Fugitive Millionaire (Fugitive Millionaire Book One) (9 page)

Clancy glues his eyes back on the TV screen. Claire curls up and watches what seems like an endless cooking competition along with him.

More than two hours later, Claire looks over at Clancy and sees that he has dozed off to sleep. She reaches over and shakes his arm to see if his eyes pop open, but they remain shut. His chest moves up and down like someone who is in a deep sleep. It worked! Her plan to get Clancy drunk has worked. Just to make sure he’s not going to wake up she does another test.

Clap! Clap!

“Clancy, you’re missing the good part. Your favorite contestant is in the semi-final cooking showdown.”

Clancy doesn’t move a muscle. He didn’t respond to the noise from clapping her hands or her talking to him. “Thank god.” Ever so carefully, Claire removes the house keys sticking out of Clancy’s pants pocket. He shouldn’t have been so trusting of her. Being a nice person doesn’t mean you can’t be sneaky. Claire slips the keys into her own pocket and quietly walks to the door. She keeps her eyes on him as she slowly opens it and slips outside.

Claire makes a mad dash to the main house. The back entrance is unlocked and she heads on into the interior and decides to do a room-by-room search for Fabian. She checks all of the first floor rooms—he’s not in any of them, and neither is Amanda. That leaves the second floor. This is where the bedrooms are located.

Claire makes herself as light as she possibly can on her feet. She doesn’t want to make a noise that will alert Amanda that she’s here. She feels like a burglar who is quietly searching for loot. She hasn’t crept around a home this stealthily since she was a young girl sneaking downstairs on Christmas Eve to try to guess what gifts her parents got her.

Claire counts five bedrooms in total. There’s no need for her to check each room, because she can already see that there’s only one room that has light flickering underneath the door. She hears noises coming from the room and heads straight for the door. As she gets closer, the noises sound suspiciously like…

Moaning.

It’s all she can do to resist the urge to barge in and go commando on Amanda’s ass. But, since she’s not sure exactly what’s going on yet, she decides to remain in stealth mode. That way she can catch them by surprise. Claire slowly turns the doorknob until the latch gives way. She opens the door wider and steps in. Claire is shocked and angered by what she sees.

A single candle flickers on the nightstand next to Amanda’s bed. Fabian is lying on the bed with his legs spread eagle, moaning with pleasure. His eyes are closed and his hands are gripping at the bed sheets. Amanda is completely engrossed in licking something off of Fabian’s privates. She’s clearly enjoying her little tongue romp way too much. Claire notices the jar on the nightstand that contains the sticky stuff she’s using to get them both off. The label says chocolate love sauce. Claire is ready to tear out every strand of Amanda’s long brown hair by the root.

“So, this is why you wanted to keep me away from here?”

Amanda and Fabian are startled to see Claire standing by the door with fire coming out of her eyes.

“Claire!” Fabian reflexively shoves Amanda off of him and leaps to his feet. He looks at her with extreme remorse in his eyes. “Claire, this isn’t what you think.”

Claire’s insides are raging as she observes the chain wrapped around Fabian’s waist. Then she notices the long chain attached to the stripper pole. “What the hell is going on?”

Amanda is just as steamed at this intrusion into her private world. “Get out of my room! You’re not supposed to be in my house.”

Claire is ready to take her on. “Too freaking bad, bitch. I’m here now. What are you gonna do about it?”

“Get the hell out!” Amanda charges at Claire with fists flying everywhere.

A full catfight ensues as Claire and Amanda trade blows in a frenzy of vicious clawing, slapping and hair pulling moves. Fabian helplessly watches the two women go at it from where he stands. The chains prevent him from getting between the two women.

Amanda breaks free of Claire and runs into the hallway. A loud alarm pierces Claire’s eardrums. She follows Amanda into the hallway and tackles her to the floor. The fight continues with neither woman gaining the upper hand. That is, until Clancy walks up behind Claire and strikes her in the head with a billy club. She crumples to the floor. He has knocked her out cold. The fight ends as quickly as it began.

