Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
“Rise and shine, smart mouth,” someone announced, kicking the metal frame of her bed and jolting her awake.
Yawning, Makayla lifted her head to find Marvin grinning down at her. It felt too early for her to be woken up. It wasn't like she had to get to work or anything, and after a really long night, she wanted a bit more sleep.
Still, it didn't seem like that was happening, so instead she fought another yawn and met the man’s gaze squarely. “I thought it was one four six, did I get a new name?”
“New name, new life,” Marvin replied cheerfully as he reached down to grab her bicep and pull her off the mattress.
It wasn't all that comfortable, nowhere near as good as the bed had been yesterday afternoon, and she was eternally grateful that Van had allowed her those few hours to rest properly. Without them, she doubted she would have made it through the night.
When he’d eventually woken her up, somewhat apologetically, he’d told her that if he didn't return her soon, the others would start getting suspicious. He’d also told her that they expected not just that he’d done something to her while they were in here alone together, but that when he brought her out, it would be to share her.
The idea of being shared had terrified her, but Van hadn't pushed her to do anything. Instead, he’d discussed some options he thought would work.
In the end, he’d let her choose which one she wanted, and she’d gone with the idea of having a remote-controlled toy left inside her that the others could use to make her come.
Out of all the options Van had offered, and his explanation that this was one a colleague of his had chosen as the best-case scenario when the man’s secret girlfriend had been abducted by Azure, that had seemed the least invasive.
What followed were hours of being taunted while the guys played with the remote.
Sometimes working her right to the edge of an orgasm but not letting her come, repeatedly until she was writhing on her thin mattress, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she begged for an orgasm she didn't even want.
Other times, they flooded her system with one orgasm after another until it was more pain than pleasure that kept assaulting her body.
Eventually, they must have gotten bored or headed home, because the torture had stopped.
Well mostly. Marvin had been the last one to see her last night, and he’d left the toy humming inside her.
It kept her body lightly aroused, and although it had made it hard to fall asleep, exhaustion had finally won out, and she must have drifted off.
Now, though, her body felt heavy and uncoordinated, the lack of food catching up with her, as did the fragmented sleep. Even if an opportunity for escape presented itself today, she wasn't sure she had enough energy to take advantage of it.
“I’d rather go back to my old life if it’s all the same to you,” she said on a yawn.
“And that smart mouth right there is why you're leaving us today,” Marvin said as he began to drag her across the room.
From the bed beside hers, Cecilia was watching her with terrified blue eyes, and while she wanted to say something reassuring to the woman, she wasn't sure what that was.
If she were leaving today, it was because they were planning to sell her.
While it definitely wasn't that she wanted to stay here, she knew these men would enjoy every second of torturing her. At least here, she had Van.
Did Van know she was being sold?
He’d told her that he had cameras set up here, some of which were purely for him to use to watch and gather intel. That footage was shared with his boss, but once she was out of here there was no one to watch out for her, even if they couldn’t immediately intervene.
Would he know who bought her?
Would he know where she was sent?
Would he be able to send in people to rescue her?
There were so many unknowns, and her heart thudded painfully inside her chest as she tried to keep control of her emotions.
This would be the worst possible time to lose that control.
She had to harness her fear, use it to make her stronger and smarter.
If she let it take the reins, she’d be nothing more than a sobbing mess curled up on the floor.
“You're selling me,” she said as he punched in a code. A code she happened to see and remember, but it wasn't going to do her any good, because she doubted she was going to be brought back into this room.
This was it.
Her entire future hinged on whether Van was going to make sure he knew who had bought her so that information could be passed along to the company he worked for.
If he did that, she could possibly be rescued by the end of the day.
If he didn't, she’d be trapped with a monster until either she saved herself and escaped, or the man who bought her tired of her and killed her, or resold her on to another monster, maybe trapping her in a never-ending cycle.
