Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Not that it was a real relationship either.
I couldn’t stop the bitter thought.
Or the way I immediately started to beat myself up for agreeing to move out into the middle of nowhere with someone when I wasn’t sure about the relationship.
Naively, I thought maybe the move might change things with us. Judging by the house, Ben’s attitude, and my nifty little lists, that was not the case.
I moved away from the list and glanced around again, seeing something I failed to notice before.
Some things.
Cameras.
There were cameras in my bedroom.
Four of them that I could find.
Heart in my throat, I moved into the bathroom.
Thankfully, Ben hadn’t been that depraved. At least not that I could tell.
I glanced through the cabinets, finding every single one of them jam-packed with the products Ben preferred. It left no space for my things.
Heart thudding hard in my chest, I went back into the bedroom, checking the dresser and closet.
Packed.
With all white everything.
Suddenly, Ben’s words from earlier that week came back to me. About not needing to pack. About leaving it to him.
At the time, I’d taken it as him being super eager to get me into our new home, to show me what he’d been working on.
As I stood there looking at a sea of white, smelling bleach and lemon, seeing the view of nothing and no one for miles, though, I had a feeling it had nothing to do with excitement.
And everything to do with control.
“Lolly,” Ben’s disembodied voice called, making me let out a little shriek. “You need to bathe as well. And send your clothes down the laundry chute in the linen closet.”
I followed the voice to a speaker in the ceiling, realizing that I’d seen them throughout the rest of the house as well. I’d written them off as speakers.
They were intercoms.
So Ben could bark out more orders when the cameras caught me doing something he didn’t like.
And there I was.
In a home with one exit.
With a door that locked automatically.
With no car.
No phone—since mine had conveniently gone missing that morning.
With no one knowing where I was.
With no one around to beg for help.
I was trapped.
My eyes flooded with tears as I walked on numb legs into the bathroom, closing the door as I stared at one of the cameras, then grabbing the supplies to take my Ben-approved shower.
Because what other choice did I have now?
I fell into bed afterward, too raw to face Ben, and stared at the darkened woods outside of my bedroom.
“Welcome home.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nave
“You alright?” I asked, my hand automatically lifting, wanting to reach out to her. But I caught myself before I could touch her, forcing my arm to drop back down again. “You went really pale. Are you dizzy?”
When she didn’t answer right away, my hand went to the small of her back, wanting to catch her if she started to wobble. She wouldn’t just be hurting herself if she went down.
The touch shocked her out of her daze, making her head whip over to me.
“Sorry, just… had a bit of a flashback, I guess,” she admitted, shaking her head at herself like that was ridiculous.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but think it was really likely that she would be dealing with a lot of PTSD from what she’d been through.
“You’ve had a crazy couple of days. I think it makes sense if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, sucking in a deep breath. “Oh, hi!” she cooed.
Following her gaze, I saw one of Kit’s Great Pyrenees dogs ambling over toward us, tail swishing because he knew me.
“This is Ash. He’s as friendly as a dog can get. Unless you try to eat his livestock. Then he’s a beast.”
Ash whacked his body into my legs until I reached down to pet him, then continued the motion with Lolly.
“You’re a sweet boy,” she cooed. “Yes, you’re right. There’s a doggy in there.” Ash sniffed at the bag. When she didn’t hear any growling from Edith, she reached in to pull her out.
It was all sniffs and tail wags after that.
“Ash, where the hell did you—oh,” Kit said, appearing out of a break in the line of almond trees. “Hi,” she said, shooting Lolly a bright smile.
Kit, even in full-on farmer-girl mode, clung tightly to her goth-like roots. She had on a pair of cut-off black jean shorts, a black tank top, and a pair of black gardening clogs that featured cute skeletal animals. Her lilac hair was pulled up into two space buns, and her sharp-featured face was a little more tan than I’d ever seen her before. Even sunblock only did so much when you were out in the sun all day long, it seemed.
She raised her hand to shield her blue eyes as she came up to stand in front of us.
“I’m Kit. Katherine, but please don’t call me that,” she said. Looking down at Edith, her smile stretched wider. “And who are you?”