Hi there! I'm super excited to have this story up. I decided to keep things pretty vague and simple for the first chapter, but I promise there'll be a lot more development in upcoming chapters.
Also, it's been quite a while since I've written anything, so any feedback is much appreciated!
xx
"That'll be $32.89," said the cashier, watching Nicole tuck a stray curl behind her ear as she dug through her wallet in search of her credit card. "It's a little chilly out tonight, isn't it?" they asked.
"Uh, yeah, I guess so," she smiled nervously, showing off dimples that, unbeknownst to her, often drove men crazy. She punched her PIN into the card reader and prayed the cashier wouldn't say anything else. It wasn't that she had a strong aversion to talking to people, but after a long and difficult day at work, all she wanted was to get home as soon as possible and drink her stress away with a cheap bottle of chardonnay while accompanied by her best friends, Ben & Jerry.
"Any plans for the weekend?" they asked while bagging her stuff.
"Just catching up on sleep," she answered politely.
"That's it? I figured a pretty girl like you would have a couple of dates lined up. Unless you've got a boyfriend?"
She responded with a slight smile and a simple shrug. Before the cashier could pry any further, she reached for the shopping bag and made her way out of the store. "Have a good evening!" She called out, not bothering to look back.
The night was eerily quiet, not that Nicole minded. For her, there was something oddly serene about feeling alone in a big city. She hugged her spring coat closer to her body, admitting to herself that the cashier had been right; it was unusually cold that evening. Still, she took comfort in the idea that spring was just around the corner.
As her pumps rhythmically clacked down the sidewalk, she thought about which show she should watch once she got back to her apartment. Was she in the mood for trashy reality TV? Or maybe it was time to check out that new medical drama? It was a dilemma she faced almost every night. Before she could make a decision, Nicole felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. For a second she debated letting it go to voicemail, but the thought of getting chewed out at work for ignoring a call prompted her to fish her phone out of her coat pocket and answer it.
"Hello, this is Nicole," she said in her overly cheery professional voice.
"Hey, Nicole. It's Jessie. You're not too far from the office yet, are you?" Her supervisor asked. In their department, no one ever arrived at work earlier than Jessie, or left later than her, which had led Nicole (and everyone else at the office) to theorize that she actually lived there.
"Um, I'm about 20 minutes away. Why? Is everything okay?"
"I've been searching for the customer feedback surveys and can't find them anywhere. Last I saw them they were on your desk. Did you move them somewhere else?"
"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure they were right next to my computer. Maybe I grabbed them by mistake." She stopped next to a building and put her shopping bag down. "Hold on, let me check."
She pinned the phone against her ear with her shoulder, and quickly searched through some of the files in her work bag. Sure enough, she found a small stack of papers labeled CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.
"I'm so sorry Jessie, I have them here with me. I don't know what I was thinking. Do you want me to run them back?"
Jessie sighed. "No. Just get them to marketing first thing Monday morning."
"Will do. Again, I'm so, so, so sorry. I'll be more careful next time. Have a good night, Jessie."γShe hung up, feeling a little bit guilty about making such a stupid mistake.
A shitty end to a shitty day
, she bitterly thought to herself.
After taking a deep breath and deciding there was no point in dwelling on her mistake, Nicole picked up her plastic shopping bag, and continued on her way back to her apartment.
With all of her thoughts focused on how she would use the weekend to relax and forget about work, she paid no attention to the vehicle that had been slowly following her. The sound of the car door opening caught her attention, but it was too late. She turned around and came face to face with a damp rag. Everything happened so quickly that all she could do was scream and panic until everything around her went dark.
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There was no way of knowing how much time had passed, but eventually she started to regain consciousness. Her head pounded, which is made worse by occasional bumps that indicated she was in a moving vehicle. Her body ached and she made an attempt to stretch her sore limbs, but quickly discovered that her wrists and ankles were tied up. Panic started to set in once more. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound that came out was no more than a pathetic, muffled whimper.
