they finally managed to get me to my feet, I took two steps before my vision tunneled and my head fell back, the darkness rushing in so fast all I could do was succumb.
38
“Where do you think we are?” Braylen’s question startled me even though her tone was soft, barely above a whisper. I’d been lost inside my head, which happened more and more as these hours ticked by, doing everything I could not to think about… not to remember… not to dive so far under the black waters of my mind that I never resurfaced.
Hope was our only option, but with such a dreamlike wish, came despair. What if they never found us? What if we’re moved before they could come for us? What if they killed us, deciding we were more of a hinderance than a bargaining chip?
“We have to hold on a little while longer,” she said, drifting over her unanswered question, mumbling something afterward, but I was so focused on the darkness that cut through the beam of light under the door to comprehend her words, let alone allow them to register.
The jingling of keys spread goose bumps over my skin, the tinkling of metal sounding more like a jackhammer, vibrating through me, and stealing my next breath. Then the next.
And the next.
I waited for the door to open, counting how many times my heart pulsed in my throat. A voice on the other side spoke calmly, as if he weren’t about to walk into a room where two women were held hostage.
“Is he there? What about her? Tell him not to let her out of his sight.” He said something else but lowered his tone right before he pushed the door open.
“Get up.” Neither of us moved for fear of what would happen once we did, although if we didn’t do as instructed, I feared that option as well. “Now!” he shouted, reaching down and snatching me by the back of my hair, pulling me to my feet, literally kicking and screaming. Braylen hopped up as quickly as she could, her hand flying to her belly with the sudden jerking motion before she straightened her posture. He pointed toward her. “Stay there or I’m gonna take you next.” Then his grip on me tightened and he lifted me to my tiptoes, the pain in my scalp cascading over every nerve in my body. “And if you don’t stop fightin’ me, I’ll make you watch as I throw her to my buddies.”
There were so many things I wanted to shout back at him, but in the end, I ceased my struggle. I wasn’t brave enough, or stupid enough to call his bluff.
“What do you want with us?” Braylen’s voice shook, her body trembling the longer it took for him to answer. He pulled me closer, his scent of cigarettes and beer wafting up my nose and making me gag. Physically, he was attractive. He was clean-shaven, and even had nice brown eyes, his features in perfect proportion, but I’d witnessed the ugliness dwelling inside him, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he ever used his looks to fool unsuspecting women until he got his clutches into them. I didn’t know his name, nor did I want to, but he’d never assaulted me, only usually bringing me to the other men.
Usually… I couldn’t believe I’d been here long enough to have to use that word.
“What the fuck do you think we want you for?”
She fired another question at him the second he stopped speaking. “Are you using us to get something from them?”
“Of course.” He took a few steps back toward the door, easing up on his hold on my hair without releasing me.
“What?”
“Like I’d tell you.” Several more steps and we stood at the threshold of the room. “Besides, it doesn’t matter, ’cause once we get what we want, you’re still not goin’ anywhere. Ever,” he enunciated.
I closed my eyes and silently cried, having nothing left to give.
Not a sound of a heavy breath.
Not an utterance of a plea.
Not a care for what was going to happen to me.
The only person I cared about right now was Braylen, and as long as I complied with what they wanted, I could only hope they would continue to leave her alone.
39
Sirens wailed in the distance as my consciousness shoved me forward. My ears continued to ring, only this time I could make out more of what was being said to me, Kaden leaning over me when I’d