Chapter 55 Cuffed
RORY POV
My eyes fluttered open, and I slammed them shut immediately. My head hurt so badly it felt like my skull was being split with an axe.
My ears ringing so hard everything spun the moment I tried to focus.
I forced my eyes open again slowly and found myself on the bed. Our bed. Not the club.
How did I get home?
I remembered going to the club, dancing. drinking with the girls, getting rounds at the bar, bumping into some man on the way back. The blue haired girl dropping something into my drink and telling me it would make me feel better.
but after that?
Nothing. It was a black hole.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to rub the grit from them, but as I moved my arms, a sharp, metallic clink echoed through the room.
My hands were yanked back painfully.
I couldn't move. I twisted my head toward the headboard and my heart stopped. My wrists were pinned to each side, locked tight in heavy steel cuffs.
Someone had chained me to the bed. What the-
"Morning, sunshine."
Alexander's husky voice sliced through the silence. I snapped my head toward the sound.
He was sitting on the sofa across the room, legs crossed, watching me with the terrifying patience of a king overseeing a fallen kingdom.
"H-hi..." I stuttered. My throat felt like l'd swallowed crushed glass.
"Who cuffed me?" I rasped, though I already knew the answer.
He stood up with a slow, predatory grace, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I did."
"Can you... can you uncuff me?"
He didn't even blink. He just shook his head.
"No."
He was serious? He was actually going to keep me like this?
"How did I get home? Who brought me here?" The questions burned at the back of my tongue.
Alexander stared at me, his blue eyes weary and lethal. "You don't remember?"
I shook my head, the movement making the room tilt dangerously.
"Well, I brought you home," he said, his voice deceptively calm-the kind of calm that told me he was vibrating with a rage he hadn't yet unleashed. "Now, do you want to tell me how you sneaked out of this house? Or maybe why you went to a club dressed like a fucking hooker? Or perhaps why I had to watch two junkies sucking your breasts in that shitty place?"
My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. I felt the blood drain from my face.
They did what?
"You don't remember. I see..." He let out a bitter, dark chuckle that made my skin crawl.
I tried to pull the memory forward. Pushed at the blank space where the night should have been. The last clear thing I had was the blue haired girl. The drink. Being told it would make me feel good.
And then nothing.
“Was I drugged?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said simply.
Oh God.
Oh no.
What have I done?
"Do you remember the things you said in the car as well? The things you said to me?" His lips curled into a ghost of a smirk, something cruel and knowing.
The weight of the unknown was crushing me.
"I don't remember anything. Did I... did I say something embarrassing?"
A fresh spike of pain shot through my temples.
I felt like l'd been punched in the face repeatedly.
Alexander stalked toward the bed. He moved with that usual, terrifying ease, grabbing a glass of water and some pills from the nightstand. He leaned over me, his shadow swallowing me whole. I'll never get used to how mighty he looks when he's looming over me like this.
"Open your mouth," he commanded.
I obeyed, too weak to fight. He dropped the pills onto my tongue and held the glass to my lips. I took a sip, but the water felt like a miracle. When I tried to pull away, he urged the glass forward. "Drink more."
Once the glass was empty, he set it down and adjusted his cuffs. "I'm heading out."
"Wait-okay," I said, my voice small. "Can you uncuff me then?"
"No." His voice was flat. Final. "You'll stay in this room, cuffed just like this, until I decide otherwise. Rosemary will bring your food. You can take a bath when l'm back. Until then?Sleep."
“What?” I tried to sit up. Pain exploded through my skull and the cuffs yanked my wrists back and I accomplished nothing except making everything worse.
"Alexander, you can't-"
"Fucking move again and I'll tape your mouth shut," he hissed, leaning down until his nose brushed mine.
I believed him completely. I stopped moving.
"I have to go clean up your mess," he growled, straightening his suit jacket. "Pray to whatever God you serve that I'm in a good mood when I get back."
He turned on his heel and walked out, the heavy thud of the door slamming shut echoing like a gavel.
I was left alone in the silence, staring at the ceiling, wondering just how much mess l'd made last night.
After a while the door opened revealing Rosemary.
Her eyes narrowed the moment she saw me cuffed to the headboard.
I wanted to disappear into the mattress.
I looked away, my face heating up despite the throbbing in my skull.
"I brought you some food," she said, her voice stiff as she settled a tray of various dishes onto the bed.
"You could've told Jane to bring it. We both know you don't want to be here," I muttered, settling back against the pillows as much as the metal would allow.
"Jane doesn't work here anymore."
My eyes snapped wide, the sudden movement sending a spike of pain through my temples.
"What? What do you mean she doesn't work here anymore?"
"Mr. Miller fired her last night, immediately after he brought you in from the club."
"Why would he fire her? She's the only person in this house who actually likes me!" | snapped.
Rosemary's eyes thinned at that. It wasn't like I was lying, and we both knew it.
"He believes she helped you get ready for your little party. He believes she influenced you."
That made no sense. Jane had done my makeup and wished me luck. The person who had actually put the idea in my head was currently in Hoboken chasing down Luke for apology sex. But I couldn’t say that.
“What about you?” I said. “You let me go too. Why didn’t he fire you?”
“I’ve been in this house far too long to be fired over your stupidity,” she said flatly.
I let out a heavy sigh, the fight was already draining out of me. She stood there for a moment, then reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a small silver key. She leaned over and unlocked the cuff on my right hand.
The relief was instant. I rubbed my raw wrist, the skin red from the friction. "Thank God."
"I'm not eating," I told her, looking at the tray.
My stomach was in knots.
"You're eating. Take your food and eat. Mr.
Miller will not have you refusing meals."
She turned to leave, but stopped at the door.
She stood there with her back to me for a long beat before she finally turned around. "And I don't know if this will make you feel better, but I do not hate you. I'm just... worried about you.
And scared to let you in at the same time."
I stared at her, stunned into silence.
"What if I get too close and you get snatched away from me like it happened once..." She let the words settle in the heavy air. "I mean... with Anastasia. If you're not careful, worse might happen. Mr. Miller marrying again is causing an uproar out there. So please, try to lay low and do as you're told. Not for him but for your own safety."
I genuinely had no idea what to say to that.
I genuinely had no idea what to say to that.
The death of Anastasia wasn't just affecting Alexander, but also everyone who knew her in this house.
"Eat your food. I'll be back to collect the plate."
She disappeared, the click of the lock echoing through the room.