I almost couldn't tell the difference between my eyes being open and being shut. There was only the tiniest streak of light from underneath a door. It wasn't my door though, well, not any of the doors in my apartment. A heavy grogginess clung to me, but it wasn't enough to make me forget that. I expected to be in a different place than where I passed out. It was apparently becoming a habit, a habit I really needed to break.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, hoping they'd adjust to the darkness quicker. I hadn't really done much to prevent this ridiculous thing from happening to me. I mean, I literally sat there and let them do that for minutes. What kind of moron am I? But who the hell lies about ice cream? What kind of monster does that?

Perverts and kidnappers.

Fuck.

Slowly, I sat up and scratched my head. Strange that nobody thought to tie me up or handcuff me or anything. I wonder if it was because I was so compliant earlier. Now that I've regained my senses, it would be their loss. I guess that worked out for me in the end.

I had no idea what type of room I was in other than it smelled damp and the couch I woke up on wasn't the most comfortable. There were more than a few springs broken and the cushions could use extra stuffing.

With the couch helping to steady me, I gingerly stood up. I might be thinking clearer, but my body was still slow to shake off the sands of sleep. My hand reached out and found the rough, cool wall so I could lean against it and trace my way out. Was it made of cement?

I passed by what felt like a dresser and as I neared the door, voices echoed around the crevices and reached me. There was too much of an echo to understand anything other than the fact that they were drawing closer.

If they found me up and wandering around looking for an exit, there would most definitely be bindings next. Desperate in my rush back to my bed, I slammed my shin into the couch. Fear of being discovered and biting my tongue were the only things that kept me from crying out. My body shuddered as a wave of pain spread out from my point of impact. It was definitely going to bruise. In and out, breathe in and out. I tried focusing on evening out my breathing, but it was taking everything I had not to suck in a gasp and start rubbing the tender area.

The door squealed as it opened slowly. The voices had stopped, but I wasn't going to turn over yet. Maybe I could catch the person off guard and knock them out. What was that line from Miss Congeniality? Sing? Shit, the only part I remembered was nose and groin. Why didn't I take up any self-defense classes in college? There were plenty of cheap ones then. Hopefully only one creep would walk in and either of those areas would be presented for an attack.

Whoever entered I guess decided to just use the light from the hall because nobody flicked on any lamps or light switches. That was not reassuring. I could hear the footsteps, a heavier-set that practically stomped as they went. My skin crawled as the figure neared my back. The heat from a hand closing in on my arm made me shiver involuntarily.

I was afraid that the hand would grip my arm and I'd never get free so I swung myself up and threw all my bodyweight into whoever was reaching for me.

What I hit was a somewhat squishy wall. The fact that I practically bounced off of the person stunned me. I was a fairly large woman, both tall and decently solid so I ought to have at least made someone stumble, but that wasn't the case here. I could only see an outline of a man not much taller than me as my eyes struggled to adjust to the bright light behind him.

Then, I saw a raised hand, a moment too late.

My face tingled and burned as my ears rang. I fell over onto the corner of the couch, my hands and instincts preventing me from hitting the floor. Tears stung my eyes and something warm pooled around my lips. The headache, this pain felt familiar as if from a nightmare. I couldn't form any words yet as my brain still felt like it was jostling around inside my skull, but I could hear.

The man spoke with unexpected disappointment in his voice. "It's a pity you're awake already. I was hoping to surprise you."

I felt the couch shift as he sat down. My eyes still lolled around a bit, but I managed to get them to focus for a moment on the dick who'd just hit me. This time I saw a cleanly clipped beard and a dark blue suit before my head screamed at me to stop focusing on anything other than recovering. Giving in, I scrunched my eyes shut and grasped the front of my forehead to attempt to help even out the tension.

Damn, that hurt. I hope I don't get a concussion from that. I'm sure it's going to bruise as well.

