The Virgin Vagabond

Chapter 17

Kesia sat very quietly during the car ride. She felt betrayed and disappointed. Luke. It was Luke who was the abductor. How could he do this to her? She thought their relationship was built on a mutual foundation of trust but right now, she just felt confused and sad. Desperately, she tried to make sense of it all but she could not quite wrap her head around it. The whole thing just made her sad. Suddenly, the car stopped. She had a pretty good guess where they were. Someone opened her car door and pressed something very smelly towards her nose and mouth. It smelled horribly and made her pass out.

When she came to she was lying down on the couch in their hotel room. Luke was sitting by her side and behind him she could dimly see Cornelia. They were talking about something she could not really perceive.

”Why didn’t you talk to me first? Then, I could have told you it was a bad idea” said Cornelia.

”That’s exactly why I didn’t talk to you first. You would have stopped me. I needed to get this done. This was really my only shot. Come tomorrow, they will have the same information as we do at all times. The game will get significantly harder as we travel to Perth, you know this. You think I’m getting desperate? Of course I am!”

Cornelia didn’t seem to have a good comeback, so she was silent. Kesia thought about letting them know that she was awake now but before she finished that thought Luke saw her barely open eyes.

”She’s awake!” he said and put his hand on Kesias cheek. ”Hey, Kesia, how are you feeling?”

Kesia suddenly felt very awake and pushed his hand away.

”What the hell, Luke!?” she said and stood up from the couch. ”Why would you do that?”

Luke looked confused.

”I know it was you! It’s actually kind of insulting that you would think I wouldn’t figure it out. Don’t you think I know your after shave by now? Or your schampoo?”

”Kesia, look…” Luke started but Kesia interrupted him.

”No! You don’t get to talk right now! I am not in a state where I can listen to you. I need time and space. I’m going to take shower.”

Kesia stormed out of the room and into the bedroom where she took all her clothes off and put on the robe. She continued in to the bathroom, still with an increased pulse and so many different thoughts in her brain that she almost felt dizzy. Somewhere, further back in her brain, she understood that Luke must have a very good explanation for what he did, an explanation that would probably make her forgive him. That’s why she didn’t want to listen to him yet. Because she wasn’t ready to forgive him. She turned on the water in the shower before stepping in. While she took off the robe and hung it on its hook by the door she heard Luke and Cornelia talk in the other room. She couldn’t hear the words they were saying but judging by the tone it sounded like Cornelia was lecturing Luke. Kesia smiled a little.

When Kesia had showered off the feeling of a kidnap victim and put on some clean clothes she felt like herself again. And she was ready to talk to Luke and listen to what he had to say in his defense. She went back to the living room and sat down next to him on the couch. Cornelia was gone.

”Where is Cory?”

”You mean Anna?”

”Right, yeah sure.”

”She had to go. They’re going home in the morning. They can’t follow us to the next destination, she apparently had some business to attend to.”

Kesia nodded and then she looked at Luke.

”So, care to explain? Knowing you, there is probably a good explanation. I mean, there better be.”

”Yes, there is. And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

”Just explain” said Kesia.

”Ok, as you wish” he said and then made a pause to think. ”You know how we have two seekers who has been on our tail ever since the beginning?”

”Yes, that’s a part of the game so I am well aware of it.”

”Right. Anyway, I wanted to talk to them without risking getting caught on picture which meant I had to surprise them and I needed a partner in crime. I knew you would never agree to abduct anyone like I needed to do in this case so…”

”…you had me abducted instead?” Kesia filled in.

”Well, yes, but also our seekers. The reason I did what I did was so that I could accuse the seekers of abducting you. That way they will be summoned by the commission as a part of the investigation.”

”And they will be delayed for at least a day?”

”Exactly! We will have a head start, which we would not have otherwise.”

”Ok, that’s definitely a perk but I don’t know if it was worth it…”

”Well, maybe you will think so when you hear the conversation I had with them. I recorded everything.”

”Ok, that’s good. Who did you partner up with?”

”Conrad. He was the one who watched you when you were in that room.”

”That explains why he didn’t say anything. I would have known his voice immediately.”

