“You’re not going anywhere, bitch.”
I run and jump on his back, but this guy is bigger than I remember. My nails dig, breaking skin. He hisses, quickly moving his feet, slamming my back into the wall.
My lungs seize and my neck snaps backward as I collide with sheetrock and a picture frame that I hear shatter as blackness moves in the corners of my eyes and everything horrific goes away.
Rain falls heavy outside of my window; I watch it move and shift with the wind. The big tree in the yard stands tall, refusing to give into the summer storm. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes across the silver sky.
“Where are you, you little bitch?”
I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing this was just a dream. A horrible, horrible dream. But when my door is kicked open and the smell of whiskey and smoke hits my senses, I know it’s not.
“You waiting for her still?” He laughs coldly, sending my stomach into a whirlwind.
“She’s never coming back for you. You aren’t worth the effort. This house is a fucking mess. Get up and clean it!” he yells.
I don’t move, my body wound too tightly.
“Didn’t you hear me?” He throws the liquor bottle toward me. I tell myself to move out of the way, but I’m a second too late and it connects with my temple before bouncing on the floor. I don’t even have time to soothe the pain before I’m being pulled by my hair into the living room.
“Grab the fucking vacuum and clean.” He pushes me forward, causing me to stumble into the older than me vacuum cleaner. Two strangers are slouched on the couch, one with drool hanging from his lips.
“That’s our house rent. Don’t make them feel uncomfortable.” He laughs again and I hate my life. I hate it so much I wonder what it would be like to set myself free of this prison cell. How long will I have to endure this?
Faded voices move in and out of my hearing. Rough and chilling, soft and scared. My mind goes in and out of focus, fighting for clarity. I feel the strain in my neck, the heaviness of my head, and the throb of a headache starting.
My lungs fill with needed air and I wiggle my fingers, feeling a pull in my shoulders and down my arms. I move my wrists. Hard plastic rubs against my skin and I open my eyes. Darkness makes it hard to see and I question if my eyes are even open.
I blink a few times and realize I’m hanging my head. I shift, feeling the pop in my bones and ache in my back. My arms are behind me, my wrists bound.
“Ah. You’re awake?” I hear. My head turns in the direction of the voice. How long have I been out?
“I didn’t want to do this. I had no intention of bringing you into this. But you’re always around, ain’t ’cha? You’re always near Claire, never leaving her alone.”
“Cain. Please let her go. Leave her out of this.”
Claire. My head whips to the side.
“Claire,” I choke out.
Oh God. Her dress is pulled up to her waist and her hands are bonded like mine. I focus in on her and my surroundings. Her hair is covering one side of her face, but the one side I can see, the one not covered is already swelling and her lip is bleeding.
I turn back to Cain. “You sick motherfucker.” I kick my feet, moving the chair I’m in. “Let us go!” I scream and almost black out again when his hand connects with my head. I open my jaw, trying to relieve the pain that shoots down the side of my face.
“You ain’t going anywhere, you stupid bitch.” He grips onto my thighs, digging his fingers into my jeans, bruising me. “You get that through your thick skull. You ain’t leaving here alive.”
What? I squeeze my eyes, trying to stop the throb in my head and focus. My pulse hammers against the skin on my wrist and sweat trickles down my spine. The smell of cleaning supplies drifts in the air. The stainless-steel kitchen appliances gleam in gray darkness.
Something clicks open and I look down, seeing a silver blade. He pushes it into my stomach, just enough to cut through the fabric of my shirt and prick the skin but not invade.
“You two are hilarious, but not so smart. Leaving your bedroom window open for me to climb inside.” He looks back at Claire. “And you thought you were good enough to land a chef’s position.” He leans his head back and laughs out loud. I’ve never loathed a laugh so much—wait, yes, I have. My mind jumps back to the memory I just had. I shake it off, trying to stay focused. I need to think, dammit!
