The Collection Ch. 01

Daisy stumbled through the door of her apartment stupidly, cursing as she tripped over a pair of shoes that had been left in the entryway. She hit the floor hard, her knees and hands smacking sharply on the wooden slats. She groaned. Those would bruise.

Acutely aware of the exhaustion weighing heavily on her limbs, Daisy considered curling up into a ball right there in the hallway and napping.

"Ethan?" she yawned loudly, shrugging her bag off her shoulder. "Eth, I'm exhausted. I need to be carried to bed," She propped herself back on her knees, pausing to hear her boyfriend call back to her from deeper in the apartment. The silence made her cock her head. She glanced at her watch. 9:17 PM. He should be home, definitely. If the studio ever kept him this late, which was hardly ever, he always texted. She blindly reached for her phone in her bag. Nothing, no missed calls or texts. He could've gone out for something she supposed.

Daisy involuntarily snorted. Ethan never went out for anything. She loved him, yes, but she was dating a man child.

She blinked around. The apartment was completely dark save for the light radiating from the kitchen down the hallway. Why would the light be on if he wasn't here? She doubted she had left the light on when she left for the hospital this morning, but she couldn't be sure. It was unlike her, but she wasn't so confident as to think it was impossible.

She hesitantly pushed herself onto her feet. "Ethan?" she could hear the uneasiness in her voice. Something was off, she could feel it. She shoved the feeling down, shaking he head. She was being too paranoid, they lived in a nice building in a nice neighborhood. Even if someone could get through security, who would break into an apartment on the 52nd floor?

Despite this, her steps were still unsure. "Hello?" she called, softly now. She tried to make her steps surer, heading down the hallway for the soft light of the kitchen. Her sneakers squeaked disturbingly loudly on the floor as she walked. She paused suddenly to kick them off, disliking the noise.

It wasn't until she rounded the corner to the kitchen that a chill, sure and terrifying, ran up her spine. She spun to look back down the hallway she had just come down, but by that time it was too late. A hand, large and warm, clamped down over Daisy's mouth from behind and cut off the first notes of a scream. She struck out automatically, her elbow connecting behind her with hard flesh.

Whoever was behind her grunted, doubling over involuntarily. Daisy didn't hesitate, she was small but smart, and had attended her fair share of self defence classes. She stomped on to the foot of the man, causing him to bend forwards even more. With all the force she could muster she spun, fist ready and searching. It connected with something she didn't entirely expect - a large surface of muscular flesh, must softer that the solid jawbone she was aiming for.

Jesus! She thought, stumbling backwards. It was still quite dark so she couldn't make out a face but the outline of a tall and muscular man was unmistakable. He seemed like a mountain, towering over her by more than a foot.

"Ow!" he stepped back slightly, his hand coming to his pectoral where she had punched. "God your stronger than you look,"

There was an edge to his voice, and it took her a second to identify that it was because her was smiling. What the fuck?

Daisy screamed then, loud and true. She lurched towards the door, but the intruder had recovered and was able to tangle with her. The two of them hit the ground hard, and she scrambled, kicking at him frantically. His grip on her calves was firm, but she was desperate, adrenaline flooding through her veins. He was so focused on subduing her legs he didn't realize that her hands had found purchase on an umbrella until it smacked him square in the face.

He released her, cradling the part of his cheekbone the umbrella had connected with. Daisy took the opportunity to scramble away and wrenched open the door, lurching out so desperately she crashed into the opposite wall. She pushed off, made it about two strides, and then sharply sprawled onto the ground as the intruder's body smacked into hers from behind. The two of them struggled for only a moment, as the man was no longer underestimating her.

"Get off of me!" She shrieked as he firmly positioned himself on top of her, crushing the breath from her lungs.

Having effectively subdued her, Luka took a moment to appreciate his prize, scanning her features. This was Ethan's girlfriend? Struggling beneath him, terrified tears streaming down her face, was a tiny, insanely gorgeous girl. He could admit that Ethan wasn't exactly homely, but he was not even close to this girls level of attractiveness. Wide, light brown eyes stared back at him, paired with high cheekbones flushed with the exertion of their fight. Her lips were full and pouty, glistening slightly with moisture from her eyes that had made it all the way down her face.

He couldn't see her body since he was pinning her to the ground, but he could feel beneath him taut flesh that was smooth with curves. Full breasts were pressed against his chest, and as she bucked under him he felt the unmistakable sensation of his cock lengthening. He had already been hard from the struggle with her, but realising her attractiveness was adding more fuel to the fire.

