CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Cat
It was hot. So fucking hot that I was dying from lack of water. At least that was what I’d thought. It felt as though my body was shutting down. I was tired, hungry, thirsty, scared. Everything was wrong, and my body didn’t realize that it needed to keep all the water in because I wasn’t getting food or water.
“How long have you been here?” I asked a redhead who was dressed in shorts and a tank top. She was only one of the many in the cage. I had no idea how many of us there were, but there were a lot of scared women.
“Three days. I think.”
“And you?” I asked a brunette.
“I’ve lost count.”
My body began to shake. This couldn’t be happening. What did they want from us? No one had come to take any of us away. All they did was add more girls to the giant cage in a warehouse. They never brought food or water. We didn’t have anything to sit or lay on except the hard ground. Sometimes I would press my cheek to the cool cement floor, trying to cool my body down. I didn’t care or think about what could be on the ground. All I knew was I was searching for comfort the only way I could think of.
“Have they brought you any food or water?”
They nodded and Three Day Girl said, “They bring us water and food once a day.”
“I wouldn’t call it food,” Lost Track of Time said.
A metal door in the far corner of the warehouse opened, and five men walked in carrying white buckets. “It’s your lucky day bitches,” one of them yelled.
How was being locked in a cage lucky? How was getting kidnapped lucky? Were we lucky because they weren’t beating or raping us? I didn’t find it lucky at all. It was my worst nightmare come true. Seth had put me in a taxi to go home where I’d wait for him to visit, and then we could be together. Now I was kidnapped, and if I didn’t figure out how to get out of here, I would never see him again. I would never see anyone I loved again: Seth, my parents, Joss, Hannah, or Nathan.
One man unlocked and opened the cage door while the other four men walked in behind him. All of them were carrying white buckets and had guns strapped in holsters. I swallowed my fear.
“Food and water,” Lost Track of Time said.
Yes, I needed water bad. I didn’t care that I’d been here only a few hours—or maybe a day—hell, was it more? There were no windows, so I couldn’t tell if the sun had ever set or risen for that matter. And I hadn’t slept a wink. There was no way I was closing my eyes for one second because things happen when you sleep. Scary things. Bad things.
“Be good little whores and eat and drink up. You’re gonna need your energy tonight.”
My heart sank. Did that mean what I thought it meant?
No.
No. No.
No. No. No. No. No!
All the girls looked normal. They looked like me. Someone who had come to Vegas for fun. I’d always thought a prostitute made that decision and they dressed a different way, acted a different way, even talked a different way. But these girls were terrified. We were all prisoners, locked in a cage. And if we tried to run, I had no doubt we’d be shot.
When they placed the buckets down, we rushed to them. Inside one was water, and the other had what looked like day old dog food soaked in water. It smelled like shit too. I knew a person could go three weeks without food. Hopefully, by then, I would be dead because I would rather die than stay in this hell hole or go to Mexico. I didn’t even know what that meant. Were we being sold as slaves? Trafficked? I didn’t know, but it scared the shit out of me. Then I thought about Joss and how she was sold but got away. Was this the case she and Seth were working on? If it was, would they find me before it was too late? Before I was sent to Mexico?
As the minutes ticked by—hours—time unknown, I was trying not to show fear. But really, I was freaking the fuck out. What would happen tonight? Would we be put in a truck like a moving truck and drive to Mexico? Was Bryce behind this? Would I recognize Bryce after all these years? Was that Bryce who came in earlier telling us that we needed energy tonight? What did that mean? Why did we need energy if we were being sent to Mexico?
I had so many questions running through my head. Questions I needed the answers to sooner rather than later.
But what if it was too late?
“All right, bitches. It’s time for your show!” I jumped at the man’s voice. Once again, men were walking through the metal door at the far end of the warehouse. “Be good little whores and strip down to your bra and panties.” He laughed. “And if you’re not wearing any … Well, that’s even better.”
God, when would this nightmare be over with?
“I’m not a whore!” a girl at the front of the cage yelled.
The man walked to the fence of the cage. “What did you say?”
“I’m not a whore. I’m a doctor.”
I heard him chuckle. “Anyone can be a whore, bitch. All you gotta do is spread your legs and let the man take over.”
“No!” she yelled back.
I swallowed hard as I watched the exchange. I couldn’t tell what she looked like other than she had dirty blonde hair because her back was to me. Though, after all this, all of us were dirty.
The man unlocked the cage, swung the door open and hissed, “What did you say?”
“You can’t make me—”
I jumped at the sound of his palm connecting with her face. “We can make you do whatever the fuck we want, bitch. You belong to the Martinez family now, do I make myself clear?” She nodded, and then the man snapped his fingers, and another man handed him a syringe. “Since you’re a doctor, I’m sure you know what I’m about to do.” I flinched as he jabbed the needle in her arm and she slumped in his arms. He threw her limp body to the ground and asked, “Does anyone else want to object to what we have planned for tonight?”
No one said anything.
“Good. Now take your fucking clothes off and get in a single file line. When I come back, you will look down at the floor and follow me. You are not to look up or make eye contact. If someone wants to take you for a ride, you let them. But know this, we’re watching. If you fuck up, I’ll do more than hit you.”