I hate you, I thought and this time I meant it with all my heart.

His hand swept across my ass.

“Sweet,” he muttered.

Then he finished taping me to the pole. When he was done my hands, wrists, arms, chest, waist, knees and ankles were all taped to the beam and I couldn’t move, not even an inch.

He got in my face. “Next time, Ava, if you don’t call off the Indian, I won’t be so nice.”

I made an angry noise in my throat but it was too late, he was gone.

Before he left he closed the door to the coal room and I heard him fix the lock. The door had a padlock on the outside, don’t ask me why, I’d inherited it from the former owners and never removed it but I also never locked it.

Now it was locking me in, even if I was to get loose I’d be locked in my creepy basement in a room completely devoid of light. But I was taped from hands to ankles to a steel pole and I didn’t know if I could get free. I had blood in my mouth, the taste of vomit in my throat and had just been violated in a very-not-nice way, even though I knew it could have been worse, that didn’t help much in the current situation.

Keep your head together, darling, Luke will come back looking for you, Good Ava whispered in my ear.

You’re strong, you’ve been strong through a lot, stay strong, girl, this, too, shall pass, Bad Ava whispered in my other ear.

I’m scared, I told them.

So are we, Good Ava admitted.

But we’ll make it, Bad Ava said. We always do.

* * * * *

For a very long time, I alternately hung there and fought against the tape. Every once in awhile I’d make progress, a little more movement, but it was exhausting and I wasn’t getting very far. So I’d stop and rest and work on trying to get the tape off my mouth by rubbing it against my shoulder.

This worked, I was able to pull off the tape and it hurt, mainly because it also pulled against what I knew now was a tear on my lip. I also managed to get my ankles far looser but couldn’t get my feet free.

Eventually, having exhausted myself, I fell asleep tied to the beam.

I woke up when I heard a noise.

“Basement!” I meant to scream but it came out as a croak.

I tried again. “Basement, basement, basement! I’m in the basement!”

This came out a lot louder.

I heard fast footfalls on the stairs.

“Coal room, at the back, the room with the lock on the door,” I shouted. “There’s pull lights in each room. There’s a padlock. The key’s…”

I stopped shouting because I didn’t know where the key was or even if I had the key.

Then I heard a gunshot.

The door came open and I winced as the light from a flashlight hit my face.

“Jesus f**king Christ,” Lee muttered.

“Thank you, God,” I said.

He moved forward, his hand going to the back of his jeans.

“Hang on, honey,” Lee murmured softly. “I’ll have you free in a second.”

“Hanging on is my only option at this point,” I whispered my joke and it didn’t sound very funny which must have been why Lee didn’t laugh.

He put the flashlight in his armpit and with a pocketknife he cut through the tape, ripping it free. A couple of times I made pain sounds in the back of my throat when he ripped tape off my skin but I did my best to swallow them down. When I was mostly loose, I drooped into him even though I tried not to, but my entire body was numb. He took my weight and kept working at the tape until I was free. When he was done, he straightened. He pulled me fully into his arms, his going tight around me as pins and needles shot through my whole body.

Then to my horror, I started crying.

He stroked my hair with one hand and held me tighter with his other arm.

“S… s… sorry. I’m a wuss,” I told him.

“You’re fine.”

“I’ll have it together in a second,” I said.

“Ava, you’re fine.”

I nodded.

I started deep breathing and he kept stroking my hair. After awhile I got the tears in check, wiped my face against his shirt and took one, last, deep breath.

“I gotta call Luke,” he said when I exhaled.

I nodded again.

“You know who did this to you?” Lee asked.

I answered immediately, “Noah.”

I knew my answer surprised him by the way his body went still.

Then he pulled back and, even in the dark (he was holding his flashlight behind my back), I could tell he was looking at me.

His hand came to my neck and his thumb stroked my jaw.

In an ultra soft voice, he asked, “You wanna tell me why your jeans are undone?”

I shook my head, his hand flexed against my neck and then I said, a hitch in my voice, “He kind of… touched me.”

The air in the room went static in a flash and just as quickly I felt it move with the fury rolling off Lee in waves, pounding against the walls and slamming back into the both of us.

“Let’s get you out of here,” he said, his voice tight.

He started to move to pick me up but I pulled away. “I’m okay now, I can walk.”

He nodded, guiding the way with the flashlight, holding my hand. He took me upstairs, to the bathroom and led me in.

Before he closed the door behind him, he said, “You need anything, call me. I’ll be right outside.”

I nodded again. He closed the door.

I stood at the sink, hands at the basin, avoiding looking in the mirror and listened very carefully. Therefore, as intended, I heard him make the call.

“Vance, you with Luke?” Pause. “Okay, I found Ava. She was taped to a support in her basement. Dexter did it. I want you here, Mace, Eddie and Hank, everyone you can get. She’s in bad shape, been beaten up but it’s worse,” he paused again. “Yeah, that’s it. She was dressed but her pants were undone. She says he touched her.” I closed my eyes tight at hearing these words coming from Lee. Somehow, hearing them made the whole thing seem more real. “I want the boys around when Luke finds out. I’ll give you five then I’m callin’ Luke,” Pause. “Yeah, out.”

At that I walked to the door and pulled it open. Lee was leaning against the wall in the hall. His head came up when the door opened.

“It wasn’t as bad as you think,” I told him.

“Ava, honey, get yourself cleaned up.”

I went into the hall and stood in front of him. “He didn’t rape me or anything.”

“Don’t talk now, we’ll talk later. You want me to help you clean up?”