I willed my body to follow the man, even though warning bells were going off that this man was not to be trusted. But again, my bladder didn’t give me much of a choice.
Leading me to the head, he opened the door and stepped inside. I followed him into the small space and then turned expecting him to exit and wait outside the door. When he remained in place, I asked, “Can you leave?”
“No,” was his simple reply.
The idea of relieving myself in front of this man infuriated me. “I don’t need you to watch over me.” I glanced at the small room that had a shower against one wall, a sink with a mirror, and a toilet. It too had no window. It wasn’t like I could do anything other than use the toilet in this room even if I wanted to.
“Go.”
“No,” I declared. “I’m not going to go piss in front of you.”
His expression hadn’t changed since the moment he came for me, but I could see his eyes darken at my refusal.
“Go now.” This time his voice stabbed into my soul. I was not going to win this battle, but I still was not going to go pee in front of him.
“All I ask is that you leave the room. I would like a little privacy. Please.”
“Either go now, or I’ll take you back to your room. You can sit in your own filth for all I care. I don’t care where you go.”
He was lucky we weren’t on the battlefield. I would have killed him right then and there.
“Fine,” I said as I lowered my pants. “If you don’t care where I go,” I added as I squatted right in front of him. “I’ll piss right here, thank you very much.” I emptied my bladder in the middle of the room, staring directly into his eyes as I allowed every ounce of liquid to release from my body.
Pike remained emotionless. He didn’t say a single word or do a thing. His lack of anger was far worse than any wrath he could inflict. My knees wobbled as I remained in my squat, and I just hoped I wouldn’t fall. He scared me. There was no doubt about that, and yet here I was. The fool pissing on the floor mere inches from my captor’s boots.
He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. If I didn’t know better, I would say he wasn’t even breathing. My actions had no effect on him, and I instantly regretted it. My childish act gave him the power. I was now the woman squatting in front of a man with piss dripping out of me. Humiliation for me, honor for him. Without doing a single thing, Pike won this battle. Damn him.
As I stood and pulled up my pants, Pike raised one eyebrow and asked nonchalantly, “Are you done?”
“I am a fucking soldier. Not a fucking slave. Remember that.” Clenching my teeth, I straightened my shoulders and tried to muster as much pride as I could and glided past him, leading myself back to my room. I could hear his footsteps behind me, and could almost feel his smugness burning against the back of my head.
I didn’t know why I was afraid of the man. He wouldn’t kill me or risk losing the bounty for my delivery. 720 hours was quite the investment, and no doubt, I was worth a high price. But there was something that terrified me about him. Was it the red? Was it how bright it shone?
Red like the devil. Yes, that was it. Pike had the devil sitting inside of him, exuding all the scarlet around. The devil resided within, just waiting to cast me off to hell.
When I pushed the button, waiting for the door to open, Pike reached for my upper arm and took hold. It didn’t hurt, but his grasp was tight. He led me into the room and forced me to sit on the edge of the bed by pushing me down. He knelt down and reached under the bed, pulling a long chain and metal choker from underneath.
“You don’t need to chain me,” I said as panic began to set in. “I have no intention of trying to escape.”
He didn’t reply but instead grabbed me by the back of the neck, pulled my head into him, and clasped the collar securely around my neck. He pushed some buttons on a small keypad on the side of the collar, securely locking it into place. It was tight enough that when I swallowed, I could feel my flesh connect with the cool restraint. Was this my punishment for pissing in front of him? Cross had warned me to behave…repeatedly.
Tugging on the collar to make sure it was locked, Pike said, “You will discover soon enough that my brother and I have very different rules. You will remain collared and chained until I say otherwise.”