Promises and Pomegranates by Sav R. Miller
Chapter 16
I don’t get very far,since I’ve not been given any time to explore the island outside of Kal’s home, and therefore don’t know anything about the layout.
I run until I’m blocks away from the bar, hyperaware of the wind kicking up the skirt of my dress each time my feet hit concrete. At least I wore underwear today.
There’s a bus station at the end of a connecting street, and I duck in as soon as I reach it, trying not to feel immediately paranoid about the lack of people inside.
To be fair, it seems as though this island doesn’t have a wide variety of folks, anyway. I’m sure the majority of them travel by foot or car.
At least, that’s what I tell myself as I approach the ticket window, searching for any sign of life inside. The lights are off in the office, the computer screens black. It looks like no one’s been here in weeks.
Groaning to myself, I lean my head against the counter, mentally assessing my body for signs of the drug Vinny injected me with.
It’s been several minutes and I don’t feel any different, except more on edge than ever as I wait for symptoms to set in. Exhaling, I walk over to one of the plastic benches in front of the window and flop down, pulling my phone out.
My sister’s name flashes across the screen, requesting a video call, and I decline, exhaustion clouding my brain. The phone vibrates again, an unsaved number I know by heart popping up, making the organ clench inside my chest like a closed fist, barring itself from further hurt.
I decline that call too, slumping on the bench and dropping my head to rest on its back.
Tapping my fingers on my bare knee, I contemplate my next move. There probably isn’t very much time, considering Kal knows Aplana and I don’t, and he’s also probably tracking my phone. I’m only minutes from the bar, and I know the first place he’d look for me would be an apparently abandoned bus station.
Because he’s smart. A predator at his very core, alert and cognizant at all times, like a lion lying low in the grass before an attack.
I could hide in a bathroom or a storage closet. Maybe try to find a door that locks, or mask my scent with the soil from one of the potted plants near the exit.
But deep in my heart, I know it’s useless. Kal didn’t take me as his wife for no reason, so there’s no chance in hell he’d ever give me up for anything less.
With a hand that feels like lead, I turn my phone over, wondering if Mamá was right to try and rescue me from this life.
At least with Mateo, I wouldn’t have been a prisoner to the feelings inside me; they’re volatile waves that ebb back and forth, tossing me like a ship as I try to decide between my infatuation and my fear. Lately, the former’s been winning out, my sex-starved brain short-circuiting when any part of me comes into contact with my husband.
The latter, though, is the option that makes sense. I should fear him. Should be spending all of my time figuring out how to get as far from him as possible, rather than melting into a needy puddle any time he’s around.
Maybe if I hadn’t been so openly wanton, he wouldn’t have taken me to that bar, and I wouldn’t have been attacked.
Maybe if he hadn’t left you alone, you wouldn’t have been.
My phone rings again, that same number popping up; against my better judgment, I answer, hitting the speaker button with my pinky as the rest of my body starts to feel like it’s taking on water.
“Where the fuck are you?” Kal’s voice is cold, hard steel, hurled at me like a lightning bolt.
A lazy smile works over my lips. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I’m not in the habit of asking questions I don’t want the answer to,” he says darkly. “You know better than that, Elena.”
I make a face at the window. “You sound like my dad.”
A long, pregnant pause stretches through the line between us, heat scoring my cheeks.
“Yeah?” Kal clips. “Then get back here so I can discipline you properly. Put you over my knee, show you how I feel about you running away from me.”
Tension expands in my core like an unraveled thread, tangling like a spider web between my thighs. Biting my lip, I try to latch onto the anger bubbling in my chest, even as warmth spreads from my pussy outward, my body melting at the image of me bent over for him.
“I didn’t run away from you,” I lie, swallowing over the emotion threatening the back of my throat. “You weren’t anywhere around when I left. Which, by the way, thanks for ditching me again. And thanks for recruiting a monster to babysit me.”
He sighs, and I can just imagine him pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to maintain composure. “I didn’t realize Vincent was going to be a problem. I will deal with him.”
Tears burn my eyes, and I sniffle as I fight them off, pulling my knees to my chest. Laying my cheek on my knee, I tap the phone, checking the time. “I hate it here.”
“Tell me where you’re at and I’ll come get you.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head even though I know he can’t see me. My eyelids droop, obscuring the plexiglass in front of me, and I find it easier to let them rest. “Here. Aplana Island. I’m lonely.”
He doesn’t say anything for several beats—so long, that I’m pretty sure the next time he does, I’m dreaming. “Yeah,” he agrees, the ice evaporating from his tone with that single syllable, making me wonder what exactly he’s agreeing with.
Maybe Hades was lonely too, and he brought Persephone to his realm because he knew she’d bring the light with her.
Somewhere in the distance, a door slams shut, the sound echoing in the rafters. Voices drift in my direction like a storm cloud, rough and angry as they draw closer.
Kal curses under his breath. “Elena. Where are you?”
Fatigue rolls over me, slow and steady as it envelops my brain, making it difficult to focus. The voices drift nearer, growing angrier, and if I could pay more attention to them, I’d probably be afraid. But my mind feels like a raft lost at sea, floating slowly among the waves as they carry me away.
“Where did you go?” I ask instead. At least, I think I ask, though it’s hard to feel my mouth all of a sudden.
“I had to meet someone.”
“A girl?” I can’t hide the bite of jealousy; it slips out like a serpent’s tail, lashing quickly.
“Yes. But not like that.” A pause, then a sigh. “My sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“Yes. Sort of. It’s... complicated.” Kal clears his throat, and I wonder what he’s doing right now. If he’s standing over Vinny’s prone body, a gun pressed to the back of his skull, waiting to know if I’m safe before exacting his punishment. “But never mind that, little one. Tell me where you are.”
“I don’t know,” I admit, my words coming slower. The sound behind me picks up, footsteps pounding against the cement floor, but I still don’t open my eyes. “Some bus station.”
“Bus station?” Another drawn-out pause, and then Kal curses again, something shuffling over the line. “I need you to get out of there, right now.”
“Can’t,” I say, that warmth from before traveling through my veins, making my insides feel like jelly. “Too sleepy.”
“Elena.” I can tell he’s speaking through clenched teeth. “That drug Vincent gave you was a diluted version of a very powerful street drug, and it’s probably kicking in right now. I need you to fight it, and get the fuck out of there and outside where people can see you.”
Laughter floats around me, shadows casting across the bench where I lay; I see them from behind my eyelids, but I’m too tired to open and see what’s going on. Maybe the staff’s come back from a lunch break.
“Well, well,” a voice says, with an accent I can’t quite place, “what have we got here, boys?”
And then everything goes dark.
