by Alex Grayson
Staying off the road in case someone comes along but close enough that I don’t get lost I finally make it to the access road. Stopping and doubling over I try and steady my breathing. Taking several deep breaths, I start jogging down the small overgrown dirt road. With the light of my flashlight, I can see tire tracks. Some of the overgrown grass has been matted down as though it has been traveled on recently.
Just as I’m about to stop to take another breather the road opens up and I see lights from a window of a cabin. I halt in my tracks and look around. Just beyond the house I see the tail end of a vehicle. Other than the window I see no other lights.
I slowly start to walk forward. My breaths are coming in pants and not just from the harsh run but mostly from fear. I approach the rickety porch and climb the dilapidated steps. Standing in front of the door, I notice a ruffle of the curtains off to my right. Lifting my hand, I knock three times.
After several seconds, the door creaks open and standing in front of me is Steven.
“So nice to see you again, My Pet.” And with that he snakes his hand around my throat and drags me inside.
Chapter Twenty-one
Jaxon
My fist slams against the dashboard of my truck when I get back inside. Nothing. Not one Goddamn place we went to tonight has produced any clues as to where that sick fuck has taken Anna. We’ve been all over town and searched every place that Steven would have access to. Now we’ve run out of options. There’s nowhere else to look.
“Fuck!” I roar and grip the steering wheel hard. There’s no telling what he’s done to her so far. He’s had her for three days now. My sweet innocent little sister is out there somewhere in the hands of a sadistic bastard.
I pull out my phone and shoot a text to the others to see if they’ve had any luck. I know it’s pointless though. If they had found her, they would’ve notified me already.
A couple minutes later confirms it. No one’s found her. Mac sends me another message to say everyone is going to his place to regroup and go over their options. Options. What fucking options? There are no more fucking options!
I crank my truck and pull away from the abandoned barn that sits right on the outskirts of town. Twenty minutes later I pull up at my house at the same time as Mac and Nick do. There are already several squad cars parked throughout the yard.
All three of us quietly make our way to the porch. I glance over at Nick and from the porch light I can see he looks haggard. His hair is a mess and his eyes are rimmed with red.
Just as we approach the door, it flings open and Andrew is on the other side looking worried. A sick feeling hits my gut and I immediately know something is wrong.
“What happened?” I demand and take a step towards him. Before he has a chance to answer I barrel past him into the house. I barely notice the officer that is quietly talking on his phone.
“Angel!” I shout.
Instead of hearing my beautiful Angels voice, I hear Andrew behind me.
“She’s gone.”
I whip around to face him and growl, “What the fuck do you mean she’s gone? How can she be gone?”
Mac steps up to me and places a hand on my shoulder. “Cool it, Jax.”
I shrug off his hand with an, “Eat shit” before turning my glare back to Andrew.
“I don’t know man. She was taking a shower when Mia went to go check on her. She said she was going to the garage to grab some clothes and asked if Mia would make her a sandwich. Said she wasn’t eating lately because of all the shit that’s been going down and felt a little shaky. When she didn’t come back from the garage, we went to look but she wasn’t there. The door that leads outside was open.”
I run to the garage door and yank it open. Right outside the door I see her bag and clothes strewn all over the place. I rush to the other door and step outside.
“Bailey!” I shout, but hear nothing in return.
Walking back into the house, I see Mia coming out of my bedroom. She doesn’t stop until she’s standing in front of me where she hands me Bailey’s phone. “I found this on the bathroom counter.”
I quickly scroll through her call log, but it reveals nothing. Next, I look at her recent texts. The last text she received was from an unknown number. When I click it open I nearly crush the phone in my grip.
Unknown: See you soon, My Pet.
I roar out my rage and pick up a coffee mug that’s sitting on the end table beside me and throw it against the wall.
That fucker not only has Anna but Bailey now as well. I knew I shouldn’t have left her. My gut told me to stay with her, but I ignored it. Bailey knew I needed to go out and look for Anna myself. Now, as much as it hurts me, I know she was wrong. Our attempt to find Anna was fruitless and because of my need to be a part of the search Bailey is out there suffering. He somehow got to her. Or got her to go to him.
I look around to the sea of faces watching me, most of them have sympathy stamped across them but some show hatred. The emotions aren’t directed at me, but for me. But most especially for Anna and Bailey.
My chest hurts and I rub my knuckles across it hard. I take in a deep breath, but no matter how much I breathe in it doesn’t seem like enough. I clench my hands into my hair and scream at the top of my lungs. Fuck! This can’t be happening! I can’t lose her! Breathe, Jaxon, breathe! You have to think!
Nick walks up to me and places his hand on my shoulder. I don’t shrug his off. I know the pain he’s going through right now as I’m going through the same. We both turn to Mac when he starts speaking.
“Is there any place we haven’t looked? There’s got to be something we haven’t thought of.” He asks the group.
There are a few murmurs, but no one speaks up. Jaded Hollow is a very small community and not too many places around....
“Old man Pepper’s cabin. Did we look there?” I almost shout.
“Jax, that place is barely standing. I don’t think...”
“Has anyone looked there?” I snarl at him.
