Page 30 of Property of Raider
“What’re we doing with her now?”Jose waves a dismissive hand at me.
My sister reaches out, running her hand down the back of my head.“I will do everything I promised I would do.”
Her words end with her hold on the back of my head snatching it back, so I must look at her.Her eyes are cold and angrier than anything I’ve ever seen from her.I’ve seen them cold, even indifferent and unkind, but never with this look of pure hatred.I swallow down the scream of pain that tries to escape.
“I’ve been promising you for years I would make you pay if you didn’t do exactly what I wanted from you.”She runs her nose over my temple.“Stay the fuck away.Away from this town, our past, and those fucking bikers.In the end, you could do none of those things.Now, those promises of mine get to come to fruition.”
“I only wanted to help Auntie Lynn.You both called to have me come back,” I gasp.“I don’t know anything about the bikers.Why did you call me back?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?What matters now is you’re with me, and when I get my hands on that boy, I’ll have everything I need to finally do away with those vermin.”
At this point, I must have cried all my tears.With everything that has happened, even though my heart is shattering, I’ve got none left.Jose must have sat forward because suddenly, I feel his hand on my knee.
“Are you telling me I have a new toy?”he asks.
My body turns to ice as fear and a dawning horror set in.
“Oh, how I’ve always loved seeing that fear in your eyes.”Shea reaches up, running a finger down my cheek before slapping me hard, but she doesn’t let go of my hair.“The things we’ve got planned for you …”
I don’t see the fist much less have time to react to the punch to my temple.A bright light explodes across my vision before everything goes completely dark.
???
I feel as if I’m floating, the swaying making my head throb and my stomach to roll.Voices around me are muffled and so far away, I can’t understand them.My stomach clenches, and I try to roll away from the hard surface to my right only for the grip to tighten, and I puke all down the front of myself.
“Well, isn’t that just wonderful,” grumble to myself.
The voices return this time sounding angry.Then it’s like I’m falling, and just before I hit the ground it all goes dark again.
???
Shit.
Why does it smell like vomit, sweat, and sex?
Sex.
I jerk upright, my head spinning so fast the world tilts sideways.My stomach lurches and clenches.I drop my face into my hands, groaning, pressing the heel of my hand into my eyes to stop the spinning, or at the very least keep from losing whatever’s left in my stomach.It takes way too long for my brain to crawl out of the fog.When it finally breaks free, I make the mistake of looking around.
Fuck, I wish I hadn’t.Where I’m sitting is anybody’s worst fucking nightmare.
A thin piece of foam pretending to be a mattress rests on a dirt floor.The air, damp and sour with the stench of fear and panic.Cinder blocks line the back wall, and all around me is a jail cell.The bars are spaced wide enough we can see others.So many sad and broken faces, the sound of sobs hiding in the shadows.All of it giving me false hope of not being alone while trapped in hell.
I shift, wincing as pain ripples through my body.My muscles ache, my skin sticks to the foam under me, the smell of vomit is stronger and with every passing moment something ugly twists in my chest.I lean back against the icy wall and try to think, try to remember how the hell I ended up here.Letting my eyes drift closed to relive the pain pulsing in my head and face, the memories flood back to me like a tsunami trying to pull me under.
There is the sound of a door slamming, footsteps, keys jingling, a cell door being pulled open and then a scream of pure fear for only a moment.We’re left in complete silence after that.The shuffling of feet and what sounds like Spanish make their way to me.I don’t open my eyes or even acknowledge that there is anyone there.When I hear keys rattling again, I squint my eyes open to find Jose and a couple of men standing there with hunger in their eyes.
I press my back against the wall behind me, silently praying they will move on from me.What little good it does me to hope I would be spared because life never seems to go my way.The keys jingle and then I hear the key sliding in the lock on my cell door.Gripping the wall behind me, I work to stand up so that when they come in I’m not left feeling quite so dominated by them.
“Boss wants you cleaned up and ready to show,” the smaller of the two men tells me with an accent so thick it takes me a second to understand him.
The big one steps into the cell, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me the rest of the way to my feet.“Are you deaf or dumb?You never keep the boss waiting.”
“Who is your boss?What am I getting ready for?”is what finally comes out of my mouth.
“If you’re smart, you will keep your mouth closed and follow the instructions,” the smaller man says.“If you keep your head down and keep the boss happy, the better your life is going to be.”
“Do you really believe that?”I snap, pissed about this entire situation.