Cain’s attention turns back to me. “She was always cooking, dreaming of having a position like the one she so luckily landed. You didn’t find it odd, Kathrine?
“You didn’t think it was far-fetched that your best friend’s dream job just fell into her lap?”
My eyes jump to hers.
She was right.
Oh my God, she was right.
This was all him.
He set this up. How crazy is this guy?
Jesus Christ. He had to be the one who texted her and told her the party had been changed.
“It’s funny, you know.” He snickers. “How easy it was to buy this little place and not even have to show my face.”
“Cain,” Claire says desperately on the floor. “Let’s go. Just you and me. We can leave Kat here. She won’t say anything to anyone. She’ll forget about this. She wants me to be happy. You make me happy, baby. Let’s get out of here.”
Her words make my stomach twist, but the shake in her voice tells me she’s terrified. I hope in his insane state he can’t tell.
He smiles at me. “She’s cleaver, isn’t she? Thinking we can just disappear.”
So much for that.
He laughs, sending chills down my arms. I shake with fear.
“You see, we’d already be on our way if your little boyfriend wouldn’t have set his dogs on me.” He turns and the light catches his neck. An ugly twisted scar shows against his skin.
What, my boyfriend’s dogs?
What the hell is he talking about?
He looks back at me. “See what they did to me?” He taps it with his knife. “I was almost gone, but they caught me leaving town.
“They put me in a chair just like the one you’re in.” He grips my throat. “The one with the black hair broke my hand. This one right here,” he says, squeezing. I cough, my head throbbing fiercely.
Black hair?
Who is he talking about?
Ben doesn’t have black hair.
“It’s not a hundred percent yet, but I can still use it. You see, pain fuels me.” He chuckles. “Maybe I’m sick, but I like it.” He grips tightly and I wince.
Claire moves on the floor. “Cain,” she says. He removes his hand and looks back at her. I cough, trying to inhale air back into my lungs.
“You just don’t know when to shut up, do you?” he seethes. He lifts his boot and kicks her in the ribs. She bends and cries in pain. “That was always your problem when we were together, baby. Why do you make me do this?” He stoops down, gripping her face in his hand. “Don’t you remember how many times I went over this with you?” His voice goes softer, dirtier. He trails the knife over her exposed flesh. The tip invades her private area.
I turn my head in disgust. “You used to like it rough, didn’t you, Claire? Remember how good we were? Remember the rope burns and the cuts over your beautiful skin?”
She weeps and I look back, seeing he’s cut her thigh. Blood stains her white flesh and drips onto the floor.
I swallow, my throat burning. He leans down and licks the cut. I scrunch my face in disgust, gritting my teeth together.
I look around, trying to find something. Something to help us get out of here. I move my wrists again, but it’s no use. It has to be a zip tie.
Cain stands up. “You know I can’t resist you like this.” His voice is filled with thick lust. My stomach recoils. I look at Claire.
She shakes her head at me, begging me to look away with her eyes as he pulls himself out of his unbuttoned pants. “I’m sorry,” I mouth to her. “I’m so sorry.” Tears spill over my eyelashes, burni
ng my chapped skin. I should have listened to her. All those times she told me she had a bad feeling.
She knew something wasn’t right.
She knew and I chalked it up to paranoia.
Stupid, stupid girl. I cry more as my friend closes her eyes.
He drops to his knees and panic speeds up my pulse even more. He grips onto her legs, pulling them apart, but she fights back, wiggling and trying to keep her thighs shut.
“No, Cain,” she says. “Don’t do this.” But she’s too weak and he yanks her legs open, causing her to howl in pain as he breaks ligaments. He moves over her, and I can’t watch as I hear him grunt and her cry more.
The sounds yank me back in time.
Musk and dank weed.
Marlboro Reds and cheap whiskey.
It’s all too much.
I shake my head and cut my wrists, trying to get out of these restraints, trying to help my friend.
But then my ears prick, hearing a new sound. My eyes move around the room wildly as I try to listen for it again.
