Chapter 9 Saint #2
“So, you guys new around here?” he asked.
Shit. It was never good when people started asking questions like that.
“Just here for the bachelor party. Woo!” Ryker exclaimed.
“Spent some time in Vegas, then someone told us the party was in Redding,” Bear said.
“Though, definitely not as much of a party as Vegas,” I said.
“Nothing’s as much of a party as Vegas,” the man said flatly.
He kept walking us around and opening doors, and the more he opened them, the more we caved.
We couldn't even help it, either. And I silently prayed the guys were slowly surrounding the motel complex.
I saw shadows moving at the corners. But I had no idea of knowing if it was our guys or their guys.
With every door the man opened, my stomach turned. With every girl we saw, my heart broke.
Was there any way to get all of them out at once?
“If you’re finding out that dark, curvy girls aren’t your thing, we’ve got a nice girl in our possession that’s been here a while. Knows exactly what she’s getting into. The veteran, of sorts,” the man said
“I like it when my women know what the fuck they’re doing. What’s she like?” Ryker asked.
“Eh, she’s not much. Very thin. Practically no curves at all.
And she’s got some stretch marks from when she had a child.
But, if you can overlook all that, she’s got fair skin.
Some freckles across her nose. Big brown eyes.
Dirty blonde hair. Very innocent look to her.
The men that come around like her for that.
The innocence she practically reeks of,” the man said.
“Can we see her?” I asked.
The guys whipped their heads over to me and I knew I’d blown it. But, holy fucking hell, that description sounded just like Amberly. Down to the freckles across the nose. But it couldn't be. Right?
“Let me get her in a room for you, then you can check her out,” the man said.
“What’s wrong with the room she’s in now? I’m ready for my time slot!” Ryker exclaimed.
The three of us cheered, trying to create as much of a distraction as possible as the man chuckled at us.
“She’s in a room with a girl we haven’t groomed yet. If she’s gonna work, she needs her own room,” the man said.
“And I’m not allowed to break in the new girl?” Ryker asked.
Good. He’d latched onto that. Because that was probably Sutton.
“No. Not until we train her. And she’s a fucking stubborn one,” the man said.
Oh, hell yeah. That was definitely Sutton.
The three of us looked at one another before Ryker nodded.
And as we started off behind the man, he turned around to stop us.
He held out his hand, silently commanding us to stay there.
Then, he turned around to start walking again.
I looked over at the guys I was with. We all paid attention to the room he was walking toward.
It was the only room with a guard outside it, and it looked like the outer window was barricaded with wood.
“That’s where Sutton is,” Ryker murmured.
“Let’s see if we can’t get one of us in a room with her. Yeah?” I asked.
“I can try my best. But the guy seems pretty hell bent on—”
Before Bear could even finish his sentence, gunshots popped off.
Which caused us to immediately draw our weapons.
Diesel and Grave breached the outer wall at the corner, while Toxin and Brewer ambushed our sides.
The three of us turned around, taking out the four men charging us from the door that lead into the lobby.
Then, I took off across the field. I leapt over the concrete pool that had been filled up.
I put bullets in both the guys’ heads standing at the locked and barricaded door as Bear ran up behind me.
“That’s a fuck ton of locks for one girl,” he said.
We ducked to avoid bullets before we each turned around. I pressed my back against his, taking out the guys headed for us. Bear stood, then helped me up. And as I watched Grave and Toxin kick in hotel doors, they started grabbing girls left and right.
“You think they checked the front rooms, too?” I asked breathlessly.
“Yes, we did,” Diesel said.
He came up to us from out of nowhere and put bullets in all the locks on the door. And as the door swung open, two girls cried out. One of them charged us, leaping on Bear and clawing at him. Diesel wrapped his arms around her, saying her name as we all recognized her voice.
“Sutton. Sutton. Hey, Sutton. It’s us. It’s us. It’s us,” he said, over and over again.
However, my eyes weren’t on Sutton. Or on the shootout. Or on the girls the guys were slinging out of the rooms.
My eyes were on the other girl in the room with Sutton.
“Amberly?” I asked.
Her eyes were wide. She had chunks of hair missing all over her head. She was thin. Pale. Malnourished. Probably dehydrated. But, those freckles. Those eyes.
Holy hell, I’d never forget those eyes.
“Sa-Saint? Is that—”
“Come on. We have to get out of here,” I said.
I lunged into the room and picked her up.
I tossed her over my shoulder, and I held back tears at how light she felt in my arms. She must’ve been barely a hundred pounds, judging by how easily she hung against me.
It was like I hadn’t added any weight to my person at all, so I ended up snatching Sutton from Diesel’s grasp.
“Come on. We gotta get you two back to the van,” I said.
“There’s no one in the outer rooms. Only the inner ones, from what we can tell. The three of you get back to the van. We’re hanging back, clearing this place out, and freeing the girls,” Diesel said.
“Got it,” Ryker said.
“You sure you don’t want me to stay behind?” Bear asked.
Bullets came out of nowhere and the girls screamed.
Amberly buried her face into my back, and the feeling almost collapsed me at my knees.
I tried keeping my head in the game as Sutton wiggled down from my grip.
But I didn’t let go of her hand. The three of us took off running, following Diesel’s order.
And soon, I heard both Ryker and Bear yelling behind me.
“We’re providing cover! Keep running!”
“Watch out! Duck!”
“Faster! We have to get there!”
“Through the fucking woods!”
And the entire time, my being was swallowed whole by my shock.
How the fuck did Amberly wind up in a place like this?