by Lucy Rains
“I know you are angry,” he said. His deep voice rolled over me, wrapping me in warmth. “And sad.” He grabbed a chunk of hair and pulled the brush through again.
The tears I had been in control of resurfaced and spread over my eyes. My mouth stayed closed. There was no point in responding. It was harder to control my emotions welling up in my throat when I spoke.
He set down the brush and turned me around by my shoulders. “No one, nothing, has ever meant so much to me in my entire life.”
Damn his sentiments, and the emotions it created in me. I could no longer stop the tear from escaping my eyes. I went to rub it away but he caught my hand, wiping it away with his own.
“Because of this, I have never been so terrified of losing something. Not one of the guys, not my own life, nothing.”
I swallowed and nodded, showing him that understood what he was trying to tell me.
“You are mine,” he hissed through a tight jaw. His upper lip almost curling on the words. “And I will have you till the end.”
My chin lifted and I met his eyes, overwhelmed by his words and declarations. I let my hands trail up his arms and over his shoulders, feeling the thick muscles under his jersey t shirt.
He brought his hips closer to me, his eyes glancing down at my cleavage and then back into my eyes. I was getting ready to lean forward to meet his mouth when a bolt of pain shot through my abdomen.
I cried out in agony, my knees buckling. Gavin caught me before my head hit the counter and I crashed to the floor. A gush of warmth ran between my thighs and I doubled over in his arms.
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to gain control of my physical stance, hoping I could put myself in the bathtub before I made more of a mess. I tried grabbing onto the counter to stand up when another crushing blow hit me and rocked up through my spine.
Gavin began yelling for the others, lifting me in his arms. I caught sight of the dark stain on his jeans.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered, trying to wipe at the spot. My hands blurry through my tears.
“I don’t give a shit about my jeans, Jade,” Gavin’s voice rebuked me in his own angry, compassionate way.
There was movement all around me. Towels being wrapped around me, my body being shifted, my legs being wiped. The world around me became hazy, out of focus. I cried out again when another cramp clenched my insides. Tears fell from my eyes and I tried curling into myself.
More hands moved around me. I was transferred to someone else’s arms. The motion was too much for my body and the pain racing through it. I choked on a sob, the wind felt knocked from my lungs as the unbearable pain bit into every part of me. It was the last thing I remember before everything went black.
Chapter 24
Pain.
Suffocating.
Worry.
Darkness.
Hunger.
Crushing.
Fear.
More pain.
Darkness.
Hands on my face.
Hands on my back.
Dread.
Tears.
Gasping.
Darkness.
*******************
I didn’t know how much time had passed.
What day it was. Sometimes I didn’t know where I was when I awoke. Bouts of pain would pull me back under, only to resurface to the same pain.
Someone would give me water when I was conscious. Sometimes it was a thick chocolatey substance. I knew I was hungry but the pain rolling through me was blocking out any other sensations. My body shivered with cold. More pressure would be placed on top of me. Deep voices sounded around me. Their pitch low, their words agitated. I caught a few words before everything went black.
“When…enough.”
“Hospital...safe…”
“Can’t...I can’t…”
“... much longer…”
“Not safe…”
*******************
Frantic emotions.
Frenzied.
Anger.
Terror.
“Pierce!” someone shouted, jerking me awake.
My eyes cracked open and I tried lifting my head. I was still in the bathtub on top of someone.
Kyson.
I turned, gasping at the pain in my center. The crushing pressure that turned my insides. My eyes looked out the open bathroom door and I almost cried out again.
But not in pain.
Pierce’s head tilted up, his eyes closed. The picture of an oncoming threat.
“No,” I whimpered.
My body was lifted. Flying. A towel was thrust between my legs.
Low chatter, cursing, zippers moving. I was set on the bed as Kyson moved to grab his backpack.
“Worse fucking time,” Alex groweled in anger.
“Move your ass!” Gavin barked, “We take the stairs.”
The guys flew around the room with blinding speed and I was lifted again.
I wanted to help, wanted to walk, wanted to help with my energy. But it took everything within me not to cry out as I was lifted and moved. My body was in no shape to do anything but hold on.
How long would my towel last?
How fast would they be able to move with me incapacitated?
Who?
Who was coming for us?
I huddled into Kyson’s chest, grasping onto his shirt for stability as I was jostled in the speed of his movements.
Small cries escaped me as the guys took the stairs, and the motions jerked my stomach into torturous pain. My eyes burned again and I focused on breathing deeply to keep the tears away.
As a wave of pain settled within me, my sixth sense was awakened to the threat that pursued us.
“It’s coming,” I whispered.
No one stopped. No one acknowledged me.
I cleared my throat. “Coming!” I croaked. “It’s coming, someone…”
Kyson stopped, calling out to the others.
My hands moved to grab at the towel between my legs, not wanting to lose it in the midst of movement. I felt the warm blood already soaking through and I prayed it would hold.
The guys spoke quickly. The presence came closer.
