jolting me awake. I scolded myself for not keeping track of how far I’d been taken. Why didn’t I think to count the turns or look for exit signs? Tears threatening to well up in my throat, but when the engine shut off, I willed myself to stop. If the SUV stopped, that meant I had an opportunity for escape. And while I couldn’t exactly run away, I could at least try and attract attention to myself, leading to a potential rescue.
Although I couldn’t see them, I could feel sets of eyes on me. The doors slammed again. I prayed I was at another truck stop or anywhere that might be well-populated by human life. Like a rabbit in a trap, my heart was thumping mercilessly. I could hear the shuffling of shoes on gravel and the flare of a lighter being lit, but I still made myself keep my eyes shut. Slowly, as though time was being pushed backward instead of forward, I heard the cargo door beep and felt a breeze of fresh air invade the small space.
I blinked; my eyes stung against the brightness of day. I discovered new levels of self-hatred for sleeping so long. How had I slept for so many hours when I should have been trying to escape? I pushed my way past the man standing in front of me, no longer caring if I harmed him in any way. I only wanted to get as far away as possible. My arms and legs were stiff and my torso felt tingly from being cramped so long, but I managed to thrash past the mystery man and onto the crushed gravel. My shoes were missing. I reached down to rub my feet. Someone swore, and I think Polo started laughing. I straightened up and kept going. Another hop and my ponytail came loose from the tie, my hair cascading around me like a blonde curtain.
The seconds were painfully slow. In reality, I only made it two or three steps away from the SUV before the mystery man’s arms closed around my torso and he effortlessly tossed me over his shoulder.
I flailed my arms, hitting him as best as I could, thinking back to the few times I had attempted to lift free weights with Robbie. If I had stuck with it, I might have been able to defend myself better. Now, every ounce in me fought with what felt like the meaningless efforts of a child. Any remote hope I had of saving myself began to slip away.
“Think you can manage?” I lifted my head. Wallace smiled. Polo was doubled over in laughter. Behind him, I could see nothing but hordes of trees and shrubbery. A new fear grew within me and I began screaming through the gag.
“Knock it off, already.” The grip of his forearm tightened around my knees, making them impossible to move. Steadily, he moved toward my doom. Behind me, I could hear something being stacked and another vehicle pulling into the gravel. I screamed and screamed until I thought the sheer force would make the tape come off my mouth. Maybe someone had seen something and was coming to help—but then I remembered the other SUV and the small truck. My despair spread, seeping into my organs and ceasing their ability to function properly.
Inside, I was yelling at myself. How I could have once thought this degenerate was attractive was beyond me. Whatever happened to female intuition?
The shadow of a building appeared over us. I could feel the mystery man lean his weight then heard the swing of something ancient and wooden bouncing back against itself. We entered some kind of old house or barn. The smell of mold dust was overwhelming. I screamed for my life. Despite my powerlessness, I had to do something.
There was very little light in the house, but when I tried to look past the wave of hair over my face, I could see cobwebs in the corners of misshapen floorboards. Maybe this was where they were going to kill me and dump my body. It would take awhile before someone would think to look inside the closet of an abandoned house for a corpse.
I screamed louder.
“Holy hell, will you stop that?” He carried me up a flight of stairs before he finally put me down on a cold surface. Instantly I sprung up and tried to fling myself from the floor.
“Take it easy there, Vicious.” He pulled my wrists to the side of a