my opinion, it would be a huge risk to go out in public when you were a wanted criminal just to go to a mall. I was going to say anything though because there is an increased chance someone might recognize me, and even if I were to get apprehended by the police I would be away from Tbag. I grabbed my clothing from yesterday and slipped into the bathroom. One look in the mirror made me want to scream out. I looked hideous! I desperately needed to take a shower (although with Tbag around I'd say those chances were pretty slim), my hair needed something done with it, and I just looked sick. My bruises and wounds did indeed look better than they did, but were still noticeable. I slipped out of my pajamas and into the clothing I had on yesterday. I ran my hands under the water in the sink to wash off my face and attempted to fix my hair. I was on trying a third style when Tbag came bursting through the door causing me to jump.
"I swear Laneykins, we aren't going before the Queen of England you look fine let's go." He ordered.
I opened my mouth to protest and ask for 5 more minutes, but he grabbed me by the elbow and started jerking me out the room. I stuck my heels into the floor trying to stop him, but it didn't do me much good as he pulled me towards the door. He threw open the door and the brightness of the day burned my eyes. Tbag didn't even let me put shoes on before he was forcing me out of our room. How did he think I was going to walk around without shoes on without drawing attention? He pushed me inside of the car and moved over to the driver's seat without a word. We sped down the road in silence and I made sure that I was pouting as much as possible. I needed to do something that was going to make me sound like a smart ass.
"How am I supposed to walk around anywhere with no shoes on genius?" I mocked.
I watched him grip the steering wheel a little tighter as he didn't appreciate my tone and my attitude. But he instantly covered it up with a smirk and glanced over in my direction.
"You won't because you will just be sitting in the car while I finish getting everything I need."
"What? That's so dumb! Why am I even going if I am just going to sit in the car?"
"Well, if you don't like it then I will turn the car around and lock you up in the bathroom." Tbag shouted.
To any outside eye it looked like it was just an ordinary couple arguing about something. I slumped back into my seat and propped my bare feet up on the dash. No, I didn't just want to sit in the bathroom all day by myself, but I really didn't want to sit in the car either. Tbag moved forward so he was hovering over the steering wheel and he was breathing in and out heavily. He looked over in my direction and grimaced off me.
"Get your feet of this dash right now!" he said like a parent scolding his child.
He pushed my feet to the floor and I slumped further down into my seat. I suddenly was thinking that sitting the bathroom alone wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. At least Tbag wouldn't be anywhere around. He was right of course, and not 5 miles down the road was a small little town with these little shops sitting on the main road. I was staring out the window trying to not act too disappointed at all of the stores I would be missing. Tbag turned the car to the right and there was a small parking lot behind the stores. Tbag pulled in away from all of the other cars and put the car in park. I still wasn't looking at him and I heard him chuckle as he rolled down my window causing me to jump. He slipped out of his seat and moved around to the other side of the car. I was forced to look up at him as he smiled at me from the other side of the window.
"I trust that you know not to leave this car." He said in more of a threatening tone. "Don't talk to any one either. I don't believe you would be a strong liar."
"Hmm. Well I fooled you for weeks pretending to be an inmate in an all-male prison." I said with a raised eyebrow, but I only received a smirk from Tbag.
"Regardless, stay here and be quiet. Who knows, if you are a good little bunny maybe I will bring you back a present." He said before walking away.
I watched him leave and was shouting every curse word I knew at him in my mind. Maybe if I was lucky the cops would apprehend him and then I could get away to find Tweener. I snorted to myself because even I knew that I wouldn't luck out that easily. And when I thought about it I really didn't want Tbag to get arrested, I was just pouting because I had to stay in the car. I watched all of the people walk by with normal lives completely unaware of everything that was going on around them. They probably had no idea that a person who has committed multiple murders was walking among them, and that his hostage was sitting in the parking lot.
I was antsy as the first hour passed, and I hoped that Tbag was nearly done with doing whatever it was he had to do. When the second hour passed, I was lying in the back seat ready to bash my face into the window due to boredom. I swore I was going to personally strangle Tbag with my bare hands as the third hour approached. What was taking so damn long? I didn't see Tbag as the shopaholic type. I had my forehead pressed up against the open window and was just staring at the same old sidewalk willing for Tbag to walk by. It was then that I heard voices, a group of voices. I turned my eyes to see a group of guys strutting through the parking lot. They looked to be in their late teens, and they sort of reminded me of Tweener. Then I remembered that I wasn't supposed to talk to anyone else, and if these boys saw me I was fairly certain that they would walk over.
They were getting closer and closer to the car and I was getting more and more nervous. Tbag was going to get so mad at me if he saw me talking to these people. Please don't look at me. Please don't look at me. Please don't look at me. Of course, right as the thoughts passed through my mind, one of the guys looked right in my direction. My eyes widened as he smirked and pointed me out to his other friends. Now all of their attention was on me, and to my horror they started making their way over to me. I thought maybe if I could roll up my window, then I wouldn't be able to talk to them, but no that plan was shot down when I realized I needed the car to be started.
"Hey there." One of the guys said in full on flirt mode.
I slowly lifted my eyes to meet theirs and gave a soft smile. The whole point of Tbag's rules was not to draw suspicious attention to myself. Well, me sitting here ignoring these guys and acting like a spaz was going to cause attention.
"What happened here?" he asked reaching out his finger to point at the bruises from my face to my neck.
"Car accident." I said quickly trying to tilt my head at an angle that they couldn't see the bruise.
