Taken and Misused.

Aching. The feeling sank into me like a slow moving wave, covering my whole body in this tired and pained ache. Just its presence made me want to go back to sleep, waking up had brought it on so closing my eyes and drifting off again would make it go away. I tried, for a moment I thought I would be able to sink back into sleep but then my brain just had to boot up and start analyzing my surroundings. The last thing I remember was being in Stephen’s car with him and Vaughn. We had been running from someone. And the explosion, then the gunshot. It was all slowly coming back and my heart raced at the memories. The mattress my sore body was on felt stiff, like one of those old spring mattresses, it was probably the culprit for my sore back. I was no longer in my gown; it took me a moment to realize I was wearing a pair of men’s boxers and a large tee-shirt. That made me slightly nervous, who had changed my clothes? Good Lord I hope they hadn’t seen anything. The door to wherever I was opened and closed, sounds of those large semi-trucks starting up floated into the room and the curiosity almost made me open my eyes. But I resisted the urge.

“Did you see anyone out there?” Was that Stephen?

“No, just a few truckers, I parked the car around back, it’s a tad bit ostentatious,” Vaughn’s voice soothed my nerves and for a moment I drifted into a blissful nap.

I awoke once more to voices. I recognized the refined deep voice of Stephen and the rough, breathy voice of Vaughn.

“How is she doing?” Vaughn asked, he sounded concerned.

“The shock of getting shot along with actually getting shot has taken its toll on her Vaughn,” Stephen replied.

“Shouldn’t she be awake yet? It was just a graze”

“This girl has never encountered violence in her life and then a gun is pulled on her, I’m surprised she didn’t have a heart attack from the fear,” Stephen sounded annoyed and I wondered how often Vaughn had brought this subject up. I felt bad for making him nervous; I was just being lazy with not wanting to get up.

The first step I took was pushing myself up on my elbows, that tender ache increased on my left, upper arm and I sucked in a breath but continued to sit up.

“Elisabeth, you’re alright,” Vaughn breathed with relief. I felt his arms around me before I could open my eyes to see him. He was careful not to brush my hurt arm as he held me tightly. I blushed slightly at his show of worry and affection, I didn’t know how to react and part of me was glad when he let go. My eyes fell on Stephen where he sat in one of the cheap wooden chairs by the TV. I could see he was watching the news but I couldn’t really hear what the reporter was talking about. He looked slightly sad but happy; the expression didn’t make sense to me. My attention was brought back to Vaughn when his hands brushed my dirty hair from my face, his hands were rough from working but the feeling didn’t sway me from the comfort he brought me.

“It was nothing,” I said, trying to ease the tension still in his features. He was my carefree and rebellious companion. Wait, no, he wasn’t mine. Just a friend.

The joke seemed to erase some of the creases in his forehead, put there by worry over me. “Of course you are Princess,” he replied, his smile still hesitant, as if he expected me to break into a million pieces any second now.

“I’m fine, really,” I promised him, taking his hands from my cheeks and holding them in my own for a moment. Vaughn’s eyes snapped down to where our hands lay clasped on my lap and I quickly let go of his, a quick glance let me know Stephen had seen but his gaze was now cemented onto the television screen. “Where are we?” I asked, hoping to ease the sudden tension.

“We’re out of New York, and that’s all that matters-“ Vaughn started, but Stephen cut him off.

“For now,” the glance he gave Vaughn let me know the trouble at the gala was still imminent.

“What happened back there? Have the police not yet handled it?” I questioned, now that the webs of sleep had fluttered away from my brain I was beginning to realize I had no clue what was going on. I didn’t get my answer as quickly as the first time.

Stephen and Vaughn exchanged another look, this one was longer and then Vaughn brought his attention back to me. “Why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll get us some food, then we’ll answer your questions. Alright Princess?”

I frowned at Vaughn, “please?” he prodded and I sighed. What was the big secret? Shootings happened all of the time; I was just surprised the security at the gala was so terrible.

“Fine,” I said, making sure the two of them knew I wasn’t happy about my question being put off. My defiance didn’t last too long because I needed help getting up. My legs were stiff as well as the rest of my body. Vaughn took my hand and helped me get on my feet, he didn’t complain about my lack of speed as I tested my legs. The boxers I wore were baggy on my frame and so was the shirt. That made another question bubble from my lips. “Who changed my clothes?”

“Vaughn so graciously took the chore of changing you out of your gown and into his own clothes,” Stephen said and beneath that regal tone of his I heard a bit of humor. The Russian grinned mischievously at Vaughn and Vaughn gave him a look that said “you’ll regret that”. I was about to shoot a remark at Vaughn but he ushered me into the bathroom.

“Take your time Princess,” he said, slightly nervous. Probably as to how I’d react to him undressing me. He closed the door once I was in the bathroom and I sighed once more. I had no clue where I was, what was going on.

The hot water of the shower washed my thoughts away, I had taken off the bandages around my upper arm to see that it looked like a small chunk of skin had been taken off, leaving a little indent. It was just scabbing over. I carefully scrubbed around it with the bar of soap and then lathered my hair up with shampoo then conditioner. The smell of cheap soap filled my nostrils, it smelled like pine trees. When I turned the water off I felt like I had scrubbed my skin raw, but I was clean and calm. Whoever said a hot shower couldn’t solve anything?

“Elisabeth?” the voice belonged to Stephen. “I have some clothes for you to wear”

“Just a moment,” I called, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my frame and proceeded to open the bathroom door. The steam from my shower flowed out like a fog and my eyes rose up to meet Stephen’s. He handed me a neatly folded pile of clothes, “Vaughn had to go out and get some, I hope they fit,” he stood awkwardly after handing me the clothes.

“Thanks,” I said, starting to close the door. Stephen’s foot prevented me from doing so.

“I’m sorry Elisabeth,” he said, “this shouldn’t have happened,” his eyes burned into mine as if he needed some kind of forgiveness. The look was too intense, I had to break it.

“Its fine Stephen, there must be a solution to this problem... whatever that problem is,” I replied, wanting him to stop looking at me like that. My eyes were on the floor as I spoke and when I finished I saw Stephen’s expensive Italian loafers step into my vision. I glanced up and Stephen pressed a kiss to my forehead, “you’re much too kind,” his words were almost a whisper. “Now get dressed, Vaughn should be back with the food soon.”

I nodded, left speechless as to how to reply to his soft kiss. I closed the door to the bathroom and quickly pulled on the jeans and the gray long-sleeve thermal. The jeans fit perfectly as well. I heard the motel door open then close and I exited the bathroom in curiosity.

A glance to my left showed me that Vaughn and Stephen were both seated at the rickety table that had four chairs by it, they had take-out boxes on the table with Chinese symbols on it.

“Feel better?” Vaughn asked, holding a white box and fork out to me. I took the both, suddenly ravenous.

“Much better, now you can answer my question. What is going on?” I sat down in one of the chairs and began eating the noodles with chicken. Vaughn gave a long look at Stephen and the dark haired Russian nodded, Vaughn’s silvery eyes met mine once more and I cocked an eyebrow up, swallowing my mouthful of chicken and noodles.

“Just promise you won’t get too mad, will you?” he asked.

“Fine,” I lied, waiting for him to start.