Willing Captive by Belle Aurora Page B

Nox,
mouth parted, I search his face. As our eyes meet, he frowns, lifts
his hand and uses his thumb to wipe away the tears I hadn’t
realized I’d shed.
    My heart aches.
    He’s a dick. A huge
dick. But I wouldn’t wish this on anybody. I want to say something
but the words just don’t come. What can you possibly say to someone
who has been tortured?

    Chapter
Nine Ch-
ch- changes

    Lily

    A few hours after
our close encounter, we remain silent, communicating with nothing
but nods or one word questions and equally short answers. The
waitress from the diner brought up our sandwich platter, along with
a complimentary cherry pie for us newlyweds, while I was in the
shower. We ate slowly, avoiding each other’s gaze.
    Unable to stand the
awkwardness any longer, I jump up and turn on the old-ass TV.
Nothing but static. I mentally sigh. Of course there’s nothing but
static. No one accused me of being lucky. Luck of the Irish, you
ask? Nope. Not even that.
    Flipping through
channels, I stop on the channel with the least amount of static and
manually try to tune it. A few minutes pass but nothing helps, so I
do what I do whenever something at home is broken.
    I beat the crap out
of it.
    Slapping the sides
of the TV, I urge, “C’mon, you piece of shit. Modern technology, my
ass!”
    Nox chuckles and I
say sternly, “You know, you can help me at any time. Don’t be shy
now.”
    Then I smack the
back of the TV. A little too hard.
    It falls off the
stand and onto the floor. A loud bang resounds through the room.
Looking down in shock at the now broken TV, I lift my wide eyes to
Nox and shout, “Look at what you did!”
    Then he does
something beautiful.
    He
tips his head back and roars with laughter.
    And all I can do is
watch in awe as his entire body shakes with hilarity while thoughts
rush through my brain.
    How can a man who
has been through what he has, still be able to laugh? Maybe Nox
isn’t as damaged as I think he is. I’m an ass. I shouldn’t have
labelled him. Ask him about it.
    Walking over to the
bed, I throw myself back onto it, next to his still shaking body.
Placing my arms behind my head, I sigh long and loud, “I’m so
bored.”
    Nox nods but doesn’t
say a thing.
    We lay next to each
other as night falls, neither of is willing to move, quite
comfortable in our finally broken silence. Feeling more confident,
I ask, “What happened?”
    Obviously knowing
this was coming, he breathes in deeply and replies on an exhale,
“Got caught by the bad guy.”
    This explanation is
not satisfactory. I’m nosey! I need more than that. “When?”
    “ Few years back.”
    I’m confused.
Turning my body to look at him, I say quietly, “But I thought you
were the best.”
    Turning his head to
the side, his icy blues search my face before answering just as
softly, “It’s why I’m the best. I’ll never let that happen
again.”
    Okay. I like that.
That’s a totally acceptable answer.
    I nod to no one in
particular and fade into the depths of my mind.
    Nox stands suddenly,
“Damn. I forgot.” Then he walks over to his pile of dirty clothes
and searches his cargo pants’ pockets. Pulling something small out,
he walks over to me, flops back onto the bed and hands me the small
silver device.
    When I take a closer
look, I gasp, “No way! You had this the whole time?”
    Placing his hands
back behind his head, he sighs, “Forgot. It’s Boo’s. Left it in my
office.”
    Switching on the MP3
player, I place both of the earphones in and search the playlists
that Boo has. It’s a great selection. Old music, new music, punk,
rock n roll, pop, dance, metal, RnB. I reach a particular song and
burst into laughter. Nox turns his head and narrows his eyes at
me.
    Taking out an
earphone, I shove it in his ear. “I think I found the song for
you.”
    Pressing play, Highway to Hell by AC/DC plays and he smirks, nodding along to the beat of the
song. When it ends, I select the random option and Clocks by Coldplay