Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 27066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
“Oh good, you’re awake,” a female voice says. I didn’t hear the door open. She flips on the lights, and I am temporarily blinded. I wince. “Shoot, sorry.” I back up on the bed, away from the young girl. She looks younger than me but oddly reassuring.
“Who are you?” I ask. I’m really fucking scared right now. I don’t know where I am or why I’m here. At least this is a really nice room and not a sex dungeon somewhere.
“I’m Cashel. I’m not going to hurt you, Matty.” Her Boston accent takes me by surprise. Do I know anyone from Boston? I try to think, but it’s no use. I’m weak and hungry.
“Do I know you?” I ask.
“Not yet, but you know some of my brothers.”
“I don’t think I do.”
“I’ll let my brother explain this to you. I’m supposed to help you take a shower and get some food in your belly. I’m sure you’re starving.” My belly chooses that moment to grumble loudly. The girl giggles, and I find myself giggling too, only hysterically… like a deranged loon.
“How long have I been here?” I ask when I finally get my shit together.
“Three days. You must have been mighty sleepy.”
“I was drugged,” I say, remembering the pinprick in my arm. I look down at my bare legs. They are bandaged.
“I don’t know anything about that, Matty. The doctor said for me to wrap your left shin in Saran Wrap because he had to stitch one of your cuts. The others can all get wet and should be cleaned thoroughly.
“I shouldn’t be here,” I try to tell her, but she doesn’t respond to that.
Cashel doesn’t say anything but helps me stand. She leads me to the bathroom. “My brother has thought of everything. This is his room, but he’s filled it with things he thought you’d like; if you don’t, let me know. I probably have something else you’d like.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“This. Helping him kidnap me.” Whoever the fuck he is.
“Oh, Matty. You don’t understand yet, but you will. He’d never hurt you. No matter what he says, he’d never hurt you,” she whispers. She over-emphasizes the word you so I take that to mean that while he wouldn’t hurt me, he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt someone else. Cashel seems like a nice girl, though misguided. She opens the shower door and turns it on. Steam quickly fills the room while I let her wrap my leg up. I strip quickly before entering the big glass shower. Cashel makes herself busy at the counter. I can see her through the door of the shower. She pulls out a fresh toothbrush and hairbrush. My stupid mind wonders how often he does this. Does he do it so often that he has the basic items stockpiled? And to bring his surely younger sister into it? That’s fucking sick. Now that I’m standing, my whole body aches, but that’s probably from sleeping for three fucking days. What the hell did he give me? I stand under the hot water and let it wash over me.
“Where am I?” I ask as I wet my thick mane of dark curls.
“Boston, well, Dorchester, specifically.”
“Where the Wahlberg’s grew up?” I ask. I might be obsessed with Donnie.
“Yes,” she says, laughing. “I don’t know them or anything, in case you’re wondering.”
“Okay,” I say, finding myself laughing right along with her.
“How old are you?” I ask, wanting to know more about her.
“Seventeen. Just had a birthday last week.” I’m going to throat-punch her brother. He’s a fucking coward, whoever the fuck he is.
“Well, happy birthday.”
“Thanks. How old are you?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Cool. We’re going to be close; I know it,” she says excitedly. I almost hate to burst her innocent little bubble. Almost.
“Cashel, you can’t be serious. Your brother has kidnapped me for what I am assuming is ransom. We won’t speak after I’m sent home.”
“Talk to Dory. He’ll explain everything.”
“Dory?” I ask, running my finger over the spur-of-the-moment tattoo I got two years ago. Dory from Finding Nemo is tatted on my hip bone. I was in Savannah on Spring Break, and my sorority sisters and I found the Tattooed Vixen while we were pub crawling. We each got our favorite obscure Disney character tattooed on us. My best friend, Gisela, who happens to be a real-life princess of the tiny country of Rirockia on the Iberian Peninsula, has Meeko from Pocahontas tattooed on her shoulder.
“My oldest brother. He’s in charge.”
“In charge? Okay,” I say, finishing washing my body. I turn the water off, and she's standing there as soon as I open the shower door. I don’t even have time to be self-conscious because she is wrapping a towel around me. Then she spots that tattoo.
“Oh, shit, he will get a freaking kick out of that,” she says, laughing.