He barely has the word ‘no’ out of his mouth before I look at Nick and say, “Let’s go.”
We both practically run out the door to the truck. Without looking behind us to see if anyone is following I start my truck and shoot off dust behind me as I peel out of the driveway. I aim my truck towards Route 14, hoping and praying that the women are there and that we’re not too late.
Chapter Twenty-two
When I stumble through the doorway, I’m thrown to the floor. I look up to see Steven leering down at me.
“You’ve been a very bad girl, My Pet. You should have never left. You know what happens when you break the rules, don’t you?”
When I don’t immediately reply he steps on the back of my hand with his shoe, grinds down hard and shouts, “Answer me, Bitch!”
The pain in my hand is excruciating and I feel the skin ripping apart. It feels as though the bones are being fractured and crushed. I cry out and try to pull my hand back. Steven just laughs at my attempts and applies more pressure.
Knowing that he won’t let up until I answer him I tell him through the pain, “You punish me.”
He removes his foot and crouches down beside me. He runs his finger along my scar which almost causes me to gag. His touch repulses and sickens me. Just the thought of it makes me want to vomit. “You don’t look as pretty with this, but I’ve still missed you. I missed our games we used to play.”
“Where’s Anna? You promised you’d let her go.” I whisper to him.
Steven shifts to the side and I get my first glimpse of Anna. I was so caught up in my own pain and misery that I didn’t realize she was in the same room as us. My hand flies to my mouth and I stifle a sob. A cramp forms in my stomach at the sight of her.
She’s laying face first bent over a table with her arms out to the side with ropes wrapped around her wrists. The ropes are attached to the legs of the table. Her wrists where the ropes are tied are torn and bloody. She’s naked and there is a multitude o
f cuts, burns, and bruises all over her body. She’s covered in blood and what looks like semen. Steven used his special flogger on her, but the extent of the damage is so much worse than he ever did to me.
Standing behind her is the creepy guy from the bar. He’s naked and slowly stroking his dick. His eyes are aimed my way watching me as he grips both of his hands in her hair and uses it as leverage to slam himself inside of her. Her head is yanked back and she lets out a small cry like she’s so weak that she can’t scream any louder.
I swing my gaze back to Steven to see him looking at me. My blood boils with rage and I have an uncontrollable urge to slaughter the man in front of me. In a move I would never be capable of before I rear back my fist and slam it into his face.
“You bastard!” I scream. The force of my punch causes Steven to fall back on his butt. He recovers quickly and scrambles back over to me. His backhanded hit causes me to land on my back, knocking the breath out of me. Steven straddles my chest, holding my arms down with his knees, and puts his hands around my throat, squeezing hard. I try desperately to suck in air, but his grip has cut it off. My body bucks and tries to twist him off me, but nothing works. He has me pinned and there’s nothing I can do.
“Do not fucking do that again.” He snarls down at me.
Releasing my throat, I suck in gulps of air. Steven grabs a fistful of hair, forcing me to stand and drags me over to where Creepy guy is still raping Anna. I hear his grunts and bile rises in my throat.
She’s laying limply. If it wasn’t for the whimpers every few seconds I would think she was passed out, or worse, dead. The thought causes a loud sob to escape me.
Steven forces my head closer to Anna’s, bending me over at the waist. My tears drip down on her stretched out arms. My heart breaks from what I see and the cramps get tighter. The many cuts and burns that I see will never heal all the way, leaving scars behind, reminding her of what she went through. Even though I’m not the one tied to the table I still feel her pain. I feel every cut her body has. I feel every burn from his cigar. I feel every hit he and his friend have landed on her delicate body. I feel every swipe of the whip and bite of the needles. Every slap, hit, and kick I feel as though they were inflicted on me.
“You did this, My Pet. It’s because of you that she is being treated this way. You left me no choice but to do this.” He says as he pushes my face even closer to hers.
I know his words are true. Anna is here because of me. It was me that left. It was me that stayed away. It was me that selfishly wanted something that I shouldn’t have wanted and decided to stay and let the people around me fight for me. It’s because of me that Anna is now on this table being brutally violated.
I look at Anna’s battered and bruised face and my heart shatters into a thousand pieces. I want to kill Steven for the pain he’s caused Anna. I want to rip myself away from him and scratch his eyes out. I want to take his precious whip and mark every inch of his body. I want to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze as hard as I can until my hands cramp. Never in my life have I ever felt such hatred towards a human being. Never have I ever wanted to outright murder someone as much as I do now.
With strength I never knew I had I rear back and elbow Steven in the stomach as hard as I can. It stuns him enough so that he stumbles backward and hunches over. I spin around and kick out with my foot landing a blow to his balls. As he howls in pain and drops to his knees, I kick out again and get another blow to his face.
Frantically glancing around to find something to fight with I spy a fireplace poker and dash towards it. Before I make it halfway across the room, he grabs my legs and tackles me to the floor face first.
I try kicking out with my feet, but he quickly climbs up my body until he’s straddling my back. Grabbing a fistful of my hair, he yanks back and slams my face down onto the hardwood floor.
