Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) Read online

  “Jesus Christ.” It’s Leo’s voice, and I immediately burst into tears.

  “Leo.” My voice is shaky. A sob escapes me. “Please get me back inside. Please.”

  He removes the shirt from my head. When I see his shocked and horrified face, my hands naturally want to reach out to him even though I know I’m still held back by the restraints. He can’t get me detached from this chair fast enough.

  “You can’t react to me,” Leo warns. “I know you want to, but you have to wait until we get back in the cell. I don’t know who’s watching.”

  I nod for him, tears still streaming down my face. He’s working at a panicked rate to set me free. When I’m finally out of the restraints, he scoops me up in his arms and carries me.

  I should feel relief and happiness at being rescued from this hell, but instead I’m consumed with the fiery pain that overtakes my senses in every aspect of his touch against my skin. An involuntary yelp escapes me, and I continue to cry.

  Leo tenses but doesn’t stop moving. “I’ll try not to touch you any more than I have to. I know it hurts, but you’ll get through this. We’ll make it better soon.”

  I try to take comfort in his words, but it’s hard when my body feels like it’s actually on fire.

  “I’m so sorry,” Leo says to me quietly as he moves us. “I caused this. I stormed out of there without taking the empty bottle with me last night. I did this to you.” His voice sounds ready to crack.

  I shake my head in his arms. “Not your fault.” I’m speaking through gritted teeth at this point just to get those few words out. I need Leo to distract me. I need anything to take my mind off this pain. “Don’t run again. I need you.”

  We’re near the side of the prison now. It’s an imposing, wide expanse of a building with barred, cloudy windows.

  Leo looks down at me briefly before turning us toward a nearby door. “I won’t run.”

  “Promise me.”

  He stops us at the door and looks into my eyes. “I promise. Pinky swear.”

  A slight smile curves up his lips, piercing through the pain in my burning skin to trigger a similar grin on my face.

  It’s the greatest relief to be back inside my literal prison. I missed the unnatural fluorescent lighting and thick cement roof over my head. My cell and that uncomfortable cot are calling for me. I need to leave the conscious world for a while. I’m ready to shut down and give my body a break.

  “Leo,” I whisper.

  “Shh. Not yet.”

  I close my eyes as he carries me, trying desperately to relax and take comfort in his hold of me while I push through the pain. My tears have stopped by the time I hear the familiar creak in the opening of the door to my cell. I open my eyes just in time for him to set me down carefully in a sitting position on the cot.

  Leo sits next to me, taking the sides of my face in his hands. I can feel the residual tears on my cheeks absorb into the warmth of his skin. I love that this touch doesn’t hurt. It negates the rest of the pain. It calms me and makes me feel safe, and I can’t stop the hint of a smile that forms on my lips. “Thank you for the T-shirt. You saved my face.”

  Leo’s look of worry eases into his own smile. “I had to. Your face is too beautiful to ruin.” He runs his thumbs over the scab that remains from the cut he made on my cheek, and his smile falters. “I need to leave you for just a minute. We need to get something on these burns.”

  “Okay,” I say automatically, even though internally I know it’s not okay. I don’t want him to leave me, not even for a few minutes.

  Leo leans in to place his lips on mine briefly before he gets up to leave the room. In the few minutes he’s gone, I’m left with nothing to focus on but the pain, and it just about drives me mad. I feel like to rip at my skin to claw the burning away and release the tension in my body.

  When I see Leo reappear at the door, I feel some relief. I try to focus on his movements as he sits down next to me again with a bottle of aloe. I can almost feel the green gel soothing my skin just by looking at it.

  Leo pauses a moment to observe me, his fingers moving to the straps of my bra. “I think we should take this off.”

  “Admit it. You just want another peek.”

  I don’t know how I’m managing an attempt at humor given the exhaustion and pain that overwhelms me, but my comment elicits the most wonderful knowing smile from Leo as he reaches around me to unclasp my bra.

