Victoria

I'm going away for a while. Need time to think. Don't worry about me. x

I sent the text to Archer, and suddenly Tyler snatched the phone out of my hands and pocketed it.

I stared straight ahead into the car and tried not to panic about the fact that I was being kidnapped. I turned in the passenger seat to glare at him, "You can't do this to me!"

Tyler grinned, "Well, I just did."

I had tears gathering in my eyes but I wouldn't let him see that and feed off my weakness. "Where are you taking me?"

"Someplace where you won't be allowed to make stupid decisions like marrying an idiot like Noah," he answered.

"You threatened to shoot Archer and Hazel!" I screamed at him. "Surely anyone is better than you!"

He gave me a side-eyed stare, keeping one of his hands on the steering wheel and reached with the other in his pocket to find the gun that I'd seen before. I flinched which made him laugh, "Relax, baby. Look, it's a fake."

I took the gun from his hands and realized that it was indeed a fake and that made me feel stupid.

Not only had he kidnapped me waving a fake gun in my face, but he'd threatened to shoot my family with it and I'd believed him.

"I hate you, Tyler," I said throwing the fake into the backseat and searched for something in the car that I could use to hit him with when the car finally stopped. I noticed a Macbook in the backseat.

If I hit him hard enough with it...

"Don't get any wrong ideas about hurting me," Tyler could read me faster than his animal encyclopedias, "I do have a real gun with real bullets safely tucked away in my boots. Just an F.Y.I."

I sat back in the car and sank lower.

There was no use, I couldn't try to escape.

He caressed my cheek slowly with the back of his fingers, "Treat it as a short vacation. The sooner you come to your senses, the faster I'll let you go."

I turned in my seat to face him, "I won't marry Noah. I promise."

He chuckled showing off his perfect white teeth, "That was fast, but I don't think you mean it. If I let you go right now, you're probably going to the police station and singing about this incident like a songbird and I'm not going to let that happen."

The gates to the Lockhart's mansion opened. A part of me was glad he'd brought me here than any other place that I wasn't familiar with. I used to visit Tyler's house a lot growing up so I didn't think there was any room in the house that we hadn't explored and that gave me an advantage.

He parked the car in the designated spot, cut the engine and walked around the car to open the door for me. For a minute I refused to step out of the car until he threatened to carry me upstairs. I had no choice but to get out.

Tyler took my hand in his, our fingers interlaced together as he led me upstairs from the back entrance.

That's when I knew he didn't plan on anyone finding out that I was living here with him in the mansion. And that thought made me even more anxious. He could kill me, dispose of my body in the woods behind the house and no one would find out.

We stopped right in front of his bedroom and I snatched my hand out of his grasp.

"I'm not going to sleep in your room!" I told him.

"Then where would you rather sleep?"

"Anywhere. Just not your bedroom."

"The stables, perhaps?" He mocked, clearly amused, "Or you prefer the basement?"

"It's not funny. You're fucking psychotic!"

He laughed again, "You keep saying that Vicky, and yet you crave my attention. If you hate me so much, why haven't you moved on?" he nudged the door open with his hand, pulled me inside and kicked the door shut.

When I didn't answer, he said. "I'm sure there were plenty of men dying for your attention outside of town."

My hands were balled into fists. "That is none of your business!"

"I just want to know the reason." He pressed. "Have you kissed anyone else?"

"I'm not answering that."

He laughed again, "Noah, right? You kissed Noah. Well, let me ask you, how was it? Did you get wet?"

I covered my palms over my ears and sang, "LA...LA...LA...LA..."

The douchebag was having a lot of fun.

Yes, I'd kissed Noah just once after Tyler had left town, it was the time when we'd broken up and Noah was the only support I had at the time and he'd been really sweet. I was curious to see if things could be different with Noah and had allowed him to kiss me, maybe even touch me just a little bit but there weren't any sparks flying, my heart didn't beat faster and I wasn't remotely aroused.

