7. Riley
I arch my back,reaching for the ceiling, then let out a long, slow breath as I reverse it and bend forward, folding at the waist until I’ve got my arms wrapped around my calves and my chest pressed against my thighs. Then I let out a stream of viciously muttered fucks and flop backward onto the piece of shit bed West Point has so generously provided for me, staring up at the pattern of textured bumps that I can probably draw in my sleep by now.
If I could sleep.
“Fuck,” I whisper again, squeezing my eyes closed.
It doesn’t help.
I’ve been on edge and feeling anxious ever since Austin dragged me out of this windowless cell of a room and forced me to listen in on that call he made to Maddoc yesterday. But even with my eyes closed, I can still see the look on Austin’s face as he taunted Maddoc over the phone, trying to hurt him. Threatening to hurt me if I so much as made a sound or attempted to let the Reapers know I was there.
West Point’s leader truly is a sadistic fuck. It’s the only reason he had me listen in like that, and the smirk he wore the whole time just confirmed it.
Austin made sure to hold the phone away from his ear as the two of them spoke so I could hear the muted sound of Maddoc’s voice, and my heart clenches all over again as I remember the leashed fury behind Maddoc’s words as he demanded to know where I was.
He didn’t even hesitate before agreeing to trade his life for mine.
I never expected that.
“You asshole, Maddoc,” I whisper into the stale air, my throat tight with a wave of emotion that threatens to overwhelm me.
I came here to protect him. All of them. But even when Austin told me he was going to use me against the Reapers, I didn’t anticipate the fucked-up terms he offered them, or I would have fought it like hell.
And I couldn’t have prepared myself for how it felt when Maddoc said yes to those terms.
I can’t be the reason Austin hurts him.
That thought sends my emotion bubbling over, and they burst out of me in a short, sharp laugh that sounds almost hysterical. It’s got nothing to do with humor and feels all too close to tears, and I quickly slap a hand over my mouth to stifle it because, even all alone in here, I can’t stand to hear it.
And I won’t be alone in here for long. Even though I can’t properly tell time with absolutely nothing in here to tell me how quickly it’s passing, I know the hand-off will be soon… and I’m torn.
I don’t want my men in danger.
I can’t stand the idea of Maddoc giving himself up for me.
But I want to see them again. I want it so badly it almost scares me.
I think I’ve been falling for them from the start. The feelings between all of us grew slowly, and sometimes they felt a lot more like hate and terror along the way, but even when I couldn’t see it and didn’t want to admit it, the connection I feel with each of them has become the one thing, besides Chloe, that matters most to me. The one thing that’s sustained me in this West Point hell over the last couple of weeks.
I was willing to give up everything for my men, and the idea that Maddoc is about to do the same for me is overwhelming. It shows me the true breadth of these feelings—mine for them, and theirs for me—and suddenly I’m not fighting off tears. I’m pissed the fuck off at Austin for daring to threaten it.
And pissed off is better, because caring this much makes it really fucking hard to stay strong. If I let myself think too much about how hard Maddoc, Dante, and Logan are willing to fight for me, it’s going to knock me right over and make me even more terrified about what’s going to happen when we all show up to make that trade.
I don’t trust Austin. Not even a little bit.
But I’m powerless against him right now, and the only hope I have to cling to is knowing that the Reapers trust him even less than I do. Whatever happens, even if it all goes to shit, they won’t let him win.
The door to my room opens so suddenly that it sends my heart into my throat, and I leap to my feet, my pulse pounding. Austin stands in the doorway, and I can see a couple of his henchmen and Sienna waiting in the hallway behind him.
“It’s time,” he says, his eyes roving over me like I’m a piece of meat. “Move your ass, bitch.”
I bite my tongue and do it, but of course Austin has to keep playing his little power games even when I obey him. When I get to the doorway, he doesn’t move aside, forcing me to squeeze past him instead.
The feel of his body against mine as he takes the opportunity to grope me makes my stomach turn. It also pisses off his girlfriend, even though she quickly masks it.
After that one flash of fury across Sienna’s face, she keeps her gaze utterly impassive. She’s not, though. I’d bet anything she’s regretting talking Austin out of killing me right now.
We lock eyes for a moment, then I decide to ignore her.
So does Austin.
