They always say when things are going well, it’s too good to be true. I should’ve known. I should’ve listened to my gut reaction. I was too happy. I was too fucking happy. I looked over at the water that dripped on the floor, finally able to move. My body was screaming in agony. Where was Abby? Was she hurt? What did they do to her? I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, but I didn’t have time for that.
Just a few hours ago, we were out having a good time, and then everything imploded.
“Are you enjoy your girls’ day?”
Abby looked up at me and grinned. “This is the best day ever. I love the sparkly purple nail polish.”
I smiled, admiring her new shiny nails. “Me too. I didn’t take you for purple. Pink maybe, but not purple.”
She frowned. “I hate pink and everything it stands for.” I laughed at the disgusted look she gave me.
“Well, purple definitely looks beautiful on you. What do you say we head home; the boys should be back from their men’s day?” I smiled, thinking how Noah convinced Grayson to don a Thor cape as they went out to “Avenge” stuff. I looked back over my shoulder. All day, I felt like something was off, and I had that feeling again. I felt a yank on my arm.
“Can we?”
“Can we what, sweetie?”
“Can we stop in here and look?”
I looked at the store window. I really just wanted to get home where it was safe. “Maybe we should just head home, Abby.”
“Please, just a few minutes.” I sighed and looked around us.
“Fine, just a few minutes, okay; then we’re going back home.” We stepped in the store that was full of colored costume jewelry, all arranged by color. “Stay close by.” She nodded as she went to the next aisle to browse.
I was looking at a turquoise scarf and the lady in front of me bumped into me. “I’m so sorry,” I said, moving out of her way. She turned around, and I gasped.
“Ashley?”
“Fancy meeting you here, Emmalin.”
I was shocked. I haven’t seen her since the charity gala almost a year ago. Then I remembered how Grayson told me she snuck into his room at Tesh. I looked her up and down; she was dressed in all black. Black top, black pants, and a black hoodie. Very unlike her, from what I remembered. I didn’t even think she owned pants, let alone clothes like these.
“What are you doing here?”
She reached out and grabbed the scarf I was looking at. “Not your color, dear,” she tsked. Before I had time to simply turn around and walk away, I felt a prick in my neck, followed by a brief amount of pressure. It all happened so quickly, I almost didn’t have time to respond. I reached up and grabbed my neck. I saw Ashley smile as a person came from behind me.
Carson.
I stared at him in shock as he stood next to Ashley, smiling. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t move. As in, I physically couldn’t move or talk. Whatever he gave me acted fast. I could feel my pulse racing, and yet I couldn’t move. It was if my body was becoming paralyzed.
“Hey, Emme, did you find anything?” Shit, Abby.
Ashley crouched down in front of her. “I don’t think she feels very well, dear.”
Abby looked from Ashley to me, and I just stood there. “She’s diabetic. My uncle taught me what to do.”
“Did he now? You’re a very smart young lady to know all of that. And you know what? I’m very, very good friends with your uncle too, and I talked to him. He asked if we would take you guys to a safe place until Emmalin felt better.”
Abby reached up and grabbed my hand. I couldn’t even feel her hand. “Are you okay? Don’t be scared.” I stared into her eyes and tried pleading with her to run, to call for help. I just needed her to run. They can take me but not her. God, please not her. Carson walked over and picked me up.
Ashley took Abby’s hand. I wanted to scream out, ‘Don’t fucking touch her!’, but I couldn’t even do that. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure she feels all better.”
I jumped at a noise somewhere. I looked around the room. It was dark, musky, and I was on some old stained thin mattress on the floor. Over in the far corner was my bag. My bag! My gun was still in there. I just had to hope they didn’t find it. I tried moving off the mattress and going to it, now noticing the chains around my wrists, latched to the floor. Fuck. I pulled on the chains, then pulled harder. They wouldn’t budge, no matter what I did. I felt tears gather behind my eyes, but I wasn’t going to let them fall. I wasn’t going to give up.
The room started to rumble, and I looked around, then up at the ceiling. We were underground somewhere, beneath a subway. Fuck, we could be anywhere in Chicago. The door made a loud noise and slowly opened, and I backed up and guarded myself against the wall. Carson walked in with a chair, and shut the door behind him.
“Good, you’re up.”
I glared at him. “Where’s Abby?”
He sighed. “No hi, how are you, bro, good to see you?”
“Where the fuck is Abby?”
He rolled his eyes as he sat down in his chair. “She’s fine, being entertained for the moment. Whining about you.”
