Part 1
She heard the footsteps first, starting off somewhere above her, then getting closer. The last time he came down, he brought her a bottle of water and one of those prepackaged Hostess apple pies. He fed it to her without untying her from the chair. She didn't think it had been all that long since then, but it was difficult to keep track of time in total darkness, without being able to move.
She closed her eyes when she heard the footsteps reach the bottom of the stairs, anticipating the light turning on. She had predicted it correctly, peeking through squinted eyes to look up at the large man above her.
"They missed the first deadline," he told her in a low, growling voice.
She didn't know what to say in response. He seemed almost apologetic, as if he hoped to get paid off on the first try, not needing to follow through on his threats. Almost.
He untied the knots that bound her to the chair and stood her up on her feet. Pulling a large, scary-looking knife from a sheath on his belt, he grasped the collar of Gwen's shirt. She yanked back from him, but he had a solid grip on her.
"Please, don't, please!" She started pleading automatically, trying to pull away. Tears sprang to her eyes and her head spun.
"Hey, hold still," he hissed at her, giving her a rough jerk towards himself. "I won't cut you if you hold still."
She was hyperventilating, trying to understand what he was about to do. Her body trembled and she was unable to get it under control. The man pulled the collar of her shirt away from her body and sliced into it with the knife.
"Relax," his voice rumbled as he finished cutting open the shirt and the two sides fell open. She felt the cool air wash over her skin as she tried to catch her breath. "Well, this is convenient," he reached between her breasts and released the front clasp.
Gwen sucked in a breath as the two sides of her bra sprang open, revealing her breasts. The momentary relief that she felt when he only cut the shirt and not her was beginning to retreat. What was he planning to do? She had no idea what warning or threat he sent out and what was coming to her now that the first deadline was missed.
"Oh yeah, these are just lovely," he said, tracing a finger over her breast and around her nipple. It was large and calloused and her skin broke out in goosebumps from his touch. "What do you think, would they pay up to see nothing happen to these?"
She had no idea. She didn't know who they were, but she didn't want to have that argument with him again. The last time she tried to explain this to him, she got a sharp slap across the face. She said nothing to the man who was now handling both of her breasts in a surprisingly tender way.
"Well," he stepped back, sheathing the knife and pulling a phone out of his back pocket. "Let's take some pictures to send to Big Jimmy. With a warning of what's gonna happen when the next deadline is missed."
Gwen definitely hoped not to find out.
Part 2
The name 'Big Jimmy' kept turning over in Gwen's head as the large man in front of her took pictures with his meaty hand on her breast. She didn't know anyone by that name - she lived a rather solitary life.
He put the phone back in his pocket and tweaked her nipple casually, smiling down at her.
"Do you need the bathroom?" He asked her.
He had already taken her once before, pulling her jeans and her panties down for her and sitting her down on the toilet before leaving the room. It was humiliating, but it was better than wetting herself. He came back five minutes or so later and pulled up her pants for her, never untying either her hands or her legs. She shuffled back to the chair in tiny steps where he retied her again.
"No," she shook her head this time. She didn't need to.
"Well, then it's bedtime," he announced.
With a grip on her arm, he guided her over to the mattress that lay on the floor on one side of the room and unceremoniously pushed her down onto it. Gwen landed with a bounce and tried to wiggle around to get herself comfortable as the man whose name she didn't know left the basement in a few large strides and shut the light off as he went.
Tears ran down her face again as she attempted to get comfortable on the mattress. It smelled - something musty and unpleasant, like clothes forgotten in the washer and not moved on to the dryer fast enough.
Her brain kept swirling over why she had been taken. She understood, by now, that it wasn't her own fault, that she was simply a hostage, meant to extort something that her captor was owed. This 'Big Jimmy' seemed to have cheated him out of some payment, she logiced out of the exchanges. But why the hell would this Jimmy care about her well being??
She must have drifted off at some point anyway, despite discomfort and the smell. Her body ached when she woke up to the light being turned on in the pitch black basement. She cracked an eye open, trying to roll and was greeted with an angry giant standing at the bottom of the stairs. His arms were crossed in front of his chest and he looked menacing in the shadows.
"Did you have a fight or something with Big Jimmy?" He growled at her, striding over.
"I don't know who Big Jimmy is." She squinted up at him. The single bulb that lit the basement shed a halo around the giant's head where he stood towering over her.
He pushed her to her back, her tied hands pinned beneath her and straddled her bare chest, his knees landing on either side of her body. She could tell that he didn't lean his entire weight on her, but this was still imposing, feeling a man's crotch over her breasts.