2.23 – Captive

Chapter tune: George Thorogood & The Destroyers – Bad to the bone

Warning: Very harsh language, slut-shaming (kind of?) and too much violence

–

After his huge fight with Calla, Dylan, having been banned from sleeping in his own bedroom, decided to spend the night on the couch. He was not one to make a bed for himself anyway and especially those last couple of years, his girlfriend took care of all the boring everyday stuff. Although life with her was never boring, he had to admit that. And maybe he had been a bit on the irresponsible – childish even – side still, while she was getting more and more mature each day. Maybe they both were to blame for what happened tonight, and not just her. But she hurt his feelings – and his pride, mostly – pretty damn badly.

After a lot of time torturing himself with unpleasant thoughts, he finally managed to get some much needed sleep.

It was still dark outside when he was woken up by a strange noise coming from the kitchen. Maybe Jesse got home baked and hungry again, he thought. He got up to check if this was true, as his friend had failed to show up at the band practice today.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. It was a woman he knew well, but it wasn’t Calla and it wasn’t Meadow. And honestly, he never expected to ever see her again. After a couple of minutes staring at her, he finally spoke.

“Skye? …Is… is that you? Wow… What… how… what are you doing here?”

–

Jesse instantly knew who the man with the filthy clothes and harsh voice in front of him was. He was hoping he would be lucky enough that his sorry excuse of a plan would have given him the upper hand during their unevitable encounter, but apparently this was not the case. 

Sinbad took a last deep drag on his cigarette and turned to face him. “You have made it so easy, pretty boy… you got no idea how easy. So… where is she?”

“Uuuh… who?” Jesse replied, although he knew perfectly well who Sinbad was talking about. “Hey man, I’m sure it’s been a mistake! I have no idea who you are!” He was talking fast yet confidently, like his optimistic nature was still telling him that that he could, somehow, get away from all this mess quickly and unscathed. 

Moving unconciously a little backwards, he realized that they weren’t alone in that room. A third man, his silence as strong as his appearance, was standing beside him like a warning or worse; a threat. The certainty that he was royally screwed finally hit him hard. 

Sinbad grinned, a sight so ugly that it made Jesse almost spill his guts out then and there – although there wouldn’t be much to spill anyway, since his last meal was at least twelve hours ago. 

“Oh, but of course. I ain’t expecting you to give her up so easily; she has you under her spell still… but you see, that’s exactly who she is. A little witchy minx who cares only about herself and won’t hesitate to fuck you over and over again.”

Like she would ever fuck you loser, Jesse thought but decided to keep this to himself. Instead, he tried to play the dumb card once again. “Look man, there’s definitely been a misunderstanding! I don’t know who you are talking about and I don’t know who you are! You must confuse me with somebody else! L-look, if you just let me go, I’ll just forget everything – I won’t call the cops, I won’t mention it to anyone!”

“Oh, but I can’t let you go now. Not before I get what I want from you, pretty boy. Yeah… don’t play dumb with me. The quicker you give the bitch up, the quicker everything will be over for you.”

Jesse felt an intense pain all over his body as he tried to get up. He was successful eventually, but had to wonder what on earth they did to him while he was unconcious. Maybe they just carried him all the way in here. Maybe he wasn’t as far from the Bridgepot southside as he initially thought.

“Listen man” he said again, trying to sound even more confident than the last time he spoke “I really wanna help you, you know… but I have no clue what you want from me. Care to clue me in? If you are looking for some bitch like you said, I can even help you find her. Just tell me her name and I’ll be on my way.”

Sinbad stayed still while glaring at his captive. “Do you think I’m stupid?” While Jesse was searching for the right answer, the macho man behind him decided that this would be the perfect time to talk. “Boss, do you want me to beat his face into a pulp? He ain’t gonna underst-”

“No, you goddamn ape!” Sinbad interrupted him, and his face had a strange combination of anger and mockery at the same time. “If I want you to do something, I’ll give you the order myself! Until then, shut the fuck up and do as you’re told!” 

The man hung his chin down and retreated with an embarrassed expression on his face which, paired with his menacing appearance, was a sight so ridiculous that under any other circumstances would have Jesse rolling down with laughter. Sinbad, once again, turned his attention to Jesse. “I asked you something.”

