Nate walked me back downstairs. He allowed me to avoid the ballroom where we could hear the party going on full swing. People were laughing, music was playing and I was miserable. Completely miserable and I wanted nothing at all to do with the merriment.
He hailed me a cab and reached to open my door, but he stopped mid motion and looked over at my shoulder in the same way Serena and Dan had when we first arrived.
God, this was getting tiring. I turned to the inevitable sight behind me, saying his name before I even completed the turn.
" Let me see you home." He offered. " It's the least I can do."
I sighed and turned back to the cab without answering him. When it became apparent I wasn't planning on acknowledging him, he reached for my arm. My skin tingled like it always did at the contact, but I did my very best to ignore the feeling.
I refused to turn to him. Flatly refused, but he was insistent.
Nate even opened his mouth as if he were about to say something to him, but Chuck shot him a warning look that told him to back off and he listened.
" I have a few things I'd like to say to you. I would appreciate it if you at least listened to me." He told me from over my shoulder.
" I don't want to hear whatever it is. I'm moving on. It's time you do the same." I said, still not turning.
" Blair." His breath brushed my shoulder as he stepped closer still. " It's just a ride home. You aren't even that far away. It'll be a short ride. Can I have that at least, please ?"
He said please and it made me stop. Chuck didn't say that word very often. He wasn't the type to ask for anything, opting instead to just take what he wanted most of the time.
" If I go with you, will you promise to leave me alone after that ? Just walk away and not look back ?"
I heard him swallow. I actually heard his Adam's Apple bob. His voice was shaky when he spoke. "I promise. After I say what I need to say, I'll leave you alone forever. You'll never have to talk to me again." His lips almost brushed my bare shoulder. " If that's still what you want."
" Chuck." I warned him. " You can't do that. I swear to you if I hear you just once use your 'sexy' voice I will have the driver pull over immediately. If you do that thing with your eyes where it looks like your seeing me naked, I leave. If you touch me at all, I'm gone. If you even wiggle your eyebrows at me, the conversation is over."
He stepped back and cleared his throat. I watched Nate's eyes widen in amazement that Chuck was doing as I asked.
" Okay. It's a deal. No cheap tricks. No ploys. Just talking." Chuck answered and I finally turned back to him. Then I threw a glance over my shoulder. " It's okay, Nate. I appreciate the cab. But it seems I have alternate transportation."
Nate came up behind me and kissed my check. " You should bottle whatever it is that you do to make him heal like that." He whispered into my ear as he brushed past me.
Then he clutched Chuck's shoulder and gave him a smile. " Good luck, Man." For a second he leaned in closer. And I barely caught his words. " If you hurt her, I hurt you back."
Chuck nodded in agreement and reached his hand towards me. I took it reluctantly and climbed into the back of his waiting limo.
Once we settled, Chuck cleared his throat again and laced his fingers together over his knee.
" I'm not sure where to begin." He started.
" Well, you better figure it out. You're right it isn't a very long ride." I felt a little badly for my tone. But I refused to make this easy for him. He had hurt me too much. I wanted to watch him squirm.
" I think you're making the right decision. I think it's best that we don't see each other anymore."
My eyebrow's shot up to my hairline and I felt like kicking him as hard as I could. " You did all that to tell me you agree with me ?"
" I guess I did." He answered simply. " We aren't getting anywhere here. We always come back to the same thing and all I can apparently do is give you more and more ammunition to fuel your hatred of me every time we try this." He sighed. " I'd rather cut my loses and hope that right now you don't hate me so much you'll never forgive me. So, I'm stopping while I'm ahead, because God knows what I'll do the next time."
I rolled my eyes at him. It was another Bass ploy. He'd pretend to be all apologetic and remorseful. He'd put himself down and I'd disagree with him and tell him he wasn't whatever he was accusing himself of being. We'd been here before.
I held up my hand before he could continue. " Stop right there. I thought I said I didn't want to hear any of your games and schemes. If you can't just be honest with me for once, this is done and you can stop the car right here."
" Okay." He sighed, clearly disgusted that I'd seen through him so easily. " I don't want to not see you again."
