Morpheus (2 page)

She woke up one morning to find he had
cleaned out all their joint accounts and he had taken anything of
value he could find including her jewelry, at least what jewelry he
could find. Maybe she had seen what was happening because all her
family heirlooms had been in the family vault at a nearby security
firm. Her family was once wealthy and even though their fortunes
had plummeted, they still had a few crumbs left. Larry hadn’t
gotten any of those. The only accounts he had cleared out had been
the kids college funds and their joint checking account. None had
large amounts of cash and all of them had limits on daily
withdrawals. Once she realized he was gone, she closed the three
accounts out and filed for divorce.

Now here she was making sure her little ones
got on the bus before she started her busy day. She managed
rentals, mostly her own. She had a real estate license, but she did
little buying or selling. She had a small apartment building with
fifteen units, a small hotel with ten, and several duplexes and
houses. She had a farm and she rented the land out. Three houses
were on the property and she lived in one and rented out the other
two. They were her biggest problems because they were twelve miles
from town and many of the renters wanted privacy in order to do
illegal or immoral activities.

Even though they were miles out, there were
neighbors close by on the road that ran by all three houses. Hers
was the furthest off the road and had the most privacy. She kept a
loaded gun at home and she knew how to use it. Now that the kids
were off to school, it was time to check out one of the houses.
Mrs. Sterling, a neighbor who was an elderly widow, was complaining
about weird noises coming from the house. She threatened to call
the police if El didn’t have a look herself.

Even though Mrs. Sterling placed complaints
often, El hated the police having to come all the way out to check
out complaints. She planned to take a look and set the older lady’s
mind at ease. It wasn’t far from her house and El felt she could
use a good walk. She cut across the field and came to the back of
the house instead of the front. There was no particular reason
she’d picked that way, it was just the way things worked out.

She knocked on the back door and waited. No
answer, so she knocked again, harder. Still no answer, so she put
her key in the lock, it wouldn’t go in. They knew they weren’t
allowed to change the lock without letting her know and giving her
a spare key. That wasn’t cool! She walked around the to the right
and got down on the ground to look in the basement. The sight that
met her eyes shocked her to her core.

A naked man lay chained to a table. He had
short brown hair, almost like a Mohawk with the sides buzzed to his
scalp. His skin was lightly tanned, or at least it seemed to be,
where it wasn’t bruised or cut. Blood was on him, the table he was
chained to, and the floor. A woman was stripped naked and trying to
straddle him. Why she hadn’t heard the knock on the door was
anyone’s guess. This whole thing was like a nightmare. El shook her
head to clear it and looked in the window again. Nothing had
changed except the woman was hitting the man, possibly because he
was limp as a noodle. His cock was large for not being hard, but he
was completely soft. Why did that crazy bitch think hitting a man
would make him rise to the occasion?

El pulled out her cell phone. Damn thing had
one bar and that wouldn’t do her any good. She walked around trying
to get her stupid ass cell phone to work. She tried on her knees
and she tried on the porch. She finally had to climb the small
apple tree in the back yard to get two bars and she dialed nine one
one.

Once she got hold of an operator, she gave
her the address first. Then she proceeded to explain the problem to
the operator.

“Sissy Deckland this is El and my renters
have a guy tied up in the basement and he looks like he’s been
tortured.”

“El, is this some kind of joke?”

“I wish it was. Get someone out here right
away.”

El stood over by the apple tree where she
could hide if anyone came outside. A car pulled up and a guy ran
in. He came back outside and the woman came with him. Had they
killed the man downstairs? Once they left, El went to the front
door which they had left open in their haste to get out of the
house. She made her way to the basement where the man was still
chained to the table. She checked his pulse which reassured her he
was alive. A slight buzz went through her hand where she checked
his pulse and she looked to see of there were any electric cords
nearby but found none. She did see heavy sheeting that looked like
insulation. That would explain why they didn’t hear her knock and
she didn’t here the noises from in here. Maybe sweet Mrs. Sterling
had already complained directly to them and their solution was to
make the basement soundproof.