It’s the front door! Someone bangs on it. He must have locked it. My eyes shut as my throat pulls air from my lungs and I scream bloody murder.
A fist connects with my jaw, causing me to see stars. My head sways, as does the chair I’m in, and I hit the floor with a hard hit to my shoulder and a knock of my head. My vision fades out again, but I try to fight it.
“You little cunt. Shut the fuck up!” he barks. I blink my eyes and look in front of me. Claire lies there with a bleak expression. “Can’t anyone see the closed sign on the goddamn door?” he says. His dick hangs from his pants and his sweat stinks up the room we’re in. He’s on his knees still, panting.
I listen for the door again, but there’s no other sound. No, no, no. Did they not hear me? My eyes prick with more tears. This can’t be happening to us.
My shoulder aches, my muscles remonstrating in pain from tearing Saw’s house apart and being restrained. My face feels like it’s already swelling from the hard blow.
And then it all happens at once. A loud crash comes from the front. Cain snaps his head in that direction and jumps up before running out of the kitchen.
My eyes grow wide as I look at Claire. She matches my expression.
“Are you okay?” I ask, knowing she’s not. Knowing that no matter what she does now, she’ll always remember this moment. The moment that fuck took her without her consent. Part of me wonders if this isn’t the first time, though.
A piece of me thinks that maybe my best friend has secrets in her filing cabinet also. She blinks and starts to cry. I look down at her dress pulled up to her waist as a loud ruckus sounds in the dining room. “We have to get out of here,” I say. “I have no idea who is out there.”
“Whoever it is,” she says, sniffing. “He’ll kill them.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bryce
It’s after eleven now and an icy rain has started up. I’m knee bouncing and my nerves are bad. Jace is in the back seat chain smoking because he’s worried, too. Hell, even Ben is. Bad thoughts cross my mind and I can’t shake them.
Why couldn’t Austin get in touch with Claire? Why couldn’t she answer and say everything was okay?
I wouldn’t be so fucking worried then. I rub a hand down my face, wishing Claire’s work was closer.
“Go faster,” I urge Ben.
“Traffic’s bad,” he says. “It’s the weekend.”
“I don’t give a shit. Honk the fucking horn.” I hit the dash.
Ben steps on the gas and turns his flashers on. I grow panicked, thinking about what Cain could do to the girls. How did this man survive a cut to the throat?
“We’ll kill him, Bryce. We’ll end that motherfucker if he hurts her,” my brother says from the back seat. He’s thinking just like me.
This feeling I have can’t be for nothing.
It’s all too coincidental.
Cain being in town.
The run-in at the gym.
He was there for me.
He wanted to get into that fight. He knew what he was doing.
And now he’s got my fucking girl. He may have gotten some hits in at the gym, but he doesn’t know how bad my rage can get.
I nod profusely in agreement with Jace. “Okay,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “Okay. That’s what we’ll do.” I look out the window again, my mind sparking with electricity, my body growing hot with the need to beat the shit out of him.
The black SUV turns onto the street where Claire’s work is, and once we come to a stop, I jump out.
“Boss,” Ben says, putting the truck into park. Jace is right behind me as we look at the drawn shades and darkness of the place. I pull on the door. It’s locked.
“There’s no goddamn Christmas party going on here.” I put my hands up to the door, looking into the darkness. There’s no one here. “Fuck,” I say, hitting the door with my hand and then I hear it.
A loud bloody scream. My spine straightens, and my skin prickles with sick worry. I turn to Ben. He nods and runs to his truck. Austin pulls up right as Ben walks back with a crowbar.
“What’s going on?” Austin asks, looking panicked.
“They’re in there,” I say. “Move back.”
Ben swings the iron jimmy, connecting it with the thick glass. I turn my head as it shatters into the store before quickly looking back. Ben reaches in and unlocks the door, and then I see him.
His dark, wide shadow appears from the back of the restaurant.