A click above their heads made them both still and glance up. Daisy recognized the face of Mrs. Everly, her 50-something neighbor, appear in a doorway. It was followed by a quick gasp.

"Hel-" Daisy began to cry but it was swiftly cut off by Luka's hand covering her mouth.

"Evening Mrs. Everly," Luka said casually.

"Oh, Luka, didn't recognize you for a second," the woman let out a relieved breath.

Daisy squeaked beneath Luka's hand.

"Hush, hush," Luka cooed to her before turning back to Daisy's neighbor. "Don't mind us Mrs. Everly, and sorry about the noise. We'll try and keep it down,"

"No problem, as long as I know it's you, I won't be worried," Mrs. Everly waved a hand dismissively. "Have a good night Luka, Daisy,"

The door clicked shut behind her and Luka smiled mockingly down at Daisy. "Now, now. Wouldn't want to disturb any other neighbors, would we? I promise to keep it a little more civil if you can,"

Daisy tried to yell some obscenities into Luka's hand, but it was effectively muffled.

"Great!" Luka pretended she had agreed. "I don't even care all that much if you scream, I mean, it must be clear to you that no one is gonna help you. But I don't love the noise," Luka smiled mischievously. "Well, I guess I do, but that's not really what were talking about right now..."

Daisy glared at him.

"I'm gonna take my hand off of your mouth, don't scream okay sweetheart?"

She just continued to glare at him as he took his hand off her mouth. Miraculously, her mouth stayed in a silent, hard line.

"Good girl," he said roughly, acutely aware of how hard he was against her. He gathered her wrists into one hand and used his other to push off the ground. Dragging her up to her feet, they were both again reminded of the height difference between them. Probably a foot and a half. Daisy's heart sank a little at this. It was becoming remarkably clear that her short-lived escape would not be repeated.

As they steadied, the bright lights of the hallway illuminated her captors face, and she had to stifle a gasp. He was rough looking, unshaven with messy, long hair. But his hair looked shiny, his skin clear and healthy, and his clothes - black jeans and a plaid jacket - screamed expensive despite their casual nature. He was undoubtedly handsome, with dark eyes, good bone structure, and a pretty nice smile, she had to admit.

Luka. She remembered Mrs. Everly had called him. She scanned his features again. She thought she might recognize him, just slightly, but from when or how she had no idea. Additionally, the name Luka was drawing a complete blank.

Luka couldn't help but smile as the trembling girl checked him out, seemingly momentarily forgetting their situation. Confident she wouldn't try something, he released he wrists and wrapped a hand around each of her biceps. He spun her slowly and directed her to walk in front of him back to the ajar door of her apartment. It gave him a nice view of her ass in front of him, but he did have to give her a few gentle nudges to get her there.

"Sit," he ordered, pointing her towards the couch. She hesitated, but obeyed. The two of them kept their eyes on each other suspiciously as the distance stretched between them. He reached behind him and locked the door swiftly. Crossing the room, Luka pulled a dining chair and sat in front of her, causing her to shrink back slightly. "The woman out there called you Daisy?" Luka asked roughly. "That's your name?"

Daisy considered lying, but it seemed pointless. She nodded. "And your names' Luka?"

"Yes. Daisy, huh? Ethan told me your name was Crystal,"

Daisy blinked. "I-I-I... You know Ethan?"

Luka leaned back. "Well yeah, duh. Why else would I be here?"

Daisy opened her mouth and closed it. It seemed rude to say 'I thought you were a rapist'. She settled on moving on. "Um, he's not here."

"Yes, I know that. He was supposed to meet me today but he didn't show up. Now I'm looking for him. Do you know where he is?"

"No, actually. I... he's normally home this time,"

Luka narrowed his eyes at her. "You don't know where he is?"

Daisy felt burned under his gaze. "No, I don't,"

"Huh," Luka seemed surprisingly unbothered with this information. "I'm assuming your lying,"

"What? No! I'm not lying," Daisy said desperately, panic swelling.

"I'm actually kind of glad your lying," Luka said casually. "This is gonna be even more fun than I thought," He stood suddenly, looming over her. "Where's your phone?"

She pointed at her discarded bag on the floor. He snatched it up and flipped it over, letting the contents fall all over the carpet. Finding her phone, he extended it to her. "Password?"