“You really are the gift that keeps on giving,” he says to me, moving up behind me and pulling my back against his chest. His hands slide down my sides and settle on my hips, forcing my ass back against his groin. “I never thought I’d see the day Maddoc Gray was stupid enough to trade himself for something so worthless. Can you explain that to me? Why the fuck does he want you so bad?”
I keep my mouth shut. I’m not playing this sick game of his.
Not that that stops him.
Austin pushes my purple and blue hair off my shoulder, baring my neck. Then the fucker licks it.
I shudder with revulsion, my stomach twisting.
“If you’re not going to answer me, I’m gonna have to figure it out for myself,” Austin says, still holding me tightly against him. “Maddoc knows the money is gone, so I figure he thinks your pussy is made of fucking gold too. Is that it?”
This time, I manage not to react. At least, not until Austin slips his hand between my legs and gropes me while dragging his nose up the line he just licked on my throat, sniffing me like he’s a goddamn dog.
“We never did bother to consummate our marriage,” he murmurs when he finally reaches my ear. “But don’t worry, wifey, there’s still time to fix that before we have to leave. Unlike those fucking Reapers of yours, I’d never be stupid enough to leave gold on the table without taking some for myself.”
Sienna’s mask cracks for a moment, and if I wasn’t so fucking disgusted, I’d almost feel sorry for her. I don’t actually give a shit about whether she’s hurt or not, though. She made her bed and she can rot in it.
But despite my best efforts at keeping my real feelings from showing, I tense up, giving away how much Austin’s sick game affects me.
It’s a mistake. It turns him on. His cock starts to swell against my back, and he spins me around, fisting my hair with one hand while the other gropes my ass. He grinds us together and takes my mouth hard, his teeth cutting into my lips and his tongue thrusting deep enough to make me gag.
So I bite it.
“Fuck!” he bellows, rearing back and shoving me away from him. “You goddamn bitch!”
I stumble, and he backhands me, sending me crashing into the wall.
Then he’s on me, his face twisted in fury as his fists rain down pain. He punches me in the ribs, and the pain is so sharp and sudden that I cry out before I can stop myself. I bring up my arms to block him, but that just leaves my stomach exposed, and the uppercut he drills into me almost has me retching.
I double over and get two hard blows to my kidneys and a brutal knee to my thigh that almost sends me to the floor, then Austin fists my hair and uses it to yank me upright again.
“You want something to fucking remember me by?” he shouts, bloody spittle flying in my face. “I’ll give you fucking something.”
He lands another blow to my ribs, then abruptly stops, a terrifying glint in his eyes.
“If this is how you want to play, maybe I’ll just keep you,” he says in a frighteningly gentle tone, his eyes caressing my face in a fucked up parody of a lover’s gaze. “I’ll keep you right here, where I can teach you the kind of respect a real wife would owe me. I’ll deny the Reapers any of that golden pussy and show you what it means to belong to a real man.”
I go cold all over, the threat terrifying me in a way that a simple beating never will.
Austin’s hand is still fisted in my hair, pulling hard enough to sting my scalp, and he forces my head back even farther, his eyes dropping to my mouth.
“Fuck you,” I bite out before he can try to kiss me again.
His gaze turns hard in an instant, going so ugly and dark that I know it’s not my pussy he’s thinking of now. If he didn’t have to deliver me to the drop to exchange me for Maddoc, he’d kill me for that.
For a second, I think he just might.
Then he backhands me again, keeping me in place with that grip on my hair, and spits a wet gob of bloody saliva on my face before shoving me at his men.
“Lock this bitch’s wrists behind her back,” he snaps at them as the disgusting fluid drips down my cheek, pooling in the corner of my mouth.
I press my lips tightly together and duck my head toward my shoulder, trying to wipe it off.
Austin’s fingers dig into my chin hard enough to bruise, forcing my head back up before I can. “Leave it or I’ll slice up that precious pussy of yours before we get to the drop.”
I obey him because I have to, and someone yanks my arms back and snaps a cold pair of handcuffs onto my wrists. I blank my mind and stuff down my emotions as they lead me out of the house and load me into a car.
Pain doesn’t matter.
Nothing Austin does to me matters.
And I can’t let myself think of what he’ll do to Maddoc after the exchange, or I’ll break.
