Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals #2) - Heather Long Page 0,122

scenes I just wasn’t ready to read aloud, so I skated past them until Freddie figured it out. Then he took over reading those parts with such gusto, he would have me in tears laughing.

“It’s just good, old fashion dirty fun, Boo-Boo,” Freddie told me. “Haven’t you ever had a threesome? Or a foursome? A daisy chain? How about letting a girl go down on you? Or watch you while a guy did? I bet you like to be tied up. All those silks…strung up and spread wide…”

The rapid-fire questions went from teasing and playful to kind of horrific. I shook my head. “No,” was all I managed to squeak out before I escaped. I barely saw Kestrel as I headed for the stairs, but the look on his face said there was no way he hadn’t heard what Freddie had been asking.

I didn’t want to talk about it.

At the top of the stairs, the sound of a thump carried and Freddie’s aggrieved, “Ow, I was just playing. Jesus, Kestrel.”

The rest of it faded away as I gave up decorum and ran all the way to my room. Inside, I shut the door and closed my eyes like I could shut out the past. Months since I’d seen him as more than a blip on a newsfeed, and I could conjure his face without trying.

My uncle seemed to have carved out a space for himself in my head as deftly as he had my body.

Nothing made it go away.

I hid in my room for the rest of the day. I was supposed to be watching Freddie, or at least hanging out with him. But I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t face any of them. Kestrel was home, so at least I knew that Freddie wasn’t alone. I ignored the messages on my phone, curled up under the covers with the bear that had been in the room since I arrived. The old, somewhat worn but still soft bear absorbed invisible tears as well as real ones.

Twice, the door opened, and I pretended to be asleep both times. For a little while, I’d forgotten the kidnapping, the life before, my uncle, all of it. It was like I belonged here. Then just like that, it was all gone again. I was the missing heiress with an uncle swearing repeatedly he wouldn’t stop looking for me. My captors had become my friends? Lovers? How did I even describe them?

Did they count as kidnappers if I came back of my own volition?

I wish I could just forget again. Just go back to the little bubble we’d made. But that bubble was just another illusion, and I knew better.

I did.

As elusive as peace and sleep seemed, I didn’t even notice I’d drifted off until I woke to Jasper setting me into the back of a car. I frowned at him, but he just shook his head and shut the door. Kestrel slid into the driver’s seat as Jasper circled around to climb into the passenger seat.

“Is something wrong?” I moved to the middle as Rome opened the door to my right and climbed in, but before I could scoot over further, Vaughn climbed in on the other side.

“We gotta go,” Jasper said, not looking back at me.

Kestrel sighed and shook his head. But if he had any objections, he didn’t offer them up. It was pitch black outside, the headlights barely cut through the gloom, and no matter how hard I squinted, I couldn’t see past the haze of light as it seemed to disperse against heavy fog.

“Where are we going?” My question barely seemed to register with any of them. Rome was in the seat next to me, but he wouldn’t look at me. Kestrel tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“Rome?” A muscle ticked in his jaw at my plea, but he still didn’t turn his head. I twisted in the seat. Vaughn was my last hope, right?

The shadows hid his expression from me until another set of headlights hit us. The sadness in his face wrenched my heart.

“What happened?”

But no matter what I asked, they just kept driving and no one answered. I finally gave up, and after what seemed like an eternity in this purgatory, I wasn’t ready for the car to stop or Kestrel to say, “We’re here,” in a tone that rang with such finality.

“Stay in the car,” Jasper ordered, and then he was out. I tried to lean forward, but I still couldn’t see where we were.