Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,38
to test it out. The few times Dominic compelled me, it didn’t even occur to me to try to fight it. It seemed beyond my paygrade.
“Hey, Jem. Come on in,” said Ben as he answered the front door. It occurred to me that I’d never really been to Ben’s house before, but I didn’t really have time to appreciate the beautiful Victorian mansion for what it was. I’d have to catch the tour some other day—when the clock wasn’t ticking furiously behind my head.
“Thanks,” I said and checked over my shoulder to make sure I hadn’t been followed before stepping inside his house. The last thing I needed was for Trace to catch me secretly meeting up with his best friend behind his back. No doubt that would solidify every bad thing he’d ever thought of me. “Did you get everything?” I asked, hopeful.
The sun was already beginning its slow decent into the horizon, so we had to move quickly if I had any chance of being sufficiently locked down before sunset.
“I think so,” he said and gestured for me to follow him.
We moved quickly through the house before making our way down to the basement. Most of the space was unfinished and looked completely different from the rest of the house. Beams and exposed pipes made up the ceiling while bricks and dank stone made up most of the walls.
“It’s, uh, interesting down here,” I said as I swiped at a spiderweb that had coiled itself around my arm as I approached the cellar door at the far end of the basement.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” he said and then pushed open the large steel door.
Leaning forward, I took in the medieval-looking, dungeon-style room and shuddered. Several pairs of chains hung from the cement wall, some with handcuffs attached at the end of them, others with a lock and key as big as my hand.
Honestly, if I hadn’t asked him to do this for me, this torture-chamber-looking-room would’ve creeped the hell out of me.
Straightening my shoulders, I walked inside and moved towards the hanging chains. I gave them a small tug and was happy to find they held up well. Satisfied, I then proceeded to put my full weight into it and made a consorted effort to pull the suckers right off the cement wall.
They didn’t budge an inch.
“Looks good.” I turned back to him and smiled. “Alright, friend. Chain me up.”
Ben took a deep breath and then moved beside me, picking up one of the longer chains in his hand. I couldn’t help but notice the nervous look in his eyes or that his hand was trembling just a tad. Either he thought this was a bad idea altogether or he didn’t trust his hardware.
I wasn’t sure which was worse, but at this point, I really didn’t have another option.
Chewing the inside of my cheek, I lifted my arms in the air as he twisted the chain around my torso until there was no more give left and then he secured it with the giant lock. When that was done, he then moved to the chains attached to the handcuffs and secured those around each of my wrists.
“I think that should do it,” he said, eyeing his handy work as he tapped his chin.
Eager to test it out, I tried to take a forceful step forward and painfully failed to move. “I think I’m good to go. Or not go,” I amended and then shook my head. “You know what I mean.”
“So, what should we do while we wait?” he asked as he checked his watch and then looked back at me with a beaming smile as an idea spouted in his mind. “Dude. Two words: X-Files marathon.”
“X-Files marathon,” I repeated.
“I can bring my laptop down here, and we can start from season one. What do you say?”
Oh, bless his heart. The excitement on his face was beyond adorable.
Not having the heart to let him down, I did my best to mirror his excitement and answered, “Sure. That sounds like fun.” So. Much. Fun.
“Awesome! You’re going to love this show! You haven’t seen it, right?” He didn’t bother waiting for my answer. “Should I get us some snacks?”
I made a face and lifted my shackled hands. “Maybe hold off on the snacks for now?”
“Right.” He nodded into it and then shook his head. “My bad, Jem.”
“It’s all good,” I said and smiled at him. The guy was doing me a major solid. I wasn’t about to get testy