We'd decided to remain friends.

And every time that I met someone after that, I'd constantly compared every other man to Tyler and wasn't interested to go on dates.

"Very mature," Tyler commented.

"I won't sleep here. You can't make me."

"Chicken," He teased and picked up my luggage again. "You're scared of me, admit it."

"If you're trying to bait me with that line, don't bother because it's not going to work. If I wanted to sleep with you, it would be on my terms but that won't happen. Not in a million years at least."

The corners of his mouth turned up, "We'll see about that. I have something to show you, it's special."

"Just show me the guest room!"

He kept his hold firm on my arm and walked at the end of his room. He opened his closet and for a second I thought he was going to dump me there when he flipped a switch somewhere and the entire rack of clothes moved away to reveal another door.

"Door Open," Tyler said.

"Welcome to the Den, Tyler." A robotic female's voice called out and the door opened slowly.

I stayed rooted on the spot, not wanting to go anywhere further.

"Come on, Vicky. I just want to show you something amazing."

"Nuh-Uh, I'm not going anywhere!"

"Okay, suit yourself." He said and before I had a chance to do anything, he picked me up with ease and put me over his shoulder.

I screamed, "PUT ME DOWN!! TYLER!"

He held me tighter, his fingers pressing into my hips. I kept hitting his back with my fists, "Let me go home!"

The door closed behind me automatically and he walked down a flight of curvy stairs illuminated by lights, it was like he was taking me into a cave.

How ironic was that thought?

He stopped in front of another door, "Door Open."

"Welcome to the Den, Tyler." The same robotic voice repeated.

That door opened into a new world.

There was a nice cozy living area, a den, more precisely with leather couches, flat-screen and a pool table on the corner side of it. It had the whole gothic feel to it, and I was pretty sure Tyler was the one who'd designed it.

He put me down once the door closed and analyzed me curiously. I took a step inside and noticed there were a few more rooms to it, all of which were lavishly furnished and even a small kitchen.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"My secret hiding place." He told me proudly, "Which will be your secret hiding place now. I never showed it to anyone and guess what, no one in my family knows about this room. When I used to come back home for vacations I did a lot of exploring and stumbled upon the sliding doors that led me here. I didn't tell mom or dad about it and often came down here to chill."

"I want to go home," I whispered, trying not to break in front of him because this was all making me nervous.

Did he plan on keeping me here forever?

He ignored me completely and placed my bag on the king-sized bed. "Bathroom's that way, and the kitchen is fully stocked. I can bring food to you but if you insist on cooking, I won't stop you."

"Why are you doing this?!" I yelled.

"Just want to stop you from making rash decisions. That's all, Vicky. What do you think this is about?"

"This is kidnapping!"

"No, it's not." He shook his head, looking at me like I had gone loony, "we're two best friends catching up."

"You can delude yourself with that, but it won't change anything. Can I at least have my phone back?" I raised my hand towards him. "Please."

"Sorry, I can't give it to you."

"What you're doing is wrong, Tyler. Don't you see it?"

"What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?"

"I don't want anything."

He huffed a sigh like I was the one being difficult here, "You'll have plenty of time here to think about your decisions so far, and the next time I ask you, I want to hear the right answer." He commanded and stormed out of the room.

I tried to open the door with and without a command and it kept telling me that I wasn't the right person. This little hide-out space had voice-operated doors that seemed to only obey Tyler.

How crazy was that?

I locked myself in the room that night but I could barely sleep. Tyler didn't show up the entirety of the next day and I wondered if Archer was starting to get worried about me.

That was the last of my concern at the moment; I needed to find out a way to get out of here, and fast.

As he'd promised, food was delivered to my room, he brought it himself and I didn't fail to notice how it consisted of all my favorites. Creamy mashed potatoes, macaroni and Greek yogurt chicken sandwiches. Ty was vegan so I knew this was on the menu just for me.

He asked me to talk to Archer under his supervision and I was forced to tell my brother that I was alright and that I would come home soon.

