Beauty--Remastered Ch. 02

At the bottom of one of her suitcases, she discovered another broken rule: her cell phone. There had been no way she would go anywhere without some means of contacting Joey. Her mother had been adamant about her following whatever rules her bastard fiancée ordered, having received a duplicate of the list, so Scarlet wouldn't waste her breath on calling her. She had no other real friends or family she would ever want to hear from, but Joey was her best friend. She doubted her ability to survive without him.

A terrible thought crossed her mind as she waited for the device to power on. What if she didn't get service? They were pretty far out in the middle of nowhere. Praying fervently, she muffled the opening ringtone, and then checked it frantically.

Though the signal was weak, she at least had one. Relief flooded her body as she pressed her favorite speed dial number.

"Scary!" Joey's happy voice lifted her spirits after the first ring. "You're alive."

Scarlet almost wept. It had been only a day since she'd seen or heard him, but it felt like years. "Joey --"

"Oh, no," he sobered immediately. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

At the sound of his concern, the tears she'd been holding back all day broke free. Between sobs, she told him everything, and heard him get madder and madder. Especially when she mentioned the spanking. "I'm so scared, Joey,"

"You want me to come get you?"

She laughed, albeit bitterly, at that. "You know I can't. Mom's depending on me."

"I know. This is fucking stupid, Scary. Why the fuck did your bastard father do this to you?"

"I don't know," she whispered, wiping her face. "I -- hold on."

A quiet knock came from the door. That wouldn't be her 'fiancée.' Somehow, he didn't seem like the knocking type. The butler, Abner, called her. "Miss Lennox? Lord Alford requests your presence."

Scarlet called back, "I'm not going to dinner, Abner."

"But --"

"I said no." She waited until she heard him retreating and picked up the phone again. She kept her voice low. "I'm not supposed to have a phone."

"What?" Joey sounded surprised. She could almost see the expression on his face. "He said you couldn't use a phone?"

"It's in the rules." She snickered. "The imbecile gave me a list and he expects me to follow them."

"You're asking for trouble. Oh, Daniel just walked in. He says hi."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Hello, beautiful," Danny's deep voice came over the line.

"I miss you." She murmured. Joey and Danny were her whole world, even if Danny had once hated her guts. "God, this place sucks."

Danny laughed like she knew he would. He was more capable of making light of things than Joey, and that was what she needed. Already, she felt another swell of tears. "Yeah, well, this place sucks without you here. And we miss you too. Hey, how about tomorrow we come visit?"

"You can't. I'm not allowed any visitors."

"What?" He almost shouted. She could hear Joey in the background, asking what was wrong. "What the fuck?"

"I don't know. He's such a -- " She was cut off by a loud pounding on her door. Ah, that was more like him. "Shit, he's at the door."

"Annabelle, open this door!" His voice came through the thick wood and she shivered. Even though she hated him, there was something that sent delicious chills up her spine. "Damn it, Annabelle!"

"Go away!"

"Open it, now!" She heard him jiggling the knob, and for a moment she feared that the desk, which now seemed small and insignificant against his fury, wouldn't hold. But it did. "You will be punished for this."

"Not if you can't get to me!" She yelled back snidely. He started cursing at her and she picked up the phone again. "I want to go home."

"Scary," Joey had the phone again. "I'm so sorry. We'll figure something out. Danny and I, we'll come up with something, and then we'll all leave. I promise."

"I wanted to tell you...I'm getting married tomorrow." Her heart ached and she couldn't take it anymore. "I have to go. I'll call you later." She hung up on Joey's protests and dropped the phone back in her bag. Tears coursed down her cheeks as she collapsed on the floor, staring at the door where Donovan was still attempting to get in.

Her heart sank even lower, though she hadn't thought it was possible, when she realized that she'd have to get out of the room for her 'wedding' and that would give him the perfect opportunity to dish out whatever punishment he wanted. The sick bastard probably got off on inflicting pain on her.

Scarlet stood up when the banging stopped, and climbed under the covers of the bed. Her room was huge, and still slightly chilly, but she was numb. As much as she'd tried to treat this whole disaster as lightly as possible, she knew it was in impossible that anything good would happen. No matter what Joey and Danny did, she'd be married to that monster out there, and she'd have to submit eventually.

Her cheeks burned at the memory of his stong hand against her soft bottom. She had been too angry to notice at the time, but there was something terribly exciting about his forcefulness. He was beautiful and so commanding, something she'd never really known. She was, she admitted reluctantly, attracted to him in some impossible way. The spanking she could do without, and his unapologetic domineering attitude pissed her off beyond belief. But still...it was *hot*.

Damn him!

"He won't break me," She whispered fiercely into the cold, quiet room, the tears drying on her cheeks.