Beth's inner voice was screaming at her to run, to shout, to get far away from th man standing before her. She held her breath and counted to five silently in her head before facing the man with the menacing voice.
Even him saying her full name gave her chills. He wasn't allowed to call her that. She had come to appreciate the way Rio said, "Elizabeth in his gruff, deep voice. IT was sexy. Not this man though, she had already warned him not to call her that name. He wasn't special to her. He didn't get to say her name like that. She would only tolerate Rio saying it.
She whipped around to face him.
"What do you want Nick?" she questioned him, annoyance tinged her voice.
Nick raided his eyebrows and grinned at her. "Oh, I think that you know," he said smirking.
"I really don't", she said shaking her head.
He winked at her. "I want you of course. That should have been obvious to you from the beginning".
Beth rolled her eyes and folded her arms around her chest.
"That's not going to happen. I'm not interested in you and no matter what you do to change my mind, it won't help." she says.
Nick glares are her, his hands are on his hips. It's still dark in the store but she can see him clearly, standing in the light streaming from the shades in the back on the bakery.
"It's because of him, right? Well, that's not going to be an issue anymore. He's not going to come between us. I've made it clear to him, who you belong to", he uttered his voice steady and low. He drew his face close to hers.
Beth drew her head away, crooking her head to the side.
I don't belong to anyone. Certainly not you. He's not going to give up on me either. That's not like him, he's a fighter", she said, spitting in his face.
Beth thought about a conversation she had with Rio after they had made love and were lying naked in her bed, their limbs tangled together in a embrace. Rio had told her that he had dreams of having a boxing career in high school and those dreams had been ruined. He never told her what happened to dash his dreams but had told her that he still practiced at the local boxing ring and that he never forgot what he was fighting for. She had asked him what that was. He leaned down close to her ear and whispered, "You, I will always fight for you".
That memory came crashing back and she scowled at Nick standing before her.
Nick took a few steps back from her and she took off towards the front door. She tried to pull it open.
"Don't bother your pretty head. Its locked and so is the back entrance. If you do manage to escape you'd find an armed guard behind each door. You think that I would come unprepared?", he patted his side of his hip.
Beth tried to take a deep breath but began to sob as soon as her breath hitched. Tears started to roll down her cheeks.
"Yes, that's right sweetheart, I'm packing as well", he said, throwing his head back and laughing.
Beth gasped, "Why are you doing this to me? You are a politician. You have your choice of many devoted groupies, I am sure".
Nick chuckled, Groupies? Seriously, I am a city councilman, not the lead singer of a band. I want you. Not some random woman that just wants me for my position. I always get what I want and what I want is you. This cat and mouse game that we are playing is not working for me".
"I don't want you. I never was interested in you. I liked Rio from the first moment our eyes locked. My opinion never swayed no matter how much you and Dylan tried to meddle in our relationship and pull us apart," Beth screamed at Nick.
Nick seemed unfazed by Beth's yelling at him. His grin didn't drop from his face. He moved closer to her and brought a strand of her hair forward that had been tucked behind her ear.
"I bet you let him fuck you, didn't you? He's a bad guy. He's a gangster that doesn't hesitate to kill those that cross him. He's just using you for a good time and ten he';; leave you for someone that actually understands and accepts his lifestyle. He's not going to say with a divorced, ex-housewife. You have too much baggage. He has time only for his own son, not for you and your three. You are just a bit of fun for him. A brief distraction.", he said, his voice teaming with aggression.
Beth looked away from him. She thought to herself, if she can just get close enough to the counter, she could hit the panic button and have the police come to her rescue. She also had the choice of making her way to her purse that she had thrown on the table top nearest to the front door before Nick confronted her. If she could get to her phone, she could call Rio. She could alert him as to what his cousin was doing to her.
"Don't you ever touch me again. You disgust me. You are so arrogant and need to wipe that smug smile off of your face right now. First off, I know for a fact that Rio isn't using me for a quick lay, as you disgustingly put it. He treats me like an equal in our relationship. I know what he does for a living an I don't hate him for it, in fact if anything I am curious by it. You are an asshole and will always be an asshole", she chided him.
Beth glanced down briefly at her patent leather heels. Annie always teased her and said that her heels were impractical, although Beth found them stylish and elegant. She felt that the went with almost any outfit even the black Levis she was currently wearing.
Well it will at least distract him, she thought as she leaned down and quickly took off her right heel, stumbling as she put her foot down and her balance was uneven.
