Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I must be crazy when I thought I was having deja vu after seeing the man sitting across the room wearing nothing to cover his chiseled upper body. For a moment, I thought I was still on that dream. That weird dream I constantly had when I was younger. 

It was unusual for someone who's barely a teen to dream about herself between a man's arms. The faceless guy in my dreams were telling me words that eventhough I barely understood nor remembered, brought a different kind of feeling in my heart.

Sometimes it would wake up the butterflies in my belly I didn't remember swallowing, but most of the time, I would fear him as if he was the reason why I died in my dreams. And now, the longer I stared at the man who's watching me carefullly from across the room, I realized his resemblance to the guy I was running away from in my crazy dreams.

The dreams that made my parents bring me to a psychologist named Mara Le Fay, now a Beaufort.

I watched the man pour himself a glass of whisky while he's clenching his jaw. His chiseled upper body was in full display for my eyes to devour with. His biceps flexed effortlessly with his every movement, and the weird-looking gray necklace hanging on his neck danced when he leaned.

My eyes trailed from his handsome face to his sculpted chest down to his abdomen. My body shivered with the sight of his ripped muscle, and honestly, I had never admired a man's abs until I saw his. 

His dangerous eyes drifted towards me. When he slouched on the couch holding his whisky in one hand, I found myself swallowing the pool of saliva in my mouth. This man was a beautiful nightmare...

"Thought I'm gonna have to wait another week for you to wake up." His voice was low, and there was no hint of humor in it like the first time I met him.

I blinked, trying to process what he said. Another week? Why? How long had I been knocked out?

My eyes scanned the dramatically huge room painted with gray coat. It smelled like a man's aftershave, sandalwood, and danger.

"W--Where am I?" I asked, almost a whisper.

He sipped on his glass without tearing his gaze at me before he spoke. "Home."

There was something about how he said home. I saw longing hiding underneath his lashes, and for some reason, it brought a painful warmth around my heart. Where did that come from? I barely knew this person. He was a nothing but a complete stranger whom I just met at Tifler's.

Tifler's...

Men...

Car crash...

Memories of the night we met came flashing inside my head. My stomach twisted when I remembered how the guys dragged me, and even when they were not here, I shuddered as I remembered how they whispered nasty things in my ear.

Tears formed in my eyes as I took the heavy sheets off my body. Realizing I was only wearing a shirt twice my size, my muscles tensed and fear thrummed under my skin. "D--Did you..." My eyes met his and tears trailed down my cheeks as I startled with all the thoughts running inside my head. "What did you do to me? Are you one of them?"

I watched his adam's apple bobbed up and down after he drank his whisky. Placing the glass back on the table, he shot me with a cold stare and sighed. "If I was one of them, you're probably chained by now." He stood up and walked towards the closet to grab a paper bag. My gaze didn't leave his direction as I kept my guards up, even when I knew he's aware that I was bad at defending myself.

He shut the closet doors and took his steps towards the end of the bed to place the paper bag. "Tell me if I got the wrong size." He put his hands in his jagger's pockets and looked at me with the same cold expression. "Dinner in thirty. Go clean up yourself. I'm so fucking fed up with those motherfucker's scent all over you."

Totally clueless with what his words meant, my eyes tailed him until he reached the door. I realized I pissed him off, and a part of me wanted to jump out of bed to run after him so I could wrap my arms around his waist.

What the hell was I thinking? I wasn't even sure if I was safe with him or not. Who knew what he had possibly done to me while I was unconscious? 

As soon as he held the knob, I clutched the sheets and called him. "W--Wait." I swallowed hard. "Who... Who are you?"

I saw his shoulders went up and down as if he took one deep, painful breath before he looked at me with darkened pools. "Roam Dawson..."

I blinked as I felt another wave of painful warmth suffocated my heart. It was a mixture of longing, guilt, and unbearable desire to run towards something... or someone. The longer I felt all the foreign feeling, the harder it got for me to handle all of it. My chest hurt so badly yet on the back of my mind, I knew the feeling wasn't mine. 

Clearing my throat to somehow ease the pain, I spoke to him once more. "Mr. Roam Dawson, could you tell me where I am right now?"

He sighed and looked away. "I said home, Jemimah."

My brows furrowed and my heart almost stopped when I heard him call my name. "H--How did you know who I am?" My grip on the sheets tightened. "A--Are you... Are you stalking me?"

I saw his fists clenched so tight that his veins became too visible under his tanned skin. He didn't answer but he breathed out another heavy air before he pulled the door open. "You better clean yourself up now before I lose my last strand of patience and drag you towards the shower myself." His deadly eyes and dark expression made me shiver. "The last time I did that to you, I almost marked you without your consent so be a good girl, Ahuvi and do as I said."

He slammed the door close, making my soul almost jumped out of my body. What did he say? He almost what? And what did he call me?

My trembling hands raked onto my hair as I shut my eyes. I had to think. Right now, with everything he just told me, I didn't think I could trust him enough. There was something about him that made me see danger signs flashing inside my head. My gut feeling was telling me to find my way out and that's what I was going to do.

My legs wiggled when I got out of bed. Damn it. It felt numb a little and there's like tiny needles pinching my limbs. I hated the feeling of my blood trying to go back to its proper circulation but I'd rather have pins and needles my entire life than stay here with a complete stranger.

Not to mention he's creepy. Fine, he's gorgeous and he reminded me of Matthew Daddario with a little bit of Timothee Chalamet's features but he's still a creep. There's no way I would fangirl over another guy just because he slayed the mug shot. I had no plans to be like Maurine and Tilly who joined that website where they could penpal some prisoners in hopes that one of their letters would land in the hands of the Menendez brothers.

I dragged myself towards the paperbag and checked what's inside, but when I saw the underwears Roam bought for me, my cheeks threatened to blush in total embarassment. My dad never shopped for my undies!

Nevertheless, there was no time to whine about a guy buying me underwears. I grabbed a pair and walked towards the comfort room. I washed myself quickly then wore it before coming back to the room which I scanned as soon as I shut the door to the bathroom. 

I had to get out of here in anyway possible.

My eyes focused on the open doors leading towards the porch. If I would manage to climb down using a bunch of sheets like those I'd seen in the movies then maybe I would stand a chance.

I didn't waste time anymore. Grabbing all the sheets I could find inside, I made a rope that was long enough to reach the ground then I tied its end on the glass door. God, I wished the knobs were strong enough to hold my weight.

After securing the knots, I climbed the railing and just thought about silly stuff so I wouldn't tremble and slip to my death. I never knew I had fear of heights until I looked down. My breath was trapped in my throat when I realized how high I was from the ground but if I wouldn't do it then... then I might never see Dad again.

I just wanted to see my Dad...

Guilt clawed my heart, and suddenly, I had the guts to slowly climb down the sheets. I stopped myself from looking down and just shut my eyes as I moved as careful as I could. The place was surrounded by trees, like it was built in the middle of a freaking forest or something but I'd worry about snakes and bears and everything else later.

The moment my bare feet reached the ground, I almost jumped in pure joy, but when my back bumped against a hard chest, my body froze and my head slowly tilted to look over my shoulder like I was in a horror movie.

"Nice try. Next time, use the door. I'd still catch you either way, Ahuvi," he uttered before grabbing me by my waist and carrying me back inside like I was a bag of potato.

Curse this good-looking creep!