”Exactly. Also, I instructed him to be quiet and to hold you for one hour exactly. Then I came and picked you up.”

”How did you know where to find the seekers?”

”Well, we know what they look like ever since Italy and I had another associate who had their eyes on them, waiting for the right moment to catch them.”

”Was that associate John?”

”Yes. He texted me shortly before you and I left for the restaurant and that’s why I had to act quickly. After you were out, Conrad came to take care of you and I went to meet up with John. We then captured the seekers and had a very interesting conversation with them.”

”Did you hurt them in any way?”

”Not physically, no.”

”Good. I hope it was all worth it.”

”It was actually. I think you should listen to the whole thing but that will take a while so I will tell you the most interesting thing they revealed.”

”Ok, what was that?”

”At one point, they asked for water so I asked John to go get it. As soon as he left the room, the seekers told me that him and Keren never really played the game. They couldn’t tell me who they were but my guess is that they simply work for Cornelia.”

”What? That is so messed up! But they were on the commissions list over teams who had surrendered. How is that possible?”

”I guess a lot of people wants us to think they played. One thing is for sure, we can’t use them as we have been or tell them anything from now on. At the same time, we can’t let them know we know about them since we don’t know who they are.”

”And we can’t trust Cornelia anymore either. Our list of allies is growing thin.”

Kesia was quiet for a little while as she thought through all this new information. John and Keren were both pretty new acquaintances but Cornelia had been there from the start. Surely they must be able to talk to her about everything.

”Don’t you think we can confront Cornelia? I mean, there might be a really good explanation.”

Luke sighed.

”Well, yes, there might be. But there might also not be. She might have hidden agendas and questionable intentions. After all, she really wants that prize.”

”But she won’t get it if her cheating comes out, right? She will be disqualified along with us. We can always play that card since we are in this together.”

”We could but then we wouldn’t get the prize either.”

”Exactly, we are all just as guilty here.”

”I wouldn’t say that, she is the mastermind behind it all.”

”Still, if we go down, she goes down and if she goes down, we go down. None of us want that so we should be able to maintain honesty between the three of us.”

Luke stood up from the couch and walked over to the window. There, he admired the view as he thought about what Kesia just said.

”You’re making a good point” he said thoughtfully without looking at her.

”Besides” Kesia added, ”I would like to lie as little as possible and it feels like we already have a lot to hide. It would be nice not to add to the pile of dirty laundry if you know what I’m saying.”

”Yes, there’s that” said Luke, still sounding like he was far away in thought.

He turned around and looked at Kesia.

”Let’s sleep on it. It has been a long day.”

As he said that, Kesia realized that it was nearly 1am. She felt suddenly tired and yawned.

”Yes, let’s.”

Kesia woke up by herself the next morning. No alarm, no firm knock on the door and no disturbing behavior from Luke, she just woke. The night had been eventless, no dreams or disturbances. She pondered at this for a few seconds. Ever since they started the game she had been a bit stressed and had a hard time relaxing. Now, she was relaxed for some reason. Maybe she was just getting used to this kind of life. That in itself scared her a little bit. Luke was still snoring next to her. She still didn’t know how she felt about what he had done yesterday. Even though he had a pretty good explanation and the whole thing had given them a head start for today and the trip to Perth it was still pretty hard to get over him abducting her without hesitating. It made her wonder what else he was capable of. It also made her think that she really didn’t know him the way she thought she did. He must be pretty good at just showing the parts of himself he wanted her to know and to conceal the rest. She should not be surprised by this considering his background. Kesia looked at her phone and saw a message from the commission that their seekers had been called in for questioning. That meant they had a little window of time where they could not be caught. Kesia decided to take advantage of this and carefully slided off the side of the bed and put some clothes on. It was just 9am and the breakfast buffet downstairs was open. She was going to go down to stuff herself with coffee and croissants without having Lukes gaze quietly judging her. And it was going to be awesome.

When she got back to the hotel room with a belly full of croissants she heard the shower running. She sat down on the couch and took out her phone to call Matilda, as she was about to do the night before when she got abducted.

”Kesia, oh my god, I’ve been so worried!”