  “Extra bonus,” he teases. He doesn’t try to hide the fact that he’s watching every movement of my breasts coming free as he carefully pulls the straps down my arms. “I really wish I was undressing you under other circumstances.” He removes the bra from me completely and squeezes a generous amount of aloe into his palm. “I’ll try to be gentle.”

  I involuntarily flinch at the first touch of his fingers to my bright red shoulder, but with each soft sweep of his fingers across the skin I recognize just how much better it feels. The aloe has an instant cooling effect that is enhanced by Leo blowing air across the wet gel. His fingers move slowly and with only the amount of pressure necessary to accomplish their task. He is just as gentle as he said he would be.

  When my shoulders and arms are covered with aloe, Leo moves on to the areas of my chest that weren’t protected by my bra. In the proximity of his hands caressing the skin so close to my breasts, I feel the need and desire for his intimate touch peak within me.

  “I used to get sunburns a lot,” I blurt out in an attempt to distract myself. “When I was a kid, I was notorious for going outside without putting on sunscreen. I don’t know if I was really that forgetful or if I was just being stubborn trying to find something to go against my parents’ wishes.”

  Leo’s working his hands over the red skin on my belly and hips now, and it’s driving me absolutely fucking crazy. I feel like my skin might burst from the sexual energy he’s causing within me.

  “I, um…” I say stupidly. “God, you’re killing me here, Leo.”

  A laugh escapes him, and it’s such a beautiful sound. “You think I’m doing any better over here?”

  I glance down to see an obvious bulge under Leo’s jeans. “You make a good point,” I concede.

  “Tell me about your life before,” he offers, clearly trying to help distract us both. “What was it like to be Morgan Whitford before all this?”

  “I was boring,” I say immediately. Leo gives me a skeptical look as he squeezes more aloe into his hands and starts working it over my burned thighs. “I’m serious. I was your typical good girl at school and at home. Always. Everything was safe: my friends, my boyfriends, my after school activities. It’s like I was in this stupid bubble that my dad created around me, and there was no escaping it. No deviation from it. Ever.”

  I’m surprised at myself for ranting this long. It’s a good distraction from the pain and Leo’s touch, so I continue.

  “I can’t even remember a time when I felt like I was living my own life and making my own decisions. My parents dictated everything. They were tricky about it, too, using reverse psychology and all that shit to make me think I was making my own choices when in reality they were pushing me toward what they wanted me to choose. It was really fucked-up, honestly.”

  “Maybe they just cared about you,” Leo suggests. “A cop’s family is naturally more at risk. It sounds like he was just trying to protect you.”

  “But he didn’t let me live.” I look to the cement wall behind Leo as I search for the right words. “I know it sounds crazy, but since the moment I was taken, I’ve finally felt alive and free. Despite where I am right now, it’s almost a relief to be out from under that oppressive protection.”

  “I think you’re looking at this the wrong–”

  “The things I’ve done with you, Leo,” I interrupt, “the way we’ve kissed and you’ve touched me and I’ve touched you… my parents never allowed any of those things. I wasn’t allowed to feel those feelings. I think that’s why this is all so intense for me and w
hy I feel this way with you.”

  “I get it. I do.” We’re both silent a moment as Leo turns me to pull my lower legs gently across his lap. He continues his application of the soothing aloe on my skin. “Don’t you miss it, though? Your life before and your family?”

  I stare at him for a few seconds before what he’s saying finally clicks with me. “Oh my God. I’m so thoughtless.”

  Leo looks up from what he’s doing with concern, and our eyes lock. My hands move to his face, my fingers feeling his skin from his hairline down his cheeks.

  “You never had that,” I realize. “Well, you did, and it was taken away from you. Having a true family. Feeling protected. It was all taken away from you when you were young.” I feel the full weight of my words, and it all hits me at once, tears instantly forming behind my eyes. “And I’m sitting here ready to throw it all away in my own life. What am I thinking? God, my parents must be worried sick. Oh, God.”