The drop point is in the warehouse district, and the West Point driver pulls up behind an abandoned-looking building not far from the one we burned to the fucking ground when we got Chloe back the first time.
The whole area is deserted, which makes it easy to see when an unfamiliar SUV finally approaches.
For a second, my heart plummets. It’s not the Reapers’ Escalade, and my first thought is that Austin has reinforcements coming to ambush my men. But then Maddoc, Logan, and Dante all pile out of the SUV, and the tight rein I’m keeping my emotions under loosens enough for my heart to give a single, painful thump.
“Ready to earn your keep, wifey?” Austin asks with a cruel smile, dragging me out of the West Point car. “Let’s go cut off the head of the Reapers.”
My fear rises up so hard and fast that I gasp, stumbling in Austin’s brutal grip. He doesn’t stop walking, and I manage to get my feet under me before he has to drag me.
Then I look up and meet Maddoc’s eyes across the deserted parking lot.
His jaw clenches tight, and even at a distance, there’s so much packed into his gaze that it threatens to overwhelm me. When I lock eyes with Logan, then Dante, and find the same intensity with both, it almost brings me to my knees.
They came for me, and I can’t lose them. Not any of them.
I don’t want Maddoc killed. I can’t be a part of that. And whether it’s here and now or after Austin drives away with him, that will be Austin’s end goal.
The Reapers have arrayed themselves in front of their SUV, but McKenna leads his people a little closer like the cocky fuck he is.
“Stop,” he barks out at his men, leaving about thirty feet of empty space between the two groups. Too far, but also too close when I know what my men are risking.
“Send her over,” Maddoc demands in a gravelly voice. From here, I can see the way that familiar muscle tic flares in his jaw, a telltale sign that his outward calm is only a facade over much deeper emotions.
He’s got his eyes locked onto Austin now, but both Logan and Dante stare at me with unwavering gazes, one filled with icy determination and the other with vibrant green fire.
Austin smirks at all three of them and yanks me closer, dragging his finger through the disgusting traces of himself he left on my face. “You never did tell me why you wanted my little wifey here so badly.”
“You proposed this trade, McKenna,” Maddoc says grimly. “Are you going to honor it, or not?”
I think he is. I think he is, and it makes me want to cry. But he’s not going to hand me over until he manages to wring every ounce of sadistic satisfaction over having the Reapers jump to do his bidding, I can tell.
They trade a few more verbal barbs before Austin finally agrees to start the exchange. Then, just to fuck with Maddoc a little more and prove that he’s the one winning here, he yanks me back as soon as Maddoc starts to walk forward.
Maddoc freezes, and Austin sends him a smug smile. “Oh, I almost forgot…”
He holds his hand out, and one of his men gives him something. Austin holds it up.
The key to my handcuffs.
Of course he doesn’t unlock them, though. All he wants is another chance to show off his power, and he does it by groping me in front of my men, making a show out of feeling up my breasts before pushing them together to form cleavage.
I keep my eyes on Maddoc’s while Austin shoves the key into my bra, scraping the rough teeth against my skin and digging it into the bruising that’s already starting to form there. Then, finally, he shoves me forward.
“Enjoy her,” he calls out as Maddoc resumes walking too. “Up to you whether you want to take those cuffs off her or not. If it were me, I’d probably choose… not.”
None of my men react, and my heart is pounding so loudly that it’s easy to ignore Austin’s parting taunt. I can’t believe this is actually happening. Pain pulses through my veins, filling every part of me. Not from the beating, but for Maddoc.
He meets my eyes as we approach each other, and for a moment, nothing else exists. With anyone else, I’d try to hide my fear and anguish behind anger, but I’ve got no armor with this man. I don’t want it. I let him see everything I’m feeling. If it’s the last chance I get, I want him to know how much I fucking hate this.
I want him to know how much he matters to me.
Maddoc’s face is set in stone, but there’s something intense churning behind his eyes. When they flicker to one side, the tiny, almost imperceptible motion catches my attention. He does it again, and my pulse jumps, hope slamming into me so hard that I can’t breathe for a moment.
He’s giving me a signal.
That must mean they have some sort of plan.
Oh god, please let them have a plan.
I tense as we cross past each other, half expecting Maddoc to reach for me. But he doesn’t.
Instead, he shifts his body directly behind me, shielding me from West Point as a deafening crack breaks the tense silence.