She hoped the emergency crews would hurry.
This guy looked to be in rough shape. She wanted to help him but
she wasn’t sure what to do. Sure, she had taken first aid training,
but he was one wound after another. He looked tough, but she could
see he was in pain. His features were chiseled, and she could see
his body was muscular and ripped. She reached out sliding her hand
over his cheek softly.

“It’s okay, Hoss. I’m here and no one’s gonna
hurt you,” she told him. She could feel him move slightly, but he
wasn’t conscious.

These people were just plain sick to do what
they had to this man. She had always thought of herself as a decent
and nice person. She would try to help this guy, she averted her
eyes from his exposed goods but they were drawn back to his
incredible body time and time again. She heard sounds from above
and realized someone was finally there.

“It’s okay now, Hoss, someone’s here to help
you. I’ll stick with you, too, until I’m sure everything will be
fine.”

Two EMTs came in with their gear and one
started to take vitals and ask her questions while the other opened
a kit waiting to see what would be needed. The one squatting beside
the kit was a female and El noticed her eyes were checking the
patient out and she didn’t look at him in a clinical way either. It
made her want to find a blanket and cover him up.

He was built like a Greek god, once you got
past all the injuries and the dirt he had been left covered in. His
odd Mohawk style haircut didn’t detract from his good looks a bit,
it just drew attention to his strong facial features and made him
look downright badass. She shivered, damn that man was getting to
her in a visceral way. She wanted him, even though he lay there
helpless as a newborn babe, but she also wanted to protect him,
from everyone except herself. She had never felt more like a slut
in her life. The man was hurt, not looking to get laid.

Once they cleaned his wounds, his healing
seemed almost superhuman. The EMTs were amazed and speculating that
someone was running an illegal lab researching healing medications
using unwilling subjects. It actually made sense to her considering
all that she knew, which admittedly wasn’t much. She rode with him
in the ambulance and she held his hand so he wouldn’t feel alone
even though the tingle that ran up her arm gave her an odd feeling.
She’d never experienced anything like it, she hadn’t even heard of
such a thing.

Lucy, the female EMT, had tried to discourage
her from staying with the patient. It was against the rules for
nonrelated individuals to accompany patients, but El’s cousin owned
the hospital and her brother was the mayor. Lucy knew better than
to try to force the issue. El didn’t trust that oversexed hussy
with this patient, or any other gorgeous naked unconscious man.

The trip went quickly, they moved him into a
private room and she moved to the visitor’s chair beside his bed.
Why did she feel the need to watch over this man she had just
found? Was it the fact that she felt drawn to him as she had never
felt drawn to a man or the fact that she felt something for him, he
was after all helpless and had been brutalized? Health care
professionals came in and out, taking x-rays, blood tests, and
checking his temperature and blood pressure. He was starting to
react by moving away from any touch but hers, and making growling
noises. She tried to talk to him hoping he wouldn’t wake angry and
unaware of where he was.

He was slowly waking, she was sure it
wouldn’t be long. She could feel him pressing on her hand so she
pressed back lightly to comfort him. He moved and moaned, so she
stood up stroking his cheek as she whispered to him. His hand
tightened around her wrist and she looked down into wide gray eyes
that glowed. She didn’t have the sense to be scared even though he
reached up and pulled her down by her shoulders. He kissed her and
she closed her eyes as fireworks exploded behind her eyes. Her
whole body reacted to him on the most basic level as she shivered
with need. She forgot where she was, even who she , for moments as
the kiss deepened before he let her go and pulled away.

“Who are you and where am I?” he asked with a
voice rough from disuse and a throat that must be very dry.

“I’m El, I found you in a house I rent out.
They were doing terrible things to you. You’re safe now, just
concentrate on healing so you can go home.” She searched his face,
but the thought of going home didn’t seem to make him happy.

