Taken Ch 02 5

Lia came to with a throbbing in her head that was worse than anything she'd ever felt. She tried to move and failed. As her eyes focused and her brain started functioning, she realized that her arms were tethered above her. She fought the pain that coursed through her head as she moved to look to her right and left. She was bound, with course rope, to her and Troy's four-poster bed. Reality came crashing down on her as she remembered the stranger and what he had done to her. Oh, God! Had he done anything else to her while she was unconscious? Suddenly in a panic, she raised her head up as far as she could to look around, ignoring the pain in her body. She quickly assessed that she was still nude, though now dry, when her eyes locked with his, the stranger's. He was sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed watching her. He stood with the grace of an athlete and growled, "So she finally wakes up. Didn't think I'd hit you THAT hard. You looked like a tougher broad." He had an accent, but she couldn't place it in her befuddled state.

Indignant at his statement, she spat, "Sorry to spoil your plans. I'm not in the habit of being beaten." She strained against the ropes, testing to see if she could pull free.

Suddenly he was on top of her, pushing her into the bed, with his hands on either side of her head pulling her loose hair. He said quietly and with menace, "You said you would be good. I already punished you once for trying to get free of your cuffs. Do you want me to do it again?"

Lia scoffed, "Get free from those cuffs? You've got to be joking."

His face betrayed only a hint of a smirk at her bold remark. "That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble. Anyone ever told you that?"

She had been told that before. She couldn't help it. She wasn't raised to just let people walk all over her. Her world had suddenly been turned completely on its head. She wasn't used to not having control of a situation. She was frustrated and her head ached, not to mention the giant laying on top of her. "Then why don't you just gag me!" she hissed. Mercifully her legs were still free so she tried to shift her hips to buck him off.

In response he pushed himself against her harder, making it clear she was going nowhere. "That's not a bad idea," he said.

Lia's eyes widened. Damn it, why couldn't she learn to keep her mouth shut. She didn't want to be gagged. Luckily, he didn't move to get anything to gag her with. Unfortunately, this left him on top of her still. She turned her head away from him to glance out the window. What time was it? Would Troy worry why she hadn't shown up to work yet? Did he even know she wasn't there? They worked in different departments, so that could be possible. Hopefully, someone is worried she didn't show up and told him.

She was brought out of her thoughts as the man shifted on her and turned her head back to face him. "I won't gag you as long as you behave and tell me what I need to know. Otherwise, we have all day to have a little fun here," he said as he spread her legs apart with his knee and settled between her thighs. She couldn't squeeze them back together, his legs were steel and wouldn't budge. Hopefully, he doesn't have all day, she thought. Please let Troy be worried and come home early!

"What time is it?" she blurted.

Wariness came over his face for a moment and but then it turned to lust, "Don't you worry your pretty little head about that." He supported himself on one arm and slowly started to move his other hand down her body. She clenched her fists against the ropes and squeezed her eyes shut. This is a bad dream. This isn't happening. She felt something cool against her breast and her eyes snapped open. He no longer was using his hand. He had an assault knife out now and was lightly grazing it against her breast. Where did he get that from? He was still fully dressed. She glanced down what she could see of his body and realized he had various pockets and holsters, but luckily she didn't see a gun. Didn't mean he didn't have one somewhere though.

"So..." he paused as he swirled the knife around her nipple, "are you going to tell me what I need to know." He pressed the edge of the knife against her nipple, and she grimaced in pain.

Not taking her eyes off of the knife she said, "What do you want with me? I'm nothing special. This is just a farm."

Still playing his game with the knife, gradually increasing pressure, watching her facial reactions, he said, "Oh, you must be special if he let you live with him. Some people have secrets, expensive secrets. Secrets like these would be hard to hide from a wife."

She flinched as he started to run the knife lower, but she responded boldly, "I'm nobody's wife."

"No?" he raised an eyebrow at her in question. When she didn't respond he continued, "Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free, eh?"

When she remained stoic and silent, he increased pressure and he started to cut her. Her resolve crumbled when the fire of the knife's edge took hold and he began to cut away at her flesh. Lia finally screamed, "Stop! No, please, stop! I'll answer you! We don't see the point! Neither of us wants to get married! Please, just stop! I don't know anything!" She screamed out the words in a blur, not even sure he could understand her through her pain and hurry. Tears that she'd held back earlier now began to flow freely.

He sat up on his knees and watched as sobs wracked her body. "Hmm, no, perhaps you don't know anything." He held the knife up to his mouth and licked her blood off of it then lowered it to her neck. "I guess we'll have to find another way to have some fun."

*

Troy was seriously worried now. It was going on 10:00 a.m. and he'd received no response to his texts and she wasn't answering his calls. He picked up his phone and dialed his neighbor that lived a couple miles down the gravel road. John answered with gusto as always, "Hallo!"

"John, I need a favor."

John's happy tone disappeared as he heard the worry in his friend's voice, "What do ya need?"

"Lia never showed up for work and she's not answering her phone. Can you run down and check on her."

John replied quickly, "Oh, yea. Sure. I'll go right now."

Troy breathed a little easier, "Thanks John. Hopefully, she just fell back asleep and her phone is on silent. Tell her to call me okay?"

"Will do! Bye."

Troy felt a little better knowing John was going to see what was up. He had a bad feeling, though. If it wasn't 30 miles away, he would have gone to check himself. He stared at his phone and waited.