"Shh, shh. It's alright, we're almost there,"she heard from a deep, masculine voice. She suddenly became aware of the stranger gently stroking her forehead with their thumb while she lay in their lap. To her frustration, she couldn't get her vision to focus enough to identify her abductor. She whimpered again and tried to squirm away from them.
They laughed, confident that she was too weak to escape their touch. "I know you're tired. Don't try to fight it. Go back to sleep." Just like that, as though her abductor's voice had some strange control over her, she slipped out of consciousness once more.
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Her body was cold. Instinctively, she tried searching around the bed for her comforter, but her limbs felt too heavy. Despite doing her best to ignore her discomfort, her tired, shivering body demanded warmth. Groaning in defeat, she forced her eyes open and searched the bed. It was bare, except for white sheets and one white pillow. Even with all of her senses severely dulled, she knew that something wasn't right. Her hazy, unfocused eyes scanned around an unfamiliar room.
The confusion and fear that slowly crept into her was sobering. She was on her way home from work, and then...nothing. After her phone call with Jessie, everything went black.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty."
Nicole gasped, her head immediately snapping to the left. She didn't know who she expected to see there, sitting next to the bed and watching her intently...but it certainly wasn't the son of her company's CEO. Her eyes must've been playing tricks on her, but there was no mistaking that face; with midnight blue eyes, perfectly styled jet-black locks, and- as all the women in the office liked to describe it- a jaw "sculpted by the gods", Liam Walker wasn't an easy man to forget.
"Liam?" Simply saying his name was more difficult than she'd imagined. Her mouth was as dry as a desert, and her voice came out weak and hoarse. "Wh-Where are we? How did I get here?"
"Do you remember anything?" he asked, instead of answering her question.
She shook her head, the simple action immediately causing her to wince in pain. "I was walking home, everything went black...and now I'm here." An anxious pit grew in her stomach. Whatever the reason was for her waking up in a strange place with Liam watching over her, there wasn't a chance in hell that it would be good.
The calm, unhurried way his dark eyes were taking her in made her feel sick. "Um, do you know where my bag is? I'd like to call a cab and get back home as soon as possible." Getting home, or at the very least, getting away from Liam, was going to be her priority. Once she managed that, she could try and piece together what had happened.
"You won't be needing your phone," he answered flatly. "Or a cab."
"Goddamnit." she wearily propped herself up and swung her feet over the bed. "I always knew you were an asshole, but this is unbelievable." Despite her legs feeling like Jello-O, she managed to get them to clumsily carry her across the room. Wherever it was that he brought her to, as long as they were still in the city, she assumed it was a place with a front desk. There was sure to be someone who could help her get a ride home.
Unfortunately, any logical plan she had went right out the window the second she tried turning the doorknob. In an instant, everything became surreal. It took every last ounce of energy she had not to blackout a third time. "Liam...what the fuck is going on here?" Nicole choked out. Her hand gripped the doorknob so hard that her knuckles turned white. Over and over again she twisted and turned, each attempt met with resistance.
She was so distracted by the door that she had no clue Liam was right behind her until he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "You're not leaving, Nicole," he said much too confidently for her liking. "Not unless I want you to."
She tore her hand away from the door and turned to face him. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are," she spat indignantly, "but I'm leaving, whether or not you want me to. So I suggest you unlock that door before I call the fucking cops." She should've been scared, but at that moment, perhaps not truly comprehending the situation she was in, she felt angry and fed up more than anything else. Liam had always come off as an entitled, egotistical piece of shit, but she refused to be intimidated by him.
Rather than taking her threat seriously, she watched in horror and disgust as a smirk spread across his face.
He let out an amused huff and moved closer towards her. Nicole stepped away until she felt her back press against the solid, heavy door.
"You don't need to be afraid of me, Nicole," he said, wrapping a strong arm around her waist and pulling her body against his. "I've got plans for you. For