" Why, Bass ? Give me a reason why you don't want to see me again." I demanded sitting up straighter.
" I don't know why."
I scoffed and he lowered his eyes and narrowed them before looking back up at me. " Okay, I know why. You know why. Whatever this is between us, its real and its powerful and we both like it too much to walk away from it."He answered.
He was staying safe. Not really putting anything into his words. It was the same old routine still. Whatever it took to not let himself get too involved in the conversation.
I reached for the button that controlled the window between us and the driver. He reached out and grabbed my hand, resting his over it.
" Why are you making this so hard ?" He asked, showing the first bit of emotion he had since we'd started our talk.
And of course, the emotion was anger, I should have expected that.
" It isn't hard. Or at least it shouldn't be. But obviously it's more than your capable of. Now let go of my hand."
He did as I asked, but he put his over the button so I couldn't reach for it again. Then he looked up at me and grabbed my eyes with his. His bottom lip was quivering when he opened his mouth. " Blair, please."
" Please what ?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
" Give me a chance."
" You've had your chances and you rip them to shred every time. I won't live like this. I can't do it anymore. I can't be happy for a day, wondering the entire time what's going to happen to ruin it all." I told him, taking his hand off the button.
I reached for it again, but before I got the chance to hit it, the window between us and the driver lowered on its own.
Chuck's eyes met mine for an instant and he looked bewildered and angry. The he lurched backwards and to the side, slumping in the seat across from me in a heap.
I opened my mouth to scream but the sound never made it my lips.
In the next second, all I knew was blackness.
The blackness was still there, complete and entire when I blinked my eyes opened again. But the limo was gone. I had no idea where I was, but I knew I was laying on a bed. Not a particularly comfortable one either. The mattress was bare and smelled of dust and mold and other things I didn't want to think about too much. It was cold, so cold my hands and feet were nearly numb from it. The chill in the air was deep and bitter. The only heat source I found came from a body laying beside me. The familiar weight of a hand draped over my waist and the sound of his soft snores told me exactly who it was.
I almost just snuggled back into Chuck's side and went back to sleep.
Then I remembered. The events in the limo came back to me as if the images were surrounded in a fog that was slowly clearing. My heart rate jumped and fear gripped me as I recalled the way he had slummed over in his seat as if he were a balloon that someone deflated.
I snatched the blindfold that was covering my eyes away and let my vision adjust to the difference in lighting.
Chuck had me cradled in the croak of his shoulder. His arm, covered in his white dress shirt, was draped over my waist as if we were taking a casual nap in the middle of the day. His shoes were gone as were mine and his shirt and pants were rumbled like he'd been sleeping in them for a long while.
The peaceful, almost ethereal look on his face as he slumbered away beside me seemed strange considering our circumstances. I took off his blindfold as well and found the only mar in the perfection of his sharp, almost feminine features, a reddish puffiness under his left eye. I looked closely and knew that in a little while that red would turn to purple as a full bruise developed.
" Chuck," I called to him as I jerked upright. " Wake up."
" Blair," He mumbled sleepily. " Come back to bed. Whatever it is can wait."
I slapped his shoulder a touch harder than I meant to and his eyes flashed opened in anger. " What the hell was that for ?" He grumbled.
" Where are we ?" I demanded.
I came upright instantly and all sleepiness was suddenly gone from his face. " The limo, " He muttered. " The last thing I remember was the limo."
" Yeah, me too." I agreed.
He came to me quickly and let his eyes scan every uncovered inch of me. " Are you okay ? Are you hurt ?"
" I'm fine. But your eye is bruised." I informed him as I gingerly touched the redness with my fingertip. " Does anything else hurt ?"
He took a moment to stretch his muscles, surveying any damage he might have. As he tried to raise his arms over his head, he winced and brought them quickly back to his sides.
He clutched at his side protectively and I reached for his shirt, raising it so I could see the source of the pain.
His ribs were red like his eye, but the area was much larger and it was already turning purple.
" It's okay." He told me as he saw the concern in my eyes. " Nothing's broken."
" How do you know ?" I asked.
" Because I've had broken ribs before and I can tell. Now let's try to figure out where we are and how to get out of here."
