The Ocean’s City

We pulled into a driveway of an immaculate beachfront property. The tender rumbles of the engine turning off caused my drooping eyes to focus. A yawn escaped my mouth as I pushed away the head fog and the need to sleep.

Dalton hummed a tune while he slid out of the car and walked to open the passenger door. My eyes never left his masculine figure. An eerily unsure feeling bubbled inside the pit of my stomach, wondering what he planned to do to me.

“We’re home,” he sang with his hand, gesturing out for me to take. My hand slid in his, trying not to upset him with any kind of rejection. We walked onto the wrap-around porch, through the unlocked front door, and in to what could have been a model house for homebuyers. Everything had a place, and it didn’t seem like a house this man would live in.

He looked like a man who would live in an apartment so high it touched the clouds, looking down New York like he owned the whole city, not some family man living in a wholesome town.

Dalton cleared his throat. “Would you like anything to drink?”

I shook my head, battling with a question brewing in my mind. The words came out unsteadily. “I would like to know what’s going to happen to me.”

The silence was long. My eyes refused to glance up at the man I had just met.

“You look like a very smart girl. I’m sure you will figure out your role in all of this soon enough. Now come. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

He walked up the stairs, not bothering to check if his new pet was following along. The unlocked front door called to me like a beacon of freedom. Would the same thing happen if I were to run again? The answer didn’t matter. My next escape would be strategic. The wheels in my brain were already turning and plotting as the steps groaned under the weight of my feet. Dalton was at the top, smirking in approval. My gaze remained down toward the floor. We walked to the bedroom, and I watched from the doorway while he kicked the bathroom door open and turned on the light.

“Everything you need is already in there. The closest is at the end; you will find pajamas there.”

He stood in the doorway, arms crossed, while his gaze bore holes into my panicky heart. Our eyes met for a millisecond before I dashed past him in to the bathroom. My hand timidly grabbed the door, waiting for him to move out of the way. He gave me one long look up and down my body, making me feel like he was undressing me with his mind, and then he lifted his hands in a gesture to show he was innocent and walked out.

The door couldn’t swing closed fast enough. Immediately, my fingers found the lock and gave the door a few good shakes to ensure it was secure. When it didn’t budge, I search my surroundings mainly for cameras or anything weird.

The vast walk-in closet was like from a movie and nothing I’ve seen in person before. My shaking hands fumbled with the drawers, ripping them open, but there were only clothes. There were no signs of cameras in either room; the vents were too small to crawl through, so I moved my search to the medicine cabinet.

There were ordinary everyday items, but the thing that caught my eye was the medicine bottle. I picked it up and read: Chill pills take whenever you need to chill.

The name on the bottle chilled me to the bone. Silvestia Baxs. Not only did it have my name, but it didn’t have my last name. Instead, it presumably had Dalton’s last name. My heart stopped pounding.

There was a knock on the door. “I don’t hear any water running.” His voice rumbled, shaking me back to reality. I quickly ripped my clothes off of me.

“I was, uh.. taking off my makeup!” I responded and hurried to the shower and turned it on.

The warm water gave me a second to catch my bearings. But I couldn’t wrap my mind around what was happening. I showered, not bothering to wash my hair. Instead, I braided it and went to put clothes on.

The only female pajamas in the drawers were thin, slinky lingerie, forcing me to search for another option to sleep in. All the day clothes appeared too uncomfortable or made me worried I would look silly and he would force me to change. His drawers thankfully had items I could work with — basketball shorts and an oversized tee shirt. It smelled like him and made me feel uncomfortable.

My ghost-like face stared back at me in the mirror. My chest moved up and down to show I was a real person, though it felt like this person staring at me was someone else completely. The adrenaline from the day gave this figure, trapped in the reflective glass, a bewildered look.

On the counter lay a long blade traditionally used for shaving. I inspected it, finding it sharp. Then tucked it into my shorts and braved the bedroom again.

Dalton was lazing on the bed. He looked at me approvingly as he saw me wearing his clothes. “Feel better?” He asked. I shyly nodded and watched as he rose from the bed and met me at the bathroom doorway.

He got close enough to smell me, then his hands went straight to my waist and snatched the blade like if he knew it would be there. I held my breath, nervous about what he may do next. “I’ll be needing this sweet pea. Get comfortable in bed. I’ll Be out in a minute.”

He smirked at my shocked reaction, then walked to the shower without bothering to close the door. Realizing that he was about to get naked, I scrambled to the bed and threw the blankets over me. Worried he would also try to sleep in the same bed, I took my pillows to make a wall.

The sounds of the water cascading off his body made my thoughts go haywire. The shower turned off, and moments later, he appeared wearing only sweatpants. My gaze quickly darted to divert my attention from his body, but he caught me staring. The blush burned my cheeks as fear seeped in that if I wasn’t careful, he may take advances I did not want.

My fingers twiddled, and my whole body stilled when he walked to the edge of the bed, lifted a pillow from the fort, and threw it on the floor. I watched him in confusion.

“I take it I’m not allowed on the bed?” he asked in the way of explanation. When there was no response, he turned off the lights and grunted while he got settled on the floor. I was as silent as a mouse as I stared into the darkness, thinking: What. The. Fuck.

My body stirred awake with an urgent need to pee. It was still pitch black outside, giving no hint of how long I had been sleeping. Dalton’s soft snores near the bathroom door made me want to toughen it out and hold it till morning, but the pressure was too much.

I slowly moved the blankets and tiptoed to the bathroom, contemplating closing the door, but opted not to, refusing to make any noise, hoping he wouldn’t wake while my pants were down.

When the deed was done, my feet tiptoed on the cold tiled floor out of the bathroom. My body smacked into a brick wall and steady hands. A small whimper of a scream escaped my lips.

“Hey! Shhh, it’s okay.” My breath caught in my lungs. “You okay?”

My head nodded yes as he rubbed my arms and peeked over my shoulder to see if his razor was still on the counter where he had left it. In plain sight, as if testing me. He smiled when he saw it was still there and leaned to kiss the top of my head. My whole body tensed up, startled. He leaned down near my ear, causing my heart to pulsate at our closeness. “Get some rest, darling.”

My feet scurried away from him to the bed to hide under the covers. Dalton went into the bathroom, and his pee hitting the water the toilet. The sound floating back to me, reminding me I am in a strange house with a strange man. My eyes drooped closed before I couldn’t even make sure he went back to the floor to sleep.

Thanks for reading the third chapter of The Ocean’s City. Let me know what you think! Grammar Nazis are welcome!