Cruel hands then grabbed my throat, pressing down hard as he cut off precious oxygen. His tongue finding my scar as he licked it like a lover. Stars started dancing behind my eyes as I felt the pull of unconscious. He let go right before I went under. As soon as his hands were gone my lungs sought air, as I hung gasping in the dark.
“You did splendidly. I can’t wait to play with you again.” Marcus gloated placing a kiss on my cheek.
With a click, my arms were freed, and I dropped, my battered body meeting cold concrete. Trying to curl myself into a ball, becoming nothing but a limp ragdoll on the dirty floor. My rib begging for mercy inside my chest. I had none to give. Crawling back into the darkness I vowed to repay every his every sin with brutal precision.
Chapter Fifteen
“Are you sure you are ready for this?” I regarded Law with uncertainty.
His dark hair perfectly styled as his olive colored eyes showed nothing but cool disdain for the task ahead. His charcoal gray suit looked more like it belonged in a penthouse suite not marching into a gun fight. I had no idea what Law would do once the fighting started. Law was also a top priority on my hit list. The only reason I hadn’t put a bullet in his head was, we needed him. Going up against Marcus was a step away from a death sentence.
“I’m always ready. Don’t let the suit fool you. I make sure I have multiple sets of all my suits. Blood is rather hard to get out of Armani and don’t even get me started on the things that get expelled with a bullet to the head. I always try to make sure I am a few feet away, but sometimes it can’t be avoided.” Law replied coolly.
Jerking my head back as my mouth fell open. I glanced at Val whose mouth was hanging open to match mine. I shrugged at Val before grinning. Mr. Three Piece Suit might turn out to be a decent killer after all. Hell, maybe we wouldn’t die today. Go, team.
Time to for my pep talk.
“Good cause shits about to get ugly and messy. Marcus won’t play fair. He’ll come after us with all he’s got, and he won’t hesitate to kill Selena. She’ll just be another dead girl to add to his long list. We need to stop him before that happens. The first chance one of us gets to grab her you do it and get her the fuck out of there. The two left are on clean up duty.”
Val and Law nodded in unison.
“One more thing. There is a good chance he has other girls. If that’s the case, this rescue mission became a little more complicated, but I don’t plan to leave a single girl in that hell hole, so we save as many as possible got it?”
“That is one more thing I think we can all agree on. Let’s do this.” Val acknowledged, slipping into the second skin we both wore so well. His face blanking out except for the gleam in his eyes. The Devils of Bound and Bared were ready to play, and we were dealers of death.
SELENA
The floor was my new best friend, cradling me as pain ricocheted through my body. I had trained myself to handle pain becoming a master at knowing how much someone could take even before they did. For this reason, alone, I had many regulars at the club. Using my past as my guide, I could take them to the brink, the beautiful threshold where they broke, or they would fly. My pleasure lived in wanting them to fly, to become more beautiful under the bite of the whip or the crack of a paddle. Finding themselves in my chains, free from the cage of what the world wanted them to be. Giving themselves over they dissolved into a glorious creation of want and needed. The cold concrete reminding me that this place was about destruction. Ripping things apart until nothing more remained except broken pieces of who they used to be.
Sounds registered somewhere outside my cell. Gunshots. Yelling. Voices I recognized. Licking my lips, I let a feeling of calm wash through me. The Calvary had come.
My palms, flat against the concrete I gave a slight push. I bit back a moan as tears clouded my vision pain exploding through every part of my body. Sweat broke out on my brow as I dragged my knees up, so I was now resting on all fours. My broken rib sending jolts of pain through my chest, the space between my legs burning and fought the urge to close my legs to get relief. Opening my mouth, I tried to call out, but nothing more than dry air escaped my lips. A few tears slipping down my cheeks, tracing my scar mocking me like a sign of defeat. Defeat could fuck itself. I wasn’t giving up this easy. Swallowing I tried again to find enough salvia to make some noise.
Suddenly the door opened and a cruel hand twisted in my hair pulling me upright.
Marcus’s face swam in front of my eyes. “Your friends decided to launch a rescue mission. Too bad there won’t be anyone to rescue when I’m done.” He sneered his eyes sparkling, a wide grin stretching the corners of his mouth.
The small amount of salvia I had finally gathered settled in my mouth and I spit directly into his face.
“YOU BITCH.” A slap landed across my face, the force rattling my jaw and sending my head spinning still I felt a sense of satisfaction. My need for vengeance singing in my veins, adrenaline surging, pushing down all the pain. All I needed was a few minutes to stall him so my friends could reach me. Swinging my leg, I made contact with his shin, kicking hard enough to cause him to wince.
Looking at me through the eyes of a true monster, he grabbed my face, pulling it close.
“I wish we had more time together cunt! By the time I was done, you would have been begging me to kill you.” Marcus snarled.
“Fuck you.” Finally managing words, I lashed out kicking him again with everything I had hitting the same spot.
