Chapter 10

They followed Iris into the house, he took her down a long hallway and strolled into a sea-green bathroom. He sat her on the crystal-white vanity top and started the water, “You can use anything in here that you need, the shampoo, body wash, anything if you need anything just holler, Iris or I will be within earshot of you, okay?”

She nodded a little. He helped her down from the vanity then shut the door. She stripped out of her borrowed clothes and got into the shower slowly. She let out a whimper as the warm water flowed down her body.

She knew it wasn’t going to take long for her to get cleaned up since the men kept her hair short and she’d just got put through a painful wax remover, they had called it. She began to let her mind wander, though. She already missed Justin.

She reached out a shaky hand for one of the bottles. She lathered herself up and rinsed off then did the same with her short hair. She turned the water off. The shower had felt refreshing. She got dried then slipped back into the clothes Iris had brought her.

She stared at herself in the mirror as she dried the ends of her hair. Her cheeks were sunken in a little, but what bothered her were the bruises along them. She lifted the shirt, a huge bruise was on her stomach. She turned her back to the mirror. She shivered when she saw the long thin strips of scars down her back she had gotten when she had punched one of the men had grabbed her breasts. That had earned her the flogging and a week without food.

That hadn’t taught her though, she always reacted when someone went to touch her when they were ‘inspecting’ her. She sighed as she tried to push away the thought and pain of being whipped.

She grabbed the towel, laying it on the vanity top. She pulled open a drawer and found a comb, that was still in a plastic sleeve. She began to get the tangles out of her somewhat dried hair.

She pulled open the bathroom door and gasped when she saw Justin leaning against the opposite wall with his arms folded over his chest and sock-covered foot propped back against the wall.

He straightened instantly when he heard her gasp, “Hey, beautiful.” He smiled at her.

“Um, hey.”

“I’m going to get some food in you, then let you rest until my friend gets here, okay?”

“S-sure.” She stuttered. She didn’t understand it, she had never stuttered before until she met this man.

He held out his hand, and she moved closer and placed her hand in his. He smiled as he enclosed her hand in his. He led her back down the hallway, “How are your feet?”

“They stung a little but seem to be okay.”

“I want to look at them after we eat.”

She didn’t reply, just followed him down the hallway. Her eyes darted around as she took in her surroundings. So many family pictures hung on the wall, of just Marnie, of Marnie and her parents with Justin, along with just Marnie and Justin. Would she ever find out if this was the kind of life she was supposed to have, “Justin, you mentioned that a friend of yours was coming here, how come?”

He pursed his kissable lips a bit, “Well, she’s a hypnosis, she’s really good too, I thought that maybe if we try then some of your memories will come back, and we can get you back to your family.”

“Oh.” She clamped her mouth shut, “Justin, what if I took the cops back to where I was held?” she questioned quietly.

He spun toward her quickly, pulling her up against him, “No, I told you, you’re not going back there, that’s even if it is to help, I know your intentions are good, but I’m not feeding you to those monsters again.”

“What if that’s the only way to find your niece?”

“It won’t be, we’ll find her and the others.”

Boy, this man was stubborn, “Well, if it comes down to it, I’ll do it, Justin.”

He let out a sigh as those gray eyes hardened a little, “We’ll just wait and see.”

“Okay.” She let him take her down the hall more then he pulled her into a room off from the hall.

She froze when she saw the other buff man sitting at the table. She sucked in a breath, he looked so upset, his brown eyes looked so dull with dark circles beneath them.

The man looked up, and his eyes widened when they landed on her, “Dezerea?” he gasped out.

She flew behind Justin quickly.

“Clay?” Justin glanced behind him at her, then turned to the man at the table, “Who’s Dezerea?”

“Huh, what?”

“When you saw her, you gasped out Dezerea. Who is she?”

“My little sister, she passed away twelve years ago from cancer, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare her, she has the same eyes as Dezerea had.” He whispered. “So, she knows where Marnie is?”

“Yes, she told the cops where they’d find them, they should be out looking right now.”

“Why aren’t you?”

She felt Justin heave a sigh, “They felt like she was better off with me, since I found her, I think some of it has to do with they don’t want her running away, but the other part is I got her away, and she trusts me.”

That made her go back to his side, “Where would I run to? If you want to try to find her, I won’t go anywhere, at least not until the others are safe.”

“It’s okay, if they don’t have any luck in a couple of days, I’ll go.”

She looked into his smoky eyes, she fought the tears, “I’m sorry I couldn’t get them out, all their doors were locked with padlocks, I should have tried harder, and I’m sorry I’m preventing you from looking yourself.” She moved away and turned to leave the kitchen. She was a problem, and a failure just like Burly always told her. She rushed down the hall and out the front door.

She glanced around the sun-kissed area as she sat down on the wooden steps. She let out a heavy sigh as she wrapped her arms around her knees. What was she going to do?

~

Justin watched his darlin’ walk from the kitchen. He turned back to Clay with a cocked eyebrow.

“Sorry, Justin, I didn’t mean to scare her.” Clay sighed, hanging his head, running his hands over it roughly.

“Do you think she could be your niece?” Justin demanded, this was too important to ignore and one way or another he was going to make Clay face this head on, he couldn’t keep moping around. Finding Marnie and possibly finding out more about this girl who fell into his arms in the woods was too important.