Obsession Ch. 01

***

Samantha woke up in her room, confused and wondering exactly how she got there. She didn't remember leaving Tyler's place last night after they had sex. She felt a pain on her ankle and pulled the covers back to reveal the outline of a bruise forming around the diameter of her ankle. She stared at it blankly, "How the hell did that happen?" she said aloud into the emptiness of the room.

She pulled herself to her feet and nearly fell to the bed again, feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Pausing for a moment before she took a step, she felt the pain on the back of her head as well. She reached up to massage the pain and felt a bump just above her neckline.

What the hell happened to me last night? she thought as she headed to the bathroom.

Samantha stared at herself in the mirror and saw her bloodshot eyes reflecting back to her. Her hair was mussed and her mascara was smeared. She knew she must have been exhausted when she got home last night, she always remembered to remove her make-up before going to bed. Turning to the shower, she turned the hot water on full blast, letting out a gasp when she felt how hot the water was. She turned on a bit of cold, stripped off her pajamas then stepped into the steamy shower.

Her thoughts drifted to Tyler and she began to wonder if it was just a dream she'd had. He wasn't as gentle as she thought he'd be with her and his kiss was different than what she remembered. "It must have been a dream," she said to herself.

As she was washing, she noticed a small welt on her right arm, just above her elbow. She rubbed it and thought it felt like something had bit her. She tried her hardest to recall the events of the previous night, but the last thing she remembered was walking up Tyler's sidewalk and holding his hand while he unlocked his door. Did I leave right away? Did I stay with him but leave later? Did we have sex? Her mind was cloudy and she couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh. Why can't I remember what happened?

She finished her shower, dried off quickly then took another towel and wrapped it around her wet hair. She searched for her purse, pulled out Tyler's number and called him, hoping he could shed some light on what had happened between them last night.

***

Tyler woke in a daze to his phone ringing. He fumbled to answer it, only to drop it before he could look to see who it was. Reaching around blindly on the floor, he finally got a hold of it, opening it and talking before he brought it to his ear. "Hang on a sec!" he said loudly, fumbling to bring the phone to his ear.

"Tyler?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah. Hi Sam," he said, feeling confused himself.

"This is gonna sound strange, Ty, but did we -- um -- did we -- have sex last night?" she asked quietly.

"I don't know, Sam. I thought we did, but now that I see you're not here, I'm guessing it must have been a dream. I don't remember much of anything after we got back here," he said, pushing himself up in bed and leaning back against the headboard.

"If it was a dream, we were both having it," she said. "You were pretty rough with me last night, it wasn't like I thought it would be. That's all I remember."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing. Something wasn't right about it, but I couldn't put my finger on it," he said, turning on the bed to rest his feet on the floor.

"Maybe we both had a bit too much to drink?"

"I only had one glass of wine and if I recall, you only had one, so that's not it," he said. He got to his feet, walked into his kitchen and looked through the cupboards to account for any missing alcohol. There was none. His house was as he'd left it when he left for their date. "From the looks of things, we didn't have anything to drink when we got back here either."

Feeling a pain in his head just above his right ear, he reached up to massage it and felt a small bump. He went into the bathroom to find himself some aspirin. As he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he saw a small welt on his neck, just below his left ear. "What the hell is that?" he said aloud.

"What the hell is what?" Sam asked.

"Oh, nothing," he said, examining the welt closer in the mirror. "I need to grab a shower, Sam. I'll call you later and we can get this sorted out."

"Okay, talk to you later," she said and the line went silent.

Tyler set his phone down on the edge of the sink as he ran his fingers over the welt on his neck. It wasn't painful, but he didn't know how he'd gotten it. Maybe something bit me, he thought then he turned and reached in to start the water for a shower.

He showered quickly and thought back to the previous night. Samantha was in his bed, but it wasn't like anything he'd imagined she'd be. She was almost animalistic in taking her pleasure from him, not caring if he felt pleasure himself. Something just wasn't right about all this. He finished his shower quickly, wrapped the towel around his waist then headed into his room to get dressed.

