Kate Ch. 01

Bound, helpless, and scared out of her mind in a strange man's van, Kate had no idea where he was taking her or what he planned on doing to her once they reached their destination. All that Kate really knew was that for the first time in her life, she wished she'd gone to school that day.

But instead, she'd skipped school and had stayed home watching soap operas all morning and afternoon. By the evening, she'd eaten an entire bag of potato chips and a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Feeling disgusting, she'd decided to go out for a walk around 10 p.m. and that's when the stranger had snatched her off the street...

Kate's panic heightened a notch when she felt the van come to a stop. She shivered, partly from fear and partly from the cold, and tried to shake her long blonde hair out of her face. She had no idea how long they had been driving for or where they could be. She'd been too busy trying to loosen the duct tape that bound her wrists together behind her, but hadn't had any success. All she had managed to do was to rub the skin on her wrists raw. Whoever this guy was, he obviously knew a thing or two about immobilizing people with duct tape.

Hearing the driver's door of the van slam shut followed by his footsteps, the eighteen year old shrank away in fear as the back door of the van opened and he reached in for her. Pulling her to her feet effortlessly, he guided her toward a building. She couldn't make out many details because it was so dark, but she saw that the building - a small house, maybe - was surrounded by trees. She couldn't see any lights or any other signs of civilization anywhere else.

Mustering up all the courage she could, Kate waited until she felt the stranger's hands loosen on her elbows, then whirled around, ramming her shoulder into him to make him lose his balance before sprinting in the opposite direction as fast as she could, deaf to his yell of surprise. She didn't know where she was going, but decided that anywhere was better than here, with this guy.

Unfortunately for her, she found it to be difficult to run with her hands still bound behind her back. To make matters worse, she couldn't see where she was going, and the grassy ground was sloped in some places, causing her to stumble about clumsily. Before she knew it, she'd lost her footing and was tumbling to the ground. She braced herself for a painful landing, but it never came.

Hands latched onto the back of her shirt and roughly yanked her back to her feet just before she made contact with the ground. Once again, Kate found herself in the arms of the leather-clad stranger, helpless and at his mercy. She was back where she'd started, and had nothing to show for her efforts, except a now pissed-off captor.

He spun her around to face him, then violently shoved so that her back made contact with a thick tree trunk, the headlights of the van shining directly on her. His hands never left her shoulders. Pinned between the stranger and the tree, Kate was forced to stare her abductor in the eyes, and tears began to form in her eyes as the reality of her situation finally began to sink in. He moved closer, until his mouth was at her ear, then spoke his first words to her in a quiet, composed, and surprisingly gentle voice.

"I realize you don't have a lot of options. Here you are, tied up, vulnerable . . . you're no match for me, Sweetheart. I'm in charge here, and I think that on some level, you understand that. There is one thing that you are completely in control of, though."

Kate shivered as she felt his hot breath on her ear, inhaled the scent of his toothpaste. Not only did she shiver, but she also could feel her nipples harden.

He paused in mid-sentence and stepped back to look at her face, still not taking his hands from her shoulders. He smelled good, like expensive cologne. He reached up and almost tenderly wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

"We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. You can keep fighting me, if that's what you like. I don't mind at all; it's entirely your call. If you want to play your little games and cause trouble, that's fine with me. Just know that what goes around comes around. If you decide to be a pain in the ass, I'll be a pain in your ass."

Kate couldn't be sure, but she thought she detected some amusement in his voice as he said this.

"Now," he said conversationally, "shall we go inside?"

Kate nodded enthusiastically, petrified of displeasing her captor again. She had no desire to see how nasty his temper could become if provoked.

He smiled faintly. "That's a good girl."

This time she allowed him to guide her to the building, and she saw that it was indeed a house. A cabin, to be specific. He helped her up the steps of the porch, mindful to keep her from stumbling in the dark, then led her inside the dimly lit cabin. Together, they walked past a sparsely furnished living room, a tiny kitchen, and a couple of closed doors. He took her to the far room at the end of the hall. When he reached past her to switch on a light, she couldn't contain her shock.

As her eyes adjusted to the light, she scanned the room in disbelief, having never seen anything like it before. There were shelves all along the far wall, which contained various handcuffs, dildos, and other devices which were foreign to her. (She figured she likely didn't want to know what they were, anyway.) There was a closet and another door to her immediate right, and in the center of the room, a large metal table with a crank to make its height adjustable, and stirrups. It reminded her a bit of the table in her doctor's office. She'd always thought that the table there was a bit intimidating, and had always been glad that she'd never had to go up on it. This table was even more intimidating, and Kate had to struggle to restrain her tears.

Her captor was looking at her intently, watching her reaction. "Welcome," he stated simply, reaching for her. Before he tore the duct tape from her mouth, he added nonchalantly, "Oh, and you can scream if you want to. Make as much noise as you like. No one can hear you now anyway."