CHAPTER 8
CARA
“Is that her?” A hushed voice whispering near me brought me back to consciousness, but I didn’t open my eyes or move.
I had been a light sleeper for years, but I also had this habit of not jumping awake, so that I could understand my surroundings before I opened my eyes.
It had helped me out on more than one occasion, especially on the streets and in shelters.
“Yeah, call the boss. See what he wants us to do. We were supposed to grab her tonight when she was working. That’s why he wanted these cameras disabling,” a second voice whispered.
They were close to me, but not too close.
I could only just hear their words. At first I thought it had to be those two guys from outside the hotel suite, but then I realized the accents were American.
Then they talked about grabbing me, and I was confused all over again.
All I actually knew was that I could be well and truly fucked right then.
Even without moving I could feel the aching and sharp pain in my body – likely a mix of the exhaustion, lack of food and water, and sitting in the cold for too long.
I was still bare foot and my feet were a mess of cuts from walking around and standing on things I didn’t want to think about.
I would have to try and fight, but I didn’t know how big the guys around me were, or if there were more than two. Worst of all I knew they were very likely to have guns on them if they worked for some kind of criminal, which it sounded like they did.
I could hear the murmur of voices, but they had moved further away now.
I knew that may be my only chance to flee, so I very slowly opened my eyes a slit and lowered my head enough to see ahead of me.
There were three guys, all pretty large and intimidating.
Two of them had tattoos up the sides of their necks and on their hands.
The other looked cleaner cut, but no less intimidating.
They were stood at the back of the parking lot, quite a distance from me now, but still directly in front of me.
They were going to see me move. I’d have to be fast.
I moved my arms first, uncurling them from around my legs.
No one was watching me right then, so I pushed up, as smoothly and quietly as I could, to standing.
My legs instantly protested the movement, pain shooting through my thighs and calves, but I ignored it and hoped adrenaline would get pumping faster.
Still no one was looking so I started to inch very slowly along the side of the shelter.
The parking lot of the club was fenced in, but I knew there was a gap where kids had cut the wire fence the other week, sneaking in to climb onto the flat roof at the back of the club in hopes of catching a peep inside.
I was sure it hadn’t been fixed yet, and I was also pretty sure none of the three guys I could see would fit through the gap after me if I could just get through it first.
I just made it out of the shelter when I heard shouting.
I didn’t look behind me, despite the fact I really wanted to.
I knew it would waste valuable seconds. Instead I set off sprinting as hard and fast as I could for the fence.
I dropped to the ground and was halfway through the cut wire when my foot was caught by a strong hand.
I turned and moved to kick out hard, but then another hand wrapped around my ankle.
I kicked out anyway, but by the time I did, the third guy was over me and wrenching me back under the fence and towards them all.
I cried out in pain when the cut wire from the fence stabbed into the back of my neck as I was ripped backwards.
It had cut me and the pain had been bad.
I could feel warm blood trickling down under the collar of my hoody, but I couldn’t think more about it as I was dragged to my feet by Mr. Clean-cut.
He turned me to face him and I instantly thrust my knee up into his crotch as hard as I could.
When he doubled over in pain, releasing me, I thrust my knee into his nose instead, then I tried to run again.
“Fucking bitch!” was hissed as I fled in the opposite direction, but a meaty hand grabbed my wrist and ripped me backwards.
I landed hard on my back on the concrete, but quickly rolled to my side away from the guy who had grabbed me, twisting his grip until he released me.
I managed to get to my feet but I was feeling winded and light headed.
I didn’t know how much longer I could stay upright.
I ran again, and started screaming for help at the top of my lungs. We were on a quiet block, but there were likely still people around. Surely someone would help me.
I got a little further this time before a hard and heavy body barrelled into my legs, bringing me down so hard that I saw stars as my skull bounced off of the concrete.
I put my arm up to cover my face instantly and tried to roll out from underneath the man now straddling me.
I bucked my body to try and dislodge his weight and he wobbled some, but didn’t move.
“Enough bitch!” he raged at me, then I took a hard hit to the side of my head that I barely even saw coming.
Everything went dark for a moment, then as my vision started to come back, it was foggy and distant.
My ears were ringing and I couldn’t seem to get a single thought straight in my head.
Another blow landed to my side and I gasped desperately as all of the oxygen in my body left me.
I moved to the side, doubling over as pain radiated outwards from the impact point, then I was coughing and fighting to breathe.
“Stop! The boss wants her alive!” a deep voice boomed close to me.
“He said alive. He didn’t say in what condition though,” a second voice sneered, then I could feel cold hands at my waist, my leggings being ripped downwards.
Bitter frigid air hit my thighs as my bottom landed on wet snow and panic overcame me.
I struggled to get free, turning over and fighting to breathe enough to crawl away as I started to scream, but I had no chance with three of them over me.
“Stop or I’m gonna cut up that pretty face!” The cold tip of a knife touched my left cheek after I was violently turned onto my back again, and I froze. I knew the fight was up. I was a mess, still barely getting any air in, head fuzzy, and beyond exhaustion. A knife was just too much.
My vision cleared enough to realise it was Mr. Clean cut leaning over me with the blade. He had a tattoo on his wrist of some kind of star with a writing I didn’t recognise in a circle around it.
“Better,” he hissed at me. “Keep still if you want to keep both fucking eyes.” He pointed the blade right at my eye in warning, then he lowered it to his side as he unbuckled his belt noisily.
“Don’t do this!” I cried. “Please…I….I’ll go with you.
Don’t do this!” My words were desperate stuttered cries between my frantic breaths.
Tears were pouring down my face and the instinct to fight was bursting out of me, but I didn’t.
I was too scared to. Instead I begged and pleaded more as he pulled his cock free of his trousers and forced himself inside of me.
I screamed in pain, and also in defeat. I had lost. Failed.
I moved between sobbing in despair and screaming in pain as he started to move inside of me. Every single movement felt like I was being torn apart inside, and I knew I was powerless. Even if I could have fought him off of me, the other two stood over me, watching on with pleasure.
“Stop! Please st-stop!” I cried desperately. I had my eyes clamped closed, not wanting to look at the monster over me. Then suddenly he did stop and his weight was gone from me.
“FUCKING BASTARD!” I opened my eyes at the sound of a voice I knew, just in time to see Dio dragging the clean cut guy off of me and throwing him to the ground.
Dio leaned in and pressed a hand to the fucker’s shoulder, then he just started hitting him, again and again and again.
I had never seen Dio like that. I’d never even seen him slightly angry, but now he looked lethal, his wild hair falling into his face, and getting covered with the blood that was flying up from the mincemeat that used to be a man’s face.
His teeth were clenched and bared like he was a feral wild animal and he just kept on hitting the guy, who hadn’t even had a chance to try and fight back.
He stood no chance against Dio’s rampage.
“CARA!” The sound of my name had me coming back to the world in shock.
My ears cleared like they did after you went on a plane and they popped.
The sound of grunting and flesh hitting flesh surrounded me and I sat up, pulling my legs to my chest to hide my nakedness.
Behind me one of Rafe’s guys, who had tried to stop me earlier, was fighting with the biggest attacker, and to the left side Rafe was fighting with the other one.
Rafe kicked the guy hard in the chest, knocking him to the floor, and when he glanced to me, I saw the same look of bloody vengeance on his face as I had seen on Dio’s.
He too had blood splattered on his hands and on his face, his once crisp shirt torn and bloody too.
“Cara, you have to move!” he called to me, but I just sat there, staring at him.
I was pretty sure I really was in shock this time.