Circumstances

I woke up, cold, seriously cold, with pain fogging my judgement. I looked around me, I was in what looked like someone's living room, except it was all black and red, dark. I felt sick when I realised I was only wearing my underwear and shivered violently.
Someone walked in, a man, I instantly stiffened when I realised it was a Thai man.

He must be one of the men I was helping to stop. He was surprisingly tall for an Asian man, and he had long jet black hair which was tied back in a ponytail, showing off his angular face.

"Ah, Mr Sykes....so good of you to join us." His accent was harsh.

"What do you want?"

"I want those pictures..."

"If you don't want everyone knowing about the code then don't go killing people and graffitiing it all over the walls!!" I yelled at him. His eyes narrowed and I groaned inwardly.

- nice move butt wad -

"Mr Sykes...I am not the kind of man to tolerate abuse. If I ask you for something, you will give it to me."

"Or what?" I spat back at him, sounding a lot more confident than I felt.

"Or...well I would describe a very graphic torture scenario...but then again I wouldn't want to ruin such a pretty face..." I snarled and arched away from his hand and he slapped me sharply, infuriating me even more.

"Well well...apparently you're just as feisty as people have been saying...now I see why he's in love with you.."

"What?"

"Oh, don't try to pretend like you don't know who I'm talking about..." He ran a sharp fingernail down my jaw and I pulled away again.

"He's clearly got a soft spot for you...he's lost part of his reputation because of you, everyone thinks he's all bark and no bite nowadays..." I felt anger swell up inside me like I'd never felt before and I wasn't sure why.

"Shut up!! You have no idea who he is. He's the most powerful man I've ever come across, and he definitely does NOT have a soft spot for me. He doesn't have a soft spot for anything!! He's hard as stone." The Thai man laughed softly and I flinched back when his fingernail traveled down my side and across my back, resting low on my bare hip gently, making me want to tear him to shreds.

"How adorable...does he know you love him too?"

"Shut up!! Shut up!!" I screamed, he laughed and circled me slowly, my chest rose and fell at a fast pace, I was almost at breaking point.

"So tell me..after everything he's sacrificed for you, have you given him...anything...in return?" My blood ran cold as he moved one hand lower, grabbing my ass indecently. I tried to arch away from him and he pulled me back by my hips, whispering in my ear as he pushed his hips into me.

"I take that as a no....I wonder how...Cam...would react to me taking the one thing he really wants...?" I bit the insides of my mouth to stop myself from welling up as he started to really frighten me.

"Ah, you've lost your fight now...I can see I've hit a sensitive spot..." I pulled away again when he took skin on my neck between his teeth gently.

He came round to my front and looked at me for a few moments.

"If I give you the pictures...you'll let me go?"

"Of course. I have no other reason for tormenting you like this...well, besides my own personal pleasure...but I can restrain that. Also, if you give me the pictures, I'll stop these men..." I felt my eyes widen as he picked up a remote and a divided picture flickered onto the wall.

"Men...I would like to see your targets." The two men nodded and picked up the camera that was filming them, pointing it out of the two places they were in. I felt panicked as I saw one was watching my little sisters playing outside during their morning break....and the other was watching my mum at work.

"So, are you ready to do your jobs?" They each replied that they were, and replaced the camera so we could see what was happening, looking into a gun viewfinder.

"NO!! Stop!! Please!! Please stop them!!!" I struggled against the chains which held strong and he made them stop.

"Then give me the pictures..." He hissed, I nodded.

"They're on my phone, I didn't have time to go anywhere after the scene, thanks to your little friend...the phone was in my jacket when I was fighting him."

"Oh...oh it's in your jacket? really?! Because I didn't think to look there!!" I frowned at his sarcasm.

"It's not there. What did you do with it?! And trust me Mr Sykes, my patience is starting to wear thin..."

"I swear I don't know where it-" He landed me a hard punch in the face, dazzling me for a few seconds.

"Don't lie to me, or bye bye mummy and little girls! Tell me."