***

Alan had hoped his plan to lure Samantha away from Tyler would work. He was worried about the side effects of the drugs he and Jagger had injected into them, but he was more focused on the long term results of their manipulations. He showered and got dressed then paced his bedroom trying to get the exact words in his head before he called Samantha and got the ball rolling further on his plan.

Just as he was reaching for the phone, it rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was Jagger. "What?" he said abruptly.

"We've got a problem, Al."

"What's the problem?"

"Mandy remembers what happened to her last night. I thought you said they wouldn't remember?" Jagger barked.

"That's what my dad told me, but I guess it doesn't work on everyone," Alan snapped back.

"Well, Mandy just packed her bags and left. She knows what we did and she says if I go after her, she's going to the police."

"Fuck that. I ain't worried about her. I need to call Sam and see if she remembers what happened to her last night. I will deal with Mandy later," Alan said, hanging up the phone. He immediately picked it up again and dialed Sam's number. He brought the phone to his ear and waited impatiently for her to answer.

"Tyler?" Samantha said on the other end.

"No," Alan said.

"Alan?" she replied.

"Yes. How're things going, Sam?" he asked, trying to conceal the nervousness in his voice.

"Fine. Is there a reason you're calling me?"

"Actually, there is. Jagger just called me and told me that he caught Mandy cheating on him last night."

"So what's that got to do with me?"

"He said it was with your friend from the bar. Tyler. I think that was his name, wasn't it?"

"I was with Tyler last night, we -- " she started, but abruptly stopped. He heard her let out a gasp and was pretty sure that she didn't remember what had happened to her last night. "Alan, I gotta go," she said and hung up before he could reply.

He called Jagger back to inform him that Sam took the bait and also to let him know that if Sam contacted him, they needed to have their stories straight. He went into the kitchen to fix himself breakfast, a huge smile on his face. His plan seemed to be working so far. He just hoped Jagger didn't go overboard with his part of the plan.

***

Angry and confused, Samantha fumbled with the phone to call Tyler again. She wanted answers and apparently he knew more than he was telling her. As she waited for him to pick up the phone, she tried to calm herself.

"Hello?" Tyler said.

"Something didn't seem right about last night, huh? Well I'll tell you why it didn't seem right, asshole! You were with another woman!" she hissed, not containing her anger as she'd hoped. "Did you throw me out so you could call her over and fuck her? Why the hell would you lead me on like you did? Why is it I always seem to hook up with men who want to fuck everyone but me?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Samantha?"

"Alan just called me and told me that his best friend's fiancée was caught cheating on him with you last night. How do you explain that?"

"Who -- what -- I don't even know who Alan's best friend is, let alone the guy's fiancée," Tyler said, matching Samantha's anger.

"His best friend's name is Jagger. His fiancée is Mandy. Alan told me Jagger called him and said Mandy was fucking you, Tyler. Now how would he know that unless that's what happened?"

"I don't know," he said. He heard a click and the line went silent. Staring at the phone in confusion, he sat down at the table then rested his head in his hands. He heard a knock at the door and slowly got up to answer it. He looked through the peephole and saw a blond woman standing there, looking angry and confused. He pulled the chain across the door before opening it.

"Can I help you?" he asked through the partially opened door.

"Yeah. My name's Mandy and apparently you and I had sex last night," she said. Tyler just froze. Samantha was right, but how the hell did this happen?

Tyler closed the door and removed the chain. He opened the door wider and invited her in. She took a few steps into the house, stopping short of the living room then just glared at him.

"I'm a bit confused about things, Mandy. How did you and I end up in bed together?"

"I'll tell you how," she started. "That rat bastard best friend of my fiancée, that's how. Apparently he's obsessed with some woman named Samantha and he drugged both of you. They drugged me too and set it up so that we'd have sex. Alan's plan was to get Samantha away from you by making her angry with you. In the process, my fiancée got his reward for a job well done and he fucked your girlfriend."

Tyler stared at Mandy with a look of shock on his face. He couldn't believe what she was telling him. How did he know she wasn't part of this whole mess? "Mandy, would you like to sit down?" he asked, motioning her to the living room. She walked past him and took a seat on a chair in the corner of the room.