"Well, you still look beautiful to me." he said in such a cheesy way it made me giggle.
This is exactly what I pictured Tweener to be like when he was younger. Walking around strutting his stuff and flirting with all of the girls. And here I was giggling and practically flirting with this stranger when I know I shouldn't be talking to them at all. I looked at all of them and one of them was giving me a curious look. Almost like he recognized me. Oh great.
"So with all of these shops around, why are just sitting in the car?"
I strained my eyes away from the guy who was staring at me to focus on the rest of the group.
"My boyfriend had to make a couple of stops, but should be back at any minute." I lied.
It was extremely awkward referring to Tbag at my boyfriend. When I thought of a 'boyfriend' figure, I thought of Tweener, holding hands, kissing in the rain, magic nights, and even though I had these strange feelings for Tbag and in my own way I did love him, I doubt he fit into many of these categories. The guys all looked to each other before chuckling.
"That is the worst excuse to make other guys leave, you know? Guys love a little competition, and finding out good looking girls aren't available only make them more desirable."
My face fell a little. That would explain the feud between Tbag and Tweener and little better. One of the guys started to lean down towards the window, and now the conversation was starting to freak me out a little. I didn't even know these people and there was no guarantee that they were any better people than Tbag was. I mean they probably were, but I still didn't know them.
"You're the missing agent." Said the guy who had just been silently staring at me in a panicked voice.
Now I was getting panicked. He couldn't possibly know who I was, right? I surely couldn't be that recognizable and famous that kids like these would know who I was. I shook my head no at the boy and explained that I didn't know what he was talking about.
"Yes, you are. They said that the escaped convicts took you as their hostage. Is one of them here with you?"
Now all of the guys were looking at me curiously, and I was at a loss for words. I guess Tbag was right and I wasn't such a good liar. I was staring at all of them with fearful eyes.
"Please just leave before he comes back. I'm not supposed to be talking to anyone or I am going to get hurt. Please just leave."
A few of the guys had smiles plastered over their faces while a few looked concerned. One or two looked downright scared to death.
"You weren't in a car accident, were you? One of them did that to your face."
I didn't give them an answer, but I didn't have to. One of the guys grabbed the door and threw it open. Don't ask me why a genius like Tbag would forget to lock the door. I started refusing them over and over again telling them to go away, and I even tried crawling in the back seat, but they weren't giving up. One of them grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me out of the car. My bare feet hit the pavement and it was hot due to the sun beating off of the concrete. They started pulling me across the parking lot and I was doing my best to stop them.
"No.. wait… please.. you can't." I tried pleading with them but they weren't listening to me.
I kept begging over and over again and I could tell some of the guys were ready to just let me go because I was being annoying.
"No she stays with us, think of all that reward money."
"But she doesn't even want to come with us."
"Maybe she is just suffering from shock of being a hostage. She's convinced herself that she is in love with them or something."
What? Ok, no that was way off. Is it? I wasn't just in shock and stressed out from everything that I am coping by becoming close to the guys, right? It certainly made sense with other kidnap victims, but I wasn't necessarily kidnapped, but it would explain a lot of my unexplained feelings. They continued pulling me through the parking lot, and I was struggling a little less because I was lost in my own thoughts. They walked turning the corner and right into an alleyway before I finally slipped my wrist out of their grasp. They all turned to look at me.
"Look guys I appreciate you trying to save me and everything, but you don't know who you are dealing with. He would track us down and kill us all."
"You are right about that last part Laneykins," growled a very dangerous voice.
My eyes widened and I flipped my head around to see the very terrifying face of Tbag holding different sacks, although he was gripping them so hard that I thought they might rip. I thought about the several options I could take: I could run, I could fall to my knees and beg him not to kill me, or I could stand with these strangers and hoped that I could get away. One of the guys grabbed me by the arm again and pulled me closer to the group. I was trembling with terror. Tbag gently set down the sacks and started rolling up his sleeves calmly.
"You boys are young and immature, and not the first ones to fall under the charm of little Laneykins, believe me. However, she is my property and you can either give her back to me and this won't have to get offensive."
His property? I didn't see his name tattooed on my lower back, just Bella. I knew that all of these guys would be too stubborn to heed Tbag's warning, and they had no idea just how dangerous he could be. But I did understand and I had to try and save these guys before they got themselves killed.
"Tbag please just stop this. They didn't know what they were doing. I…"
"Shut up bitch!" he shouted at me.
I flinched away from him and one of the guys stepped forward like a stupid hero. Oh no!
"Leave her alone. She is an innocent girl, and who knows what kind of torture that you have put her through you monster."
Tbag titled his head back and started laughing out loud. It was a maniac laugh that made every inch of my skin crawl. I tried to clench my fists at my sides to stop them from shaking.
"For wanting to save her life so badly you sure don't know much about her. Now this little game is over. Either give her to me now, or you all will die." He said very well aware that the guys weren't going to back down.
It wasn't a very long fight. Within half an hour, there were three broken necks and two guys bleeding out. I had crouched down against the wall and I couldn't stop shaking. Tbag's hands were covered in blood and his face was completely masked over with rage. All of these poor kids were dead and it was my entire fault. Their pale unmoving faces would haunt me for the rest of my life. Tbag turned his attention towards me and stormed over to where I was crouching. I started to cry and begged for him not to do anything, but he hoisted me up by my elbow.
"If you think this is bad." He said gesturing to the pile of dead bodies behind us. "Wait until you see what is in store for you."