5. Margaux
MARGAUX
S afety should have been important right now. My inner alarm system was broken. I shouldn’t trust anyone, so why a few crazy and obviously dangerous men?
“Margaux, tell me. Are you really more afraid of your uncle right now?”
I swallowed. Did I want to answer his question? My uncle was my hell and here, sandwiched between two big strange men I felt more secure than I’d felt in years.
“Who are you? Is your name Ronnie?”
His shoulder was pushing me against his friend at my back as he leaned in closer and closer.
The backseat might have been spacious without him and too small with him.
There was a darkness in his eyes that screamed crazy, but I couldn’t even pretend like this crazy was scarier than that of an uncle who controlled every second of my life.
“Fine, don’t answer me. Here’s the truth.
If you send me back to that prison dressed like this, my life is over before I even have a chance to slit my own wrists.
You’ll excuse me if I don’t really think there’s much to lose right now.
Become some asshole’s punching bag or your whore?
I choose whatever hell you want to drag me into. ”
He was so close I could see every strand of hair that brushed over his forehead.
“Really? You’d trade yourself to me for a way out?”
I was chewing on my lip so hard I tasted blood, but I just nodded.
All I could hear was my own heartbeat. My mind was trying to not reel, but the fear of having to go back to that room and be locked away all over again?
There should have been warning bells as something else occurred to me. He knew me. They knew my uncle.
“How did you know my real name? I thought this was anonymous.” I couldn’t breathe. “Is this another trap of my uncle’s?”
The guy behind me, his hand snaked around my throat and he pulled my head back until his eyes could meet mine.
“The devil knows everything, doesn’t he, angel.”
Why did his voice calm my fear?
“To answer your questions, no your uncle isn’t one of us, little bird.”
My heart forgot to be afraid and instead reveled in the feel of one man’s hands boxing me against another.
The feel of one man who controlled my next breath the tighter he squeezed?
My pussy ached. The fact that I wanted this to be the choice I’d make?
I should have realized just how broken I really was.
I should have mourned the little girl I’d let die in the car accident years ago, knowing she would never choose this. But the present version of me?
“Which one of you is the devil?”
That was all I said as I took a deep breath, shivering when a feathery touch traced the top of the dress that was no doubt riding up and showing far more of my body than I’d planned to show yet.
I didn’t have a clue what was really happening. My pulse was thundering away and I was breathless. The guy that had carried me down shifted even closer, and the guy behind me released my neck just enough that I met the eyes of the devil I was starting to crave.
“Little bird, it’s not which one is, but rather which devil do you want?”
Which one did I want?
Was it really a choice?
“Which one of you isn’t going to send me back to my uncle?”
The SUV was silent. Of course it was. I crossed my arms over my chest blocking anyone else’s touch and I wasn’t sure who the punishment was for.
“You guys talk a whole lot until it’s something I actually want to know the answer to.”
They were still quiet.
“Do you guys all share a brain or something and only one of you can think at a time?”
Finally someone laughed.
“Pretty girl, we just don’t have anything you need to hear right now. Besides,” he said and shifted in his seat. “This wasn’t exactly the plan. The night is full of options. Will you return to your uncle? Who knows. Will you get to call my name at some point tonight? Again, who knows.”
I rolled my eyes and doubted he could see. Or at least I hoped he couldn’t see, because something about the way they were acting told me that I should be more afraid than I was.
“So, do you kidnap wait staff often, boys?”
The big and obviously tattooed one spoke.
“Angel, you offered up your pussy. You were also dumb enough to not leave when the other staff left. In fact,” he paused and turned to glare. “I remember quite clearly your lack of give a shit when you sat at our table.”
Lack of give a shit?
“I lack a lot of give a shit thank you very much. You would to if the only thing you could look forward to was dreaming of how to hang your uncle with your crochet. The city never changes. The lights never dim. The abuse? Well, it’s just more creative these days.”
The car was quiet again.
“Yeah. Buzz kill, I know. Don’t you wish you would have taken me up on my v-card at the hotel?”
No one answered. It was just me, myself, and I apparently.
“Where are we going? Should I be concerned that you’re planning to murder me? I should warn you that no one will come looking. Uncle wants me to marry for political gain, but I doubt that’s all that important.”
The guy, the one calling me pretty girl scooted closer.
“We don’t kill the innocent, pretty girl. Just the ones who deserve it.”
That should have sounded more like a threat or at least a clear sign of crazy. Instead I just felt warm inside. The ache that seemed to be the one constant in my life? It seemed to be lessened, just enough that I could breathe for one single moment.
“Who are you?”
No one answered, but I suppose I was getting used to that.
“Fine. I’m not dying tonight. That’s good news. Want to drop me off at Reina’s? Maybe I can tell her all about my amazing fiancée and the masked slut. That’s a bedtime story if I ever heard one.”
An arm snaked around me unexpectedly.
“Nah. It’s a slumber party at our place, princess. At least until we figure out what we want to do with you.”
I let the arm of one of the two men hold me. I couldn’t explain why, but I wanted to lean into the touch. I wanted his arm to pull me in closer and never let me go. All the words in the world and this action said more than any words ever said to me.
Was this something like being cared for?
My head was a mess and it had nothing to do with alcohol or trying to bet off my body. It had everything to do with the way these men touched me.
Even in the hotel room, the one who had to be in charge, he’d been so close.
Close enough to point out Carrow and my dead end future and it had been enough that body had tried to suck in the heat of him.
Now in the car. I wanted to remember this because it was all going to end. Everything always came to an end.
But, for tonight. For one moment, I could just let them hold me, because when they held me, they held me like I mattered.