“What the fuck?” he says. My mind shuts off at the sight of his undone jeans. Crimson hot anger sweeps throughout my body. Epinephrine blasts through my veins, preparing my muscles for exertion, and I charge forward. Shoving the door open, I collide with the motherfucker.
We fall backward, hitting the ground with blunt force. He gasps for air and I pull back and slam my fist into the side of his face before grabbing onto his throat, taking advantage of the fact he’s airless.
This piece of shit is bigger than me, but I’m leaner and smarter with my moves. He may have gotten in a hit or two at the gym, but I swear I’ll end this punk bitch right now.
I lift his head from the floor before slamming it back down. I hear it when his skull cracks. He moves under me, but I don’t let up, pressing my weight into him. I dig my hands into his throat harder as he struggles for air, moving frantically. His eyes bulge, and his face turns bloodshot. I feel his veins constrict under my palms, but I keep pressing, wanting to take his life.
Needing to.
My soul begs for me to stop, but something else there, something dark inside of me that I’ve carried for too many years, whispers, “He deserves this.”
“Bryce.” I hear and jerk my head up to see K looking at me with wide eyes. My hands loosen, and that’s all it takes. Cain pushes up, head-butting me. I blink the stars away and stumble backward into a table, not having a moment to catch my balance before he swings his fist and connects it with my jaw. The taste of copper hits my tongue.
I barge forward with my shoulder, knocking him back, but not all the way down. A flicker of something flashes from his hand and he charges at me without me having time to process, and then the sound of a bullet whips past me, catching him right between his eyes.
I stagger backward as his body falls to the floor in a loud heap. I look at his hand, seeing a knife. Fucker was about to stab me.
Blood pools around his head and I look up, seeing Jace standing in front of K. She has a hand over her mouth, and I see her wrists are bleeding under her coat. My eyes drift to Austin and Claire as he holds her. She looks lifeless in his arms.
I twist behind me to see who shot the gun. Ben stands tall with a 9mm at his side, but he’s not the one who pulled the trigger. His slicked-back, dark as night hair shines and his suit has never looked sharper.
A skeleton tattooed hand holds on to a gun with a silencer, and eyes as black as his hair show no emotion at what just happened.
&nbs
p; “I owed you that,” Bones says. “Sweep will clean this mess up.”
The guy I remember as Johnny walks in behind Bones. “You all go on and get out of here,” he says, his voice sounding even like this is nothing new for him.
Austin moves Claire out of the restaurant first. She looks back at K who tells her something with her eyes. Something the two only know.
“K,” I say. “Come on.” I hold out my hand for her to come to me. She moves around Jace, and as soon as her small hand touches mine, I feel my heart calm. We turn to walk out.
“Sorry about the loose ends,” Danny says. “That’s not my style.” He looks from me to K, and I feel her hand tighten in mine. She’s scared of him.
This guy just shot and killed a man.
He shows no remorse.
No regret.
To him it seemed like the thing he had to do, so he did it. There’s no anger in his eyes or rage rippling from his body. It’s obvious that this is as natural for him as brushing his fucking teeth.
I nod, but there’s only one thing I really want to know. “How the hell did you get here so fast?”
He laughs, like we’re just two boys talking about a football game. “I was already headed this way when Ben called. Got some business in Miami.”
I nod, remembering Ben said about two hours. He must have been guessing they were coming from Mud City.
“You two go on and get home.” He looks down at our linked hands, and a shadow of something passes over his face, something I recognize.
Loneliness.
He wants what K and I have.
But he has no idea what we have is complicated as shit.
I’ll be seeing you, Bryce,” he says.
I nod, but don’t say anything. I turn back to look at Cain’s dead body one last time, making sure he’s not getting up. He can’t fuck with anyone anymore.
There’s one less evil in the world now, and I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t exactly where he needed to be. Someone like that doesn’t belong in prison with the chance to be set free again. Someone like that belongs in hell.
Give Me Perfect Love (Give Me Series Book 2) Page 15