Throwing my body up against the wall, his hands found my throat, digging deep and cutting off my air supply. His eyes wild as squeezed ever harder. Fighting his hold, my fingers desperately looking for a way to pry his hands from around my neck. My nails digging their way under his hands as those same spots danced in front of my eyes but this time he wasn’t going to let go. The last remnants of my strength fading away as I started losing the battle. Blackness gripping tight and dragging me under. Law’s face was the last I thought of, his voice demanding I fight harder but I had nothing left, and I gave in to the darkness.
I’m sorry. You were always the one. I love you.
Chapter Sixteen
Coming around the corner, I saw her. Selena’s body dangling limply from Marcus’ hold as his hands wrapped their way around her neck. Pointing my gun, I aimed, but a shot rang out before I fired. Looking behind me I saw Law his finger steady on the trigger a mask of rage looming over his face.
Marcus’s hands fell from Selena’s throat, the bullet hitting him in the chest causing him to drop to the floor. Free from Marcus hold Selena dropped as well, her body landing hard against the floor. Selena was in Law’s arms before I had even taken a step.
Law’s ear pressed against Selena’s chest, “She has a heartbeat.” Moving his mouth to her ear, he whispered something I couldn’t hear. Selena’s eyelids flickered. Once. Twice before slowly opening.
Marcus gasped for air, blood pooling around his body. Law’s shot hadn’t killed him instantly, given enough time he would bleed out, but he wasn’t going to last that long.
Val was the last one of us to enter the cell. Seeing Selena in Law’s arms caused him to stop dead in his tracks. The skin around his eyes bunching, a pained stare fixed on Selena. “Is she alive?” Val croaked, his voice stressed and broke.
“Yes.” Law murmured never taking his from the battered body of Selena resting in his arms.
Val swallowed hard as he nodded. The anguish in his eyes something I had only seen once before. The day he carried Selena from the clubs’ doorstep.
Lifting her gently, Law carried Selena towards the door stopping next to Val and me before taking her any further. We finally got a good view, and our eyes widened in horror. If hadn’t been for her scar I don’t think Val and I would have even known it was her.
“I am getting her out of here. Do me a favor and decorate the walls with the inside of Marcu’s skull.” The white of Law’s standing out as his lips pulled back to bare his teeth in Marcus’s direc
tion.
“Not a problem. Together V?” I asked as pounding sounded in my ears. My pulse rose in anticipation of fulfilling Law’s request. My finger itchy on the trigger.
“I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Val snarled the words his nostrils flaring.
Law said nothing else as he walks out the door leaving us to complete the task of clean up.
Standing over Marcus, our guns were drawn we aimed them both at his head.
Blood trickled down the side of his mouth, and he coughed spewing more blood on to his chin. A part of me wishing I could leave him to bleed out slowly, but I needed to put a bullet in his head and end this once and for all making sure he would never hurt anyone else ever again. The next bullet in my gun was for all the girls that hadn’t lived long enough to be freed. For the ones that would never chase their dreams or fall in love. This would be their justice, and for Selena, this would be her vengeance.
“Count of three.” Val and I put a barrel on each side of his head.
“I killed her. I won.” Marcus’s last words were filled with pride. Not for long.
“Selena’s still alive, you sick fuck! You lost. It’s time to meet your maker. Tell the devil I’ll see him soon.” Pure disbelief flashed in his eyes.
“1, 2, 3.” Val and I pulled the triggers together, and Marcus’s head became nothing more than grim pieces splattered against the wall.
Taking in the sight of handy work I couldn’t help but grin.
“I think Law would approve,” Val said grinning back at me.
“I would have to agree with you V.” My voice turned sober as I asked, “Did you find any more?”
Val gave me his answer with a sad shake of his head. “Only empty rooms or bodies.”
My gut twisted. We had saved Selena but were too late to save the rest.
I caught Val’s eye. “Ready for the fun part?”
“Always. Let’s get this done.”
SELENA
“You have been foolish Ma Poupèe. What were you thinking? If you had been with me, this never would have happened.” Law stared down at me, his words scolding but his tone was laced with fear. He hadn’t looked at me this way since he found me at Val’s and saw what he had failed to protect.
Kissing my forehead, I longed for the contact, closing my eyes in sweet surrender.
“I’m taking you home.” He commanded, refusing even to give me a chance to decide for myself what I wanted.
My eyes opened in disbelief at his words. I couldn’t go with him. Not today. Not ever. We were each other’s destruction. The only end for us was one where we down in flames. Burned beyond recognition until nothing was left but echoes of the happily ever after that was never meant for us.
My vocal cords straining, trying to get out the word no but I couldn’t get it past the damage of my near-death experience. Instead, I shook my head, the sensation causing pain to spike-like nails being drilled into my bruised throat.
Law watched my head go back and forth before dismissing me, “You don’t have a choice Ma Poupèe. I’ve got you now, and I don’t plan to let go.”
“I beg to differ.” The voice of my savior registering behind us. I had never been so glad to hear Thorn’s voice.
“Hand her over Law. She doesn’t want to go with you.” Thorn demanded.
“She’s mine. She goes with me, and you won’t stop me.” Law countered, turning around to face Thorn as he held me tighter against his chest.