I jerked up and stared at him again. The hand that was helping pressurize my head slid to my cheek, to the very same cheek that had a massive unexplained bruise from my night out with the girls last week.

"Oh? Are you just now waking up, Sleeping Beauty? We can always test this? How's your gag reflex?" He leaned over towards me with a hand outstretched.

"Strong enough that the sight of you nauseates me or perhaps that's because you just hit me. I think it might be both actually." I shied as far away from it as I could, even leaving the steady support of the couch. Something wasn't right. Sleeping Beauty? Why was that coming up again?

My skull pounded as I tried to crawl further away from him. This was bad. I didn't recognize him at all, but somethings you can't forget like the pain of a lip-splitting, ear boxing, blow to the face.

"Where do you think you're going?" He purred as he stood up.

I flipped over and tried to find my feet beneath me when his hand gripped my hair and wrenched my head back. I cried out as I felt clumps of hair come loose.

"Do you honestly think you're going to get away again?" He shouted down at me, spinning me in his hand around to face him. "Your little game last time is going to cost you."

Before I could even begin to question his grasp of sanity, he delivered a swift kick to my stomach. Whatever contents were left in my belly from my last meal quickly presented themselves all over the floor. Acid burned my throat and the stench wasn't helping either.

"Disgusting. You're lucky you missed my shoes." He released my head and stepped away from my mess. "Don't ruin the suit."

I heaved again, but luckily nothing else came up. It still hurt though. My nose was running and tears streamed down my tingling cheek. After a few more shallow breaths, I managed to spit out a few words. "Who... are you?"

"Really? You don't know?" He paused, waiting for who knows what. "He didn't fill you in before using you as bait? He's more of a bastard than I thought. Maybe you didn't get off scot free then. Interesting."

"What are you talking about?" I shouted at him, clutching my stomach and allowing my hair to fall over my face. Everything hurt and this guy might have made a mistake? What the fuck was his problem?

"What do you remember from that night at my club?"

"Which club? I don't know what you're talking about." Maybe I could throw him off more since he wasn't making any sense right now and sounded surprised or better, I could figure out where I was. "I go to a lot of clubs."

"Don't lie to me. It'll be unpleasant." He sidestepped my vomit and grabbed my head, pulling me through it. "Now, one more time. What do you remember from the club?"

"Ow, ow. Shit, let go. I don't know what you're talking about. I went out with some friends and apparently got roofied by some asshole I know. I have no idea who you are."

He slung me against the base of the couch. "I'm the asshole who roofied you."

"What? No, it was Ian, wasn't it?" I stared up at him as I wiped away some of the blood and bile from my lip. It was burning a lot now.

"So you do know more, now tell me. What else do you remember?" He threatened, his voice heavy with irritation. His foot gently pressed onto my ankle while more and more of his weight came down.

"I knew he was there because he brought me back. He admitted to it later." I winced as even more pain emanated from that foot and I tried to brace for it. "One of my friends also got roofied. I swear that's everything I know. Please don't snap my ankle."

He lifted his foot, slowly releasing the pressure from the joint.

I pulled my knees to my face and hugged myself as more tears leaked out. A soft whimper escaped from me as I tried to watch for his next move. I very much doubted he'd be the type to pity someone he's torturing, but if there was even a sliver of a chance, I'd take it.

"I wondered if you'd really known what you were getting yourself into that night so I came prepared. Since you don't remember very much and you're about to be punished for it, would you like to know what happened?"

"What makes you think I'd believe anything you tell me." I sniffed, trying to stop my raging tears. They'd gotten out of control. I needed to calm down. Too many of them would make it difficult to see an opportunity to escape. "You're a monster."

"Well, you can't incriminate me without doing the same to your dear friend, Mr. Daniels. Now get up. This place reeks." He waited only three seconds before grabbing my forearm and yanking me to a standing position.

"Let go. Where are you taking me?"