She tossed the heel directly aiming for Nick's face.
She didn't want to see the shocked look on his face as the tip of her heel knocked into his cheek.
She dove for the button under the sales counter, and she pushed it. Within ten seconds, she felt the weight of Mick's entire body crushing her from behind as he tackled her and she fell to the ground. She hadn't even noticed that he was present in the store while Nick was speaking to her but knew he must have been in order for him to be on her within a few seconds.
She hit her head hard as she fell to the ground. The last thing she remembered was noticing the pattern on the linoleum tiles of the floor.
Beth woke up to the sunlight blinding her and her head pounding. Her mouth felt completely dry. She licked her lips and swallowed. Her throat ached as she swallowed. It took a few moments for her to focus her eyes and take in her surroundings. She realized that she was in an unfamiliar bedroom.
Almost everything in the room was black except the white walls. The furniture, the bedspread and even the paintings hanging on the walls were painted black with streaks of silver.
She heard a female voice behind the bedroom door. Dylan, she thought. It had to be Dylan. Beth wasn't familiar enough with her voice to recognize it instantly but she was pretty certain that was the only female that would be involved in kidnapping her.
She groaned and looked down at herself. She was still wearing the same clothes that she had on earlier.
She brought her hand to her head as she felt her head pulsate with pain. She laid her palm across her forehead, trying to bring some relief from the pain. She knw the pai from hitting her head against the hard floor would take a while to subside.
The door suddenly flew open, and Dylan pranced in the room like she was a show pony, trying to show off her regalia. In this case she was wearing a flashy silver tank top and black sparkly leggings.
She walked over to the bed, where Beth laid. "Good morning, Sunshine. I didn't expect you to be out all day today. We were starting to get worried. Your cell was blowing up too so obviously others were worried too". She shoved an outstretched palm into Beth's face.
"Here take these. You will feel better. It's just aspirin, nothing strange, I promise.", she said. She handed Beth a glass of water.
Beth looked at her suspiciously, trying to read her expression. She couldn't detect any signs of malice. She let Dylan place the two pills on her tongue and then Dylan brought the glass to her lips. Beth then swallowed them both in one big gulp.
Beth turned her attention to Dylan. "Why am I here, where did you take me to? Beth questioned. The room didn't appear to have any personal effects and not photographs. There weren't any 'womanly' touches or any presence of children being there.
Beth thought about her children getting home from school and realizing that she wasn't there. She wondered if Annie would start panicking. Would she let Ruby know right away. She was positive that they would both try to frantically call her. She doubted that Dean would even care; too absorbed in his own life to panic when she was unavailable.
She heard voices coming from the other room. It sounded like someone had their phone on speaker. It was definitely Nick's voice that she heard. He was speaking to someone else but Beth couldn't make out what her was saying. He seemed to be irritated. His voice was raised.
She looked down at her hands that were bound together with zip ties. She legs were tied with scarves. Beth pictured Dylan digging out scarves from her drawers and using them to tie around her legs.
She nodded at her bound legs, "Isn't this a little bit of overkill? It's not like I am going to run, when there's armed guards and Mick can easily take me down within a few seconds. Believe me, it happened before. It's completely unnecessary. Can't you at least untie my legs? I'm barefooted and most likely have a concussion. I really need to stretch out my legs", Beth pleased.
Dylan smirked at her and started to retreat from the bedroom. Her heeled boots clinked against the hardware floors.
"Why do you think? Also, I think I'll let Nick handle untying you. I think he'd take more pleasure in freeing you then I would", Dylan stated. She winked at Beth, "He may prefer to keep you tied up.
Beth winced at the thought of Nick touching her. The thought made her panic. She tried to look around the room for any other points of escape besides the door. There wasn't a window. There wasn't anything heavy that she could use as an improvised weapon beyond a ceramic lamp sitting on a bedside table. Beth was positive she could overpower Dylan if she did manage to get herself free. She wasn't so sure about Nick. She knew that there was no way she would win a fight against Mick, with or without a weapon.
Beth rolled her eyes at the unhelpful response. Dylan moved closer to the door.
"He's not coming for you. He doesn't want your sorry ass anymore", she declared.
As the door shut behind Dylan, Beth shouted, "We'll see about that".
She wasn't entirely convinced that Rio would be able to find her and burst down the door trying to find her but she hoped that he would. The sooner the better.