  My breathing becomes ragged and my arms begin to shake as the feelings consume me, overwhelming me with guilt and shame and heartache at the thought that I could even possibly believe that being taken from my parents and tortured while captive is a better life than what I had before. I was fortunate. I was lucky to have what I did. Others can’t say the same. Leo can’t even say the same.

  When the first tears fall, Leo abandons the aloe to pull me against him, rocking me back and forth while being careful not to squeeze me too much. The tightness in my chest at the emotions overwhelming me hit a peak before his soothing actions finally help to calm me down.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so stupid to think these things, Leo. I’m really sorry.”

  He takes deep, even breaths as my tears absorb into his shirt. “Don’t apologize. You don’t need to.”

  I try to match my breathing to Leo’s as he holds me there. “I do miss them,” I whisper, leaning into his hold just a little more. “I miss meals with them and the conversations we’d have. I miss the beaming smile on Mom’s face when she got back from the gym every day. I miss the feeling of relief every time Dad came home safe from work. I miss how they’d find a way to hug me any chance they got and hold me a couple seconds too long just because they could.”

  “Your life wasn’t all that bad,” Leo comments.

  “No, I guess it wasn’t.” I pull back slightly from Leo’s embrace so I can look up at him. “It’s not that bad at this moment, either. With you.”

  Leo shakes his head and winces at my words. “Today I tortured you then let the sun bake you alive.”

  “You didn’t have a choice.”

  Leo remains silent. He knows I’m right.

  He grabs the aloe again and finishes applying it to my legs and feet in silence.

  “I’m worried,” he says when he’s done. He lifts my legs carefully off him to place my feet on the floor.

  “More than before?”

  He nods. “Mark’s unpredictable, and he seems to be escalating this. You need to do what you can to obey him. You and I both need to be more careful. We can’t give him a reason to do something extreme like this again.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to be able to do much of anything, honestly.” I look down my almost naked body and take in the blistering that is already starting to occur in portions of my skin. “I just need to keep my tongue in check. I’ll try.”

  Leo looks pleased with my response, but I don’t know if I have as much confidence in myself to keep from speaking up as he does.

  “It’s time for you to rest. Mark will have food and water sent to you soon.” Leo’s already to standing and moving toward the door.

  “I wish you didn’t have to leave,” I call out to him.

  He reaches the door and steps half out of it before turning to me. “I’ll try to come by overnight to check on you. I might be able to help you sleep.”

  For a second I wonder if his words have any extra meaning, but I can see in the hard lines of his face and the solemn look in his eyes that there is absolutely no flirting in what he’s telling me.

  “Thank you.” It’s all I can manage to say through the constriction in my throat.

  Leo’s sad expression doesn’t change. “Thank me when this is all over.”

  15

  Screwed

  The ten days that followed have been quite possibly the most painful and embarrassing of my life. Instead of facing the relatively trivial trials and tribulations of being a freshman in college, I’ve been struggling to move around each day and even to sleep at night. Resting my body has been almost impossible as my skin has blistered and flaked apart in its attempts to heal from my overexposure to the sun.

  Leo persuaded Mark to leave the bottle of aloe with me so I could apply it each day, but the soothing gel did little to calm the fiery pain when I tried to lay down on the cot. Its surface was too solid, the sheets too rough against my sensitive skin. The pressure from my body pushing down into the cot was so painful that I gave up trying to fall asleep horizontally the first night after I was burned.

  After hours of staying awake that night trying to find a way to sleep with the least amount of pain, Leo stopped by and knew exactly what to do to help me. He sat against the wall on the cot and leaned me back against him. He found the perfect position so that the majority of the pressure of my body against his was in areas of my back that weren’t as burned. In the absence of severe pain and in the comfort of Leo’s body, I found myself finally able to relax and rest.

