Michelle
I stood, ready to greet Eric when he came through the door.
Mac was right. I had to stop telling myself all the reasons we couldn’t work out and start focusing on all the reasons why we could. His goodness, his kindness. The part of himself he did his best to hide. He couldn’t hide it from me. At the end of the day, that was all that mattered. The way he treated me, and the way I felt when we were together. Not his record or his gang. We would find a way around that together.
The doorknob rattled. I frowned and instinctively moved toward it to open the door for him. Must have forgotten his key, I thought. Then I stopped myself. How could he have gotten back without his keys in the bike’s ignition?
It all went through my head in an instant, and I knew it wasn’t Eric even before the door burst open and I was face-to-face with the man who held the gun to my head in the van.
A low moan escaped my mouth as I scrambled away from him. I turned to bolt for the back door, but that door was being forced open as well. I changed course, my feet flying before I could think. I dashed up the stairs, hands grabbing at the steps above me as I fled. I heard their footsteps below me, the sounds of their laughter. They knew I couldn’t get away. So did I.
I went to the bedroom, army crawling beneath the bed. I’d dropped my phone on the couch when I stood up. Shit! I couldn’t even call the police. Terror washed over me, filling every part of me, and my brain screamed in panic. There was nowhere to go.
Where the hell were Joe and Pete? Didn’t they know this was happening? Had they taken a break? Oh God—what if they were dead? I covered my mouth with my hands to stifle a whimper. I was truly all alone.
Footsteps on the stairs. They were tormenting me, drawing it out. I kept my mouth covered, struggling to control myself. All I could do was pray they’d get distracted, or that Joe and Pete were only unconscious and would come to and rescue me. Or that Eric would come home early, and they would run.
Eric. Where was he? No way they would let him catch up with him this time. I couldn’t stop shaking, and the louder the footsteps, the harder I shook.
I saw black leather work boots in the doorway. They stayed there for a moment, then went further down the hall. He was starting at the end and working his way down to me.
A weapon. Was there anything around here? Anything I could use? I closed my eyes and thought hard, going through the room in my head. It was fairly uncluttered—there was nothing I could remember.
He searched the bathroom. I heard the shower curtain open. Then the guest bedroom. I barely held back my sobs as he searched the closet. He was toying with me, and I hated him so much for it.
Finally, more footsteps. The work boots appeared again in the doorway. I held my breath. Please come home, Eric. Please come. Please. Help me.
“Where are you?” The voice was low, a sing-song. I closed my eyes and sobbed helplessly. It was pointless to try to fight him. I was only drawing out the inevitable.
He sat on the bed, and it sagged down toward me. He had me trapped, and wanted me to know he had me trapped.
“You got away last time, but your boyfriend’s not here, is he? Those two assholes outside won’t help either. They’re both taking a nap in the yard. They’ll have pretty bad headaches when they wake up.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“So it looks like it’s just us, little lady. Either you come out from wherever you’re hiding yourself, or I pull you out. You won’t like it when I pull you out.”
My body froze in place. My muscles just wouldn’t move. My eyes were still closed, my hand over my mouth, and I wished one more time that Eric would come to save me.
He didn’t. The man in the work boots slid to the floor, on his hands and knees, and looked at me. “Come on out,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.”
I stifled another sob and worked my way out. I didn’t want him to grab at me, to force me. I knew he was for real when he said he would hurt me otherwise.
I stood, and he took me by the arms. “Nice to see you again,” he growled, pulling me close to him like a lover pulling his woman to him for a kiss. I shrank away from him, recoiling in horror. His breath reeked of liquor and cigarettes and sour food.
I heard footsteps behind me and an instant later, stars exploded behind my closed eyes as someone hit me over the head. Everything went black.
###
When I came to, I was in a small, dark place. I was rocking back and forth gently, almost soothingly. At first, I wanted to close my eyes again and let the rocking motion lull me to sleep.
Then I remembered. Everything came back to me at once, including a pain in the back of my head. I winced, touching my hand to it. My hands were free—that was something at least.
I was in the trunk of a car. That was why I rocked back and forth. It was better than the back of a van, surrounded by lecherous pigs. But not much better. At least in the van I could breathe when I wasn’t on the verge of hyperventilating.
What was the game this time? Vengeance for me getting away? Or was Gareth as obsessed as Eric made him sound? He was determined to hurt me, or to hurt Eric. No matter what it took, he was going to get what he wanted. Whatever that was.
Would he kill me right away? I shook myself, unable to believe I could have such a terrible thought with a complete absence of emotion. It was just a fact at this point. They kidnapped me and they would do what they wanted. I hoped it wouldn’t take long.
I realized I was counting on Eric saving me right away, like he had before. That was why none of it seemed real, why I could think about them killing me without being horrified. I didn’t even feel like I was about to cry. Nothing registered. I was numb. Because I couldn’t completely believe it was all for real. I held on to the belief that Eric would come for me.
That’s probably not going to happen this time, I told myself. I had to get used to the idea that I was on my own. Gareth would be more careful now. He wouldn’t make it so easy. If nothing else, he seemed like the type who learned from his mistakes. It had been a mistake to make it so easy for Eric to catch up with the van after the first couple of idiots tried to get away with me. This time they hadn’t snatched me from the middle of the street. Joe and Pete were unconscious or worse, going from what the one guy said about them having headaches when they woke up. Nobody would be able to tell Eric where I was or even how long it had been since Gareth’s crew took me. It was a much more solid plan.
