Chapter 42
Daisy
After a while, my tears halted and my body stopped shaking. My mouth was dry as a bone and my face cracked with each movement because of the dried saline and mucous from my sobs.
I listened as they fought about the man they left behind. The man that I shot. If nothing else, at least I knew I killed one of the men trying to capture me. I was proud of myself. Maybe Falcon would be, too.
To keep myself positive, I envisioned some sort of wild rescue. I’d been bouncing around on the floor, but I hoped to find a way to brace myself for when Falcon drove his truck broadside into the van, and we went toppling over down an embankment. Apparently, I watched more TV than I thought because, so far, this kidnapping was nothing like I expected. Plus, if the van went down an embankment with me tied up, I’d probably die.
Besides their bickering about their friend, there wasn’t much chatter. It was obvious from their accent and the way they were talking that they were Tony’s guys. Who knew my ass was so sought after? I figured he’d cut his losses once I left. He had lots of women. What was two to him?
Was Lacy in danger? Was this isolated? But how could it be isolated? Why else would these idiots have taken me? My head was spinning from all the questions that I had no answers to.
For the first time in my life, I was missing someone. I was missing Falcon. Was he missing me? Was he looking for me? Surely, he would have quickly realized I was gone and chased after us?
I hadn’t missed my mom when I left home, and I was relieved to be rid of Chad when I left. The only thing I had missed was my freedom. Even though I tried to pretend he was keeping it from me, Falcon had granted it back to me. Now it was gone again.
My eyes grew heavy as I pondered my situation. I was getting sleepy. Maybe it was from the driving, or from the lack of air since my head was covered and my mouth was gagged. I had nearly dozed off when hands were on me. That woke me up fast.
“Let’s see if this is the one he wanted,” the voice said.
Panic set in as I was turned onto my belly. I tried to scream, but it was muted by the gag in my mouth. My jeans were yanked down on one side and he laughed. “Oh yeah. It’s her. There’s the flower on her ass.”
Footsteps sounded near my head and another voice said, “ That’s a sweet ass. I wouldn’t mind having a go with it.”
No . I yelled again and, while muffled, I knew they could hear whatever odd sounds made it through the gag because they all laughed. I tried to twist so that my ass wasn’t in the air and a new wave of shakes took over my muscles.
An argument broke out between them about whether it was alright to rape me or not. All I could do was squirm and be a pain in the ass. The idea of one or any of them touching me made me nauseated.
“They said to bring her back unharmed.”
“They didn’t say shit about unfucked.”
“You’re just mad you’re driving and can’t have a turn.”
“Don’t worry man, when we stop, I’ll drive for you and you can have a go.”
“Our orders were clear. Now fucking quit.”
“Bro, just shut up and drive. Hey, you go up there and wait your fucking turn.”
Hands were at my hips, dragging me around. My ankles were bound so I couldn’t kick; all I could do was squirm and wiggle. I already knew they weren’t supposed to kill me. Not yet anyway. So, I could be a pain in the ass. That’s what I was good at.
I flailed around like a mermaid and yelled as loud as I could, though it sounded more like grunts through the gag. Flopping around the back of a van wasn’t much different than being smacked around, but it was all I could think of to do. There was a clatter followed by loud bangs as I plowed into something when the van halted to a stop. The collision stunned me.
“I said enough. Jesus.”
Footsteps thudded toward me, and I was pulled to my feet. Pressure rushed to my eyes and a whimper escaped my throat. I wasn’t very steady when hands gripped my waist. My body shook again but instead of pulling my pants down further, the man grabbed the belt loops and jerked up until my jeans were back in place over my hips.
But as quickly as he righted my clothes, he dropped me to the hard floor and I winced in pain from the fall. My ass and back probably looked like I’d been paddled at this point. Once the initial pain eased, I felt nothing. It was probably shock, or adrenaline. People could do and endure unexplainable things under duress. I’d say this situation could qualify as one of those times.
Tony had eased me in last time. There hadn’t been anything crazy or obvious about his plans. Just a moment of realization that I had fucked up and there was no way out. Now, it was clear what was happening.
Unlike before, now I had something to lose. After having no real family, no real friends, and nobody who cared about me, it almost seemed right that I’d end up as nothing more than a piece of meat to use and discard. I didn’t really exist before. But now, it felt like I had everything to lose. A man, friends, even family. I needed to stay alive and out of the hands of Tony or whoever he planned to turn me over to. The only reason I could see that any of them would be concerned with me being untouched was that someone was waiting to have me .
For whatever reason, though, the driver was set on getting me wherever we were going unharmed. I just had to hope he could maintain control of the others.
The man who had been driving barked orders. “You, sit up here. You, take over driving.”
“You’re not the boss–”
The unmistakable clicking of a safety sounded in the van and the other man went quiet. “We fuck this up and we’re as good as dead. We deliver the goods, we’re in.”
Finally, the van shook as the two seats had weight dropped into them and the gear was put back into drive. The man sat down near me, but not close enough to feel his heat. The others were quiet as we continued on to wherever we were going. Now it made sense. They didn’t already work for Tony, but they wanted to. And I was their meal ticket. Apparently, I wasn’t all that important, since Tony sent some random assholes to snatch me. Not even his own guys.
All I could do was hope Falcon thought I was important enough to find before we made it to Tony.