Page 21 of Sugar Baby
“Sophia.’
Nico’s urgent tone cuts through the fog of having my head smashed against the van window. I force my eyes open to see him on the seat next to me. He is pushing my hair out of my face with a concerned expression.
“What…?”
“The gun, Sophia, where is it?
“Uhm…the seat…it was…” I look around, but everything went flying when we spun around.
He catches sight of it on the floor and picks it up with a blood-stained hand.
“Are you hurt?” I mumble.
He shakes his head and rips the pocket off his black jacket. He wads it up and presses it to my temple. “Hold that there.”
It’s all I need to know that it’s me that’s bleeding.
All I want to do is close my eyes, but I’m startled out of it when the van door slides open with a bang, and we are confronted with several large alphas, all growling and aggressive. I don’t recognise any of them, so that doesn’t help to know who did this to us.
Nico covers me by sitting in front of me; his massive frame blocks me from their view.
“Give us the girl,” one of them says in a thick Italian accent.
“Not a chance,” Nico growls back, levelling the gun.
“Nico,” I mutter.
We are outnumbered. There is no way we can get out of this without further assistance.
“Move away from her,” the alpha says.
“Not a chance. You know better than that.”
Shit. Fuck.
I can smell the testosterone all around me. A mingle of scents that are making me feel light-headed and nauseous. Nico’s is the strongest, a purely masculine scent of a log fire that suddenly smells much more potent than it usually does.
“This is going to go one of two ways, but the end result is me taking the girl,” he says, “so what’s it going to be?”
Nico fires the gun, making me jump and groan, clapping my hands over my ears, my bleeding head forgotten. Then there is a sharpping-pingnoise, and Nico slumps forward.
“No!” I scream as two of the nasty alphas reach in to grab him and haul him out.
I catch sight of him; his white shirt is blossoming with red blood.
“No! Nico!” I cry out, but another one of the alphas in this group of vagrants reaches into the van and grabs me, pulling me out. I don’t even have time to get my feet under me, and I drop to my knees next to Nico’s bleeding body on the ground.
“What have you done?” I shriek, but a hand is slapped over my mouth.
I’m dragged backwards, kicking and scratching, trying to claw my way out of the tight grip of an alpha who stinks like the acrid smell of sour milk. I retch behind his sweaty hand, twisting and fighting to get free, but it’s no use. I’m just not strong enough. I see another one of them lean into the van and snatch something up, something from the safety deposit box and pocket it. Then he bends down to take the gun from Nico and shoves it in the back of his pants.
I’m shoved into the van that hit us, a nondescript white in colour, and three of the five alphas climb in with me, one of them shot in the arm by the looks of it. There are no seats, just an empty space, like a workman’s van, so I curl up on the far side as they slam the door shut and the other two climb in the front and set off with a screech of tyres.
The one who spoke to Nico gives me a level stare. “You are a pain in the ass, just like your mother,” he says.
I look up and see his face for the first time. I gasp, my blood running cold.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper.