"I don't know!! If you want it that bad you should've told that creep to be more careful!! He's the one who knocked me out!!" He punched me several more times, I forced myself not to fall yet. I didn't want him to think he'd beaten me yet.

"Tell me...or your mother dies first." I strained against the chains roughly.

"I swear to you I don't-" He suddenly raised a knife to my throat.

"Don't make me use this...it does cause such a mess..." I winced as he made a long yet shallow cut across my throat, only just breaking the skin.

"Care to tell me now?"

"I-"

"That's enough Kiet." Light filled the room and I flinched and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Cam.

Kiet spun round, pulling a gun, I tried to slip out of the wide metal cuffs round my ankles and wrists but it was no good.

Cam and Kiet stood facing each other, there must've been something in Cam's eyes, or some reason why he wanted to keep him around, but the Thai man suddenly disappeared into the shadows and left through a door neither of us knew was there.

On the screen, my attention was stolen as the gun men suddenly moved, I panicked but then they were packing away their things and turning the cameras off. I collapsed against the chains then, fighting back tears of relief and pain as Cam walked over slowly and began picking one of the four locks that kept me imprisoned.

"Are you alright?" I nodded, feeling weak, in pain, and not wanting to cry in front of him.
He didn't say anything else besides,
"Here." When he passed me a tissue to help stop the gentle welling of blood at my throat.

He unlocked the two hand cuffs, I accidentally let out a groan when my arms dropped to my sides, aching my sides and shoulders considerably.

"H-how long has it been since the call?"

"Hours. No wonder you're in pain..." His jaw clenched and I felt myself flopping slightly without the chains holding me up. Cam caught me and held me up with one hand, the other pulled my chin up, my head felt too heavy for me to hold up now.

"What's the matter? Oli, look at me." I met his eyes dully and he looked at me for a few moments.

"I think he's drugged you. Don't panic, just hold onto my shoulders while I unlock the cuffs, can't hold you up at the same time." I did as he told me, the fog in my head getting thicker and thicker to the point where I could barely understand what he was saying.

I woke up in the back of Cam's car, my head in his lap, my legs curled up. I sat up, embarrassed, and abruptly fell off the seat. I struggled back into it with jelly limbs, and Cam helped me.
"You ok?" I nodded, crossing my arms in embarrassment when I realised I was still only in my boxers. Cam had draped his jacket over me which had fallen off me when I fell.

"I um...tried to find your clothes, I don't know what he did with them but they weren't there..." I nodded, trying to hide my freezing body as much as possible, ashamed. I knew I wasn't bad looking, at one stage I'd been really muscly, but due to how hard times had been lately I'd lost a lot of weight.

"Here." He passed me his jacket again which I pulled on, feeling just as embarrassed as I would if it were his skin on mine.

"Oli I'm sorry but I have to ask...did he do anything to you?" I looked at him for a while before shaking my head.

"Oli if he did I won't be angry with you, I need you to tell me truth ok?"

"He didn't...he suggested it...but he didn't. All he did was cut me." Remembering that, I brought a hand up to my neck and realised I had a bandage around it.

"I..it's just a temporary thing, didn't want you bleeding all over the car." I chuckled slightly and nodded.

"Thanks...I'm sorry, I should've thought about what could happen before I left the house with those damn pic- WAIT!!" I actually made Cam jump with my exclamation and he exhaled sharply.

"What?!"

"The phone!! Kiet thought I was lying when I said I didn't have it - but I didn't!! He said he checked my pockets and it wasn't there. It must've fallen out in the park!!"

"Relax. I've already got Wilson tracking the phone." I sat back, feeling a little stupid. Rain started hammering down on the car and Cam spoke again.

"They attacked the protection I had set up for your family. I've hired better people now." I nodded.