I feel a crunch and immediate pain radiates all over my face. My eyes start to tear up and black spots appear in my vision from the pain. Blood starts gushing out of my nose and mouth and the metallic taste is nauseating. The force of the blow must have broken my nose and busted my lip. I work my tongue in my mouth and feel a sharp sting where there is a huge gash inside.
Steven yanks my head back by my hair so hard I’m surprised my neck doesn’t snap.
“You’re really going to regret that in just a few minutes, Bailey.” Steven threatens in my ear.
“Fuck you, Steven!” I spit out at him.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such foul language, My Pet. You used to be so proper.” He purrs in my ear.
Dragging me up by my hair Steven pushes me forward back to the table. During our scuffle creepy guy never stops using Anna, like he had no doubt Steven would subdue me. Now standing on the opposite end of Anna and creepy guy, Steven forces my body to bend over so my upper body is lying on the table, just like her. With his hand at the back of my neck, my face lands directly next to Anna’s. We’re both facing each other. Her eyes are still closed, but mine are wide open looking at her abused face.
“This is what’s going to happen. You and I are going to have a little fun.” He demonstrates his idea of fun by reaching around me and unbuttoning my pants and then tugging them down around my knees. “Then, I’m going to let my friend here have his go at you while I try out her.” My panties are pulled down next. “After that we are going to do it again and again and again.”
I start struggling for all I’m worth, but nothing works. His strength is too much for me. I know that I have to find a way to get free so I can help Anna before it’s too late, but I have no idea how I can. Getting a closer look at Anna, I can tell she’s barely hanging on. We’re so close that I can feel her breath hit my face and it terrifies me when I realize the hot air is very slight.
Steven has most of his weight on my waist and back because of my struggling. He leans back slightly and I feel him freeing him himself. I’m hopeless as to what’s going to happen.
Giant sobs start to break through at the first thrust of his hips. I’m completely dry so it feels like I’m being rubbed raw by sandpaper. When he drags his hips back, it feels like he’s pulling parts of me that are supposed to stay inside out. Each time he slams back in, the tops of my thighs painfully hit the table. My uncontrollable sobs are causing me to lose my breath. My arms that are yanked behind me feel like they are going numb from lack of blood circulation.
As I lay there with my body jerking from the force of his thrusts, I keep my swollen eyes on Anna. Her body is jerking just as violently as mine with each thrust. I cry out in agony when Steven puts one hand on my shoulder and used it to pound back into me. I swear my body will rip in two at any moment.
With my face so close to hers, my cry must have aroused Anna. I see her eyes barely slit open. They are glassy and the whites of her eyes are red, as though she has broken blood vessels. My heart squeezes at the pain I see on her face. It literally feels like someone has reached into my chest and placed a vice grip around my heart and is squeezing the life from it. The pain I feel from Steven’s punishing rape is nothing compared to the pain I feel at seeing the fight give out of Anna. I know, I know, that Anna is giving up. Her body may be here, but her mind is not and her soul is slipping away.
“I’m so sorry Anna. I’m so so sorry.” I whisper to her on a ragged cry. “Don’t give up. Don’t let them win. We’ll get out of this. Please.” I beg her, but I’m scared it’s for nothing. I’m scared she’s past the point of recovery. I’m afraid that if we do come out of this alive that her body may mostly heal but her mind never will.
My own pain of what’s going on forgotten, I move my head a few inches so I can place my forehead against hers, trying to give her comfort. I don’t know if it works, but I want, no need, her to know that I’m with her. I don’t know if she can actually see me or not, but I hope she can sense me there with her and know that someone that cares about her is there. That this ugly place and these horrible people are not the only ones around.
I clos
e my eyes and send up a silent prayer. Please God, let her be okay. Please , let us both, but especially Anna, recover from this. Please let someone come for us.
Chapter Twenty-three
Jaxon
What feels like an hour later, but couldn’t be more than ten minutes we pull up to the overgrown road that leads to Old Man Pepper’s cabin. During the drive Nick and I both decide it’s best that we go the rest of the way on foot. This was a hard decision to make because the more time they are with that fucker, the longer he has to do whatever he’s doing. However, we didn’t want to alert him to our approach. There’s no telling what the son of a bitch would do if he knew we were coming. Luckily, darkness is on our side and we should be able to sneak up with a surprise attack.
As we’re both getting out of the truck, I see headlights approaching us. It pulls in behind my truck and I watch as Mac and an officer get out and walk towards us.
I reach under my seat and pull out two small flashlights and throw one to Nick. Mac and the officer walk up with their own flashlights just as Nick and I start jogging down the dirt road. None of us speak, already knowing what needs to be done. Assess the situation as best as we can, get in and get the girls out, and possibly kill Steven. Well, the last part was silently added by me. I still haven’t decided yet if I’m just going my maim him or completely destroy him.
As we come up to the start of the clearing where the cabin sits my gut clenches at the thought of the damage Steven as already inflicted. I know deep down that what we are about to walk into isn’t going to be good. He’s had them too long and from what Bailey’s told me about him, he is one sick son of a bitch. My hands ball into fists so hard that the hand holding the mag light flashlight cramps.