“Closer!” I choked out. “Someone is close.” I pushed my focus on, feeling for the direction. “Below us.”
Words were exchanged and I flew forward rather than down more stairs. A door clicked open and I peered at our surroundings. A hallway lined with doors. Another row of hotel rooms. Alex and Gavin led in the front. The hall was deserted, the threat in my mind becoming subtle as we moved. We approached a silver service tray full of dirty dishes, and soiled linen napkins. The smell of old meat nauseated my senses. Alex reached out as we passed and grabbed something. It glinted as it went to his pocket.
“We can’t do elevators,” I whispered.
“We know,” Kyson said quietly.
A threat shot through my mind. “Someone is close,” I said again.
“Cover,” Pierce said from behind me.
All of the guys stopped and crouched low to the ground, their backs going against a wall. Footsteps sounded in front of us and a figure appeared around the corner of the hallway. Gavin raised his gun and held it in front of him. Letting off a single shot.
The figure fell to the floor and we began moving again. Faster this time. I gasped through a wave of pain, clawing at Kyson’s chest, biting at my lower lip. My body shook and he held me tighter.
More stairs, more cursing. I felt a presence but was too choked in my agony to be able to speak.
Pierce!
Which direction?
Both I think.
Kyson stopped moving suddenly and there was shouting. I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his chest. The ping of silencers echoing in the stairwell.
The sounds stopped suddenly, but the rush of fear flew through my mind.
Kyson wasn’t moving, wasn’t speaking.
Kyson was falling.
“Grab her!”
&nbs
p; But my body landed hard on top of Kyson as he fell to the ground and I screamed in pain. My hands shook, warmth spreading on my thighs. It was so cold without his arms around me.
I was lifted, gasping, my eyesight blurred and I struggled to remain conscious.
“It’s Zraa,” Alex stated, his voice close to my ears. Something was dropped to the ground. “Damn tranqs.”
“We can’t keep moving,” Gavin said.
“Let’s find a room,” Pierce said. “Gavin, grab their guns and their radios.”
“She’s bleeding out,” Alex said urgently.
My body became deadweight in Alex’s arms but he moved as though I weighed nothing. I was spun around and caught sight of Pierce lifting Kyson over his shoulder.
My mind became dark, my thoughts scattered as we moved. I couldn’t keep track of what was happening, only of struggling to remain awake. My back felt broken, my legs began to shake. My body was going into shock.
Fast steps, words, light and then dark rooms. Whispers. A rush of fabric. My body was set down, covered, the towel between my legs moved and replaced.
“What the hell are we going to do with all this blood?” Alex asked.
“Find a laundry bag,” Pierce ordered.
A straw was put to my lips and I struggled to drink. More water escaped around the edges of my mouth then down my throat.
“Try again,” Alex whispered.
I focused on tightening my lips and swallowed a mouthful.
Pain.
Movement.
Voices.
A hand on my forehead. “Hang in there princess.”
My eyes flew open as I felt the threat.
Pierce swearing loudly.
Gavin set something on my arm. It was hard. Cold. “Don’t make me regret this,” he whispered.
My eyes opened to narrow slits.
A gun.
I swallowed. Watched him leave the bathroom.
Shouting, banging. The high pitched sounds of silenced gunfire. Then silence.
I pushed myself up in the bathtub, trying to see outside the bathroom door. The room was the same layout as our previous one and the door to the hotel room was completely out of eyesight. I craned my neck, spotted something dark.
Shoes.
Pierce’s. Unmoving.
Pierce!
Tranquilizers.
Everyone? I asked.
Not Gavin. He has the shooter in control.
There was a low rumble of a voice, footsteps. I settled back into the towel filled bathtub and focused my hearing on what was being said.
My sixth sense was overwhelmed by their fear. Their hostility. My hands came to my head and I closed my eyes. A wave of pain rippled in me and I pushed a fist to my mouth.
A new voice in the room.
Fear turns to dread. Anger turns to rage.
Who is this person?
My hand wrapped around the gun and I pushed myself up with trembling arms, careful not to make any thumps to signal my presence within the bathroom.
“Where is she?!” the new voice yelled.
Gavin answered calmly, “What do you want Petrov?”
My body froze as I climbed out of the tub, waiting on the cold tile in shock.
Petrov?
My mind spun, realizing the incredible threat he posed to the guys. To me.
“Drop out of his mind, Gavin. Or I shoot Kyson.”
The click of a loaded weapon.
My heart skipped a million beats and I fought curling into a fetal position right then and there. Tears leaked from both eyes as I army crawled at a snail's pace along the tile floor. Warm liquid circled around my thighs but I ignored it. The pain was wrenching through my body, no longer centered in just my core. Knives were in my abdomen, twisting. Hot pokers in my spine. My head pounded at the onslaught of emotions mixed with my pain. I was forced to stop as my vision became spotty. My mouth hung open, panting softly.
“You will never have her,” Gavin growled. “Not her. Not us.”
“I own you,” Petrov hissed. “You belong to me!”
