Page 200 of Creep

The man parked and got out. I jumped when he slammed his door shut, and I focused on the sound outside, trying to judge if there were more men with him, not that it would have mattered had that been the case. I was no match for the one man, let alone more than one.

I didn’t hear anything for a while, and then the van’s side door slid open. I squinted my eyes at the sudden onslaught of sunlight hitting my face, even as a cold gust of wind blew over.

I shivered in the thin sweater I had on, wishing I had thought to put on a bigger jacket before I left.

My mind had been elsewhere. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about Victoria now. Plus, I had a feeling I would be seeing her soon enough.

I took in the man standing in front of me. He smiled menacingly as he checked me out from head to toe, a vicious sort of glimmer in his eyes that had all my hackles rising. He was a bigger man, at least well over six feet. Maybe about as tall as Mael, who already came up to six foot four. But other than his size, he was unassuming in every sense of the word.

Short, greasy brown hair, brown eyes, and olive skin, with stubble covering half of his face.

The man reached in and pulled me toward the door by my legs. I wiggled my body. I knew he would be able to get me out, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

He reached in and slapped me across the face. “I’ll fucking take out my knife if you keep this up, girl. I might not be able to kill you, but he said nothing about marking you.”

I flinched when he ran a finger down one side of my cheek, his hot breath close to my ear. I could smell the stench of beer on his breath and something putrid. I resisted the urge to gag.

“A pretty little mark, just right here,” he said with a nasty grin.

I closed my eyes and turned away from him. The man laughed before reaching in and lifting me up on his shoulder.

I bit the inside of my cheek when I felt his hand cupping my ass, disgust making my stomach roll.

“I can’t fucking wait until they give me the go-ahead to have fun with you,” he said as he walked inside an abandoned factory. I couldn’t see it in its entirety since I was draped over the man’s shoulder, but I caught enough of it to know it was broken down and not whole.

I glanced around.

It seemed like no one had been here for a while, and I could see a few areas that looked like they had been burnt.

Where the hell was I?

We got inside the factory, and everything seemed to be frozen in time. Trash littered the floors, and there were graffiti marks on the wall. The sun provided enough light to see, but I doubted there was any electricity. The man took the metal stairway off to the side of one wall, going up. I didn’t know how many floors we went up, but I was sure we were high enough that I would surely break something if I fell.

He threw me on the ground. I bit my cheek to hold in a scream when I landed on my tied wrists.

The man stood there and looked at me for a beat before he reached down and untied my hands. Before I could blink, he had a rope pulled out and was tying me to the railing that looked out from the edge down below.

I looked down.

I was right.

We were high up.

Too high. I looked away when I felt lightheaded, and the man tested the binds.

He tied it tight enough to hurt. I didn’t think he needed to worry about me escaping.

“Have fun, little bird,” he said with a laugh and walked away.

As soon as he was out of sight, I reached my hand down and took the tape off my legs. It took longer than I wanted, but once my legs were free, I worked on the rope. I was right. It was tight enough that I couldn’t untie myself.

I let out a frustrated groan when a familiar feminine voice came out. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

I turned and took in my ex-best friend. “Victoria? You’re okay?”

She laughed, the sound mean and cold. “You were always a little too nice, a little too stupid, weren’t you? Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I saw the messages. Leo?—”

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