Chapter 16
Elena
I felt like it was a nightmare in my sleep. This couldn’t be happening to me again!
I realized that I had been knocked out cold, and this time when I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in a motel room. Instead, I was in the storage room of the gambling bar that the Snake Skulls had always hung out in. I recognized the room from my childhood. It was the place that Papi never allowed me to peep into.
I’d heard screams coming from this room, and I knew Papi did bad things here. To people who disrespected him, or went against him. Now, it was me who was tied up to a chair and left here. How had my life come to this? Juan had confirmed it now, Papi was the one who had brought this upon me.
I pulled at my hands, but they didn’t give way. Whoever had tied my hands together behind my back had done a pretty good job. I could feel the rope burning and chaffing my skin the harder I pulled, and I cried out, in agony.
They had left me on a chair, too hard and too uncomfortable, and I had no idea how long I’d been captive here. It could have been a couple of hours, or it could have been a day. I was hungry and tired and my wrists hurt.
I was still wearing the yellow dress; I saw when I looked down at my lap. The yellow dress I had bought for church, the one I had selected just because I wanted to see the glimmer in Ace’s eyes when he saw me in it. When I thought of him, I knew I didn’t want to give up so easily. I still had some fight left in me.
I looked about the room, hoping I could find some way to get out of this place, but it seemed unlikely. Just one low hanging bulb swayed in the room, throwing a pale-yellow light around, while most of the corners were shrouded in shadows.
The walls were disintegrating, and there was a horrid stench of damp wetness. I could hear the trickle of drops of water falling from the ceiling somewhere and collecting in a bucket that someone had thoughtfully placed under it. The dripping contributed to the damp stench in the room, and I gulped. The floor was dirty, the walls looked slimy, and the loud voices of people and a hum of grunge music echoed in the room.
There were people outside. They were probably members of the Snake Skulls gang. I knew it was a gambling bar, and I had an idea of what the scene outside this room would look like. Shifters and humans from the gang, gathered around gambling tables, watching and playing and sloshing drinks down their throats. Juan and his cronies were resting easy in the knowledge that they had me tied now, that I wouldn’t be able to make it out of here.
I tugged at the rope again, and once again, it seared my skin, and I winced. Chances of me getting my hands to slip out of the confines were very little. So, I hurled myself forward instead. If only I could crawl over enough to the door and use the handle on the door to cut through the rope? It was an impossible task to undertake, but I had to try something. I couldn’t just wait around here for Juan to come back and do with me as he pleased.
I fell forward on the dirty, grimy floor, the chair falling with me because my arms were still tied around it. I groaned when my cheek hit the concrete, and I pressed my eyes closed from the pain. The floor was reverberating with the sounds of the thumping music outside. But the only thing I could hear was Ace’s voice. His reassuring words. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing; I knew that it wouldn’t take him long to get into action and look for me. Eventually, he would find me. Eventually, he would think of looking in Club Blanco, and then Juan and his gang would have no chance against the Roarin’ Rebels.
The door of the storage room creaked open, and I held my breath. I couldn’t twist my head up enough to look at who was coming in, but I was already bracing myself for an attack.
“Well well, look who's woken up from their beauty sleep,” it was Juan’s voice, and he sounded as menacing as ever. I knew he always hated Papi, even when he was younger and worked as one of the fighters in the ring. He was a bear shifter, but a black bear, smaller than the other kinds. He got beat a lot and in return he would beat on the younger cubs, kids he could win against. It was more than just a handful of times that Papi had beaten him for being disrespectful. So, it was no surprise, which Juan was thrilling in his torturing of me. He had waited a long time to stick it to my father and now was his chance. And Papi had happily obliged.
I struggled against my bonds again, to no effect, and I heard the crunch of his boots as he took a few steps towards me.
“The best idea for you, beautiful Elena, would be just to stop fighting and accept what’s going to happen to you. It will be the least painful option for you,” he said, and his shoe came into my sight. I still had my cheek pressed to the floor, my nostrils flared with rage. If he was going to rape me or kill me or hurt me…I wasn’t going to let him do it without putting up a fight.
“Screw you, Juan! You’re nothing but a weak loser!” I screamed, and the sound of his shrill laughter rang out in the room, the sound bounced off the walls.
Then he bent forward, hovering his face right over mine. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could sense his every movement.
“Your choice of abuses is very cute, Elena…so typical of the Luis family, you can’t even instill fear in my heart without cracking me up,” he hissed and laughed some more.
“Your battle is with Papi, take it out on him and leave me out of it. Hurting me will not hurt him. He gave me up willingly, so what else do you have to gain?” I screeched, cutting his laughter short.
I heard him crack his knuckles and the sound made my heart stop beating for a moment.
“You don’t get it do you, sweetheart? He gave you up for a particular reason. So that he could pay off his debt to me. I’m going to make excellent money on the market when I sell you. Such a beautiful face, a flawless body and those curves…” he continued and whistled like a hungry wolf.
My breath ran out, and I could feel myself going cold. I knew exactly what he was talking about. The Snake Skulls were going to sell me in the flesh market; they were going to make money from putting me into prostitution.
I screamed again, and this time, Juan fisted a bunch of my hair and lifted me off the ground, including the chair that I had my arms tied around.
“Stop screaming, Elena, nobody is going to hear you,” he hissed in my ear. I was in pain, and I couldn’t stop kicking my legs around, and he crashed me down on the floor, my ass bouncing off the chair as he did. I couldn’t help but scream, and Juan’s slap landed with a sting across my cheek.
“Shut up. Stop whining like a little bitch. Just shut up and deal with what your father is doing to you!” Juan was growling, right up at my face and I glared back at him. Tears were streaming down my eyes and it felt like every inch of my body was hurting, every cell in my body was on fire. If I could inch just a little closer to him, then I’d rip his veins out with just my teeth.
“Be a good girl, and I might just initiate you into the business myself. Believe me, you can’t ask for a better first, then me,” he said and his face stretched in a smile again. I spat at him, the spittle landing straight on his cheek and with one forefinger, he wiped it off his face.
He punched me, this time toppling me and the chair over and I was on the floor once again. Just then, we heard a sudden uproar outside. My breathing quickened. Something was going on outside. I didn’t have to look at Juan to know that he heard it too.
“It’ll just have to wait then. Don’t go anywhere,” he said and still laughing, I heard the crunching sounds of his shoes as he walked away from me and out of the door.
I was alone once again, and I tried to concentrate on the sounds outside. My heart was beating fast, and I couldn’t stop imagining that it was Ace. That he had found me. I was going to be safe.