Gavin was distracting him, trying to make him lose focus.
Pierce was saying my name but I ignored him. Unable to focus on more than one thing at a time. I was trying to stay conscious, trying to work through the pain. My goal was to creep to the doorway. To get Petrov in my sight. To not make a noise through my pains.
I squinted in a grimace, pausing to breathe and control my shaking. My limbs were becoming weaker as I moved, my body becoming too heavy for me to control.
“You and Parker,” Gavin said her name like a foul curse. “You can both rot in hell.”
“Last chance Gavin,” Petrov said.
I peered slowly around the door, keeping my entire body flat on the ground, my face near the floor. A man in a black trench coat that I had never seen stood over Kyson pointing a gun at him. A man dressed in back military ops clothing stood behind Petrov, holding a gun to his head. My heart seized at the sight and I almost cried out.
“Why did you do it?” Gavin asked. “Why did you take us?”
Petrov sighed but his face remained hard, his aim at Kyson’s head unmoving. “Because I loved her. I loved her and I wanted to help her.”
Gavin’s head tilted. “So? Is this a revenge mission?”
I tenderly pulled my hand up that held my gun and shifted it so that the barrel barely pointed around the door frame towards Petrov. The gun shook in my trembling hand, it was impossible to steady. Even if I could just distract Petrov, I needed to stay clear of Gavin.
Pierce was screaming in my head now. Vibrant curses I had never heard before.
“I want the girl,” Petrov said. His fingers flexed around the handle of his gun. “Now. You will-”
I fired two quick shots from my gun. It was enough to graze Petrov’s leg and allow Gavin to take out the other two men standing in the room. Petrov screams were quickly silenced with a bullet.
The floor was now littered with bodies.
Gavin rubbed a hand over his face and looked over the guys. I laid my head down on the ground and let the gun drop from my grasp. I sucked in a breath of air and moaned.
My eyes closed but I felt Gavin’s presence close to me. His lips on my forehead. His hand on my back.
“You’re such a badass,” he whispered.
I managed a small smile. “And evil.”
Chapter 25
I don’t know what the guys did next.
I don’t know how long we stayed in that hotel room, how they got out of the hotel, or where they went next.
The next time I surfaced was in Matteo’s apartment, in the bed I had been sleeping in. From the second I was conscious I let out a sigh of relief that I was not in a bathtub. There were no towels between my legs. Pain was not ripping me apart. But reality was muddled, blurry. How much had been real? How much had been a dream?
Had I shot Petrov?
The room swayed and I stilled my body for second.
My stomach was twisted so tight with hunger I doubled over at the pain. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten.
Everything was dark. Pierce slept beside me but didn’t stir as I sat up. Someone had dressed me in jersey shorts and a tank. I could feel they even fitted me with the necessary female menstruation needs. Sudden emotion welled up inside of me and I had to once again bite back tears. Not of pain, not of fear or anger. My fingers touched between my legs to feel the pad that was pressed into my underwear and my heart burst with appreciation for the guys.
I slipped into the bathroom and showered quickly before heading to the kitchen. They guys had done a good job at cleaning me up but I still smelled my scent of stress. Once I was dried and dressed, I tiptoed softly to the kitchen.
My body moved slowly, not as weak as it had been, but not back to normal. There was no cramp in my abdomen, no stabbing sensations in my lower back. Just being free from that pain gave me new energy that I had lacked.
I rummaged through
the fridge, found leftover pasta in a blue lidded tupperware and some sort of sausage meat that I had seen Pierce snacking on a few days ago. While the pasta was warming up I drank through two full glasses of water. I would have drank a third but was distracted by the blueberry muffins sitting on top of the stove. I finished one of those within seconds.
The tomato cream covered pasta was enough to take off the edge of the hunger pains away and I knew I would be okay till morning. I sliced off a few slivers of meat and then replaced everything back in the fridge.
I had been so consumed filling my stomach that I had tuned out of my other senses. Tobias’s approach was soft and escaped my notice. I didn’t know he was in the same room as me until I turned off the kitchen sink and turned to grab a hand towel.
My body flinched and I stepped back. My sixth sense flew awake, detecting his lustful thoughts.
He stood shirtless, his black sweats hanging low on his hips. The corners of his mouth lifted and he tilted his head. “So, you are back?” he purred in his thick accent.
I rolled my eyes and placed the grey towel back around the drawer handle. “Back to bed,” I responded curtly.
“Wait, please,” he took a step closer. “I just want to talk for a moment.”
I took a step back to maintain space and this only made him smile wider. I flexed my fingers, testing my energy in my palms. It was light, barely there. I was still recovering from the pain and loss of blood, but I needed some sort of defense.
He set an arm down on the counter and before I knew it, I was backed into a corner of cabinets next to the stove and sink. “I know I have come on a little strong,” he started, his slick smile still plastered on his lips. “Perhaps this is too forward for Americans?”
I glared at him, “Not interested, remember? I thought you spoke english?”
“How about some wine? Yes?”