The Slavery of Cleo Ch. 01

Trying desperately to detangle my hair, my stomach twisted as I also realized my purse and phone were forgotten too.

I couldn't believe my stupidity. How could I leave my purse and phone? I never do that sort of thing, I'm always organized.

I didn't have much time to beat myself up about it, because the coffee boy was looking expectant at me.

"That'll be 6.50 Ma'am."

Oh god. This was bad. Even though it was only four other people in this café, I was mortified. I blushed so much the heat rushing to my face made me feel nauseous.

"I uh, well, I've forgotten..."

Before I could get the words out, a large man from the furthest table who I didn't pay much attention too, walked towards the counter and flashed a credit card at the coffee boy.

"Please, put it on this." He said with a friendly, sultry voice.

I had to look up to see him since he was so tall. He gave me a charming smile, showing all teeth and was wearing glasses and a beanie that covered his hair. He looked rather sophisticated in a casual sort of way and had a familiar looking face. I was too busy examining how he looked, I didn't even get a chance to stop him from paying for me.

"I uh thank you. You didn't need to"

He raised a hand to shush me. I shushed.

"It's no problem, really. You look like you're having a rough morning. Why don't you just sit down and I'll grab this when it's ready?"

His smile seemed so genuine and when I looked at his eyes, I felt like I could get lost in the honey brown of his eyes. I opened my mouth to protest, but it was like he could predict what I was going to say.

"To go right? If you'd like I could walk you to where you need to go? It's not every day I get to buy a pretty girl like you breakfast. I'm Nate by the way."

I blushed, he thought I was pretty. No man ever thought I was pretty. No man like him anyway.

God, I needed to stop blushing. The heat rising from my face, it felt like you could cook an egg off it.

"Cleo, my name is Cleo." I blurted out, so unladylike.

"Well Cleo, go sit down and I'll bring your breakfast over." Nate said in a friendly but somehow assertive way towards me. The tone of his voice made it hard to resist though. It sounded so thick and delicious.

I walked towards his table where a lonesome coffee cup stood and sat down. I watched the city beginning to wake up out from the window and found myself thinking of the man that just bought my coffee. He did look rather handsome but somehow, familiar.

Maybe he was a local around here? Did I bump into him before? Or I wondered, maybe I took a photograph of him and didn't realize. Whenever I went into town, I often would take photos of strangers if I thought the shot looked right. Although Nate had the face that you would remember seeing if you took a photograph of it. Right down to the freckles over his handsome nose. God Cleo, get a grip.

"Here's your coffee Cleo. I hope you like milk with two sugars. Like mine."

"Thanks yeh, that's perfect. Thank you. For buying me breakfast Nate. I'm not usually a clutz."

Nate smiled reassuringly. "It's fine. We all have days like that, especially hangover days." He laughed which sounded more like a roar but contained.

I brushed my hands through my hair, expecting my hangover to not appear so obvious. I took the coffee cup and the sandwich bag from him and we headed out the door. Nate held the door out for me and I was small enough where I could walk under his arm.

Nate seemed to take the lead when we were walking, taking me across a few streets through the park. I knew the route. It was a much longer way back to my apartment building. But I figured I shouldn't argue, since this man bought me breakfast.

He was quiet whilst he watched me, intrigued at how I wolfed down my bacon sandwich before we even got the park, seeming amused.

I chucked the wrappings in the trash can nearby and started to sip my coffee. I noticed a strange taste, maybe artificial sweetener of some kind. But it could've also just been down to the fact that my taste buds were destroyed at how much alcohol I had drunk.

"So Cleo, what do you do around here?" Nate spoke up since I had finished eating. I looked at him in surprisal at his interest into my life and noticed that he kept a strong level of eye contact on me, like he was observing me carefully.

"Well, I'm trying to become a photographer like my Dad was. So I moved out here a few years ago and stayed since. You?"

Nate paused a moment, as if contemplating the answer to give and gave a wild smirk when he answered. "Well, I have a few businesses here and there, a jack-of-all-trades you could say."

I nodded and sipped more coffee to hide my nervousness. I wondered if he was an entrepreneur of some sort or an investor to upcoming businesses but soon lost my train of thought. I kept looking at his eyes, they seemed so sweet and warm, especially when the light could bounce off them.

Nate began to chit chat but I found my focus couldn't quite grasp what he was saying. I caught some things, like what I thought about the city and did I have a roomate? If I tried to think really hard, I think he also mentioned photography. I was getting a serious case of brain fog. As if I could observe, but not interact, like a star far in the sky.

I kept sipping at my coffee and found the flavour begining to dissapear, like my mind was muting the taste. I didn't actually notice we had left the park and were now walking a few streets close to my apartment building. My legs started to feel a little heavy as I crossed the street and Nate was looking at me more and more with an intense look.

I couldn't keep looking at his eyes. They kept making my body feel soft and warm and heavy like I wanted to sleep. Come to think of it. I began to walk slower.

I could start to see the outline of my apartment building, but I found Nate leading me across the street and turned a few times. He had to hold me up as we kept walking because my legs were like concrete.

We turned again into a narrow alleyway and Nate wrapped me up in his arms. They felt warm and hard, like a rock. Nate slowly began to drag me toward a van with closed doors and although my body was feeling heavy, my mind began to race and panic. I felt like one of those frogs in a pot of water, slowly heating up until boiling point but not realizing it until it's too late. I tried to stop in my tracks.

"You okay there Darlin'? You don't look so good." Nate stared at me with those sickly honey eyes and my heart dropped. I knew that name.

The memory came flooding back to me like a ton of bricks and I realized where I knew that face. As I blinked a few times in realization, I noticed Nate's grip on me began to get tighter.

"Wait, what are you doing? Let me go, Nate! Let Go!" I tried to shove him off me as his became more persistent in dragging me towards the van and I saw someone else open the doors. It was empty inside.

I began to try and kick and scream but my legs felt so heavy they soon collapsed under me. Before I could fall, Nate scooped me up into his arms and I tried to slap, punch, scratch and spit at him as he led me inside the van. It did nothing for me though, it just made him drag me quicker towards the van.

When he closed the doors behind me, tears started streaming down my face as real panic set in. My body felt heavy, my jaw felt slack and there was a man I thought was handsome, now kidnapping me in a van.

I tried to crawl away from him with no effort, my arms didn't have the strength to carry my weight that felt like a ton of lead.

He pulled out some cable ties and took my wrists with relative ease and tied them behind my back. I didn't have the strength to fight or to scream and protest, so I just cried. I felt tired however and could feel the weight of my eyelids beginning to grow heavier and heavier. I felt his warm hand brush away the tears making hushing soothing noises.

"It's okay Darlin', no need to cry. I've got you now."

The last words I heard before I fell asleep.