Forever Mine

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

JAY

The blindfold was ripped off and I squinted as my eyes adjusted. The lighting was dim wherever we were, but after complete darkness for however long, it took some time for me to see clearly. Plus, my head was still hurting from the drugs. Soon though, Dakota’s terrified eyes became clear, making my worst nightmares come true.

“I trust that you’ll cooperate now?” a voice said from behind Dakota. I growled and tried to twist to see him, but all I could see was Kota.

The trunk opened the rest of the way, and I realized why my man wasn’t fighting. Fucking Dr. Kiley had a gun pressed up against his head.

I went fucking feral. I bucked, my body trying to get out of the trunk so I could kill the fucker that was hurting my Dakota. Then I heard the click and I went absolutely still.

“Good boy.” Dr. Psycho said in a sickeningly sweet voice. “Now, I really don’t want to hurt Dakota. I want him to trust me and learn that I’m only trying to do what’s best for him. But I will if you don’t fall in line. As for you, I have no qualms taking you out right now, but we’re having a bit of a behavior issue,” he glared at Dakota, “so things have to be done a little differently.”

Dr. Psycho sighed heavily like we were this giant burden making his life difficult. I glared and cursed him out through the gag. He didn’t react.

“Now, Dakota, help Mr. Parks get out of the car.” The gun pressed harder into Kota’s head and he squeezed his eyes shut. “And I suggest not trying anything.”

Dakota leaned in, and that’s when I noticed the bruise that covered most of the side of his face. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to do something I’d regret. He held out his hands that were cuffed with the kind of leather cuffs that you would see in a kink shop, but they had little padlocks on each side so he couldn’t get them off. Dakota grabbed my arm to help me up, and as much as I tried not to, I whimpered in pain at the tug on my shoulder.

Kota’s eyes widened and he jumped back, like he fuckin’ forgot the guy had a gun pushed up against his head. “He’s hurt.”

Dr. Psycho grinned, which had my heart racing a million miles a minute. He looked so fuckin’ unhinged right now. How did he hide all this for so long? While I only really paid attention to Kota when he was my ma’s doctor, from what I did know about him he was a decent guy and a good doctor. I was pretty sure Kota had only good things to say about him. I don’t think any of us ever expected this.

“Is he?” Then the fucker pulled the gun away from Dakota’s head, aimed at me, and pulled the trigger.

I screamed through the gag as the bullet tore through my thigh. Dakota choked on a scream, his cuffed hands going to his face in shock. “ Now he’s in pain. Get him out of my trunk before his blood gets everywhere.”

Dakota was shaking as he leaned back in and tears were leaking freely down his face. I wanted nothing more than tostop those tears, to hold Kota and tell him everything was alright, but nothing was alright.

“I’m sorry, Jay. I’m sorry, baby. I love you so much.” He kept babbling the whole time, a stream of apologies that weren’t necessary and I love you’s that I so wish I could return. I tried to keep my face neutral, to keep eye contact and help him stay calm, but I was in so much fucking pain, and even with how gentle Dakota was trying to be, it was impossible to ignore it.

He was going too slow for Dr. Psycho though, who shoved Dakota forcibly to the ground before grabbing me under my arms and tossing me over his shoulder.

My eyes met Dakota’s as he was getting off the ground. This was his fucking chance when the asshole was distracted with me. He could make a run for it. Dakota shook his head no and jerked his head behind him. That’s when I realized we were in a garage of some kind, with the garage door closed. He had nowhere to run. Besides, the look he gave me told me he wasn’t fucking leaving without me.

That stubborn little shit. I glared. Maybe I could distract Dr. Psycho long enough for Dakota to have a chance to get out, but I didn’t know if he would take it. Fuck.

With a grunt, the doctor tossed me to the ground. I gritted my teeth, trying not to scream, but it was impossible when my shot leg hit the fucking concrete first.

“Jay!” Kota screamed and started to run to me, but the gun to my other leg stopped him.

“I can’t trust you to cooperate yet if I kill him, not till you start to understand me better, but I can hurt him, and I will if you don’t learn how to behave, immediately. I will not tolerate such disobedience from my wife.”

Excuse me, but what the ever loving fuck? My eyes were blurry from the pain, and I couldn’t see Dakota, but I clearly heard him say, “You’re fucking crazy.”

The gun jammed into my shot leg. This time I didn’t even try to stop the scream. I didn’t want to make things worse for Kota, I just couldn’t keep it in. He did it again.

“Shit! Stop! Stop! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I couldn’t tell if he was apologizing to me or Dr. Psycho, but either way, he stopped.

The doctor straightened with a smile. “Good. Much better. Now bring him inside.”

Kota was still crying as he knelt down next to me. “I’m sorry, love. This is going to hurt.”

