46. Laney
I’m at a complete loss about what to do next.
I can order a cab, but I don’t know where I’m going. Reed said to stay at a motel, but which one? How will I know that somewhere is safe?
A part of me just wants to shut my bedroom door and hide away.
Surely, it’s safe here? Going out into the big wide world, alone, feels like a worse option.
The police will get this cleared up soon enough, won’t they, and release Reed and the boys again?
Or will the fact they’re already on bail go against them?
I wish I knew more about how the system worked. They do all have one phone call, though, and I make sure I have my cellphone with me in case they try to make contact.
I need to be brave. If Reed told me to go to a motel, then that’s what I’ll do. I glance around my bedroom, and then grip the bag on my shoulder a little tighter. I leave the room and run down the stairs to the entrance hall.
I draw to a halt, the air punching from my lungs.
A man is standing in the opening of my front door.
A part of me had hoped this moment would never happen, but deep down, I’ve always known this day would come. As much as I wanted to convince myself that I was unreasonably paranoid, I’ve now been proven right.
I’ve never wanted to be wrong about something so badly in my life.
“Hello, Laney.”
With a gasp, I step back, only to collide with a solid body directly behind me. I spin to come face to face with Axel. Close behind him is Zeke.
“No!” I cry and try to dart away, but Axel is too fast.
He grabs my shoulders, pinning me in place. My bag falls to the floor. I struggle, but he’s holding me tight.
Smith approaches, his footsteps slow and deliberate. “Where are your boyfriends?” he asks. “Wait, don’t tell us—the cops busted them for possession, right?”
My eyes widen. “How do you know that?”
“How do you think?”
It dawns on me that this was a setup. They’d planned it all to get back at us.
I can’t go through this again. I just can’t. It almost killed me last time, and I’m simply not strong enough to survive a second time. Not that it’ll matter. They’re probably going to kill me, anyway, once they’ve taken what they want from me.
I picture Reed, Cade, and Darius being released, free to come find me, only to discover my body instead.
It will utterly destroy them. They’ll forever question if there was something they could have done differently.
Not that it will matter. If Smith and his men are lying in wait for them when they get back, they’ll also end up dead.
In the afterlife, will we still get to be together?
Maybe we should have told the truth when we’d first been found.
Lying clearly hasn’t helped—in fact, it made things worse.
If we’d told the police all about the body, and Smith and his men, they wouldn’t have had a reason to arrest us and take our passports away.
We could have left the country—gone to Europe, maybe—and gotten lost on the Spanish beaches or in the French countryside, or maybe the lakes of somewhere like Finland.
Smith would never have bothered to look for us there.
But it’s too late for wishes now.
Axel shoves me over to Smith, so I end up in his arms.
“Let go of me!” I struggle again. “Don’t you fucking touch me.”
I’m so angry. I’m fucking furious. I don’t deserve this, I realize.
Nothing I’ve ever done has brought me to this moment.
All I’ve ever tried to do is live my life, to love the people in it.
Even though I’ve been knocked down, over and over, I’ve gotten back up.
I don’t deserve this. I don’t fucking deserve it.
“How did you get here?” I ask in desperation.
Maybe if I get them talking, I’ll buy myself enough time to figure something out.
“Here, as in L.A.?” Smith cocks an eyebrow.
“Or out of the wilderness, after you stole our fucking boat, and left us stranded in the middle of nowhere with no supplies? I bet you thought you were being clever, huh? Hoping we were going to die out there. Well, you forgot that we were going to meet someone. They were delayed, but then when they couldn’t get hold of us to rearrange, assumed something must have happened.
They knew the exact location of the cabin.
Admittedly, it did take ten days, so we were pretty fucking pissed by the time they arrived, but as you can see, we made it out, safe and well.
” He purses his lips and shakes his head.
“I was surprised you didn’t send the cops after us.
That was what I’d been expecting—to find our names and faces plastered all over the internet under some kind of ‘most wanted’ list. I couldn’t believe it when I realized you’d kept your mouths shut about us.
At first, I couldn’t figure out why. After what we did to you, why not tell the cops?
But then it dawned on me that you didn’t want them to come looking for us.
You wanted us to die out there, didn’t you?
What a cold-hearted bitch. You act like a little princess, but actually you were perfectly happy to let three men die. ”
There’s no point in me saying anything. It won’t make any difference. He’s venting. I hope it’ll make him less angry, by getting it off his chest, but I doubt it.
I think of something. If the cops hauled the guys away on drug charges, doesn’t that mean they’ll search the house as well? It would only make sense for them to do that, and if they do, they’ll find these assholes here.