"So everything that happened last night was just so Alan could get Samantha back?" he asked, wanting her to clarify what she'd just told him.

"Yeah, it seems so. According to Jagger, your girlfriend thought she was with you. I left his sorry ass and told him if he came after me, I'd call the cops. I figured you'd want to know so you and Samantha could deal with this in your own way."

Tyler heard another knock on the door. He was still confused about what had happened and when he got up to answer the door, he didn't look through the peephole to see who it was. Jagger kicked the door open farther, causing Tyler to stumble backwards and trip on the rug in the foyer. Struggling to get to his feet, he felt something cold and hard pressed against his temple.

"Don't fucking move, asshole," Jagger said, holding a gun to Tyler's head. Jagger turned to see Mandy sitting in the living room. "Come back for seconds, bitch?" he snapped at her.

"Don't even go there, Jagger. I told him everything," she snapped as she rose to her feet and walked toward him. She stopped when he pointed the gun at her.

"Take one more step and I kill you both," Jagger hissed. He turned back to Tyler, still crouched down in front of him. "I hope fucking my fiancée was worth it, asshole." Jagger felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from Tyler.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Alan asked. "This wasn't part of the plan!"

"He fucked Mandy!" Jagger barked.

"You fucked Samantha!" Alan snapped back at him. "You weren't supposed to fuck Samantha, we just wanted her detained while we set Tyler up!"

Jagger lowered the gun and backed further away from Tyler. He turned to Alan and pushed him out the door. Mandy walked over to Tyler, helping him to his feet. She turned then walked out the door to leave and Alan pushed her back inside.

"It's our word against yours," Alan said to both of them. "The drugs we gave you won't be detectable in your system in another hour or so and since Tyler and Samantha don't really remember much of what happened last night, Mandy is the only one who can corroborate our story."

"You prick!" Mandy hissed.

"Shut the hell up, I'm not done with you yet," Alan said to Mandy. He turned to Tyler, "Now we can make this real easy for you, buddy. Just admit to Samantha that you slept with Mandy and leave her alone. She won't want to see you anymore and you can go on with your separate lives."

"She's never gonna -- " Tyler started, Alan interrupted.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted. "Don't tell me what Sam will or won't do. I know her better than you, shithead. Just admit to her what happened and stay away from her. I don't want to have to hurt anyone, but I will if you don't cooperate. Now, where's your phone?"

Tyler reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He handed it to Alan who handed it right back to him. "Oh no. You're calling her," Alan said. "You're gonna tell her exactly what I tell you and if you try to tell her anything differently, none of you will ever see the light of day again." Alan pulled Jagger's gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Tyler, giving him no other choice than to do what he was told.

"You're gonna tell Samantha that when you got home last night, you found Mandy waiting for you in your bed. You sent her home then spent the night with Mandy. Tell her that you know she's still in love with me and you didn't want to get in the way of us getting back together," Alan told Tyler. "Don't give her the chance to argue. If she starts arguing, you hang up. You got that?"

"Yeah," Tyler said as he slowly opened his phone and dialed Samantha's number. He told her everything Alan said, hearing her cry when she tried to argue with him. He closed his phone and stared at Alan. "Happy now?" he snapped. "Get the fuck out of my house and take her with you," he added, grabbing Mandy's arm and pushing her into Alan.

"If you try to contact Samantha after we leave, she's dead. Got it?" he said as he backed out the door but kept the gun pointed at Tyler until he was out of the house.

Tyler watched as they all drove off, wondering how he could get word to Samantha about what was going on without them knowing it was him who told. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Julie asking if Samantha had an email address. He jotted down her email address, closed his phone and headed to his room to boot up his computer. He hoped Samantha wasn't too angry with him and would read his email.

He emailed her letting her know what had just happened and told her to get herself someplace safe. He clicked SEND and hoped she'd read his email before Alan arrived at her house.

***

"Hello, Samantha. Going somewhere?" Alan's voice said behind her as she walked out of her house. She turned to see him sitting on the steps of her porch and Jagger leaning against his car in the driveway.