Claire’s eyes flicker open to sunlight streaming into a room with walls that are painted light blue. Again, she has that feeling of being someplace unfamiliar. A new day, another bedroom she must adjust to. This is becoming an unwelcome trend. The back of her head is throbbing in dull pain. She moves to rub the sore spot where the pain emanates from and hears the light jangling of chains.

“What the hell?”

While she was blacked out, someone put her on this bed, slapped handcuffs on her and chained her to the metal bedpost. Claire squirms and tries with all her might to pull free from the chains, but it’s no use. Just like Fabian, she too is now being held captive upstairs in a modern ranch home that is dominated by a petite, tanned, sex-starved madwoman that could pass for an NFL cheerleader.

Fabian. Unfortunately, the blow to her head didn’t erase the memory of seeing her new love apparently giving in to the sexual whims of his alluring captor. Why didn’t he fight? Why didn’t he refuse to cooperate? These are questions that she is dying to know the answer to, but is afraid that she might be in danger of never finding out. Amanda is keeping her here chained up to this bed for her own scheming purposes. If only she could get her hands on Amanda again, she’d make sure she was the victor this time.

Claire wishes she had taken those kickboxing lessons offered by a personal trainer that lives in her neighborhood. She could have gotten ten lessons on basic kickboxing technique. His classes were aimed at single women like her who were interested in self-defense. She would have learned some good moves and been in a much better position to knock the snot out of Amanda Burdett. From the way they were going at each other, it’s not like either woman has any decent fighting skills. With a little training, she would have easily gained the upper edge and been able to free Fabian before Clancy clocked her over the head. She’s only assuming it was Clancy because she didn’t find evidence of anyone else being in the house.

Claire perks up her ears. She hears mumbled voices coming through the wall—a male and a female voice. She distinctly recognizes Amanda’s laughter. Well, this sucks. She’s in a room adjacent to Amanda’s bedroom. Although, she can’t make out what they are saying, she knows that Fabian and Amanda are discussing something. Are they talking about her? His tone sounds somber. Maybe he’s trying to talk some sense into this woman who is supposed to be his friend.

Claire hears heavy footsteps coming towards her room. The footsteps stop at the door. She watches intently as the door opens. It’s Clancy carrying a try of food. He smiles brightly at her.

“Good morning, Claire. Glad to see you’re awake. I was worried that I’d hit you too hard.”

Claire manages to pull herself into a sitting position. “So you did hit me.”

“Yep. Had to. One of you would’ve torn the other one’s head off if I hadn’t of stopped you.”

“She deserved every blow I landed. I really lost it after I saw what she was doing with Fabian.”

Clancy sits a breakfast tray down on the nightstand next to the bed. “Brought you some warm blueberry muffins and orange juice for breakfast. I bet you’re hungry after all the excitement.”

Claire observes that Clancy is determined to put on a happy-go-lucky demeanor in spite of things being anything but normal. “Clancy, how can you act like nothing weird is going on? You’ve got me chained to a bed, and Fabian is chained up in Amanda’s room.”

“If you had stayed in the cabin, and not gotten all smart and snuck out, you wouldn’t be in this predicament. You forced our hand in the matter.”

“Forced your hand? How would you feel if some woman you just met chains up the person you love and uses them as a sex slave?”

Clancy shrugs. “How I feel is irrelevant. You shouldn’t have done what you did. It made Amanda madder than a wounded bobcat. She’s gonna make you pay.”

Claire rolls her eyes. “When I get out of these chains she’s the one that’s gonna pay. She comes across as all sweet and nice, but the truth is that woman is crazy. They need to lock her up in a mental ward and throw away the key.”

“This ain’t New York, little miss.”

Clancy deftly uses a butter knife to split open a muffin and slather butter in its soft center. He slices off a piece and offers it to Claire. “There’s nothing like a warm blueberry muffin to get the day started on the right foot.”

Claire stubbornly turns away. “I’m not hungry.”

“Aw, don’t be like that. If you eat this muffin, I’ll remove the handcuffs so you can go to the bathroom,” Clancy calmly bribes.