“You? Stupid? No, no way dude – although that one over there doesn’t seem like the brightest kid on the block, am I right? Where did you even find that guy?”

“Enough! DON’T fucking mess with me! You think I ain’t got no idea who you are? I know all about you Jesse Frio! I know about your friends, your family – even about that little blonde bitch you hired some years ago to sing for your pathetic band because it seems she can do more things with her mouth than sucking ten cocks an hour for a buck!”

Jesse felt sick to his stomach. How could he talk about her this way? Sinbad was worse than he could ever imagine. His heart broke all over again as he thought how fragile, how terrified Skye must have felt all these years… all her life really. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t even speak. What could he say at this point anyway? He just stood there, looking at the man who brought so much pain to any human being unlucky enough to cross paths with him.

“You ain’t talking now, huh? After I bring you here alive, after I give you a bed to sleep like a person and not an animal, I ask you for a tiny little favor in return and this is how you repay my hospitality?”

Get your shit together, Jesse repeated to himself over and over again. He just had to say something, he knew it. “Listen man, if we hired a blonde singer a couple of years ago, I… I wouldn’t even remember her by now, I swear. If you know all about me like you said, then… then you’d know this is true. I really can’t help you, what more do you want from me?”

“You goddamn piece of shit, I’ve had enough of you!” Sinbad was now fuming “I tried to be nice, but you fucking spoiled brat have used up your chances! You are gonna tell me the truth and you are gonna tell me now!”

“I’ve got nothing to say to you man, I told you! Just let me the fuck out!” Jesse screamed in response. He immediately regretted it.

With one nod from Sinbad, the huge man starting punching Jesse who was so weak compared to him, than he didn’t even have a chance to clench his fist for a punch of his own. 

After several attempts to fight back, he accepted his fate and just took it. Sinbad gave the man another nod and he delivered a last paiful hit on Jesse’s stomach.

Sinbad looked at Jesse intensely, as he fell loudly on the floor, without a single hint of compassion into his eyes. “Maybe you’re ready to talk now?”

Jesse coughed some blood as he was panting and groaning in extreme pain. “Shit man… I think you broke my ribs or something… I… I can’t breathe”

“I hope you know we can hurt you a lot more than that, fucker. Now spill the beans… or else.”

Jesse gasped again, in a anguished attempt to draw in some air. “…Fuck you.”

“Well, our guest sure has a lot of blood on him, ain’t he?” Sinbad turned to the ape man “I bet he could use some cleaning up.”

Jesse felt the man’s gigantic hands grab him once again and pushing his head into the cell’s broken, filthy toilet. He was kept for so long in there, he was certain those were his last living moments.

He not once regretted not spilling the beans, not at all. The only thing he regretted was that he had failed to protect Skye, that he was leaving her alone in a world where the monster going after her would still be alive and he wouldn’t. He regretted not being able to just make it all better.

As soon as he felt his own life abandoning him , he was pulled out to breathe again, and the same torture continued for several more times. 

After it was all over, he wasn’t even sure where or even who he was anymore. The only thing he could do was fight desperately for breath, while Sinbad kept watching him closely, like he didn’t want to miss a single bit of his captive’s pain and distress.

“Yeah… you ain’t so brave now, are you? You thought you could mess with what belongs to me. Too bad pretty boy, too bad. Now think about what went down tonight, think about it hard. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be ready to talk. Yeah, I think you will. And then maybe we can be friends again and even watch a movie together. Oh yes… we sure will watch a movie. And I got just the one.”

Not long after, Jesse passed out on the floor so the two men finally decided to let him be, wet and locked inside the dark cell.

“Do you want me to cuff him boss?”

“Nah… don’t bother. He won’t be able to stand up for hours, let alone try to escape.”

“But you said that…”

“Shut your fucking mouth! You can do whatever you want with him after I get what I want! Got it?”

“Yes boss…”

–

Back to the apartment, Dylan was still shocked from his unexpected encounter with the band’s former singer, aka the girl who had managed to break his best friend’s heart. 

Skye realized she had been caught and there was nothing she could do about it. “I can explain everything…” she muttered and nodded him to sit on the couch.

