“Fuck yeah, he is. He’s coming to rescue your fine ass and then, if you’re lucky, he’s going to come everywhere else.” Preppy barely takes a breath between sentences. “I love that big fucking brute. I never doubted him for even a second. Or just for a minute. Maybe it was 50/50 for a while, but the bitch is lucky he came to his senses, because I had this whole plan laid out to haunt him by starting his bike in the middle of the night. Ghost Rider style.”
“I still have no idea what’s going on,” I admit to the confusing man.
“Shhhhhh, pretty girl. Get some rest, will ya? I’m sure Bear is gonna throw some D like a champ once you get some energy back, so you’re going to need to rest up unless you want to tap out from that shit, and I’ve seen that fucker in action. I mean to this day he’s never found that camera…” Preppy looked off into the distance. “Good times. Good times,” he mutters, smiling as if recalling the memory.
Preppy brushes my hair off my forehead and again looks me up and down, his gaze lingering for a beat too long on my midsection. “But in all seriousness, there is one thing I need you to remember, Ti, baby. Promise me that when you get the chance, you’ll do one thing for me and you can’t forget.”
“What’s that?”
“Run.”
With that Preppy walks back toward the window and in the time it takes me to blink, he’s gone. As my eyes again grow heavy and the call of sleep becomes all too powerful to ignore, I could swear I hear him mutter, “Do any of those fucking dildos know how to use a motherfucking rubber?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Thia
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound of a pipe leaking echoed in my ears, dragging me slowly back into reality.
Handcuffs bit into my wrists. My arms strained above my head as I hung from a pipe that ran across the ceiling. When I could no longer hold myself up, my muscles gave out with a pop as my joints painfully dislocated. My chin fell to my chest. Wide tape covered my mouth, wrapped around the back of my head, pulling on my hair every time I turned my head. With one nostril stuffed up I felt dizzy, barley able to get enough oxygen through the other.
My vision blurred as I tried to focus on my surroundings. Grey. Concrete. An open ceiling with pipes and wires. Nothing on the bare walls. A metal cage in the far corner. In the center of the small room was a blue tarp. Next to the tarp was a red toolbox with a yellow electric drill set on top. It was all so clean.
Sterile.
I pulled on the cuffs above my head with a newfound strength I didn’t have seconds earlier. My legs flailed around uselessly in mid air as I struggled against my restraints.
The door opened and Gus entered the room. When I first met him in the park he’d protected Bear and myself. I’d even thought he was cute in a chubby-cheeked best friend kind of way.
That Gus wasn’t who walked into the room, though. This Gus looked up at me as I dangled from the ceiling, like I was a steak and he was a hungry lion who hadn’t eaten in months.
“I really wish it could be me who gets to have all the fun with you today, but you see, little one, I have to continue playing the role of loyal soldier, so unfortunately for me, I had to call in a substitute.” He stepped up to me and I braced for whatever it was he was about to do, my heart hammering in my chest.
The tape being pulled off was painful, but it passed quickly and I was finally able to take deep breaths. Gulping for air as if I’d been drowning. “Why do this at all?” I asked, after finally being able to catch my breath. “Me, Bear, the MC? Why?”
“I don’t ask why. I do what I’m told. Asking why is not my job.”
“Then what is your job? Who hired you?”
Gus covered my mouth with his hand and pressed his forehead to mine. My stomach rolled. “That doesn’t matter. All that matters now is what’s about to happen to you. My advice? Give into the pain. Enjoy it. The human body is a fascinating machine, and although