“No, but my gun will. I don’t know why she likes you, but I’ve wanted to put a bullet into you for years, so just hand Selena over, and you can go on your way. Your help is no longer required.”
“Is that true Ma Poupèe? You would rather go with them than with me?” Law didn’t flinch as Thorn’s gun pointed directly at his head. He only looked at me with questioning eyes. The same eyes that had once seen inside my soul now found only darkness.
Nodding slowly, pain washed over his features, only to vanish as quickly as it had come. Law refused to look at me, as he held me out to Thorn. Thorn put his gun back in its holster.
“Take her.” Law’s voice cracked.
Thorn’s arms captured me, pulling me close. Burying my face into Thorn’s chest, I didn’t want to watch him walk away. The sound of his well-kept shoes was all I heard as he left me for the second time, because I asked him too. A long time ago, I would wait for the sound of his shoes as they fell on polished marble. The click against the tile, the sound of him coming for me. Law would never see the tears I hid against Thorn’s shirt. He would never know, that not going with him was the second hardest thing I had ever done. The first was telling him to go all those years ago. Crawling back into the black hole now living within my chest, those would be the very last tears I cried.
Chapter Seventeen
The club finally started to look more like its old self. All the broken bar stools tossed in the trash, the floor back to its pristine shade of white, discovering along the way that blood a bitch to remove from marble tile. With Thorn as my boyfriend that shit was going to stay far away from us. My boyfriend got his ass kicked far too much, and blood was a side effect of a beat down.
A piercing ring breaking the silence causing both to jump. Miranda grabbing the cell off the bar top, picking it up on the second ring.
“Are you okay?” Miranda asked her voice high pitched and fast. I watched her sigh with relief, her shoulders releasing the tension she had been holding on to. “Get here as fast as you can,” she said breathlessly into the phone, “and Val I love you.” The call ended with a press of a button.
“Good news?” Hope filling my voice at Miranda’s calm expression.
“They have Selena. She’s in bad shape, but she’s alive.”
“Thank God.” I breathed, “and Val, Law, and Thorn are all okay?”
“All in one piece, thank god.”
I let out my sigh of relief. My phone ringing next, not able to answer it fast enough, needing to hear Thorn’s voice.
“Case?” The familiar sound of him meeting my ear.
“Thorn.” I blew out a breath, “You know how to keep a girl waiting.”
“Sorry.” Thorn offered. Hearing his voice causing a sudden ache to well up inside my chest. My arms tightening on the phone desperate to hold him.
“Val beat me to it.” Thorn chuckled, the sound making me breathless.
“I forgive you, now hurry up and get here. I’m not sure why but I seem to be missing you something fierce. Maybe I’m coming down with something.” I rattled as I thought about seeing walk back through the club’s door, the image causing heat to rise in my cheeks. I couldn’t help the fact I had pictured him naked.
A true laugh broke out on the other end of the phone and the stupid grin on my face expanded even further.
“How do you do that? Make me laugh when I am in full on killer mode.” He marveled.
“It’s a talent I guess. I’m gifted.” I shrugged before realizing he couldn’t see me.
“No, it’s not a gift it’s because you are magic Case.”
My heart and grin expanding further at his words.
“Hurry up and get here and I’ll show you how magic I am.” Who was I? Words were popping out my mouth like PEZ.
“I’m on my way.” The phone going dead leaving me to guess he liked that thought.
Chapter Eighteen
CASE
Miranda and I waited. Jumping at every sound sure that it was them. When they finally walked through the door, our feet couldn’t move fast enough. Thorn had Selena in his arms. Her body seemed so small cradled next to his body. Her skin marked in violent shades of purple, bruises filling up space on her pale skin. A bright red ring circled her neck, and I didn’t have to ask.
Suddenly, I no longer saw Selena, instead I saw myself. My battered body replacing hers in Thorn’s arms, dragged back to that day, like a twisted movie playing on constant repeat. The image scratched and broken as flashes of sound pulsed in my ear, my shallo
w breaths, the slow beat of my weary heart. Thorn was so warm against my skin, and I never wanted him to let me go.
A different set of monsters had stolen Miranda, Selena and myself, still we had survived. The three of us weren’t friends. We were warriors, far stronger than we could have guessed. Looking past the bruises, passed the ugly red line circling Selena’s throat, I no longer saw the way she had been violated. I only saw her. The Selena who sat by my side to keep watch, making sure I was okay. The Selena who had sunk her teeth into Thorn’s arm, in a well-intended gesture to protect me. The Selena who had laughed with Thorn and I at the dinner table before sharing one of her secrets and allowing me to offer a rare bit of comfort.
“We’ve got you,” I whispered softly, “Let’s get you better.”
My body hit my bed. Earlier, Miranda and I had kicked the guys from Selenas room so we could take care of her. She was now clean, dressed and given some kick ass pain meds. The worst damage had been done to her neck and her rib, we discovered the break, while checking her injuries. The absence of Law seemed like a topic no one was discussing. I couldn’t help but worry it wasn’t only her body that had been broken. We had left her in her room to rest. I went back to mine.
Strong arms grabbed my shoulders pulling me out of thoughts and I tensed.
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