“If you hurt her, I swear to God...”
“Are you always this dramatic? Fuck, I’m glad I didn’t have to grow up with you.” He rubbed his face. “So, let’s talk. I believe you owe me some money. I know, I know, I was supposed to collect weeks ago. I’ve been busy, but then again so have you, haven’t you?” He gave me wide grin. “I told you not to open your mouth about me, but you didn’t listen, now did you, so I made you pay for it. Bet you didn’t think I would keep my word about killing those close to you, did you?” He let out a loud boisterous laugh. “You can thank Ashley for the murder of Tyler, though, that was her doing. Well, it was mine, but she got the vehicle.”
I stared at him as he rambled on, basically patting himself on the back, like he was genuinely proud of himself. Tears pricked my eyes. He was supposed to be dead. Grayson said he was dead. Why wasn’t he dead?
“Hey! Pay the fuck attention; this is important.” He snapped his fingers in front of me before hitting me hard across the face, and I fell forward. With my hands still chained, I could barely brace myself before the impact. He climbed up behind me, pushing my dress up, and I squeezed my legs shut. “I think maybe I need to get your attention in other ways.” I started screaming as I tried pushing him off of me, but his weight was too heavy. “If you don’t stay the fuck still, I will go upstairs right now and bring her down here and make her watch. Is that what you want?”
Tears were streaming down my face. “Carson, please.” He banged my head on the cement floor, then lifted me up to look at him. “I said, is that what you want?” Blood started to gush into my eye, and I tried to rub it away with my forearm. “I’ll make it easier for you. I can bring her down here, and make her watch us. I can kill her right in front of you, or I can simply fuck you. Which is it?” He pressed his erection into my back, and I felt myself dry heave. His grip on my hair tightened.
I shut my eyes.
“Do whatever you want to me,” I finally choked out. Tears fell down my cheeks as his tongue licked the side of my face.
***
Unjust
Destroyed.
Damaged.
Shattered.
Cracked.
Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, Who am I to Disagree?
Travel the World and the Seven Seas. Everybody’s looking for something.
That song kept playing on repeat. And not even the original version, the remade Marilyn Manson version. I tried taking a deep breath, but everything hurt. Everything always hurt.
I wanna use you and abuse you, I wanna know what’s inside you. Hold your head up, Movin on, Keep your head up, Movin on
I looked down at my white linen dress Abby picked out this morning. She wanted to match. It wasn’t white anymore. It was covered in blood. I doubled over as another sharp pain came through, and more blood seeped from between my legs onto the dress. Right before Carson left, he delivered a sharp blow from his steel-toed boot to my abdomen. Breathing was starting to become a struggle. But Abby’s safe. I stared at my bag still in the corner, untouched. I needed to get to my bag.
The music suddenly stopped. The door creaked open, and I shielded myself. Please don’t let it be Abby. She can’t see me like this. I heard a gasp. I looked up at the door and was glad it wasn’t Abby. Ashley stood there with her mouth covered, and she quickly closed the door.
She shook her head as she looked me over. “He took it too far. He wasn’t supposed to take it this far.” She walked over to me, and I started to cower away.
“Where’s Abby? Is she okay; is she hurt?”
“She’s fine. She thinks you’re sleeping.” She took a hesitant step toward me. “He left. He said he had to get something, but he wasn’t supposed to take it this far, I swear. We were just supposed to get the money and leave. That’s it, I swear.”
I cried out as she tried to help me sit up. “Just money? Did you know he killed my best friend, Ashley? Did you know you helped him do that? All for seven million dollars? How far would that have gotten you?”
She grimaced. “Shit, this is so fucked up.” She stood there, looking conflicted. “I thought we were going after Grayson for money, that’s why I got those pictures. They were to blackmail him for money, but he kept mentioning you, and half the time, I didn’t know what he was talking about.”
I tried focusing on Ashley and her hysterics but at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was losing too much blood. I could feel my sugar level was getting low, but I still needed to get Abby safe. “Ashley. Can you get me out of here?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have the key for those.” She pointed to the chains. I leaned up against the wall, tears welling in my eyes. I can at least save one of us. I tried taking another deep breath, as a sharp pain sliced through me again.
I turned toward Ashley. “Can you at least get Abby out of here? Can you at least do that? Can you help me save her? Take her back to Grayson. Please? I can’t have him hurting her.” She nodded then headed for the door.
“Ashley, before you go, hand me that bag.”