I nuzzled his arm, the only thing I could reach, letting him know I understood and it was okay. He helped me up. Dakota was right. It fucking hurt. He tried holding my weight as much as possible but it didn’t make it easier getting out of the garage and into the main house. The whole time the doctor had the gun pressed up against my shoulder. It was a warning, and it worked because neither of us tried anything.

I had so many questions for Dakota and had no way to ask them. What happened after I was knocked out, and where were we? Was Kota’s family safe? Beckett and Riley? Fuck, Beckett was probably on a fucking war path by now. I hoped Riley could hold it together enough to keep Beckett from falling apart.

It was fucking slow going into the house and the doctor was getting impatient, but at least he didn’t shoot me again. “Bring him to that chair.”

If looks could kill, then the one that Kota just gave the doctor would’ve ended him, and we wouldn’t be in this situation. Unfortunately, all that happened was that he gave one of those super freaky grins.

“I’m willing to give some leeway given the circumstances, Dakota, but not such blatant disrespect. I’m keeping a tally of every infraction and you will be punished accordingly.”

What the fuck even was this guy? Dakota worked his jaw but chose to stay quiet. “C’mon baby. Let’s get you in the chair.”

The chair in question was a hard-back wooden chair with arms. I winced when Dakota dropped me as softly as possible. He fussed over me for a minute. When the doctor yelled, Kota looked calmly over at him. “I’m looking at his leg. You’re a doctor, you know he could bleed out if he lost too much blood. Let me wrap it.”

But Dr. Psycho stalked over and pressed the gun right into the wound. “He’s fine. It will take hours for him to bleed out. We have time.”

“For what?”

“For you to learn how to behave. If you’re a good girl for me then I’ll allow you to treat Mr. Parks. If you continue to sass me and disobey me then, well…” Dr. Psycho shrugged.

My brain was way too fuzzy to decipher what the fuck was happening. Why was he calling Dakota a good girl? Why was he acting like Kota was some kind of 1950s housewife?

The doctor walked over to an old-fashioned table, complete with doilies. He grabbed a few leather straps and walked back to us. Dakota took that ten seconds to look over me, mainly positioning me in a way so my arms weren’t as trapped and tugging at the already loosening straps around my wrist. He couldn’t do much, but I could twist my left wrist back and forth now, which I started to do as much as possible before Dr. Psycho walked up to me with the straps, but he just threw them on my lap and grabbed Dakota by the hair, painfully pulling him up to his feet and away from me. I launched at him, screaming muffled curses.

Of course, all I managed was to fall on my fucking face and hurt my leg even more. Shit! I had to be fuckin’ careful so I didn’t bleed out quicker. I wasn’t leaving Kota in this alone.

I shimmied forward a few inches, but every movement was brutal and I could feel little bursts of blood shooting out each time. Dakota fought against the hold but was helpless as Dr. Psycho dragged him over to the corner of the room that was decorated like a grandparents’ house in a TV show.

“I didn’t want to do this, Dakota. But clearly it will take a little longer for you to behave. A little reinforcement should help.”

He backhanded Dakota to the ground, both of us crying out at the same time, and then lifted a chain that was attached to the wall. Attached to the heavy metal chain was a hot pink leather collar. It was a few inches thick and I could see the padlock hanging off it. There were words written on it, but I couldn’t see what they were.

Dakota tried to scamper away, kicking at the fucker as he stalked forward. I went crazy, bucking my body left and right. My foot caught the chair and I kicked it until it went sideways, hoping it would distract Dr. Psycho.

It worked long enough for Kota to stumble to his feet. He was reaching for one of the chairs around the table when Dr. Psycho tackled him from behind. Dakota’s head hit the table with a sickeningly loud crack. I fucking wailed, no longer caring about bleeding out, and tried to scoot toward them, as pointless as it was.

Dr. Psycho grabbed Kota’s hair again and bent his head back at a painful angle. Thank fuck his eyes were open, even if they looked a little glazed. “Enough!” he screamed.

“This is why I didn’t want to do it this way! You weren’t ready! I had everything planned, and you ruined it, Dakota! This would’ve been so much easier if you let me do it the way I wanted, but of course you had to be difficult.” He bodied Dakota to the ground and sat on him. I was completely helpless to stop him as the collar was strapped around Kota’s neck and locked closed with the padlock. He pulled Kota up to his knees by the chain. I was panicking because while he was clearly breathing and not unconscious, my man was dazed. He wasn’t talking and could barely balance. His eyes looked unfocused.

From this angle though, I could clearly see the words on the collar. Bad Girl . What. The. Fuck.

“I’ll deal with you later.”

Kota didn’t respond at all. Dr. Psycho walked up to me. I tried to curse and scream at him through the gag. It was a waste of fucking energy, but I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t good at biding my time and figuring out a plan. I was a fighter. I was born to fight. Even if it was pointless, I couldn’t kill the instinct.

It didn’t matter though, because Dr. Psycho raised the gun again and slammed it on the side of my head, stopping the fight altogether and sending me into darkness.