Page 108 of Hendrix

“Fuck Ace,” Tweety grumbled. “You keep saying he’s gonna help us, but I don’t see him beating down the door to save our asses. The car’s fucked, and we need transportation. I’ll go out on foot, hotwire the first vehicle I see, and haul ass back. If we sit here much longer, they’ll find us.”

The woman had her back to me, and she was in shadow, but I could see she wore a baseball cap, and had long dark hair tied in a low ponytail at her nape, which had been threaded through the fastening of her headwear.

There was something familiar about her.

I tried to keep my breathing regulated. Playing dead seemed like the smartest thing to do. Maybe I could lull them into a false sense of security until I got an opportunity to escape.

Except the thought of moving seemed like an impossibility. My head had cleared slightly, but my body ached all over to the point where it hurt to blink, let alone run. Every time I even flexed a muscle, I felt the need to vomit. My back hurt like a bitch, and I had to stop myself from crying out at the sharp aches shooting through my kidneys.

“I’ll tie her up before I go,” Tweety offered.

The girl laughed. “She’s no threat to me, but go ahead.”

Tweety grabbed my hands and bound them with a zip tie. I made my entire body relax and I breathed deeply because I didn’t know what else to do.

Suddenly, I wished I’d paid more attention during the self-defense classes I used to go to with my friends back in Hambleton. They were run by my friend, Sophie, who was kick ass. She wouldn’t have let herself get dragged into this shit show. Soph would have had these assholes strung up the second she awoke.

Her voice suddenly echoed through my head.

Eyes, solar plexus, genitals, toes. Headbutt, stamp, slap, and chop. Remember, fingers stabbed into an eyeball will give you a chance to escape. If they can’t see you, they can’t catch you. Pull that eyeball out of the socket if you have to, but remember, a rock or dirt thrown in it can be just as effective. No-holds-barred, bite, scratch, fight dirty. A boot to the balls or vagina will render somebody helpless and allow you to get away, try to get underneath near the perineum. That will take a giant down.

I pushed my friend's advice to the back of my mind, ready to call on it when needed.

The sound of a door opening made me jerk slightly. I heard a hushed goodbye and the sounds of kissing. After a few seconds, the door closed, and silence fell over the room before boots tapped on the concrete, coming toward me.

I’d gone from not being able to think straight to my senses suddenly feeling heightened.

The steps stopped directly in front of me, and I felt breath on my cheek. Then, a soft voice sang, “Aaaannaaa.”

My eyes flew open, landing directly on hers, and my sharp intake of breath was audible as it hissed through the room.

She smiled brightly. “Thought you were awake. You’re a shitty actress as well as a shitty lay. I mean, that’s gotta be a reason Hendrix left you and came to me, right?”

My heart sank inside my chest.

I hadn’t recognized her because she looked so different. The last time I saw her was when Hendrix was dragging her out of the clubhouse. Then she had red hair, just a shade darker than mine.

A hand came to her ponytail, and she tweaked it. “Like it?”

Saliva filled my mouth.

“This is my natural color,” Daisy stated. “I was experimenting with red when I first joined the club, and then Hendrix made me dye it the same color as yours.” She sneered and leaned in closer until her lips were a hairsbreadth away from mine. “At least I don’t have to look at that awful ginger anymore. It never did suit my skin tone.”

“They’ll be looking for me,” I croaked. “Just go. Leave now, and I’ll tell them I wandered here myself, got injured, and holed up to wait it out. That way, you’ll get to live.”

Her maniacal laugh was brittle.

I stared into her soulless eyes, fighting the urge to vomit again, and whispered, “What do you want from me?”

She dropped to the ground in front of me and crossed her legs languidly. “Hendrix was mine for three years. Then you and yourbastardcame along, and everything changed. He stopped touching me. He stopped speaking to me”—her voice lowered to a demonic rasp—“he wouldn’t evenlookat me.”

I shook my head, not quite believing what I was hearing. “He used you, Daisy. I’m sorry, but you’re better off without him. Take the win because any man who treats you that way isn’t worth your love.”

Her cheeks heated red, and she screamed, “I know that!”

“So why all this?” I implored. “Why hurt me?”

“To makehimfeel what he mademefeel,” she raged, her cheeks darkening. “He hurt me, so I’ll hurt him, and the best way to do that is byhurting you!” Slowly, she rose and stood to her full height. “He humiliated me. He gave me something, he made me feel like somebody, and then he took it all away”—she lifted a hand and snapped her fingers—“just like that.”

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