  He’s been back every night since then, allowing me a few hours each time of relatively restful sleep. We never talk. He just sneaks in, finds his place on the cot where I can snuggle back against him, and stays with me until he sneaks back out before morning. In the thick exhaustion of my mind and body, I rarely even wake up when he leaves.

  The embarrassing part of the last week and a half came in the form of my monthly friend visiting me at the worst possible time. When Mark and his crew captured me, I’m not sure they considered that I’m a woman with a monthly cycle that requires certain attention and supplies.

  It felt like I was talking to my parents about my first period all over again when I had to ask one of the men to get me feminine products two days after I was burned. I remembered seeing a dispenser for them in the locker room with the showers. Leo kept me stocked up on supplies after that.

  It’s been a long ten days, but things are better now. My period is over. Mark stops by to look in on me but hasn’t otherwise touched or tormented me. My skin is still healing, but it’s not nearly as painful now as it was before. It’s more bearable when I try to lie down on the cot to sleep, but I’m not sure I want to tell Leo that. I’m enjoying his nightly visits too much.

  I’m actually awakened from a deep sleep when Leo steps into my cell this time. It’s dark in the room, so he doesn’t realize what he’s done until he sits down on the edge of the cot.

  “You were sleeping?” he asks, clearly surprised.

  I readjust slightly to give him more room. “I was.”

  “That’s a good sign. It’s more tolerable now?”

  He can barely see me, but I nod anyway. “It’s better.”

  “Thank God.” Leo’s hand runs over my face lightly and works its way through my hair. “Do you still want me to stay?”

  “Yes.” My answer is almost instantaneous despite the sleepy haze that I’m stuck in. “Lie down with me?”

  Leo’s response to my request seems hesitant at first, but he ultimately complies. He spreads himself out on the cot on his side facing me and wraps his arm gently around my waist. In the tiny size of the cot, we’re so close to each other that I can feel each movement of breath in his chest against mine and the heat of him next to me.

  It feels like I’ve only just closed my eyes when I hear something coming from the door, sounds I’m too familiar with now: the click of the lock being undone, the metal jostling sound in the turn of the doorknob, the slight creak to the door as it’s being opened.

  Adrenali
ne takes over my body as I realize what’s wrong in this situation.

  Leo is still snuggled up tightly against me, and someone is about to enter the room.

  We’re screwed.

  “Leo,” I whisper in absolute fear and panic. The light turns on just as Leo’s eyes shoot open.

  We sit up together to see our visitor. Mark stands at the doorway, an unreadable expression on his face. He steps in and closes the door behind him with a click, and the room is momentarily enveloped by silence.

  “Well, Leo. I see you’ve finally found yourself a woman.” The sarcastic smirk on Mark’s face turns cold. “It’s too bad the one you’ve chosen is the daughter of my enemy.”

  Leo remains completely still next to me. His persona of strength and confidence is gone. He may be as scared as I am right now, and that only frightens me more.

  He’s been at the mercy of this vile man in front of us for far too long. He finally earned Mark’s respect. I don’t want him to lose that again. I won’t sit here and watch his progress with Mark be erased because of my selfish desire for him to be with me.

  “It’s not what it looks like. I begged him to stay with me,” I quickly blurt out. “I took advantage of him. I lured him here.”

  Leo looks at me in shock and shakes his head. The look on my face is telling him everything he needs to know. Don’t say a word. I pray that he has some sense and listens.

  Mark leans against the wall and watches me, his body language relaxed despite the hard look of anger on his face. “You broke your promise, Morgan. You said you wouldn’t do that again.”

  My gaze falls to my lap in feigned disappointment. “I’m sorry. It was stupid. It won’t happen again.”

  “I don’t know what to do with you, girl. I’m torn.” Mark begins to pace the room, thinking hard about something. With each step he takes and each second of silence in between, my heart races faster. “I can’t decide whether you need to make this up to me or to Leo more. He’s my favorite, you know. We go way back. I’ve looked out for him since he was a young boy.”