Free The Doctor Is In by Carl Weber

she wouldn’t just walk away from him, she thought, but then she realized that her behavior the day before might have actually given him reason to doubt her.
    She was worried now that her uncomfortable response to his proposal might actually be enough for him to believe all the things Voncile had made her write in the letter. The truth was that she had just wanted a little more time to talk though her trust issues before she committed herself fully to the idea of marriage. Also, she had been keeping a secret from Kasen for a while, and she didn’t want to get married before she cleared the air about Omar.
    Omar had been trying to push up on Raine for years, and she had never told Kasen about it. That was his best friend, and she figured as long as she kept Omar in check, there was no need to hurt Kasen’s feelings by telling him. But Omar had become more aggressive lately. He begged her to be with him, and when that didn’t work, he started making threats. He also kept insisting that Kasen was being unfaithful to her, and said he had photographic proof of Kasen’s ongoing affairs. Raine was smart enough to be skeptical, but a small part of her wondered if it could be true, so she held off telling Kasen about it until she was sure Omar was lying.
    When Kasen had proposed, she was taken by surprise, and she felt a little stuck. She wasn’t sure how to address the issue of his possible cheating with Kasen. After having kept it a secret for so long, she didn’t feel like she could just blurt out in that moment that Omar was stirring up so much trouble behind the scenes. She needed some time to clear her head and process the whole thing, so that she could decide how she wanted to break the news to Kasen. When she got home, she poured herself a glass of wine and looked through old pictures of her and Kasen together. Each picture reminded her of a beautiful and loving time they’d had together, and the more she saw, the more she realized that this man truly loved her. She finally realized that Omar had been lying, and when Kasen came home, she was going to tell him everything. Then they could go forward with their wedding plans, and she could become Mrs. Kasen Phillips. Instead, she had ended up in this house, on the brink of losing her mind. She hadn’t seen Omar yet, but she was sure that he was someway or somehow involved in this too.
    Voncile came back into the room, wearing a comfortable housecoat and smelling like fresh peaches from taking a shower. She pinched her nose as she entered the room then looked at Raine, who was still in the corner, trying to free her hands from the tight rope.
    “Girl, forget it,” Voncile said. “You’re wasting your time. Those ropes aren’t going anywhere, and even if you do manage to get them off, there is no way in hell that I’m gonna allow you to leave here.”
    In an attempt to intimidate Raine, Voncile sat directly in front of her with her legs crossed yoga-style. She untied the cloth from around Raine’s mouth, watching Raine as she moved her stiff mouth in circles.
    “What do you want from me?” Raine asked tearfully. “How long are you planning on keeping me here like this?”
    Voncile shrugged. “Hopefully not too much longer, but we’ll see. Are you hungry?”
    Raine didn’t answer as she narrowed her eyes and silently cursed Voncile in her head. That look cost Raine a hard slap across the face. Her head jerked to the side, and her hair shifted into another style from the force of the blow. Voncile pointed her finger at the tip of Raine’s nose, speaking through clenched teeth.
    “Don’t you dare look at me like that. And when I ask you a question, you need to answer. So, let me try this again. Are you hungry?”
    Raine’s head remained lowered. She had no idea that Voncile was capable of doing something like this. She wondered how far Voncile was willing to go.
    “Yes,” Raine said in a soft tone. “Yes, I am hungry.”
    “It’s late, but I’m thinking