Chapter 14
Exhaustion threatened to finish me off. I’d come so far only to face defeat. Soaking wet and in only my panties, I dropped onto the ground and heaved in a breath. Shortly, I would die. Rusty would find me. He’d make me pay for what I did to Buck. Even if I survived his retribution, I wouldn’t be as lucky with Dutch.
My escape was for nothing. I wish I’d just submitted to that brute. Fight or flight kicked in and I followed my gut reaction. He might have left me so brutalized, my emotional scars wouldn’t have ever healed and I would’ve wished he’d killed me. I wouldn’t ever find out. He was dead.
I had killed him .
Swallowing, I swiped my hands across my lips, the metallic taste of blood heavy in my mouth. Tears pooled in my eyes and I dry heaved. I’d had two sips of water during my captivity and no food. Now that the danger was over, my adrenaline dipped and weakness, fatigue, and hunger set in.
After sprinting to the back of the building, I’d found an open window and climbed through it. I rejoiced. Luck had finally caught up to me. Unfortunately, my celebration was premature. Once I swung myself over the sill and dropped the short distance to the ground, I ran into another barrier. A huge fence separated me and freedom. Just beyond it, a walkway ran seemingly into infinity, since it was dark and I couldn’t see more than a few feet.
Undeterred, I searched the fence for a gate or any opening. Voilà, a swath of chain link torn away. I’d sprinted through it. Not realizing how close water ran alongside the walkway, I’d tumbled in. Somehow, I managed to grab onto brambles and climb out. A few seconds later, glass pierced the sole of my left foot. I barely felt the pain, so I took a moment to pull the shard out, though walking proved painful. I hadn’t gotten the entire piece out of my foot. Uncertain of my whereabouts, cold and in pain, I ended up right back where I began. On the warehouse grounds.
The water had washed away Buck’s blood but left me drenched. I’d just tucked myself into a corner of the building when a beam of light shone from the window I’d jumped from.
“Fuck!” Rusty snarled. “That cunt killed my brother.”
“Yep. Buck’s dead. We’re alive and Dutch will have our asses for letting her escape.”
“If she escaped and fell into the water, the current probably swept that bitch away,” Rusty speculated without a shred of remorse. “Fuck her. I hope a gator devours her.”
I pressed my hand against my mouth to hold in my sob.
“She might still be out there. We’ll look in the morning. At least, we’ll tell Dutch the truth when we say we searched for her.”
Rusty grunted. “Put on the alarm just in case. If that little cunt is out there, it will go off the minute she moves.”
Another tense moment went by before silence fell again. Still, I didn’t move, afraid it was a ruse to smoke me out.
Hours later, the sun finally rose. I hadn’t slept a wink, but the chill that chased me morphed into so much heat I thought I’d burst into flames. I needed to move, but I couldn’t think straight to create a decent plan. My cell phone was long gone. My exact location was unknown to me.
The sound of a motorcycle reached me, and I deflated. If I returned voluntarily, maybe Dutch would kill me quickly. I just wanted the nightmare to end.
Slice rose in my mind and I smiled, hoping he saw the video. I didn’t regret my defiance. Deep down, I’d known I wouldn’t make it out alive. Even if Slice complied and agreed to exchange his life for mine. Dutch was a horrible asshole. He would never have stuck to the plan.
Closing my eyes, I curled into a tighter ball, aware I lay on the ground, shivering despite how overheated I felt.
Visions of my family played in my head. My dad driving me to ballet class. Mom bustling about, teaching me to cook, then hurrying me to soccer practice where she’d write until it ended. Heath calling me ‘spaghetti arms’ like Johnny said to Baby in Dirty Dancing . Not for dancing, though. My brother was teaching me to fight.
I sniffled. Fat lot of good those lessons did.
Memories of Cass replaced Heath. Good memories, back when we were still friends and when I wasn’t so judgmental of her life choices.
A hand sank into my hair and wrenched me to my feet, then slapped me to the ground.
“You little bitch,” Dutch snarled, furious, grabbing my throat and jerking me up. “You killed Buck.”
I didn’t want to die. I was tired and scared and a bunch of things. No matter how resigned I was to my death, I wanted to live and I’d fight until my dying breath.
Dutch dangled me like a rag doll. My adrenaline spiked. I jabbed my finger into his eye as hard as I could. He screamed and dropped me. Ignoring the jolt of pain, I scrambled to my feet and kicked his cock. He sank to the ground.
I sprinted toward the break in the fence, but Rusty catapulted out of the open window and landed in front of me. I kneed his junk, too. One of the other dudes climbed from the window. Evading him, I spun and ran toward the front of the warehouse. The distance between me and the front gate was much longer, but those assholes kept swooping from that stupid window like bats on a belfry.
Screaming at the top of my lungs, I expected a bullet to tear into me at any minute. A line of motorcycles roared through the open gate and I screamed again. Dutch’s club members!
I turned and—
Dutch socked me in my belly, knocking the wind from me. I dropped to the ground. He attacked immediately and kicked my back, then straddled me and wrapped his hands around my throat.
Suddenly, I was free. Turning to my side, I coughed and sputtered, gasping for air. Grunts and curses broke the silent morning. Sounds of a fight. Motorcycles rumbling.
Gathering the last of my energy, I lifted myself into a sitting position. Slice swung a machete and Dutch’s head went flying.
“Slice,” I mumbled. “Now, I know why.”
I fainted.