"Um..." she considered for a moment, her eyes running down his large form. "...No,"

He laughed. "Give me the fucking password,"

"No," she tried to say it more surely this time, but her attempt was thwarted when her voice cracked.

SMACK. The sound hit her before the pain did, and when a sharp burn blossomed on her cheek she gasped, reeling backward. "You slapped me," She said, breathless.

"Yeah, I did. Password?" Luka ignored the sting on the back of his hand, pushing the phone towards her red face. The blood pooled in her cheek beautifully.

"Well now I really don't want to give it to you," she mumbled, he palm cradling her stinging cheek.

"God your naïve," he said, raising his hand to slap her again.

"Okay! Okay! 0724!" She held up her hands in protest.

"Good girl," he praised, unlocking the phone. Her background was a picture of her, hair down and smiling, with Ethan's arm slung across her shoulders. God, she really was way too beautiful for that fucker, Luka thought. He navigated to her messages, quickly flipping through the texts from the day, the latest of which was at 1:30 pm.

Ethan: can we have curry for din tonight

Daisy: I don't get off till 8, I could grab a pizza?

E: aw man but I'm really craving curry

D: I mean we have the ingredients if you wanted to make it, the instructions are on the back

E: babe you know I can't cook. I could like get it ready for you

D: fine, if you get the ingredients are ready all make it when I get home, love you

That was it, Ethan hadn't replied. Glancing at Daisy, who was still nursing her red cheek in shock, he looked down the hall to the kitchen. "Don't move," he ordered.

The kitchen was spotless - there was no ingredients laid out for her to make dinner. Luka frowned. Maybe Ethan had forgotten? Coming back to the living room where Daisy hadn't moved, he flipped to her calls. The latest was from her mom, but there was none from Ethan earlier that day.

He sat back in front of Daisy. "Where do Ethan's parents live?"

"Um... Stratford," She said meekly.

"Call them for me," he said, extending her phone back to her.

She took it hesitantly. "What should I say?"

"Ask if Ethan is there. Go on,"

She pulled up his mom's contact and hesitantly pressed call.

"And be normal, don't do anything suspicious okay?" he said casually.

"Um, no promises." She chewed at her lip, clearly thrown off guard.

"Hey Daisy!" a woman cheerfully said when the phone was answered.

"Hi Joan," Daisy squeaked. God, she was a bad actor.

"How are things sweetheart?"

"They're..." Daisy's eyes flickered to Luka's briefly. "...fine. I was wondering, have you um, heard from Ethan recently?"

"No honey, not since yesterday. He's not with you?"

"No um... I think he might have..." Daisy paused way to long for casualness and Luka had to stifle a groan. He should have never trusted her to do this. "Gone out for pizza. Um... and left his phone,"

"Are you guys alright honey?" Joan said suspiciously.

"Oh yes were great!" Daisy's voice was painfully high pitched. "I just um, knew he wanted to call you tonight and uhhh... tell you something." She cringed. This was physically painful. "And I wondered if he... had. Gotten in contact with you that is. Um yeah, that's all. Bye Joan!"

Daisy hung up before Joan could say anything and threw the phone at Luka. It bounced off his wide chest and hit the ground with a thump.

"Well, that was awful," Luka said bluntly. He wondered momentarily if she was telling the truth that she didn't know where Ethan was, given that he had now been firsthand witness to her trying to lie.

"I'm a shit liar," Daisy said meekly.

"Sure, you are," Luka narrowed his eyes at her. There was a good chance she was just trying to seem like a bad liar to protect her boyfriend. Luka had seen that before. He let himself openly stare at the girl for a minute as he tried to figure her out. His eyes raked up and down her body shamelessly, and the unmistakable expression of attraction formed on his face. She was in hospital scrubs, but he had a pretty vivid imagination.

"Why are you..." Daisy felt her face heat. "Stop looking at me like that,"

Luka ignored her. He pressed on his knees and stood up, towering over her. Daisy shrunk back a little. In this position she was eye level with his navel and the power dynamics of their situation were painfully obvious. Unthinking, Luka reached out and skimmed the back of his fingers across the red mark on her cheekbone. It was shockingly hot to the touch.

She shrunk back a little, but didn't slap his hand away. "So, um. Will you leave now?" Her eyes were wide and her pupils dilating continuously. "Please?" she added meekly.

"Hmmm," Luka traced a finger down her jaw line and to the base of your chin.