Claire hadn’t considered her need to go to the bathroom. Come to think of it, she does have to go. Not bad yet, but she needs to relieve herself soon or face the possibility of wetting her pants. Who knows how long they plan to leave her chained in this room? She makes the only decision she can—be nice to Clancy and cooperate so he’ll be lenient.

“Okay, I’ll eat.”

“Good. It’s the least you can do after I went through all the trouble to heat em up in the microwave.”

“That’s nice of you, thanks.”

Clancy transfers the plastic food tray to Claire’s lap. She is able to pick up the muffin and eat it with her fingers in spite of the heavy cuffs. Clancy settles into a nearby chair and stretches his legs out. Even though he’s helping Amanda keep them captive, she can’t help but find him extremely likeable. He’s the kind of guy that would do anything for you once you’ve earned his loyalty. She wishes there was someway she could lure him over to her side, without making it seem like he’s betraying Amanda.

“Clancy?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you do things for Amanda like chain me up to this bed? I mean I know what she gets out of it, but what’s in it for you?”

Clancy puts an index finger to his lips and furrows his brow as he contemplates how to answer. “Well…if you wanna know the truth, Claire, it’s because I’m totally under her spell. Some women have a way about them that makes a man do crazy stuff. That’s how Amanda affects me. I’ll do anything to make sure she’s happy.”

“Do you love her?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it love, exactly. It’s more like infatuation. When I first noticed she was getting all stir crazy while Ryan was gone, I tried talking her into sleeping with me to satisfy her intimate urges. Ladies I’ve been with tell me I’m good at getting their kitties to sing. But, she shot me down.”

“Why?”

Clancy stares at his feet and shrugs. “Guess I’m not her type. Younger guys like your boyfriend is what she craves. So, when she gets the urge, I make sure she gets what she needs.”

“Even if it means using force?”

“Things don’t usually come to that. Most guys I bring here are more than happy to have a little kinky sex with Amanda once they realize she’s not gonna hurt them.”

“You mean she does this all the time?”

Clancy pauses the conversation and goes and leans his ear up against the opposite wall. They both cannot hear any sounds coming from the next room. Moments pass by before he returns to his seat. He speaks in a hushed voice. “Every now and then when the urge overwhelms her, I go into town to a popular bar and pick out a guy I think she’ll like. Strike up a conversation, buy him a drink, drug him and bring him back here. Guy comes to and gets all scared, until Amanda works her sexual magic.”

Claire cannot believe how casual Clancy ‘s attitude is as he talks about kidnapping strangers and bringing them to the Burdett Ranch to be used to satisfy Amanda’s sexual desires. She must hide her astonishment and disgust. She can’t imagine how they manage to get away with this kind of illegal behavior. How come the local police haven’t come to arrest them? A horrible thought suddenly strikes her with fear. Maybe her victims don’t get out of here alive.

“How long does she keep them here?”

“Sometimes it’s a few days. Other times it’s a week or more. Depends on her mood and how much she likes a particular guy. I can already tell she’s really into your boyfriend. Better make yourself comfortable, Claire.”

Claire struggles to keep her fears in check. She needs a clear head to figure out how to get herself and Fabian out of this house. For all she knows Fabian might be under Amanda’s spell too. In the past, she’s observed men going gaga over women with Amanda’s looks. Guys become stupid and reason flies out the window. She’s positive Amanda has mastered the art of getting men to go along with appeasing her sexual fantasies. Fabian certainly looked like he was enjoying every bit of what this nymphomaniac was dishing out last night.

She cannot let it happen. She must find some way to get Fabian away from Amanda’s bedroom prison. Considering where she is right now, it may take a miracle to escape. Their main problem being that Amanda knows Fabian is a fugitive. Amanda probably thinks she can take her sweet ole time with him for as long as she likes. If Fabian refuses to cooperate, Amanda threatens to turn him in. Meanwhile, Amanda expects her to just remain here in this room listening as another woman pleasures her man. Claire figures this is what Clancy meant when he said Amanda would make her pay for trying to interrupt her fun. There’s gotta be some way to stop this. Claire is desperate to find a solution.

“How long do you think Amada will play around with Fabian?”