After some much needed explanations and a moment of silence, Dylan finally spoke. “I don’t understand… You said Jesse brought you in here, he never forgot to bring you you food everyday, kept you company everyday… so where is he now? Why didn’t he come to you at all today?”

“To be honest, I thought… I thought maybe he had a date or something and forgot.”

“I don’t think he would forget to take care of you for a whole day, Skye. He can be a little absent-minded at times, but there’s no way he would forget you.”

“Dylan… you don’t understand. He saved me but… he wanted nothing to do with me. I mean… romance-wise.” Skye stopped talking for a while and pondered. “…but it’s not making sense for him to leave me a whole day without food, does it?”

“I’m afraid not… Skye… Jesse is well, who he is, but if he brought you here it means he still loves you. I know he does actually. When you ended it, he was such a mess… you can’t even imagine. Honestly, I too thought that today he was out with a date maybe, he even missed our band practice and didn’t pick up his phone. But seeing you here… his absence is really worrying Skye. Did he ever say anything about your… that man?”

“He did say he would try and fix everything… something like that… oh god… do you think he went after… him? No…. oh no no no.” Skye’s whole body started trembling as she began processing what was happening.

She broke down in tears. “He’s gonna die because of me Dylan… it’s all my fault! I knew something was wrong when he didn’t show up today, but now I can feel it… he’s in danger! And I didn’t even tell him that I loved him… oh Dylan, I love him so much… he can’t die, he just can’t!” she was now sobbing uncontrollably.

“Hey… don’t panic Skye, please. We will find him… Jesse is a tough guy. He will stay alive and we will find him, I’m sure of it! We’ll call the cops, we’ll search for him… we will find him!”

“Oh Dylan, you don’t know Sinbad like I do… he’s truly evil. And he always gets what he wants… it’s impossible to beat him!”

Dylan kept staring at her, not sure how to comfort her, or him for that matter. But he had to; from the looks of it, Skye was on the verge of a total breakdown. 

The truth is, those two never got as close as she was with Jesse or even Owen. Their relationship was mostly professional. But seeing how much she suffered for his buddy made him feel like she was not only a friend, but family.

Finally he sat beside her, giving her a long silent hug. They stayed like this for a while, not sure of what they should say, not sure of what the future held for one of their most favorite people in the world. 

–

Some time later, the sun rose. Dylan decided to wait for Calla to wake up. As she was an early bird, so it wouldn’t take long. And she would definitely know what to do. And just as he predicted, at six o’clock sharp she opened their bedroom door. 

“So you’re stalking me now?” was the first thing she aggressively said to him.

“Hey… uh… Calla, can we talk?”

“Oh, now you want to talk? I have nothing to say to you.”

“Come on Calla, this is serious. Uh, first of all I have to tell you… there’s a girl in the living room who uh…”

Calla glared at him, her eyes forming two tiny slits. “Oh, so there’s a girl in the living room. Of course there’s a girl in the living room… where you slept! I don’t know why I ever thought you would be different! We have one fight, ONE FIGHT and you… you know what, you can do whatever the hell you want! You’re a free man after all!”

She stormed down the stairs, with Dylan following and trying to get ahead of her. “Come on Calla, this is… it’s not like that, you misunderstood me… come on, I really have to talk to you before you go to the living room…”

“Don’t talk to me!”

Of course, just like Dylan a few hours earlier, the person she saw standing there was the last person she ever expected to see.

Skye opened her mouth to say something, but nothing eventually came out of it.

Calla on the other hand, was never one to hold her words back. “You! What the hell are you doing here?”

–

A/N: Heeeey guys!! Wow, that was such a long break I took, it seems like ages! 😥Hmmm I don’t really have much to say except that I hope the next chapter will be out much sooner; in fact this one was getting so long I had to cut it down a bit, so the next one is already halfway ready 😉 I’m sorry for the excess of violence in this one – as much as I prefer “grey” characters, Sinbad is full blown evil, so he couldn’t behave any better than that I think..! It was partly why it took me so long to write this… as much as I love torturing my characters, this was a bit too much, even for me, lol! Well, this was all I guess! Thank you so much for reading! 😀 ❤