Page 50 of The Hangman's Rope

The next thing I knew, Cal had me fetched up into the corner of the elevator as it made a rapid ascent.

“Come on, Lorelai, stay with me now. Just a little bit further.”

“What’s wrong with me?”The way my voice slurred frightened me. I tried to raise my arms and push him off, but it was like they didn’t want to work.

Fear spiked like an iron stake spearing right through me.

“It’s okay,”Cal said.“I’ve got you.”

But I didn’t know who he was or how we’d gotten in here. I tried to fight, but my body just wouldn’twork.

“Get off of me,”I begged, and he grunted as my legs went out from under me and he had to take my full dead weight.

“Fuck,”he muttered and his entire tone and demeanor changed as he put a shoulder into my midsection and lifted me, boneless and like a rag doll over his back.

The blood rushed into my already pounding head. My mouth was dry, and my arms hung limp no matter how much I internally screamed at them to move, to push off of him, to beat on him. My voice came out a strangled garbled groan as I tried to scream and justnothingwould work.

The elevator stopped, and the doors swooshed open. The tile turned to carpet that spun crazily in my vision as he swept up the hall and knocked deftly on a hotel room door.

“That shit worksfast,”he complained to whoever opened it.

I was flung down onto a bed and panic rose in my chest. I couldn’t get my breath, everything just sort of going on autopilot.

I was vaguely aware of hissing, spitting, kicking, thrashing, and throwing up a grand fight – but my body just wouldn’tmove!I screamed, I cried, I wailed, as the strange men in the room took scissors to my dress, cutting things off of me.

I thrashed, gnashed my teeth, screamed the unholiest of screams – but still I could not move.

I could feel everything he did to me.

When he cut my panties off and spread my legs, when he put fingers inside of me and complained,“She’s not very wet. That’s okay, we’ll get you ready,”as he began to tease around inside me.

I felt hot tears slick down my temples as I felt him find that spot inside me, teasing it with that come-hither motion and I still couldn’t move, couldn’t fight, couldn’t breathe – but my body, down there,responded. A pleasure budding and growing, trying to blossom as I lay paralyzed and horrified.

I don’t want this!my mind screamed, but nothing would stop him… nothing would stopthem… and I fought and I screamed but still no sound came out, not a single muscle so much as twitched. All I could do was lie still and weep, waiting for it to be over, wishing I would just pass out or die.

Chapter Fifteen

Hangman…

We took a break for some of the guys to jog down to the gates and let the girls out. Some taking the time to see the girls down to Lainey’s car in the gift shop parking lot.

I watched Lorelai on the camera pointed at the porch as she waved and saw them off, her expression changing, dropping into a sort of weariness as soon as Death and the girls were out of sight.

She stood on the porch, hugging herself in the pretty shawl, closing her eyes and listening, taking in slow and even breaths, and I couldn’t help but just study her.

She was a beautiful young woman.

I wondered if that was solely the reason she had been chosen or if there was something more to it.

Had it just been a stroke of bad luck on her part? Wrong place, wrong time? Or was there more than met the eye?

I only asked myself thatbecausethe club’s… services… had been employed and motherfucker, we didn’t come cheap. At all. You had to have some serious capital to not only tap us in thefirst place, but to pay so anonymously and in advance? That spoke to someone we’d done business with before – which is what we’d figured, to be honest.

The good thing about that was that it was a fairly short list for that kind of a thing – but it was a list that was growing.

We were making some choices about where to go from here when Syn had alerted that the girls were gathering up to go.

He’d told us all to piss, grab a drink, do whatever, while he and Fear had headed out to see their ladies off. I’d needed to tap a kidney, so I’d tossed my keys on the table and said to whoever go get the gate.

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