"We're going to watch a little home video," he said with cruel smile and dragged me out of the darkness into a blindingly bright hallway.

There was a strange buzzing sound that drilled into my ears while my eyes struggled to adjust to the intense fluorescent lights.

Figures moved back and forth around other people reclining. A large silver machine arched overtop of one of them. It came down closer and closer to the struggling person seated closest to us. I reached out to them, hoping we could help each other, but my hand bounced off some invisible wall that separated us.

I blinked a few more times and the images and colors settled in more. It was a dental office before me. Balling my hand into a fist, I raised it to slam against the wall.

The creep whipped me back away from the glass before I had a chance to strike it with purpose. "Don't bother. They can't hear you unless I want them to hear you. Let's be off. I have a schedule to keep."

His hand released me just as I fell into some other stranger's grip.

I tried to struggle out of this one too, but whoever's hand it was had a vice-like grasp of my neck and shoulder. I wasn't going anywhere without their permission. Even after straining my neck to check out this goon, all I could tell was he was of some kind of mixed heritage, maybe Latino, and had a thick, black mustache. I shot him a glare, but apparently, I wasn't the least bit intimidating even though I was only a couple inches shorter than him. Seriously? Where were all of these giants coming from?

Mustache Man forcibly guided me down the hallway. We went by several stalls with patients being seen, and yet, not a single person saw us. Plenty were staring at us, but none actually noticed us.

This whole wall must be made of two-way glass or something. I can't imagine three people over 5'8 were a common sight especially dressed as we were in a dental office. This was definitely a HIPAA violation.

I actually hoped that some of the bile had stained my shirt. It would help me give off more of the distressed look in case someone unexpectedly spotted us. Not that the roughed up clothing, completely wild-looking hair, and my obviously displeased facial expressions really needed any more help.

Some people were just completely oblivious.

Some people like me.

Fucking idiots.

I wanted to shout and scream until they had no choice, but to knock me out again, since my death was probably going to be a slow one. Unfortunately, my heart tugged at the thought of unnecessarily endangering these people. They probably had no idea what was happening, the patients anyway. Maybe even the doctors and hygienists too. And what was the deal with Lisa? Was she one of them or had they cornered her and coerced her into trapping me?

With no sign of her around, I didn't want to risk her involvement. I'd already screwed myself over by dumbly admitting to knowing Ian. I swear that asshole just could NOT let me be.

They lead me into a conference room of sorts with a large TV in the corner, only then did I notice the closed-circuit camera by the door. If this creep had cameras everywhere, I probably could trust what I was going to see. I could finally see what Ian had lied about and what I'd somehow gotten myself into.

Mustache Man sat me in a seat and then stood behind me, uncomfortably close. If I knew where an exit was, I'd quickly ram my chair back into his knees and shins. That could buy me enough time to get to the door, but the cameras would be a dead giveaway though.

"So what are you going to do with me?" I shot at the man in the dark blue suit. He was definitely the one in charge. He'd know what was going to happen to me next.

"Well, first, we're going to make your friend beg to keep you alive, then I'm going to make you be my personal slave. That'll probably be about the time I kill him. If I ever grow tired of you, which may happen, you'll be sold on the black market to the highest bidder. I'll make sure you're still of some value to me even when I sell you off." He motioned for the lights to go off and the TV came on. The light from the screen made his face look even more monstrous with the deep, shadowy creases and a glint similar to what I have when staring down my special order from El Rey del Tacos. "Don't worry. I know how hard to hit before it'll leave permanent damage."

I never realized someone could stare at another person with that much hunger in their eyes.

I shivered, at least someone human.

He was human, right?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sorry, this is so late in coming. I'm battling with those demons of perfectionism and procrastination. They are a beast in tag team matches.

Expect chapter updates every other week as I try to wrap things up for Nicole and Ian and as always, I appreciate any and all feedback.

If you've enjoyed the chapter, tell me what your favorite aspect was. Thanks again!