"How on earth did Ethan get a girl like you?"

Daisy's mouth fell open slightly, but she decided not to answer.

Luka angled his thumb to brush along her lower lip, which quivered under his touch. He leaned in a little. "It wasn't a rhetorical question," he said roughly.

"We met in high school," Daisy gave the least revealing answer she could.

"You're really fucking hot," Luka's voice was pure gravel, and Daisy's stomach flipped.

"Um... thank you?"

Luka had interrogated a fair number of significant others, girlfriends, and wives before for the whereabouts of their partners. But he had never been so fascinated by one of them before. It was the betrayal of Ethan, he told himself. And the pure shock at how beautiful she was given Ethan's lack of physical prowess and dud of a personality. Luka was attracted to the girl, yes, but he was attracted to a lot of girls. Girls who objectively were probably more attractive than this one. But there was something about this girl that really intrigued him, and he couldn't quite identify what it was.

The decision was a snap judgment. He could acknowledge that it might be kind of stupid, but in his mind it seemed like a win-win situation. Find out more about the girl and figure out what she knows about where Ethan went? He could work and have some fun.

Daisy watched as the gears click beneath Luka's expression of growing arousal. She was acutely aware of his thumb skimming across her lip, and a strange desire to catch it between her teeth surprised her. The thought of the carnal act made her flush, more out of surprise than anything, and then out of shame. She had a boyfriend. At the thought of Ethan, she jerked away from Luka's touch, which she had been absentmindedly leaning towards. Growing annoyed and confused at her attraction to this man, she quickly slapped his hand away from her face.

Luka's expression darkened as she glared at him. He had seen the expression of heat cross her face when his thumb was on her lip, if only for half of a second. It was unmistakable, and it solidified his next moves.

Luka yanked her up by the sleeve of her scrubs and shoved her towards the hallway. She stumbled and glared back at him. He continued on, leading her more gently down the hallway, opening doors as they went. Eventually he found the bedroom, flicking on the light and shoving her towards the bed.

Daisy scampered back, keenly aware that she had been forced to a bedroom by a home intruder who clearly was into her. But Luka just turned from her and yanked open the door of the closet roughly. He crouched, rifling through the shoes and bags on the floor until he found what he was looking for.

Daisy watched him cross her and Ethan's bedroom with a duffle bag in hand and cocked her head in confusion. "What are you doing?" she jumped off the bed to follow him into the ensuite bathroom.

"Packing," he grumbled bluntly. Luka scanned the room and promptly began throwing anything that looked remotely feminine into the duffel bag.

"For what?!" Daisy shrieked, pulling on his jacket. He didn't even seem to notice.

He pushed past her and returned to the bedroom. Something occurred to him and he spun to face her. "Where's your gun?" he asked bluntly.

She stopped short. "My... gun?"

"Yeah, your gun. Where's your gun?" he ground his teeth impatiently at her. Plans were forming in his head and he wanted to get on with it.

"Um, I... I don't have a gun," Daisy said truthfully.

Luka snorted. "Right, sure you don't," Dropping the bag, he pushed past her and headed for the bedside table, quickly opening the drawers but finding nothing. Frowning, he lifted the mattress. Nothing. Nor had he seen a gun in her bag when he had overturned it. Had Ethan really not given her a gun? That was kind of insane to him. His mother carried a gun at all times. He had never had a serious partner but if he did he would probably make her carry two at all times. He looked back at her quizzically. "You really don't have a gun?"

"No," Daisy straightened, confused why she should have one.

"Huh," Luka wasn't sure he believed her, but he was too impatient to search the whole apartment. "Get on the bed," he directed sharply. He saw her hesitate but comply. "Sit on the edge and hold your arms out, yeah like that,"

Luka kept a keen eye on Daisy as he began pulling open dresser drawers in search of her belongings. Hardly paying attention, he threw some clothes into the duffle bag. He was sure he had missed something integral, but that was an easily fixed problem.

"What are you doing?" Daisy said meekly from the bed as he finished shoving stuff into the bag. "Are we going somewhere?"

"Yes," Luka said bluntly. "Your gonna come with me until we find Ethan,"

"WHAT?" Daisy shrieked, sharply lifting herself off the bed. "So your kidnapping me?!"

"I'm taking you as collateral," Luka half lied. "Ethan took something of mine, and I want it back. Until I get it back, you're gonna stay with me,"