Day three I couldn't get any sleep in the bedroom so I sat down on the couch in the living area; I found a pen that I kept hidden. A pen wasn't exactly a defense weapon but Tyler was smart so the knives in this place were missing.

Sometime around midnight, I heard the door open and he walked in holding a tray. I tensed when he approached the couch, and dashed towards the other end, farther away from him.

He laughed, settling down on one side, and placing a full bowl of popcorn, two mugs of cocoa with floating marshmallows and a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He was dressed in grey woolen jammies, and I couldn't help but notice how hot he managed to look in it. He ran his fingers through his hair and popped a cookie into his mouth. I stared at his mouth mesmerized as he chewed.

He looked at me in a way that would make you think he intended to eat me alive and then focused on the TV screen, "I'm putting on Netflix. What do you wanna watch?"

"Aren't you going to bed?" I asked, sitting down on the two-seater loveseat.

"I mean, what's the point in me going to bed if you're not in it." He said softly.

"Don't be so presumptuous! A man of your caliber needs to have some amount of shame at least."

"I'm shameless and I don't possess morals." He declared with a straight face. "If you could be honest with me about everything, we wouldn't need to play this game."

"I want to go home."

"Do you like The Walking Dead or Breaking Bad?"

"I don't care either way," I replied.

The lights turned dim, giving it the ultimate theatre vibe. Tyler chose The Walking Dead. It was probably during the third episode that I felt his presence near me. He'd joined me on the love-seat, sitting really close to me now.

By the fourth episode, his arm rested over my shoulder and I couldn't move a muscle. The time on the vintage grandfather clock read a little after five a.m.

If I gave in to him, if I responded to him in a nice way, maybe he'd let me go...

His fingers traced my shoulder lightly, and I had goosebumps rise all over my body and not in a bad way. He looked freshly showered and smelled of soap, the same one so I knew his tastes hadn't changed. The flashbacks of our teen life together kept playing in my head.

This felt like High school again, all those movie marathons together, only this wasn't the same. The nostalgia of the situation almost brought tears to my eyes.

It was killing me from the inside.

I was mad about the fact that he was reminding me of everything in our life that used to be beautiful. He'd shown me an illusion that was snatched away by fate.

What was he trying to prove now, that things could go back to the way they were? And how was that even possible?

Give him what he wants and he'd let you go. The voice in my mind repeated.

"Vicky." He said softly. "If you want to leave, I'll let you go but I want you to be honest with me about everything."

Even in the darkness, I couldn't miss the intensity of his blue eyes as he stared straight at me like he could read my soul. And I couldn't help myself comparing it to the color of the ocean, especially when they were filled with desire.

When he leaned in, I instinctively closed my eyes and his mouth covered mine. His lips were warm as he eagerly pressed forward, I opened my mouth to let him in and our tongues met in a fight for possession. He growled which made me kiss him harder. I bit down on his lower lip hard, and he punished me by tightening his fingers in my hair which made me moan loud. We kissed like two people fighting for dominance.

Before I knew it, I was up on my knees and straddling his lap, cupping his face in my hands as I went on kissing him with wild abandon, his five o'clock shadow brushed against my fingertips and it turned me on.

Tyler held me close to him by my waist and I could feel his arousal straining against his pants. I was totally wanton for Tyler's attention, shamelessly grinding myself over him seeking my release while taking whatever I could get from him.

We made eye-contact and I saw that his hunger matched mine.

His hands were already inside my dress, his fingers dancing over the hem of my panties...

Until the damned phone rang.

And the spell broke.

I was still on his lap, cheeks flushed, and sexually frustrated. My hair was probably a mess too, what with the way Tyler kept running his fingers through it.

He picked up his phone, his smoldering blue eyes still on me, and probably didn't notice that it was on speakers. "It's five-fucking thirty in the morning, Morgan and you're disturbing something important. What is it?"

"Sir, they found Noah McCloy's body."

***