"Thank you." We pulled to a stop and Cam got out, I was hesitant but climbed out too, he was already there to help me. I cringed at the wet, sharp gravel beneath my bare feet and Cam patted the car twice for his men to leave. My legs started shaking and my hands and feet were already numb. He walked slowly so I could keep up, I sensed that he was ready to catch me and it just made me all the more determined not to fall.

"S'pretty cold out here..." I mumbled, just desperate to break the silence. We walked past an old couple who looked at me in slight shock mixed with distaste. I started to feel even more annoyed and forced myself to walk faster. Cam hurried after me and had to catch me by his jacket when I fell again.

"Walk at your own pace, you moron." I shrugged out of his grip.

"Why're you getting so annoyed?"

"Because this isn't exactly the best way to be is it?!" He frowned as I yelled back at him and I stopped, suddenly feeling very scared and insecure. Cam sighed.

"Come on."

"No..."

"What? So you're just gonna stand out here all day? It's the drugs Oli, they're obviously wearing off. Don't freak out." I could hear what he was saying but it just wasn't registering in my head until he grabbed hold of my hand.

"Don't flip out on me, please?" He brought me back to my senses enough for me to nod and start walking again. Cam must've got fed up of waiting in the rain, or trying to stop me falling, because he scooped me up in his arms and carried me the rest of the way.
I felt myself dozing in and out of consciousness, all I could focus on when I was awake was how warm he was, and his comforting smell.

For the third time I woke up, and it took me a while to figure out where I was. I figured I must be in Cam's bed, because it was much too comfortable and big to be my bed, and it smelt of him.
I snuggled back into the pillows, pulling the soft duvet up over me more, still feeling too groggy to get up. I heard a creak and stirred slightly, sitting up sleepily when I realised it was Cam.

"Hey, how you feeling?"

"N-not bad...." My head was throbbing now, as well as all the areas of my body where I'd been hit.

"Take this." He passed me a pill and a glass of water which I accepted happily, not even thinking to question what it was until he spoke again.

"You didn't even ask what it was, after you'd been drugged by someone."

"You wouldn't drug me." I didn't think about my reply either, until I looked at him again and he had a strange look in his eye that I'd never seen before.

"What?"

"Nothing. You can borrow some clothes, or I can just take you home, it's up to you."

"I...I want to go home, but my mum and the girls will be there at the moment. They can't see me like this." He nodded.

"You can shower or borrow clothes or whatever here then. It's fine." I thanked him somewhat awkwardly.
Cam went on to stand up and explain how they must have given me a kind of sedative before showing me stuff I could borrow and then leaving. I felt so awkward, but when I pulled on what seemed like one of the only t-shirts in his closet, and looked in the mirror, I laughed so much that Cam walked in, he thought something was wrong.

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing....I'm sorry....it...it just....looks like I'm wearing.....wearing....a dress!!" The corners of his mouth pulled up slightly and he began to laugh quietly at me as I cracked up to the point of tears.

"Don't think any...any of your trousers would stay up to be honest. Might have to stick with this." He shook his head and nodded.

"Maybe you're right. It's fine, you look good." We both laughed for a few minutes before Cam took me into the kitchen and leant me against the work top so he could clean the nasty cut along my neck which was actually worse than I thought it had been at the time.

"Mum should be at work now..." I whispered as he looked at me and I felt that familiar fear creeping into my system.

"Are you scared of me?"

"Not of you."

"Just...of this?" He whispered back hoarsely, I nodded.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I should leave." He sighed but took a step back. I stayed where I was for a moment, trying to keep my emotions in check. I didn't think about what I was doing and I hugged him tightly, having to go up on my toes slightly to reach round his neck. He was stiff for a while before he hugged me back. I felt so small against him yet so safe.

"Thank you for what you did back there." I felt him nod against me and I pulled back, feeling really awkward again.

"I'll take you home."

The car journey was quiet, but the awkwardness had ceased and by the time I was home, I just offered him a small smile and promises of returning the top, he made a joke about me wearing a dress and then we parted ways. I stayed stood out watching the car leave before I realised I was almost naked and freezing cold and running back inside.