"I gotta go to work, Alan. What do you want?" she asked nervously, knowing she took too long to get out after reading Tyler's email.

"It's Sunday, Sam. I know for a fact you don't work on Sundays. Try again," he said as he got up and grabbed her arm then dragged her to the car.

"Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me where you were going!"

"None of your business, Alan!" she barked, trying to pull free of him.

"Did you enjoy fucking my best friend, slut?" he asked as he pinned her up against the car. "I know he enjoyed it." Jagger chuckled quietly beside them.

"You drugged me, asshole! I had no control over what happened and you know it. I also know you drugged Tyler and set him up with Mandy," she said, yanking her arm out of his grip.

"Did pretty boy call you?" Jagger asked. Samantha didn't answer and kept her gaze fixated at the ground. "Oh, what an idiot. I guess he doesn't care about you as much as we thought."

"No. I figured it out for myself. I'm not stupid," she said, turning to Jagger to slap him. He reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could make contact.

Alan grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her, tying them with a piece of rope. He dragged her back into her house then threw her hard onto the couch. Jagger pushed her back and wrapped a towel around her mouth then another around her head, covering her eyes.

"What are you gonna do, Al?"

"Make her forget that pretty boy," Alan said, smirking down at Samantha.

She squirmed on her sofa, trying to work herself free. She felt hands on her ankles, holding them together while they were tied also. One of the men grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet. She felt hands around her waist and one of them put her over their shoulder then carried her to her room and tossed her on the bed.

She felt something cold and hard against her neck, then she felt her clothes falling away from her body. Samantha squrimed to get away, but Alan positioned himself over her, effectively pinning her to the bed. He pulled the gag off her mouth and in one quick motion pressed his lips hard against hers. She allowed his tongue to plunge into her mouth and waited for just the right opportunity to bite down. When she did, he pulled back, his hand coming down to slap her across the face.

As Alan was pulling her jeans off, he heard someone pounding on her door. "Get rid of whoever that is!" he hissed at Jagger. A few minutes later, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and turned to see Tyler standing there, ready to swing a baseball bat for the second time.

"Get the fuck off her now. The cops are on the way, asshole!" he said, taking a stance and getting ready to strike again. Alan pulled the gun out of the waistband of his jeans and aimed it with somewhat unsteady hands. Tyler swung the bat again and knocked the gun out of Alan's hand, causing him to pull the trigger before it was released. The bullet found it's way into Jagger's chest just as he re-entered the room.

The gun fell to the floor and Alan lunged at Tyler. "You just killed my best friend, prick!" he shouted, tackling Tyler to the floor and wrestling the bat out of his hands.

"No. You killed him!" Tyler shouted as he ducked the swinging bat. Before Tyler could make another move, two cops had guns on Alan and they forced him to the ground. Samantha laid on her bed, still tied and unable to do much else but sob uncontrollably. A third cop finally untied her, allowing Tyler to hold her while they restrained Alan and took him out of the house.

"It's okay, Sam. You're safe now," he whispered as she buried her face in his chest. Jagger wasn't dead so an ambulance was called. As Jagger was being wheeled out of Samantha's bedroom, one of the cops asked Tyler for a statement. He laid Samantha gently on her bed then kissed her forehead and promised he'd be right back.

Tyler told the cops everything Mandy had told him. The officer told Tyler that when she was ready, Samantha needed to make a statement also. He took the card offered by the officer and showed him out and quickly returned to Samantha.

"You okay?" he asked quietly. He saw her sitting on her bed, her knees brought up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, Tyler. I -- you -- you saved my life."

"You're welcome, Sam. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you," he said as he sat down bsside her on the bed.

Samantha looked down at herself and realized she had no jeans, no shirt and her bra was just hanging on her, the straps having been cut by Alan. She pulled the covers over herself, blushing. "Sorry," she said quietly.

"Don't cover yourself, Sam. You're beautiful," he said, tugging at the covers and feeling them pull away with little effort. Tyler got to his feet, looked down at her and took in her beauty. He saw her embarrassment under his gaze and turned his eyes away. Running his fingers through his hair, he turned to leave.

"Stay with me," she said quietly.