“No home. I need to leave, they’ll come get
me,” he said starting to get frantic.

She didn’t know how to calm him so she said
the first thing that popped into her mind. “When the doctor
releases you, I’ll help you find somewhere safe.” Why had she made
a commitment to him like that? She had her own crazy life to deal
with.

El was a good person or at least she thought
she was. Calling the police and staying by his side until he was
awake had been enough, hadn’t it? Now she had agreed to help him
get back to his regular life, whatever that was. She looked up as
Doc Rains came into the room looking at the patient’s chart.

“Well, what do we have here?” he asked
looking at this man who was nearly healed. He moved closer and
started to touch a wound that looked a week old or more but had
been fresh when he was brought in. The man growled low, deep, and
threatening. The doc moved back quickly.

“I’m just trying to help you, but I
understand you’ve been abused. Let’s just take this slow and we’ll
see what kind of damage you have and what’s healed. Why don’t we
start with your name?”

“No name.”

“You have amnesia? It’s not unusual in these
type of cases. Do you remember anything at all? How long were you
kept by them, what did they give you? Anything might help us help
you.”

The man just stared at the doc like he was an
oddity. “El, do you know anything about what they did to him?”

All she knew was he was being kept in sexual
servitude and that wasn’t something she wanted to discuss. She knew
her face was bright red as she shook her head. “I just discovered
him in the basement of the house on the north side of my property.
I called the police, the ambulance, and waited for them to help
him. I was totally caught off guard by this whole thing. Some
people are just nuts, total fruit, if you know what I mean?”

“I don’t think this was done because of
insanity. They were cruel, yes, but they had a purpose in this. We
think they were testing some kind of drugs on him. That might
account for his memory loss. I’m afraid it may even be permanent,”
the doctor said sadly. “Other than that, he seems to be healing
rapidly and there is no permanent damage that we’ve found.”

“He wants to leave, so is he clear to go?” El
asked.

“With what he’s been through, we’d really
like to keep him overnight for observation.”

“No,” the man said.

“We can’t make him stay, but it would be for
the best,” the doctor looked at El appealing to her to help him
convince his patient to stay.

“He wants to leave so if you could speed up
his discharge? I need to be home before the kids get there.”

“Okay, El. But this isn’t a good idea. We
don’t know what he’s been through or what kind of drugs he’s been
given.”

“I’m fine!” he insisted.

El examined him closely. He was calm and in
control, she had no idea why, but she trusted him. He was a big
guy, but his ribs showed because he’d been starved. They hadn’t fed
him at the hospital yet, but he had to be hungry. If they could get
him out quick enough, she’d get him some lunch. The doctor left
clearly disappointed but El thought he just wanted to monitor the
man’s healing and try to find out what he’d been given. Medical
curiosity was no reason to keep someone in the hospital. El hated
staying in the hospital herself, so she understood his desire to
leave.

Someone found a pair of sweatpants that
stretched enough for him but he had to leave shirtless and
shoeless. He didn’t seem to mind, he was anxious to get out of
there. They brought him forms, but with no name to sign, he had to
put John Doe. The hospital would eventually write off his bill
since the man clearly had nothing of his own.

He followed El out where her brother picked
them up. He looked at the man with her suspiciously, after all he
was trusting his little sister to his company. “Are you sure you
should do this, El?” Slay asked. Slay was short for Slayten which
was their mother’s maiden name. She had called him as soon as she
was sure the hospital planned to release him.

“He needs someone to help him and I
promised,” she said.

“He looks like he’s had it rough. Are you
sure he’s stable?”

“As much as anyone I know, I’d bet.”

“Not saying much, is it?” Slay asked with a
chuckle.

She knew Slay worried about her, but he
trusted her judgment, maybe more than he should considering some of
the decisions she’d made as an adult. “No, we’re a crazy bunch
around here.”