Maybe the cops are waiting for a search warrant to come through for the house. I have no idea how long these things take, but perhaps they figure there’s no rush since they’ve got Reed and the boys in custody.
I don’t understand why the police aren’t more suspicious. We told the detective about our fears of Smith and his friends, or even someone associated with them, coming after us. How can they not see straight through this setup? It’s clearly been done to separate us.
Smith seems to know what I’m thinking. “Don’t expect the cops to come back here any time soon.”
I’m terrified, but I do my best to hold my shoulders back and jut my jaw. “Why not?”
“You know that detective who just had your boyfriends hauled away? He also happens to be a friend of mine. It’s handy to have members of the police force on the payroll. Means they hide evidence when needed, or even plant it places where you do need it.”
Understanding of what happened sinks in. “Fucking bastard.”
“He’ll give us a heads up if it looks like this place is going to be searched, or if any of your family are going to be released.” He shrugs. “So we can take our time with you. Enjoy ourselves a little.”
“You set them up.”
“They’re getting quite the reputation for themselves, aren’t they? First lying to the police, and now this.” He tuts his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “And we’re supposed to be the criminals.”
“You are the criminals.”
“Maybe so, but right now it’s your stepfather and stepbrothers who look like the bad ones.
No one even knows we’re still alive, and that’s the way I’d like to keep it.
It’s amazing the number of people who stop looking for you when they think you’re dead, and that can definitely work to our advantage. ”
They must have used fake passports to get into the country, or else they know some illegal route to have gotten them from Canada into the US. I wouldn’t put either possibility past them.
“How have things been between you and your stepdaddy since he fucked you?” Smith asks. “I see you both decided you liked it, and did it again. I saw the stories all over the papers.”
My face burns, a furnace raging inside me. He studies my expression, and interest sparks in his eyes. “You fucking him now on the regular?”
“Fuck you,” I spit.
“What about your stepbrothers? Are you spreading those long legs for them, too? Sucking their cocks? Tell me how the dynamics work. Do you take them all at the same time? One dick for each hole? Or do you let them take turns?”
“You’re fucking disgusting.”
“Maybe so, but am I wrong? And anyway, I don’t think you’ve got any right to call me disgusting when you’re the one fucking your daddy and big brothers, all at the same time. You really are a little whore, aren’t you?”
The things he’s saying cut me to the core, confirming everything I’ve feared about myself.
“We love each other,” I say, but it’s barely a whisper.
“Sure, they love that tight young pussy of yours. What man wouldn’t?”
I manage to hawk up a big globule of saliva and spit it right in Smith’s face. The next thing I know, his hand cracks around my cheek, sending my head rocking.
“Don’t be a stupid cunt.” Smith holds up his gun. “Remember your old friend?”
“Fuck you.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t like it. You’re nothing but a whore.
I was there, remember? I sucked your swollen little clit while I fucked you with my gun, and I heard the noises you made.
I watched your pussy clench around the barrel as you came, and how you arched your hips up to get better contact with my mouth. ”
My face burns. The worst part is that what he’s saying is true. It did make me come, but that didn’t mean I wanted it. My body just did what it’s supposed to.
It’s not my fault, I tell myself. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault.
But if that’s true, and I haven’t done anything to deserve this, then why does this shit keep happening to me?
Ever since I was young, men have wanted to hurt me this way.
It’s getting harder and harder to believe I haven’t done something—maybe in a previous life—for God, or fate, or whoever, to want to punish me.
Axel grabs the front of his jeans. “She liked my cock, too. Dirty little slut.”
Zeke looks between them. “So, I’m the only one who didn’t get to fuck her? How’s that fair? I should get to go first this time.”
Smith jerks his chin toward me and addresses Zeke. “Come and get a feel, then.”
I’m lightheaded with panic. “No!”
Smith and Axel hold me in place. Zeke approaches and shoves his hand down the front of my jeans and into my panties. He roughly pushes two fingers inside me. I balk at the contact, twisting my face away and squeezing my eyes shut.
“Nice and wet,” he says approvingly. “Just how I like them.”
“Wait ’til she really gets going,” Smith says. “She gets so wet, she’s practically squelching.”
I’m humiliated and mortified. Zeke’s thumb finds my clit, sending sparks through me, and I let out a sob. I don’t want this—I’ve never wanted these men’s hands on me. How will I cope if they rape me again?
“Let’s tie her up,” Smith instructs. “Get her naked first, and then we can have some fun. Make her see what a dirty little slut she is, and how much she enjoys this. I wonder how many times we can make her come.”
I want to die.
Dying will be better.