Held by Kimberly A. Bettes Read Free Book Online Page B

keep it together, hoping that if I could keep him satisfied with conversation and company, he’d write the damn book and let me go. I pushed away any thoughts that said otherwise.
    Stephanie continued to scream from time to time in the basement. It always angered Ron, who stomped down there in a huff. Moments later, Stephanie fell silent and each time, I wondered if he’d killed her. I knew enough about him now to know it was only a matter of time until it happened. As selfish as it was, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen to me after he’d killed her. Would I take her place? Would he begin to do the things to me that he apparently enjoyed doing to her? I hoped not. But I just didn’t know.
    Every night, he undressed me. And every night, as I stood before him naked, he kissed my neck. Once I was strapped to the bed, he kissed and touched my body in various places. Though there had been a couple of times when I was sure it was going to happen, he still hadn’ t raped me. It made me nervous because I could tell by the way he kissed and touched me when I was naked that he wanted me. Badly. Even if I’d failed to notice the lust in his touch, I wouldn’t have failed to notice the bulge in his khaki slacks. I wasn’t sure how long he’d hold out before giving in to his desires.
    During the second week, he noticed my leg hair had grown to be stubbly, and said we were going to have to do something about it. Personally, I wanted the hair to grow as long the hair on my head if it meant it would turn him off to me physically, but he insisted we get rid of it. Of course, he wouldn’t buy a razor and let me shave my own legs. And it was a good thing for him he didn’t. I would’ve disassembled that sucker and went to slicing and dicing on him in a hurry. But he did buy an electric shaver and shave them himself. It was humiliating, but again, if this was as bad as it got, then fine by me.
    The third week, I had my period. He bought the tampons I needed. In fact, anything I needed, he provided without so much as a complaint. Had he not been a psychopath, he woul d’ve made an excellent husband.
    The fourth Wednesday into my captivity, however, things went wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.
    I’d been living up to my end of this arrangement with my smart mouth. He liked the way I handled myself. I had a feeling it was what kept me out of the basement. His moods changed quicker than the flicker of a light bulb, though. One second, I was mouthing off to him and he was laughing and loving it. The next second, he was showing his angry side because of something I’d said. I wasn’t used to dealing with schizophrenic psychopaths and wasn’t sure how to handle it. I thought I was doing a pretty good job, though, for someone thrust into a situation like this.
    I was cuffed to the kitchen table while Ron prepared dinner. With his back to me, he mentioned his plans for the evening.
    “I believe it’s time, Nicole.”
    “Time for what?”
    “It’s time for me to show you how I feel about you.”
    I looked down at my cuffed wrist with the chafed skin. “I think I know how you feel about me, Ron.”
    “I don’t think you do. And even if you did, I believe it’s time I showed you.”
    My mind spun as I tried to think of what he could possibly mean. There were several things popping into my mind, but I prayed for each one to be wrong.
    “ Are you going to let me go now?” I asked, knowing the answer would be no.
    He chuckled. “No. Tonight, I will come to you.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “It means I will come to you, Nicole. I will come to your bed , and you will have me.”
    “You come to my bed and I’ll have you, alright. I’ll have you arrested.”
    He threw his head up toward the ceiling and laughed a deep laugh. I watched as he continued to laugh, shaking his head with amusement. Glad I could humor him.
    “Oh, Nicole. I’m so glad you’re here. This last month has been such a joy for me. You