Page 37 of Stolen

“Sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “You did what? You fought him? What do you mean, you fought him? Jaden, he’s huge and terrifying. How could you fight him?”

I furrowed my brows at her clear disbelief.

“Jeez, calm down,” I said with a laugh. “Just pretend I never said anything. We probably shouldn’t even be talking about it anyway.”

“But…you gave him that black eye? How? And how are you not frightened for your life right now?”

I shook my head with a scoff. “Because he probably fucking liked it.”

Kayla’s eyeballs nearly popped out of her head.

“I wish I could have seen his face when he woke up this morning.” The thought of that made me chuckle a little inside.

“Girl, you’re on a completely different level than me,” she said, turning to lay down on the padding of her cage, facing me. I did the same and studied her features, noticing how young she really looked.

“How old are you, Kayla?” I asked, hoping to change the subject

“Twenty-two.” She sighed. “You?”

“Twenty-five.”

For the rest of the day, we just laid there and talked about our lives, ignoring the nightmare that surrounded us. Kayla was from Grand Rapids, but she was studying psychology at Michigan State and had one day planned to counsel children. She had a passion for helping kids, and that was admirable. She had been on summer break when they took her.

I told her about my goals and dreams of being a big shot attorney after law school, but at this point, they were looking a little gloomy.

We spent the rest of the day resting and reminiscing about better days, and I somehow found it a little easier to fall asleep that night. But it wasn't meant to be.

10

Thankful

The sound of rattling keys woke me, my puffy eyes barely willing to open to find three guards quietly standing in front of my cage. The lights were still out, and the sky was still dark, but the fog in my brain refused to allow me to form any logical explanation for their hushed presence. I just wanted to be left the fuck alone.

Carefully opening my cage, they reached in to grab my limbs and quickly pulled me out, my body igniting with pain from my still fresh injuries.

“Stop, what are you—?” But my words were cut off as a giant hand covered half my face to silence me. My feet and torso were then immediately lifted into the air as I was carried off. I tried to scream, but my throat was still scorched from the last time I screamed, and my body was too sore and tired to come even close to fighting them off.

Once we were beyond the door, the intentions of the guards became horribly clear.

“I swear, I’m gonna fuck this bitch up so much. I can’t believe she’s even still breathing after the shit she pulled,” the guard holding my torso and mouth closed said.

“Sid said Jared has two broken ribs, a broken nose, and a broken eye socket,” said the guard holding my legs. “I think we should do the same to her.”

“And then some,” said the guard leading the group. The smile he gave me made my stomach shrink.

If my body wasn’t twisting for freedom, my stomach sure was. After what I’d gone through the other day, there was no chance in Hell I could handle more. As we entered through another door that closed behind us, a massive chill ran up my spine that spread through my veins until I was shivering uncontrollably. I couldn’t do this again. Not now. Not this many.

When the two guards holding me stopped in the middle of a dimly lit storage room, they dropped me onto the concrete floor, landing sharply onto my hip. Gasping in pain, I pulled myself up to my elbows and curled into myself to shield as much of my body from them as I could.

“Look guys, I get it,” I managed to say between heavy breaths. “I get that you’re angry, but please, don’t do this. I already got what I deserved. I don’t want any more trouble.”

My only answer was a hard kick to the stomach.

“Fuck!” I groaned aloud as the pain blasted through my abdomen, knocking the wind out of me. The pressure was harsh as I forced myself to suck in air, but all my body wanted to do was strain itself.

“Look at the little whore’s back. The boss did a nice job there.”

“She’ll be lucky if those bruises fade by the time of the auction with that pale ass skin.”

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