Chapter 39
39
ALTA
“ P lease don’t do this,” I pleaded through my tears as his hand scraped up my bare stomach.
His smile grew feral. Instead of halting, he palmed a breast and gave it a painfully tight squeeze.
The pain triggered the despair to shut off and fury to fill its place. Hot, bright-red anger blazed through my core, fueling the strength I needed to fight back. Not giving a second thought to the pain that would surely follow, or how stupid my actions were, I lunged forward with a banshee scream. My forehead slammed against his nose with a sickening crackling of bone. He yelled in pain and tumbled back, taking me with him, still tied to the chair. My face smacked against the dirt, pain searing through my head at the impact against my injured cheek.
Stars sparkled in my vision. Blink after blink, I tried to clear my head.
Roaring curses and rage-filled snarls bounced off the walls of the rickety shed.
“You fucking cunt!” he screeched. Blood pouring down his face, eyes wild with hate, he stumbled to his feet. “Fucking bitch,” he yelled again as his foot drew back. Not wanting to watch, I sealed my eyes shut. All the air whooshed from my lungs, preventing me from screaming in pain as his foot crashed into my unprotected stomach. Again and again his foot connected, sending me skidding across the floor. I gasped for air as tears slipped out from my shut lids, streaming to the ground.
Fingers dug into my bicep, hauling me off the ground to set the chair upright. With my back to the door, the light from the other room illuminated the evil in his rage-distorted face.
Hand in my hair, he fisted a clump and yanked my head back, ripping the strands from my scalp. I screamed at the top of my lungs as pain radiated from everywhere. I thrashed against his hold, but it did no good. Ice-cold terror chilled my anger at the distinct sound of a zipper.
“If you promise not to bite, I’ll wait until day two to fuck that sweet ass of yours.”
Shoulders shaking, tears streaming, breaths heaving, my spirit broke at his disturbing words.
“Now open?—”
I jumped and screamed at the gunshot. Ears ringing, I watched as my attacker’s eyes went wide. The impact of his heavy body hitting the dirt pushed a small cloud of dust around the room.
Cas. He made it. He saved me.
Frantically I looked over each shoulder, trying to get a view of the door, of him.
“Cas,” I sobbed in relief. “Cas, you came.”
No response. No hug or warm embrace.
Nothing.
A chill sent goose bumps down both arms and neck. “Cas?” I said tentatively. Something was very wrong.
“Sorry, Birdie. No Cas.”
What the hell is going on? I whipped my head left and right, desperate to get a view of the door and the person now in the room. “Wh-what are you doing here? Where’s Cas?”
I ducked and shifted away from the soft stroking down the back of my head.
“What do you want?”
“You, of course.”
Stepping around the bleeding man, my new captor moved into the light. Her smiling blue eyes met mine, an evil gleam shining bright within them, twinkling in the artificial light.
This couldn’t be happening.
Finally finding my words, I choked out the only thing I could think to say.
“Sarah?”