For the followers of this story, sorry for the long wait! And for those who read Artemis's Capture, I apologize for slacking on the story, I am not ending it yet because I hope to go back to it in the future. Otherwise, enjoy this chapter!
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AJ stood outside of her apartment building on the snowy sidewalk, shivering and clutching an overly full backpack. The dark sky had a maroon tinge you could only see in the city at night. She watched nervously as cars drove by in the grey slush and messily salted roads. Little snowflakes settled on her head and shoulders as they slowly drifted from the sky.
Her hand squeezed at the strap of the backpack as she saw Oliver's Car pull up in front of her. As she took the handle of the door she hesitated. He had been throwing her into situations with no warning, only explaining when they got there. But this time she would be prepared. Even if it was just mentally, she knew she could do it.
It still terrified her, but she was finding him to be more predictable, and that did not bode well for Oliver. If she could see his patterns, she could use it to her advantage. Now that she wasn't drowning in uncertainty, she can focus on finding his weaknesses. No more pity parties.
When Oliver tapped on the window she huffed and got in the car. The first thing she noticed was his change of clothes. He was wearing a black shirt, black jeans, and the raggedy red flannel he lent her once. She had never seen him in anything other than a suit. Seeing him dressed so informally made her uneasy. She couldn't tell if it made him look more or less intimidating.
Oliver tossed her stuffed backpack in the backseat. As she adjusted herself, she found herself stepping on a large brown paper bag.
"Hey!" Oliver said. "Don't step on that. Give it to me." AJ shuffled herself to the side to pull up the heavy bag on her lap. Oliver leaned towards her and started to rustle through it. She peered in to see a chaotic pile of paperback books.
He started pulling the books out one by one, showing them to her. "Okay we got Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Shadow of the Hegemon, um, let's see..." he said, listing the books' names as he picked through them. "I read Ender's Shadow last night, that's a good one. Starts off slow but it gets really good."
They were all Orson Scott Card books. He not only had all of Ender's adventures, but some of his lesser known books she hadn't even known existed. "Oh, um," AJ began, confused and unsure of how to react.
Oliver put the books back in the bag and handed her Xenocide. "Look, I may be mean, but I'm not going to have you sit in silence in a car for eight hours."
AJ was excited, hugging the paper bag of books. She could get lost in these for days. But she knew he wasn't nice without some alternative motive. "Where did you get these?" she asked curiously. She was starting to feel more confident in herself after their strange experience earlier that day, so speaking her mind was a little easier. At this point, it couldn't hurt. If anything, that's how she might find any of his weaknesses.
Oliver shifted in his seat, putting the car in drive and onto the congested streets. "Just found them lying around. I read too, you know."
AJ nodded and brought her attention back to the books, digging through them to find the ones she had never read before. At the very bottom of the bag was a long receipt half crumpled. He had to have bought all of these yesterday. She didn't even know where he could've gotten some of these books.
She stuffed it back into the bottom of the bag, pretending she didn't see anything. In fact, she didn't want to know if he had really bought these for her. She didn't like when he paid her rent, she was independent. She never wanted to feel like she owed him anything, or that this would excuse to forgive his abusive behavior.
This had to be another trick. Calming her down before the storm hits. Conditioning her like an animal by using her passion of science fiction against her. Oliver was too wicked to be nice like this. It was a trap, he's plotting something. But whether or not it was a trap, she was happy to read them.
For hours AJ had been so absorbed in Xenocide, reading by the light of a small keychain flashlight, that she almost forgot she was in a car with the Devil himself. The only thing that tore her attention from the book was Oliver parking on the side of a dark gravel road.
AJ put the book on her lap and looked out the window. It was eerie how dark it could be outside of the city. They were no longer on the highway, instead on a skinny road in the woods. There was no light pollution, she could barely see three feet in front of her. "I'll be back," Oliver said as he got out of the car.
A small sense of panic struck her as he left. As frightened as she was of him, being alone out in the middle of nowhere was worse. This is what horror movies are made of. She clutched the book and slouched down in the seat, trying to hide in the darkness while running wild scenarios in her head. "What would Jack O'Neil do?" she asked to herself, thinking about all of the heroic characters from every tale she had ever read or watched. "What would Ender do? Or Fox Mulder?" If they weren't afraid of aliens and monsters, she could handle the dark.
She nearly cried of relief when she saw Oliver coming back to the car not long after, but with a long rectangular case. He put it in the trunk and got back in the car. "All good?" he said, seeing her shrunken in the seat. AJ nodded and they got back on the road to continue their long drive.
Now that the spell of the book had been broken, she noticed Oliver had been silently puffing cigarette after cigarette, flipping through radio channels. He grumbled to himself while stubbornly turning it off. It was too frustrating to sift through terrible country music and Christian gospels in hopes for something slightly enjoyable.
Oliver sighed, steering with his left arm with a cigarette drooping from his lips. He reached out with his right hand and brought it to AJ's breast. Even though it was over her sweater, it made her shudder. He managed to find her nipple over the fabric and gave it a hard pinch. She winced and twisted, attempting to avoid his attention.
"Hey, stay still. I'm driving."
This infuriated her. He was the one being reckless, messing with her while on the road. It definitely added a new kind of fear into the mix. Her eye twitched as she forced herself to stay still, more out of her concern for a car accident rather than Oliver's tormenting.
Oliver slid his hand down the neck of her sweater, palming and kneading at her breasts. She bit her lip, desperate to stay frozen and unaffected by his teasing. This was always how he got her, how he persuaded her body to give up to him. She just had to focus on something else.
Every time she managed to distract herself Oliver would give her nipple a sharp pinch, coaxing quiet whimpers from her lips. Her legs began to tighten, squeezing together while trying to suppress any feelings of lust rising in her.
Oliver looked over just for a second to see her, practically red in the face and cringing from battling against her body's shameful desires. His lip creeped into a sly smile, dropping his hand from inside her sweater only to move it to her thigh.
His fingers trailed underneath her skirt, just enough to lightly feel the warmth emanating from her pussy. "Cute," he said, removing his hand to take her wrist. "I'm bored. Amuse me."
