Chapter Five: Tabby

Tabby could feel her heart beating forcefully in  her chest and the sound of it echoed in her ears.  What the hell was going on here?  

She looked over at the man with the deep, dark  eyes and he was kneeling down behind her chair.  She started to object, but then noticed that he was  starting to untie her bound arms and feet from the  chair. She waited until he was done and then she  jumped to her feet and started to run for the door.  She didn’t make it very far before she fell flat on  her face.  

Oomph! The air was knocked out of her lungs  and then he was over her. He grabbed her by the  arms and easily lifted her. He swept her up in his  strong arms and then stepped the short distance to  the leather sofa that sat in the middle of the room.  

“Easy now,” he said, and when she could  breathe again she looked up into his face and could  have sworn she saw a small smile creeping up on  his lips.  

 She took a moment to look down at her legs as  if they were aliens and had not been a part of her  body for the last twenty-eight years or so.  

As if reading her thoughts, the man said,  “You’ve just lost the circulation in your legs from  being tied up for a while. Plus, you’re probably still  feeling some of the paralyzing effects of the drug.” 

She swallowed and looked up at him with  alarm. “Drug?” she asked and started to feel sick to  her stomach again.  

“Yes. I had to do that for your own safety,” he  said matter-of-factly and then began to run his  hands up and down her calf muscles as he knelt  before her.  

Her mind was swimming with a hodgepodge of  disconnected thoughts and images. She  remembered something cold and sharp pressing  into her neck in the parking garage. That was the  last thing she remembered before she woke up  here, bound and gagged. She looked around at the  room and really examined her location for the first  time.  

She was in a luxury hotel suite. She was sure of  it. This night was getting more and more puzzling  by the moment.  

“Why did you drug me? Who are you? Where am  I? Why did you take me? Who is that crazy man?”  The questions just exploded out of her mouth in  rapid succession.  

She looked down at his strong, warm hands that  were still moving up and down her stocking-covered  legs. He was smiling at her. He was definitely  smiling at her. The sight of his seductive smile  disarmed her.  

Were all these people insane? What bizarre  world was she in? What rabbit hole had she fallen  down? 

“I’ll answer all of that for you. The important  thing right now is that you trust me. I know that is  hard for you to do, given the circumstances of your  evening, but I need for you to trust me so I can get  you out of here safely.”  

His fingertips were now making small circles in  the spaces behind her knees. In spite of herself,  she couldn’t help but feel a warmth start to climb  up her legs and into the space between her legs.  She took a deep breath and blew it out of her  mouth between plump lips.  

“What does he want from me?” she asked.  “Just tell me where the money is located and I  can get you out of here.”  

She blinked several times and her mind raced.  She had no clue what he was talking about.  “What money?” she asked as she wondered if  this was somehow work related. That was the only  real money she managed on a daily basis. 

“The money you took from him,” he said  patiently as his hands continued to work their  magic on her.  

“Who is he? I’ve never seen this man before in  my life.”  

This time he was the one to take a deep  breath.  

“Tabitha Stuart. Is that your name?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she said and waited.  

“I’ve seen you here at the casino at least a dozen  times in the past month. You’ve spent time with  Mr. Tremaine here in the penthouse suite as well. Last week you borrowed some money from him and  he hasn’t been able to reach you for the better  part of a week. Needless to say, he’s a little ticked  off.”  

“I’m telling you. I’ve never been here before  and I’ve never met that man. I sure as shit have  never been in this suite before. I think I’d  remember.”  

The man’s hands stopped moving and he rose  to his feet in front of her. She noticed now how tall  he was and how big his arms were. He was dressed  in an expensive suit and he filled it out perfectly.  His crotch was positioned right in front of her now  and she couldn’t help but notice the bulge just  behind the smooth material of his trousers.  

“Listen, Tabitha. I don’t know what your end  game is in all this but if you don’t tell me the  location of that money then this could get really  ugly…really fast. I want to get this resolved as  quickly as possible for your own safety. I can’t do  that until you come clean with me, and we don’t  have much time.”  

Tabby tore her eyes away from his crotch and  made eye contact with him yet again. She was  suddenly feeling angry and would have normally  shot to her feet at this point but didn’t trust her  legs to be steady.  

“I’m not playing any games. I feel like I’ve awoken  to some bizarre world of mistaken identity or  something. You say you’ve seen me here before but I swear I’ve never been here. How do you know my  name?”  

He watched her for a minute and then crossed  his arms over his chest. The long shirtsleeves on his  white dress shirt were rolled up to just below his  elbows and she could see the veins bulging out on  his muscular forearms. She had this insane urge to  run her fingers over his arms. She shook her head  as if to clear her thoughts.

What was the matter  with her? She was in some kind of real and present  danger here and all she could do was have lusty sex  thoughts about one of her captors. The man who  had just admitted to her that he was the one to  drug her, abduct her, and bring her here to this  place.  

“Are you or are you not Tabitha Stuart?” he  asked again.  

“Yes, I am,” she answered.  

“Do you or do you not work at the accounting  and investment firm of Donaldson & Franks?” he  continued.  

“Yes, I do,” she shot back and suddenly got the  feeling she was being interrogated by a  professional.  

He began to pace back and forth in front of the  sofa.  

She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips  and as if the motion of her hand had awoken  something in her brain she jumped to her feet  again. This time she didn’t attempt to run, but  turned to face him. 

“Wait a minute.” She felt unsure of herself but  a thought was teasing her from just beyond the  reach of her mind.  

“What did that man call me?” she asked and  noticed that he’d stopped pacing and had turned to  face her. He raised his eyebrows in question.  

“Did he call me ‘T. girl’?” She bit her lower lip  in concentration.  

He seemed to consider her question and then  nodded.  

“Yes, he did. Does that mean something to  you?” He seemed just as puzzled by all of this as  she did.  

She sat back down and put her head in her hands  and lowered her head to her knees.  

“What is it? What does it mean?” He stood in  front of her and waited for her to look up.  When she spoke, she asked a question of her  own. “Oh my God, Trish, what have you done  now?”