Thumper by Marie James
Chapter 11
Cara
“You can trust him.”
Those whispered words come from Lola.
“What?” the girl to the right of my cage snaps.
She was the first one to speak up after Juan’s body was dragged away. She introduced herself as Penny, and it wasn’t until she spoke that I realized just how quiet we’d been down here.
“After what he did to you?” Penny hisses.
“You can trust him,” Lola says again, but she doesn’t go into further detail or offer an explanation.
At first, I figured it was Stockholm syndrome. Why else would a woman claim that her rapist could be trusted?
But then I remember the way his eyes came directly to mine almost the second he got down here. Then the way he looked at me again before walking away.
Is he actually protecting us?
Did he kill Juan because he dared to touch one of his toys?
He made it clear with a single shot that we were not to be touched, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t do it himself.
You can trust him.
I don’t know what to believe. He didn’t touch me when I was in his office, and I’m still wearing the socks he gave me yesterday. He gains nothing from tricking me into trusting him. He could’ve done whatever he wanted to me while I was in that office. I would’ve fought him, but we both know how it would’ve ended. There was genuine concern in his eyes when he glanced at me earlier.
Maybe that’s his sick, twisted kink. Maybe building trust only to rip it away is his thing. It’s possible, right? He knows he can do what he wants, but convincing a captive to do what he wants, that’s the real challenge.
You can trust him.
I shake my head as if Lola can see my answer to her statement.
It’s exhaustion. That’s all it is. I’m questioning everything because I’m trying to find a reason for why all of this happened, and if Javier isn’t a monster, then maybe something makes sense. Maybe there are higher powers at work here.
But fantasies don’t become reality just because you start to believe the lies. That’s a sign of being delusional.
“My name is Megan.”
I try to look in that direction, but of course I can’t see any better now than I could any other time I tried. These monsters were very strategic in the way they placed these cages.
“Why did he choose me?” Megan sobs. Her quiet cries haven’t stopped since Juan came down the stairs and went directly to her enclosure.
“He’s a piece of shit, and he’s dead,” Lola says.
“I was supposed to meet a guy for a date.” Megan sniffles. “I’d been talking to him for a few weeks. He said he was out of town for business, and there was only this small window of opportunity for us to meet before he had to leave again for work.”
“The same thing happened to me,” Penny explains. “He picked me up in Tacoma before he got you.”
“I was in Eugene, Oregon. My full name is Megan Renee Waterford. Please remember that. My parents are Marcell and Bettany. Bettany with two Ts, not Bethany with an H. If anyone gets out of here, please tell them that I love them and that I’m sorry.”
“We’re going to get out of here,” Lola insists, but Megan doesn’t respond to agree or deny that claim. “Megan? Do you hear me?”
Megan never speaks again.
***
The next couple of days pass as routinely as being held in captivity can.
We have bathroom breaks, a daily shower, and meals delivered. Angel instructs us on what to do, but he’s back to his old elusive self, merely supervising us when we’re out of our cages. We don’t see Miguel again, and Javier hasn’t come down to the basement either.
We all try to talk to Megan, but she never responds when she’s in her cage, and she refused to utter a single word when we’re out of them. She’s growing weaker, and I doubt she’s even drinking the water being provided. Our meal trays have been coming with some packaged food, and that’s the only thing I eat. I just can’t get past my mind convincing me that the food is poisoned, but I know as time goes on, I’m going to cave. I have no intention of starving myself, but it looks like that’s exactly what Megan is doing.
We’ve been back in our cages for what mentally seems like a lifetime, but it’s probably only been a couple of hours when Angel comes back in. I can tell by the way my body feels, now accustomed to the bathroom schedule, that he’s early, and this is never a good thing. Only bad things happen when someone comes in here outside of that schedule.
My pulse beats loud in my ears when he bends to open the lock on my cage.
You can trust him.
I know Lola was talking about Javier, but I don’t think Angel will hurt me. He was livid when he came down and found Juan raping Megan. I’ve never seen such a brutal attack before. Angel has never once given any indication that he’s here to hurt us. Yes, his job is to keep us trapped, but not even his gaze on us feels predatory.
“Where am I going?” I ask when he opens the door and holds his hand down for me to take.
He doesn’t answer me, and I don’t take his hand. I do crawl through the opening without an argument, and that’s just another sign of how damaged my head is from being trapped so long.
Javier didn’t touch me the last time I was taken to him, and after his warning to the others by way of a bullet in a man’s head, I presume that’s where I’m headed now. Angel wouldn’t risk his own death.
“You’re not going to fight me this time?”
I shake my head, drawing a frown to his lips. Is he upset that he doesn’t have to manhandle me to get me to comply?
I look from him to the other cages.
“What?” he asks.
“Can you please check on Megan? She’s the one that was—”
“I know who Megan is,” he snaps as if just the mention of her name upsets him. “Follow me.”
Lola doesn’t call out to be taken in my place this time, and it makes me think that she’s finally accepting what happened to her after watching it happen to someone else. I don’t blame her. I knew I was a coward before ever taking the brunt of any of the punishment doled out in this place.
“Don’t force me to carry you again, Cara,” Angel hisses when he notices that I’m not following behind him.
My feet move at his warning.