”Hi, Matilda, I know, I’m sorry, I was about to call you last night but…”

She paused as she realized that she couldn’t say anything about the a*******n or anything about the game in general.

”…something else came up” she said instead.

”Ok, well I’m glad you’re ok. So, have you guys done it yet?”

”Wow, you waste no time, do you?”

”Come on, I’m curious!”

”Ok, well, no we haven’t. I mean not me and Luke.”

Matilda was quiet for a few seconds.

”What do you mean? You did it with someone else?”

”Maybe?”

”Wow, I did not see that coming.”

”I know. It’s weird right? I just got so tired of the whole thing and an opportunity presented itself.”

”So, who then?”

”There’s this guy who is also a part of the game sort of, and we hung out one evening and got to talking. Before I knew it we were in his hotel room.”

”Ok, ok, so how was it?”

”I mean, I don’t have any frame of reference but I think he really knew what he was doing.”

”You enjoyed yourself then?”

”Very much!”

”Are you gonna see him again?”

”I don’t know, things have sort of… changed since then, so I might not see him again ever.”

Kesia realized this as she said it. Since they didn’t know who John and Keren were anymore they might not run in to them again. Actually, almost everything had changed during the last 24 hours.

”That’s too bad” said Matilda. ”What does Luke think about the whole thing?”

”He doesn’t know about it.”

”Oh, you’re not gonna tell him?”

”Why would I? My virginity is none of his business really. I mean, he definitely made it his business but I never asked him to. I don’t have to tell him anything.”

”Wow, you sound upset with him or something?”

”Well, yes, I have reason to be upset with him.”

”Why?”

”I can’t really talk about it…”

”Right. I hate that we can’t talk about things.”

”I know, me too. When this is all over and I’m back at home, I will tell you everything.”

”I’m looking forward to it!”

Luke suddenly appeared with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

”I have to go” said Kesia to Matilda.

”Ok, call soon again.”

They hung up and Kesia looked at Luke.

”Where were you?” he asked her.

”I just went down to eat some breakfast. Since our seekers has been detained we have a rare opportunity to do things separately and out in the open.”

Luke nodded.

”That’s right” he said and walked back into the bedroom to put some clothes on. ”Who were you talking to?” he continued.

”Matilda. I was about to call her last night right before you had me abducted, remember?”

”Right. We should probably talk more about that” answered Luke.

”No” said Kesia, ”I don’t need to talk about it. I understand why you did it and you probably understand why I can never trust you again or be intimate with you. There is nothing you can say to change that, so, no, we don’t have to talk about it.”

Luke appeared again, half-dressed and looking like a question mark.

”You will never trust me again?”

”Of course not, Luke. If you are willing to go through such length for the game, like using me as a pawn, I will never fully know what you are capable of. Thus, no trust.”

Luke sighed and looked a little hurt. Kesia felt no empathy whatsoever. She just scoffed at him.

”Oh, please, you must have known that was going to happen!”

”No, I thought…” he stopped himself.

”What? You thought I wouldn’t figure out that it was you and not the seekers? How dumb do you think I am!”

”No, you’re not dumb! I was just sloppy, that’s all. I shouldn’t have picked you up but I wanted to make sure you were ok, so I did. That’s how you figured it out.”

”Well, yes…”

Kesia felt empathy starting to take shape inside of her in spite of the anger she still felt towards Luke. This annoyed her immensely. And it was terribly confusing. She stood up from the couch.

”Let’s just pack our things and then start thinking about where we are going to have lunch” she said and passed Luke to get to the bedroom. He grabbed her arm as she passed.

”Is there no way to win back your trust?”

”If my trust was so important to you, why then did you do it?”

Luke looked at her, trying to find a good answer. He seemed to fail because he let go of her arm and looked down. Again, Kesia felt bad for him. He reminded her of a sad dog. Kesia opened the wardrobe and took out her suitcase. Without folding very carefully, she started collecting her clothes and stuffed them into the bag. Luke eventually started doing the same thing. They were both very quiet but the silence were deafening to Kesia and she really wanted to get out of the hotel room as soon as possible.