"Chuck said put this on her. We're making the delivery today."
Jack looked up from the corner, where Lauren slept in his arms.
Wayne stopped and pondered.
"Y'know Jack. I don't like the way you're acting around her. She's just a dumb bitch. Don't get too involved in shit like that." He spat on the floor, dropped a pile of clothes onto Jack and left.
Jack looked down at Lauren. Her torn shirt lay at the sides of her torso, barely but not quite covering the tips of her nipples. Her supple chest rose and fell with her even breathing. Gently, he pulled one side of the torn shirt off and lifted her to remove the ruined garment. She lay naked in his arms.
"Lauren," he whispered.
She stirred. He couldn't help watching her soft mouth as she roused herself. "Y-yes?"
"They're releasing you soon. We have to get ready."
Lauren opened her eyes slowly. "Releasing me?"
"Yes. Now you have to be quiet and follow orders that way you can remain unharmed,"
A fire came into her eyes.
"Unharmed?? You call this unharmed??"
Jack sat quietly. He sorted the clothes and pulled out a plain grey button-down blouse.
"You didn't really object, if I remember correctly." He leaned in and slipped the neck of the shirt around Lauren's face. She kept stubbornly quiet as he pulled the sleeves on and moved his fingers to the buttons down her chest.
He looked up at her. One finger pressed against the bottom button, between the swells of her breasts.
Lauren said nothing.
Jack did up the buttons and let his thumb stroke the underside of her fabric-covered flesh.
Lauren set her jaw and turned away as he leaned in toward her face.
"Well. I had hoped it was mutual. I understand, of course. Many kidnappees are smart enough to play along to ensure their survival and perhaps escape." Jack shrugged, pulling away and parting Lauren's legs to tug a pair of white cotton panties up her thighs.
She flinched slightly but relaxed when she felt the cotton cover her otherwise-vulnerable crotch. Her eyes rested on Jack's and he let his hand linger at the top of her thighs but then dropped it to dress her in shorts.
"That's it. Let's go. I have to blindfold you."
When Lauren opened her mouth to protest, Jack stopped her. "Remember. Keep quiet and follow orders. No harm – no, further harm, that is. Will come to you."
She stood still and felt a blindfold being secured around her eyes. A rope was tied tightly around her wrists once more.
And then, Jack's stubble on the curve of her neck, and his lips soft against her skin.
"You can say what you like, but I know you enjoyed it."
And they were off.
--------------------------------------
"Lauren! Lauren oh my god I'm so glad you're safe," the cries and sobs around Lauren heightened in volume such that they became incoherent. A hand reached out gently and removed the blindfold from around her eyes. The sudden sunlight blinded her and she squinted.
From a distance Jack watched. He watched Lauren's family milling about her, her mother distraught with relief and her father grim in his regret. Wayne shoved him in the ribs. He turned, looked back at her once more, and then followed Wayne into the alley.
----------------------------------------
It had been months and Lauren had fallen back into the regular routine that had once been her life. But there was something out of place now. Her parents were wealthy and she had no real need to earn money so she pursued her passions and that was why she was a florist half the time. After the kidnapping, though, there was something missing in her, a space that could not be filled.
She woke up in the middle of the night sometimes, dreaming of hot breath and slow, sensuous kisses. She'd flip the covers back and look at the ceiling, where the reflected shadows of cars downstairs moved slowly.
She never forgot what Jack had said; the last words he'd said to her. Although she tried to deny it to herself and definitely denied it to everyone else who asked, she knew that some part of her Did enjoy it, Had responded to his touch.
It was a light day and Lauren was rearranging the flowers in the front window when she saw a familiar figure across the street.
She froze.
The way he walked and the curve of his mouth was too familiar. It was Jack.
Lauren fumbled with the roses in the vase and one of the thorns sank into the flesh of her index finger. She cursed softly and held it up just as the bell on the door tinkled and Jack walked in.
"Hello." She had spent nights reliving the tone of his voice in her ear, the way he'd said things before he felt her in places that made her –
"H-Hello." Thoughts raced through her brain. Wasn't he afraid she'd give him away at all? Why did he come here? Had he known where she was all the time?
"You pricked yourself," Jack said with no inflection in his voice, as was his way. He reached out and took her hand in his. She tensed and caught his eye gingerly. He lifted her finger and just as Lauren realized what he was about to do, he slid it in his mouth and sucked the tiny drops of blood off. She watched, transfixed, as his tongue moved easily over her skin. Flashes of where else he had applied that tongue set off heat in Lauren's cheeks and she pulled back abruptly.
"What are you doing here." She breathed.
Jack shrugged.
"Well to be honest I was walking down the street one day when I noticed you in the window. I came back to see if you were here and you are." He looked at the flowers displayed around the store. "I don't know much about flowers but these look nice. The kind I'd likely give my girlfriend."
Lauren bit her lip. "You have a girlfriend?"
