Chained Read online

  “Well, then,” he said calmly, “I suppose we should say goodbye and end the relationship.”

  He was so cool and collected about it, Maggie felt sick. Had their relationship really meant so little to him? All the time she’d spent agonizing about cheating on him, all the guilt she’d felt when she could have been enjoying Kor’s warm, gentle touch to the fullest—was it all wasted? Looking at Donald’s calm expression, she supposed so.

  “So this is it,” she said dully. “The end. After five years we’re just going to go our separate ways.”

  “Amicably, I hope,” Donald said seriously. “I hope this won’t taint our professional relationship. You know I’m going to be doing some research myself aboard the Kindred Mother Ship, don’t you? If I see you there, I don’t want to cause a scene.”

  “You mean you don’t want me to cause a scene,” Maggie said. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” She ran a hand through her hair again. “I guess I’ll go.”

  She began to gather her things which basically consisted of getting her purse and one overnight bag where she had to keep everything because Donald didn’t want her personal possessions cluttering his space.

  “Don’t forget your toothbrush,” he said helpfully. “I hope you didn’t place it in close proximity to mine. You know how I feel about germs.”

  “Yes, Donald. I know.” Maggie went in the bathroom and grabbed the offending brush, somehow resisting the urge to drop Donald’s tooth brush in the toilet as she did so. She did rearrange the shampoo and conditioner bottles, though, which she knew he would hate. They were too high up for him to reach in his current condition. It was a small act but it made her feel marginally better.

  She came out of the bathroom and walked toward the bedroom door.

  “Wait,” Donald said frowning as she put her hand on the knob. “One more thing occurs to me.”

  “What?” Maggie turned back briefly. “If you’re worried about someone helping you until you’re fully recovered, call a home health nurse. I didn’t get two Ph.Ds to empty your damn bedpan.”

  “I was thinking nothing of the sort. Actually, I have the name of a reputable home health company already—the hospital sent it home with me.”

  “Well then?” Maggie looked at him expectantly. “Hurry up, Donald. This may not bother you but it isn’t every day I end a five year relationship and I’m just a little bit upset. What is it?”

  “About that,” he said. “As our relationship is ending, it occurs to me that you should give back the engagement ring I purchased for you. It represented a sizable investment on my part and since said investment—i.e. our relationship—did not come to fruition, I would like to recoup my losses as much as possible.”

  Maggie looked down at the tiny diamond chip winking on her finger. She had kept it on through everything—her adventures at the spa, capture, implantation, slavery, her time with Kor—and the entire time it had been a symbol of her guilt. A weight tied to her, reminding her of how she was breaking her promise. A promise she had thought was sacred. But now she wondered.

  “What did it really mean?” she asked softly. “What was it really worth?”

  “Actually, I think I can get enough for it to purchase a new laptop,” Donald said seriously. “Not a top of the line model but something serviceable I can take to conferences so I don’t have to worry about my current one being lost or damaged.”

  Maggie choked back a sob. “So that’s my price—my worth to you,” she whispered. “The cost of a not-very-good backup laptop. That’s it.”

  Donald frowned. “Really, Margaret, I don’t think one can equate one’s personal worth with that of a computer.”

  “Oh, I think you just did.” Maggie pulled off the ring and threw it at him. It bounced off his narrow chest and fell behind the bed where he would have a hell of a time reaching it.

  “Margaret!” he protested. “Was it really necessary to—”

  “Goodbye Donald. Good luck with your new laptop—I’m sure it will bring you a lot more happiness than I ever did,” Maggie said.

  She slammed the door and left, not looking back.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  “Okay, Missy, I think you’ve had enough.” The bartender attempted to wrestle the bottle of white wine away from Maggie but she held on grimly.

  “No. I can still think,” she argued. “I haven’t had…” she hiccupped. “Haven’t had nearly enough.”

  “I’m not so worried about your thinking as your driving,” the bartender said grimly. “Hey, is this still half full?” He shook the bottle which made a sloshing sound. “You must be a real light-weight, lady.”

  “I’m not a big drinker, no,” Maggie admitted and hiccupped again. “But I’m working on it, starting now. And you’d be drinking too if you were me and had everything that happened to you happen to me.” She frowned. “Wait, that’s not right…”

  “All right, I’ll bite.” The bartender sighed and let go of the wine bottle. “What happened?”

  “My fiancé and I broke up today. Like an hour ago.” Maggie poured herself more wine with an unsteady hand, getting some on the bar top in the process.

  “Sorry to hear that.” The bartender wiped up the spill with a white cloth. “You engaged long?”

  “Five years.” Maggie took a gulp of wine. “’Course, I couldn’t blame him for leaving me after what I did.”

  The bartender laughed. “Uh-huh, a nice, respectable looking girl like you who gets drunk on half a bottle of white wine at two in the afternoon? What kind of trouble could you get up to?”

  “I rescued a murderous felon to start with,” Maggie said. “He was all chained up and covered in this awful dust that makes you really thirsty and saps your strength. So I washed him off—I touched him all over, you know,” she added, taking another drink of wine. “I mean all over. And I told myself I was only doing it to set him free but really, I liked it.” She raised her eyebrows at the bartender who was staring at her blankly.

  “So that was just for starters?”

  “Uh-huh. Then I ran away with him to this weird ultra-posh alien spa and pretended to be the lady I freed him from who we chained up in his place. Oh, did I mention that part?” Maggie hiccupped. “Anyway, she totally deserved it.” She took another drink. “So at the spa, we had all kinds of adventures. I wore some really tight clothes and I touched the wrong trees and I fell in a pool that looked like it was filled with blood and made me feel really guilty because it showed me memories of my fiancé.” She pointed at the bartender. “Oh—and the Pillow Fruit, I can’t forget that part! It was huge and it tasted just like Krispy Kreme.” She sighed. “Unfortunately it turned out to be a carnivorous beast that would eat your head if given half a chance. Such a shame…”

  The bartender looked into the bottle. “Hey, what’s in this wine?”

  “So then we had a misunderstanding and he left me at the spa and I got kidnapped,” Maggie went on. “And I was implanted with an alien device by that same lady I told you about—the one we chained up?”

  “Yeah?” the bartender said doubtfully.

  “Yeah.” Maggie nodded. “And she sold me as a slave but Kor—that was the name of the murderous felon I rescued by the way—he rescued me by buying me from the slave master. Then we had a really nice week—just one, really but it was enough.” She sighed. “That’s when I really started falling in love with him, you know?”

  “Uh-huh…” The bartender was staring at her strangely but Maggie barely noticed.

  “So then we had to go on this really huge ship full of masters and slaves and lots of the women had been modified. Some of them had like…four or five breasts and some of them had cat tails and ears and whiskers and one…” Maggie leaned towards him and whispered loudly. “One had a vagina for a mouth.” She shivered and took another drink. “Poor thing—can you believe it?”

  “Actually, no—I’m not believing any of this.” But the bartender continued to watch her. “So then what happened?”