Claire: The Forced Virgin Of The Billionaire
Chapter 88

Flickering light in the dim loft, twinkling lights outside amid the sounds of crickets and frogs, plus the way he looked at me. He looked at me and touched me like I was the most precious thing to him. It was beautiful and I fell asleep wrapped around him, ready for possibilities, because feeling like this felt like a priceless gift.

** ** **

I woke up alone. I sat up and looked around. Birds were chirping. The doors were still opened and the screen was still down but the sky seemed alive with noisy birds, butterflies, and the sun was beating through the screen with intensity. I got up to go to the bathroom. The door was closed but it was empty and the mirror was steamed up so he must’ve recently had a shower. I was still wearing his shirt. I got out of it, got into the shower, showered using a men’s all in one hair and body wash on myself as that was all that was there. I used his damp towel as that was the only one there and then I put yesterday’s clothes back on, minus the underwear, which had a large rip right up the back of them. They were pretty much assless now. I thought I’d grab my pj bag out of the Jeep from yesterday and put on those little sleeping shorts as undies for now but when I got down the stairs and out into the middle of the barn the jeep was gone. The door was closed but I wasn’t locked in. I frowned. Then I remembered that the iPhone was in my jean skirt pocket.

I lifted it out and saw that it was 9:25 am. I swiped over to contacts and there were just Azriel and his brother listed there. I dialed Azriel and it rang once but then went to voicemail so I went back upstairs and sat down on the sofa, which was facing the doors, and watched out the back. The phone only had 19% power remaining and I didn’t have a charger so it wouldn’t last for long.

I needed caffeine. And underwear! There was a fridge here and a sink and microwave but no stove, no coffee maker. No coffee supplies. I looked in the armoire and fridge. The fridge had the remnants of last night’s dinner, our untouched fruit salad, and 7 bottles of beer, 4 bottles of water, a sports drink and a vitamin water. The cupboard had some odds and ends, mostly. Some tools, a flashlight, lantern, lamp oil, bug repellant, guitar strings and picks, and a box of bullets. Nice. (Not!) No coffee or tea or sugar (or extra underwear). There were a few t-shirts of Azriel’s and a pair of jeans. There was also a half-eaten but not closed properly box of Sugar Crisp. The clothes were all folded and clean-looking but no underwear. I’d have even settled for a pair of his right now.

I opened a vitamin water and then made the bed and then laid there on it, deciding to wait for him. What else could I do?

Two hours later he still hadn’t come back and I’d spent enough time in my own head. I was about to wander outside just out of boredom but then I heard a car pull in and heard voices. I walked down the stairs and peeked outside through a window in one of the stalls and saw that an older couple were standing in the gravel driveway right up beside the barn (despite it being a few hundred feet from the road) looking at a map and discussing the right way to get to some town I hadn’t heard of.

I listened for a minute and then saw the woman wave at me. How she’d spotted me in the shadows peeking out the window I hadn’t a clue but she had seen me. She started walking toward the barn and the husband followed.

s**t.

I stepped out of the barn.

“Hello,” I smiled.

The lady looked to be in her late 60’s or even her 70’s, maybe, “I’m sorry to disturb you dear, but we’re trying to get to highway ten. It’s a bit confusing on the map.”

I looked at the map, “I’m sorry, I’m just visiting and I don’t know the area very well.”

“Well, if you’ll just look—” The wife started and the husband interrupted, “Millie, she obviously doesn’t know where highway ten is so let’s not waste her time.”

“We’re here…” the wife ignored the crotchety old guy and put a bright pink pointy fingernail on the map and I saw that it said line 10.

“Oh,” I said, “If this is where we are, this is line 10. That’s not the same as highway ten. That’s over there.” I pointed a few inches over to the left.

“It looks like if you take this road twenty four over you can then get to highway 9 and that’ll easily get you to highway 10. It looks pretty straightforward. I don’t know the area, though, so not sure I’m the best judge.”

“Line 10,” the husband said with a eureka look on his face, “That’s the last time I let you navigate, Mill!” Something about his demeanor wasn’t sitting right with me. I frowned.

She waved her hand looking mildly embarrassed, “Well thank you so much, dear. You’ve been a huge help.” She looked at me smiling.

I smiled and started to back away, expecting them to head off. The old woman stared for a moment,

“Are you alright, dear?” she asked.

“I’m fine.” I said, “Have a nice day.”

She looked at me for another beat and the husband just stood there, looking out at the fields in a way that made it seem phony. My spidey senses were suddenly on even higher alert. Azriel said no one knew about this place. Surely these old people weren’t here to kidnap me or kill me or something, right? Why wouldn’t the husband have looked at the map himself? It was pretty obvious that they were on line 10 and not highway 10.

“If you’re sure,” she said in a way that seemed like she was urging me to say I wasn’t.

“Yes, Ma’am. I need to get back to my, uh, chores, so have a safe drive.”

She nodded, looking a little frazzled suddenly, and then they headed back to the car and started pulling out of the end of the driveway. I started walking back to the barn but as I did, I felt an eerie feeling so I glanced over my shoulder and there was Millie, on her cell phone looking right at me and with a very serious look on her face as the car pulled away.