I had to start coming up with my own plan, then. I had to take control of my fate if Eric couldn’t help me. I ran through a list of possibilities in my head as the car bounced and bumped along, flinging me to and fro. They clearly didn’t care about me arriving unbruised.
I could pretend I didn’t like Eric, that he was holding me for the money. That I would otherwise not want to spend a minute with him. I would have to get back in touch with the old me, which sounded funny seeing as how it was the “me” from a day earlier, or maybe a day and a half. Everything had happened so fast. I’d gone from hating Eric for playing games with me to wanting him in my life for good.
Was I good enough to pull it off? I thought I was, considering how dire the situation seemed to be. I would do just about anything to get out of there with my life…without them hurting me.
But would he care, this Gareth person? Or would he see it for the tissue-thin plot it was? Just another thing I’d seen on TV that I hoped would work in real life.
It was worth a shot. I didn’t have anything else. I was sure any of them could overpower me. I wasn’t about to use my sexuality in any way—I couldn’t imagine seducing any of them, and I hadn’t met them all yet. Besides, considering that I’d been a virgin only days earlier, Gareth would see through that, too. I wasn’t experienced enough to plausibly seduce any of them.
I couldn’t help whimpering when the car came to a stop. This was it. I had to get control of myself. No way I could let them have the upper hand on me.
Please come, Eric, I thought. Otherwise, it was up to me. Please, God, help me. How many times had I prayed for help since Mom got sick? More times than I could count. Funny the things you think about when you’re trying to hold a panic attack at bay.
The doors to the car opened and slammed shut. I closed my eyes tight, bracing myself for the sound of the key in the lock. I didn’t know if I should pretend to be unconscious or what. They might not want me to know where we are. But if I was unconscious, it gave them free reign to do what they wanted with me—like when one of them would have to lift me out of the trunk, for instance. Bile rose in my throat and I opened my eyes. I would stare them down. I wouldn’t give the sadists the satisfaction of knowing they terrified me.
The trunk opened, and I was face-to-face with my new best friend.
“Oh, you’re awake,” he said with a grin.
“Yeah, and you’re still alive. Disappointing.”
He smirked. “Nice, thinking you can be a smartass like that. You think your boyfriend’s gonna come save you. Is that it?”
No better time to start than the present. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Whatever you say.” He took me by the arm and pulled me out of the trunk. I was a little unsteady, and my head throbbed like hell, but I did my best to keep my composure. I looked around. We were in back of a building, sort of nondescript. I heard traffic nearby, though, coming around all directions. We were in town somewhere. It surprised me. I thought for sure they would have taken me out to the woods or some remote place.
“Come on.” Fingers dug into my bicep until I yelped as he pulled me into the building.
“Where the hell are we?” I asked, looking around.
“None of your business.” He shoved me into a chair in a tiny room.
“Funny. I think it is my business. You kidnapped me. Remember?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t give you rights or anything. Get over yourself.” He sneered and stepped back, leaning against the doorframe leading to a hallway. The walls were plain drywall, reminding me of the way the warehouse was refurbished for the auction. There were a lot of voices coming from all around me. I wondered if this was the gang’s headquarters, or whatever they called it. My blood ran cold at the thought of being alone with dozens of men, all of whom were enemies of Eric and his club.
My friend smiled nastily. “Finally understanding what’s happening, huh?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I know what’s happening. Your boss is too much of a coward to face Eric on his own, so he wants to use me to lure him in.”
“Very smart.” It was another voice, and my friend stepped aside to reveal a man I knew had to be Gareth. He was as greasy and disgusting as I’d pictured him in my head—maybe even more so. “You understand how you fit into all this.”
“I understand how you think I fit into all of it. But you’re wrong.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s right. Beg for your life. Keep it up.”
“I’m not begging for my life. I’m trying to set you straight. Eric doesn’t give a damn about me, and I sure as hell don’t give a damn about him.”
“So that’s why he went after you yesterday? And why he had guards on you today at his house?” He laughed again, adding, “Like that mattered.”
I shuddered. “He only wanted to protect his investment. And he can go to hell as far as I’m concerned.”
Gareth’s eyebrows arched. “Oh? Why’s that?”
“Because he hasn’t given me the damn money yet. He’s holding it over my head, even though he knows I need it. He’s so pathetic, he won’t let me go. And he knows how much I need it. He’s sad.”
I could tell this made Gareth happy. “He’s just as big a punk as I always knew he was. Don’t you worry. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
It wasn’t going the way I wanted it to. “So, really, if you just want him, I don’t need to be here. Just tell him I’m here. I’ll leave and never come back. I’ll go home. My mom’s dying. I have to be with her.”
He nodded. “I know all about your poor mother,” he said. “I make it my job to know things. I asked myself, why would she have left his house? Why would she sneak off the way she did? It didn’t take long to find out. I’m sorry to hear she’s sick, and you’ve been taking care of her.”
Something about the way he spoke made my skin crawl. He wasn’t sincere. He was screwing with me, trying to break me down. There wasn’t a human bone in his body, I realized. People didn’t matter to him. I didn’t know what did, I just knew that he had no empathy. Classic sociopath.
Instead of leaping out of the chair and clawing his eyes out, I decided to act like I believed him. “Thank you.”
“I’m gonna place a little call to your boyfriend—sorry, to Eric—to let him know you’re here. You just missed him, actually. He’s probably on his way to his house now that one of my crew shot him.”
I gasped, and Gareth looked satisfied. “Right. You don’t care about him.” He walked out, laughing to himself and shaking his head. Before he got down the hall, he said, “Tie her up.”