“Bingo, smart as well as a smart mouth,” Marvin said with a chuckle as he pulled her through the door with him and then slammed it closed behind him.
Practically running to keep up with his much longer strides, she hated how the toy shifted inside her with each step she took.
It was one of those that was shaped to vibrate against you outside and inside, and the power of it hitting both at once would have been amazing under different circumstances where she was consenting.
Now the friction on her already oversensitive body made her wince.
Taking her into a small room down the far end of the corridor, Marvin stood over her, smirking as he reached down to unlock the chastity belt that had held the toy buried inside her.
“Think I'd like to hear you beg me to let you come one last time, smart mouth,” he told her as the leather straps fell away. He grabbed the end of the toy, pulling it from her body and making her wince again. She was so painfully swollen and oversensitive down there.
“I may say the words you want to hear, but I won't mean them,” she reminded him.
“Love it when they fight me.” Arousal flared in his light brown eyes, and he looked over his shoulder to where a rope was hanging from the ceiling by the opposite wall.
Even before he started pulling her toward it, she knew what he had planned. There were leather cuffs dangling from it, and when he got her to it, he yanked one arm above her head and locked it into place.
Makayla fought, of course, but her attempts were embarrassingly feeble, and Marvin didn't even have to work for it to get her bound. Once both her wrists were bound above her head, he moved to the side, pushed a button, and she was lifted off the ground.
Pain screamed through her shoulders as her entire weight hung from her wrists, feet dangling. She tried to kick at him, but without anything to push off from, all she did was swinging wildly, completely out of control.
Chuckling, Marvin leaned in, grasped her face between his fingers, then crushed his mouth to hers. His tongue forced its way between her lips, and he tasted of a disgusting mix of coffee and cigarettes.
“Think your smart mouth is going to save you, girl?” Marvin sneered as he pulled back a little. “It won't. It will be the very thing that draws in whoever buys you. Someone not even your worst nightmares are able to conjure up.”
No, she didn't think her mouth was going to save her. Nor did she think Van was going to come riding in on a white horse to play her knight in shining armor, even if that’s what he seemed to think she believed.
He wouldn't save her. He was too focused on the big picture, shutting down Azure for good, and she was just one teeny-tiny blip along the way.
It wasn't that he didn't care about what happened to her.
He had feelings, even if he didn't believe it.
He was just able to set aside the small things to focus on the big things.
The way it should be.
After all, it would be pretty selfish of her if she prioritized her own rescue over bringing the entire ring down.
The only thing that might save her was herself. It was too risky to rely on Van getting people to her, so if she wanted to live, she had to find a way to make it happen.
“Make sure you scream real loud for me, girl,” Marvin whispered in her ear, his breath hot and putrid against her skin, as he shoved the toy, now vibrating at full speed, roughly inside her.
August 29th
8:23 A.M.
“Did you hear?” Henry asked as Van pushed open the doors at the bottom of the stairs to the basement complex.
“Hear what?”
“Little Miss Smart Mouth just bought herself a date with an auction,” Henry answered.
Even though he shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that, it was exactly what he’d been expecting, given their inability to make her break even a little bit, Van couldn’t stop the cold ball of fear that sat heavily in his stomach.
This should be what he had been hoping for all along, ever since he realized there was something different about Makayla Adair.
This meant that Prey would be able to go in and rescue her shortly.
It also meant that he’d be able to focus again without the distraction of the woman who made him uncomfortable.
But it didn't feel like a good thing.
Because at least while she was here, he could keep an eye on things, he could watch over her as best as he could. His cameras would catch everything she did, and he could continually verify that she was alive.
None of which he could do once she walked out these doors.
Once she left this building, everything became a wildcard.
He would have zero control over who bought her, and zero control over what they did to her.
He couldn’t pull any kind of rank to ensure she was protected, like he had when he’d been the one to find her escaping yesterday.
There would be no rules for her new owner, the man could do anything he wanted to her, and nobody would stop him.