Grabbing my hand in his, he searched the room with a glance.
It was mostly empty other than the large bed that occupied its center. One door leading out sat in the far corner and a dirty, dust-covered dresser were the only other things present. There was no linen on the bed. No window. The walls were a dingy, off white colored plaster with several cracks and dents in them.
On closer inspection we found the door was sturdy and solid. Without really expecting it to work, I tried the brass doorknob and it turned easily in my hand, much to my surprise.
We stepped out of the room, still hand in hand, Chuck taking the lead, and found ourselves in a short hallway. There was one door directly across from the room with the bed, and another at the end. The other end of the hall opened into a larger room.
We checked the door across from us and found a filthy, yet functional bathroom. The tub was grimy and covered with dust and cobwebs. The toilet looked as if it hadn't been used in a century. But the water in the sinked worked though it was reluctantly at first.
The larger room turned out to be a combination living room/ kitchen. The small refrigerator was filled with several days worth of food, bottled water and soft drinks. A rickety card table sat in the corner next to a stove that had seen many better days. Again the water in the basin-like sink worked and we found plates and glasses and other food staples stocked in the dingy, off-white cabinets.
A double-door pantry held even more food and, much to my surprise, several bottles of liquor. Everything from tequila to wine. There were a few different kitchen appliances under the skin along with pots and pans and baking ware in another cabinet.
The living room was small and barren for the most part. An entertainment center held a television, a stereo, a DVD player and several movies. It even had a gaming system of some sort, though I didn't know enough about them to know which one it was or what kind of games were there.
The only furniture was a run-down rust colored couch that sat at an odd angle as if one or more of the legs were missing and a few springs were sticking out in the back causing the material to bulge in places.
There were no windows anywhere.
The door at the end of the hall was the only one we found that was locked. It was also made of a heavy metal material that said it wasn't budging. A huge lock slid back into the wall that was attached to a metal bar. There was a light over the door. At the moment it was red, I guess that said that the lock was engaged.
" What the hell is going on ?" I asked as we came back to the kitchen part of the 'house'.
" I have no idea." Chuck informed me.
" There's enough food to keep us here for weeks." I squawked. " I don't want to be here for weeks, Chuck. I want to go home."
He had let my hand go and was now taking one of the flimsy folding chair that sat at the table. He sat with a tired humph and rested his head in his hands. " I know, Blair. I"m sorry."
" Why are we here ? Who took us ? What do they want ?" I continued, failing in my attempt to remain calm and fight the panic that had been growing since I woke up.
He got up and grabbed me into his chest, smoothing my hair as he shushed me soothingly. " It's going to be okay. We'll find someway out of here."
My eyes fell to the television over his shoulder and I noticed for the first time a piece of paper attached to the screen.
" There's a note." I muttered quietly into his shoulder.
He glanced down at me to see where I was looking before letting me go and grabbing the note.
" Dear Mr. Bass, " He mumbled as he quickly read its contents. " I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you at this time, but I'm afraid I had no other choice. Please don't panic. No harm will come to either you or your companion if you simply do as you're instructed. You should find everything you need here in my fall-out shelter. Understand that the door is locked and can only be opened from the outside. The walls are sound-proof and you are several feet underground so there is nothing but dirt on the other side of the walls. In short, you are not going anyway. Any attempts at escaping will only be wasting your time and energy. If you give us no reason to harm you, you will be safe and unhurt. Resist us in anyway and we will take appropriate action. This is not personal. It's only business. Its up to you to make sure it stays that way."
Chuck crumbled the paper and flung it to the floor.
" They want money. Then its okay. My parents will give them whatever they ask for. And so will Lily. We'll be home by the end of the day." I answered, feeling suddenly uplifted.
" I don't think it's going to be that easy." He told me.
" Why not ?"
" Well, first off, I don't think they know who you are. The note was addressed to me, not both of us. And if it were as simple as that, why do we have enough food and supplies here to last for several weeks ?"
" Then what is all this about ?" I asked. " What could they want from you if it isn't money ?"
" I don't know. But I think there's more going on here than we're seeing."