“My guess would be two weeks. Ryan is due back around that time.”

“Then what happens to us?”

“She’ll free you both.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“She always let’s everyone go.”

“And nobody ever goes to the police?”

“Nope. Amanda’s got that covered.” Clancy resumes speaking at his normal volume. “Let me get these cuffs off you so you can go to the bathroom.”

Claire holds her hands out. Clancy picks a key from his key chain and unlocks her cuffs. Claire is free to go into the bathroom alone and take care of personal business. He does not, however, release her from the chain around her waist that is connected to a longer chain locked to the bedpost. It unfurls in a trail of metal as she walks into the small adjacent bathroom and prepares to empty her bladder. She can’t get the bathroom door to completely close because the chain props it open. In spite of this, she manages to shield herself from Clancy enough to have some privacy.

While in the bathroom, Claire frantically looks around for an object that she can use to break a link in the chain, or pick a lock open. She comes up empty. There’s not so much as a toothbrush in the cabinets. She does, at least, have toilet paper, thank goodness.

Claire has a sinking feeling that she and Fabian are stuck being prisoners here until Amanda has had her fill of him. By that time, the trauma this is inflicting on their collective psyche may be enough to tear the two of them apart for good. How can they ever face each other again and make love without thinking about being wrongfully violated and utterly humiliated? The longer this goes on, the worse it will be for their budding relationship.

*****

Claire wakes up to the sounds of two people having sex. Tears stream down her cheeks as she hears the familiar moaning and grunting that happens when lovers are lost in giving each other passionate pleasure. This is torture. She can’t even shut out the noises by plugging her ears because the handcuffs prevent her fingers from reaching her ears to plug them. Maybe when Clancy comes to check in on her in the morning she’ll tell him she wants to go home. She can call her folks and have them send her a one-way ticket back to New York. Leaving Fabian behind would be hard, but perhaps she has no choice. She can’t think of any way to free him. Of course, she could report his current captivity to the police, but that wouldn’t do anything but put him in a real prison with solid steel bars. The ironic thing is that Fabian was planning to come here by himself anyway. If he hadn’t have changed his mind at the last minute, she wouldn’t even know this was happening to him.

But she is here, and she does have to listen to him and Amanda going at it. She’s not sure how much more of this she can take. It’s breaking her up inside knowing that lecherous brunette is in the next room caressing and kissing him. Feeling him inside of her. It’s just too much.

The noises stop and Claire finally falls into a fitful sleep.

The next morning, Claire is awake and very alert as Clancy comes in with a breakfast of sausage, eggs and toast. She gets the feeling that he enjoys making her breakfast, although, he probably won’t admit it. He also seems to enjoy their periodic chats during the day. Claire is now going to use this to her advantage.

“Good morning, Claire. Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

“There was nothing good about last night, but, that breakfast sure looks good.”

“I thought you’d appreciate having something that sticks to your ribs.”

“It’s like you read my mind, Clancy. Sit it down right here. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

“You’re starting to sound like a ranch hand.”

“Must be your cowboy style rubbing off on me.”

“Just like that movie with Billy Crystal. He’s a city boy that turns into a wrangler of sorts.”

“City Slickers.”

“Yeah, that’s it. I love that movie.”

“Well, I hope you don’t expect me to be a wrangler.”

“Course not, you being a girl and all. I could teach you to ride a horse, though. Would you like that?”

“Hmm. That sounds like fun, but I’m tied up at the moment.”

Clancy laughs at her clichéd joke. “You keep cooperating like you’ve been doing and maybe I’ll let you move back into the cabin. There won’t be any drinking this time, but there may just be some horseback riding lessons.”

“I just may take you up on that.”

Claire can see that this banter has loosened up Clancy enough to put him in good spirits. She decides to use a little female charm of her own.

“Hey, Clancy, I could enjoy your wonderful cooking a lot better without these cuffs getting in my way.”

Clancy doesn’t hesitate to unlock the cuffs. “Stupid me. I forgot you need to cut up your sausage. There. How’s that?”

“Much better. Now I can devour this meal like a hungry pig. Don’t mind my bad manners.”