I meandered through the crowd and into the lounge. Through the fog, I found Jared getting a lap dance from one of the dancers. Bottles upon bottles of imported beer laid at his feet, and he was blabbering like an idiot. Great. The bastard's drunk. I took a deep breath. Humble yourself, Jess. Just say sorry and then go find Tanner. "M-may I please speak with you for a moment, sir? I-I'd like to apologize," I said lowly.

Hearing my voice, Jared pushed a girl off of him. Instead of getting angry, she just shrugged and went on to the next buyer. He sat up straight, rested his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. "Get down on your knees," he demanded. He's not going to make this easy is he. Fuck him. I closed my eyes and did as he said, kneeling in front of him. "Now, look at me and tell me what you wanted to say, Bloodbag," he chuckled.

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. I stared into his auburn eyes. "I just wanted to humbly tell you that I am so very sorry that I acted inappropriately earlier, sir. I spoke out of turn and disrespected you. That kind of behavior is unacceptable and I have learned my lesson. I beg of you, please forgive me." God, why did I get myself into this? I think I'm going to be sick.

A minute of complete silence passed between us as the music blared in the background. Even the men on the couch just sat there starring at us. Finally, Jared spoke up, "No. I don't think you've learned your place, just yet. But if you want, I suppose I can show it to you. After we're done I will accept that pathetic apology of yours."

I want to punch him so badly. He's so lucky my life is on the line. I nodded, "Of course, sir. Anything that will help you feel like I am sorry." I'm going to regret saying that. Oh, wait. I already do regret it.

Jared picked his foot up and swung it into my stomach. A yelp escaped my lips and I fell over on my side. Before I had a chance to reach for it he kicked me again in the exact same spot. Here we are again. Jared and Jess, the punching bag and the fists. I definitely didn't miss this. He picked me up by my hair and pulled me back onto my knees. Tears were now flowing down my eyes. My coughs tasted of iron. "You see you think that because you and Tanner used to be fuck that you're granted some kind of pass. I'm here to tell you, sweetheart, that's far from true." Jared wound his fist back and swung at my left cheek with his free hand. If he had not been holding me by my hair, I would have gone falling to the floor again. Instead, I stayed in place, so he could follow up with another hook.

"You thought you could run from this, but I tracked your worthless ass down. You're not going anywhere!" This time he let me fall on my side and kicked my stomach again. I couldn't hold it back anymore, I let out a scream, and blood flowed out of my mouth.

He rested his dress shoe on my head. He applied all the pressure he could to it, crushing my cheek into the floor. I whimpered and my vision faded to nothing. My body felt warm, but it was shaking. He's going to fucking kill me. I won't even get to see how being with the McClains plays out, my life ends here. Under Jared Chavez's shoe. What an awful way to go. "You still with me, whore?" He asked pressing down harder on my head.

I pried my eyes open and looked up at him, "Y-y-yes, s-sir," I stuttered, choking on my blood.

"Good, good. I'll give you one thing, you're still tough. Now, tell me what you are and what you learned today," he smiled down at me.

I hate this so much. Why couldn't it just be Tanner and I? I can't believe that just came into my thoughts but it's true. "I am a pathetic, no good, human, and I learned my place, sir."

Someone at the doorway cleared their throat, "what is going on in here?" Oh, thank God it was Mr. McClain!

Jared took his foot off of me and stood up. "Mr. McClain! It's good to see you! Jess and I were just having a conversation. She said sorry for her actions earlier and I of course was nice enough to accept it." Nice enough he says....this was him being nice? Lovely.

My vision started to cloud again. I closed my eyes for what only seemed like a moment, but when I opened them again I was in Tanner's bedroom. How did I get here? Am I in more trouble?

"Jess, Jess can you hear me?" Tanner was hovering over me, his face stricken with worry. Wait he's worried about me? Oh, god, everything hurts. Am I dying? I hadn't felt this awful in a while.

"Y-yes, sir," I sputtered. "Oh thank God. Okay, I need you to do something for me." He brought his wrist up to his mouth and bit down on it. "I need you to drink my blood. It's going to help you." Tanner put his wrist to my mouth and without argument I started to drink it.

As soon as it hit my taste buds I gagged. Good God, this tastes awful! I know it contains healing properties and all that nonsense, but ugh! Why does it taste like this? "I know, I know, but it's going to help you." He brushed a few of my curls out of my face. He's right. The more I drink the less I feel like death. Maybe today won't be my last day after all.

After a short time, I stopped drinking and slowly sat up in the bed. "How do you feel?" Tanner asked.

"Awful, sir. But not nearly as bad as before. Thank you again," I answered. I glanced around the room. We were completely alone, and he hadn't chained me up. This was progress. Not that I'm able to move. Tanner placed his hand on my thigh, and I flinch slightly.

"What happened Jess?" I wasn't falling for anymore of their bullshit tonight. I'm going with the safe answer.

"I-I learned my place, sir."