Puppet

Riley was jolted awake with a bucket of cold water being splashed onto her limp body. Shaking from the icy water, she sat up quickly; only to be grabbed around the waist and held still. She blinked multiple times trying to view the semi-dark room she was now in.

“Wher—“

“What’s your name?” Tom interrupted her with a sneer and the men around him chuckled.

Riley squirmed and tried to get free from Mark’s grip. It was no use though. He had hands with an iron grip. That’s why Tom kept him around. When Tom didn’t want something –or someone-- to get away (and he didn’t feel like handling it himself for whatever reason) Mark was called in to keep them still.

Riley blinked again. This time she could make out what was around her. She was in quite a large room with a TV and a couch or two lying around. There really wasn’t much to the room. It was more like a large lounging area with bare, off-white walls. She could hardly see the faces of the men that were around her, but she knew there were three guys, including the one she was being held onto by.

“I really hate being ignored, bitch.” Tom glared and then slapped Riley straight in the face when she refused to answer.

She gasped in horror. Her cheek turned bright red and a slight form of a handprint was left as well. She couldn’t believe she had just been slapped by this asshole. “What’s your problem?!” She screamed at him and, again, tried to wriggle free from the death grip on her.

Tom looked around at each of the men with him in the room. “Does she not understand what I’m saying? I was pretty sure I asked a simple question.” The other men nodded in agreement. “Put her down, Mark.”

Confused yet obedient, Mark dropped Riley to the floor like a rag doll. She landed with a thud, looking up at Tom through her thick, mahogany-brown hair.

Once again, she didn’t answer. She stayed glaring at Tom from the floor. How dare he treat her in such a manner. He had no right to be holding her captive and abusing her like this. Sadly, she had a feeling that being dropped and slapped was only a fraction of what he could do to her. The thought scared her so she tried to push it away.

“She’s not very bright, is she boss?” Gunther said from behind Tom.

“Let’s try this one more time… What. Is. Your. Name.” Tom emphasized each word slowly, making Riley feel inferior.

She turned her head to the side, avoiding him and ignored his question for the third time. Tom was growing even more impatient by the second. Some people never learn. He kicked her hard in the stomach, forcing her to topple over and grab her mid-section in pain.

“Riley.” She half whispered, half wheezed in a hiss only pissing him off further.

“Pick her up and put her in the room,” Tom growled and began to walk off. He was already tired of this girl. He wasn’t one to be patient and he sure as hell didn’t wait on anyone.

“Boss? She has a name tag.”

Intrigued, Tom turned around sharply and went back over to Riley. She was slumped over slightly in Gunther’s arms. The pain in her stomach hadn’t disappeared from the force of Tom’s kick.

Tom raised his eyebrow and smirked as he ripped the metal name plate from Riley’s blouse, causing it to tear and leaving a large hole in its place. “Hmm, Riley, huh? You’re the bitch that hung up on me this morning.” He smirked again and placed his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up so he could stare directly into her eyes.

A smile spread across his lips when he noticed Riley’s eyes widen in horror when she realized who he was.

‘It was him calling each time? Shit.’ Riley thought and she was feeling more scared than before. She had no idea it was him on the other line.

“Well, Riley,” Tom stretched out her name, making her cringe. The way he said it was sickening to Riley. The tone he used was so… it was mixed with so many different things that Riley knew whatever was going to happen to her wasn’t going to be good. “There’s something you should know about me,” he continued. “I hate disrespectful little shits like yourself. You couldn’t even ask who was calling this morning now could you? Now it seems that I’m just going to have to teach you some manners myself.”

Tom bent down and picked Riley up with ease, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“No, no, please just leave me alone!” Riley cried and struggled, punching at Tom’s back with all her might. He was unfazed by her futile attempts at getting away, though. He had had many people held captive before. He was used to the constant struggle they made.

In another attempt to try and break free, Riley tried biting Tom. This, to her surprise, didn’t even make him flinch. Instead, he let out a low growl as he took her up the stairs.

“You better stop that or the real show is going to start even earlier.”
Riley stopped immediately. She couldn’t believe that he was turned on by her biting him.

“Just put me down you creep!” She shouted. She didn’t try punching or biting him again, however; she figured it would only turn him on again and the less this guy touched her, the better.

“Now, now… if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to teach you any manners.” Tom teased and opened one of two double doors that led into yet another large room.

After closing the door behind him, Tom simply dropped Riley to the floor. This was the second time she had just been dropped and frankly, she was pissed off about it.

“You fucking jerk! What’s the matter with you? You can’t just go dropping me whenever the hell you please. It’s rude!”

“Says the girl that hangs up on people at work?” he smirked and Riley scrambled off the floor and charged at him, her fists flailing. She managed to land a few punches to his face and she felt pretty damn proud of herself. Until Tom shoved her back with so much force she slammed into the wall and fell to the floor again.

“You little bitch.” Tom wiped the left corner of his lip with his knuckle. There wasn’t any blood; he was just surprised she came after him like that. He actually loved how much fight this one had in her. It was entertaining. He hid the slight smirk forming on his lips as he walked over to her.

“Don’t touch me!” Riley screamed and tried kicking at Tom as he knelt down in front of her.

“Easy, Buttercup, I just want to teach you some manners. First of all, don’t you know it’s not nice to run up and hit someone out of nowhere?” Tom grabbed the collar of Riley’s blouse and pulled her up and off the floor. He threw her into the bed post and she clung to it as she slowly dropped to the floor. Her back was killing her from being pushed and slammed. She didn’t know how much more of Tom’s abuse she could take.

Tom slowly walked over to her, stopping a few feet away. Riley looked up at him, trying not to show the fear she knew she was feeling. She blinked and focused on him now. The room was much brighter then the one she was in before so she could clearly see the man that was holding her against her will.

He was really tall, much taller then she had originally thought. He was rather fit as well. It was hard to tell seeing as he was wearing clothes that were at least two sizes larger than what he should wear, but he managed to pull them off. The blue button down he was wearing had been torn open a bit during Riley’s struggle to get out of his grip. She could see the white muscle shirt showing now. Not to mention the muscled chest that was hiding underneath it. Riley continued eyeing him; the dark jeans he was wearing fit a little better then the oversized shirts but was still fairly large on him. She didn’t understand why someone in his line of work would wear something so… casual. She expected to see him in some pinned-striped suit with a hat like the cliché mob-associated men wore in the movies.

Tom, however, was nothing like those guys. He had his own aura about him that made him different from everyone else. He preferred to toy with people and make it seem like he did what he did without any thought. This was a complete lie, though. Tom thought out every detail of what he was going to do and how he and his men were going to do it. Planning was everything to Tom. He’d learn to plan things at an early age. He figured out that things went so much smoother when organization was involved. By acting like he did whatever, whenever, it was easier for Tom to get into his enemy’s heads. Not like it was hard before, but with them thinking one thing and Tom doing the opposite always fucked with their minds.

“Aww, is little Riley done playing? I thought you had a lot more fight in you than that.” Tom cooed and Riley felt sick.

“Why don’t you just kill me already? Get it over with.” She clenched her fists and shut her eyes waiting for something to happen.

Riley nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Tom breathe against her face and saw him so close to her when she opened her eyes.

“Kill you? Now what fun would that be?” He smirked and picked her up again. “You’re my new puppet and I have a lot in store for you.” Tom smiled.