13
H
e’s out of town. Gunner Kaiser is out of town, and Ronan Byrne is at work since it was after 4 PM. That allowed me to sneak into the basement under the Science Library to plant a camera. I found it hard to believe that their campus headquarters would be left unlocked, but I’d try anyway to please Bitchtective.
Yet, my backside would not budge from where I was sitting on the edge of my bed. Since I discovered the camera, I was careful not to look at it directly, but I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know it was there. This was a blatant disregard for my boundaries, and it filled me with anger.
So, the wisest option was to play dumb and cover over the camera without making it look like I was doing it deliberately. And how had it been here? I didn’t know who put it there, either Gunner or Bitchtective, but I guess there was only one way to find out.
I walked into the grand entrance of the Science Library, which I had visited several times, and paused to consider where to go next. Behind the desks, there were doors labeled "staff only," but they had digital locks, so I’d need to know the code to gain entry.
As I paused at a desk to ask the librarian, I felt a gentle brush of cool air along the back of my hair, as if someone had touched it. When I swung around, no one was there, and I assumed the air was coming from the nearby air conditioner. Once it was my turn to step up to the counter, I asked the librarian how to get down to the basement, as I was supposed to be meeting someone down there.
She shot me a strange look and pointed to the fire exit, “Through there.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Judging by the look she gave me, I felt like I was doing something illegal by going through there. Perhaps she noticed that it attracted a variety of dubious individuals. On the other side of the exit was a hallway with another fire exit that led outside the back of the building. At the other end, a stairway led down to the basement.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open with a squeak and tread carefully down the stairs, listening for any sounds that might indicate someone was hiding there. Instead, I was greeted with silence as my heart pounded heavily and my breath hastened. The only sound was my footsteps echoing throughout the space, freaking me out.
The door was opened a few inches, and a stale scent of cigarette smoke streamed out. “Hello,” I called out, pushing the door open further and peering inside. My voice was softer than I had intended, only because I felt like I was trespassing on someone’s private space.
I stepped into the space and gazed around the large room, which contained couches and a pool table, and, at first glance, looked more like a frat hangout than a crime gang's headquarters. I had the cameras in the white box in my bag and searched for an appropriate place to plant them. The problem was…I wasn’t convinced it was worth it, as it didn’t seem like much business was conducted there.
With my ears pricked for sounds of footsteps, I stepped slowly to the pool table, spotting a discarded used condom on the floor, and cringed. Yeah, it was definitely a frat hangout.
Treading carefully towards the couches, I froze when I noticed an ashtray with a cigarette still burning and a stream of smoke rising. If someone had just left before I came in and forgotten to lock the door, maybe they…
“What are you doing here?” a stern voice snarled accusingly behind me.
I swung around to find Shaun’s friend, filling the space with his enormous jock body, broad shoulders, thick neck, massive forearms.
“It’s me, Riley,” I reminded him, touching my chest.
“I know who you are, and why are you here?” he snapped. He wasn’t angry, but he was suspicious.
“I thought this was the Kaiser’s basement and I work for them, so I was looking to speak to Gunner or maybe Ronan,” I told him.
He stood there staring at me, his narrowed eyes, and a shudder traveled down my spine.
“Do you know where they are?” I asked him as if I didn’t already know.
He cocked his head at me as sadistic looked cast over him, he stepped toward me, just as a second figure emerged from the hallway and stalled in surprised to find me there.
My hand waved half-heartedly at the second man, who wasn’t happy to see me in the basement. Guilt surged in my stomach as Shaun placed his hand on his chin as if I reminded him of what Gunner Kaiser did to him. I hoped he would heed Gunner’s warning and not touch me again. But at that moment, he looked as if he wanted to do me harm.
I glanced past them to the door and the jock and Shaun exchanged glances and fear scurried down my spine. The loaded expression concerned me; all I wanted to do was leave.
“I’m sorry, I thought this was the Kaiser’s headquarters and I wanted to speak to Gunner, but I’ll talk to him tonight at the club,” I suggested and stepped toward the door, plotting my escape.
The jock knew what I was doing and stepped to the door and slammed it shut and turned the lock, folding his arms across his board chest. An icy-cold sensation clutched the back of my neck as I scanned the room for another exit.
I shouldn’t have walked in when I saw the door open, but this basement was under the Kaiser's governance, not these two fools.
“At the club?” Shaun questioned in a slimy tone. “Their club? Savile. Aren’t you too young to work there?”
Fuck. I swallowed back my irritation. “No, I’m just visiting, as I’d like to speak to him, which is why I came here.” Would you like me to pass on the message that you two stopped me from leaving this place?”
Shaun’s eyes narrowed as a smirk slid across the jock’s face as he swept his hair back with his fingers. I had to think fast, so I discreetly swiped for Ronan’s number using my thumb, knowing Gunner was out of town. Once his name appeared, I pressed call and turned the sound off.
The jock’s smile remained fixed on his face as Shaun tilted his head to the side, raking his eyes over me. It was apparent what they had in mind, and moments like these were when I wished I had a gun. My problem would be solved if I had a gun in my bag and threatened to shoot them with it.
“No,” the jock asserts. “You’re not going anywhere.”
I swallowed over a lump in my throat and noticed a white door at the far end of the basement, but it looked as though it opened into another room. I noticed Ronan had answered my call and was possibly listening in.
“This basement belongs to the Kaisers,” I roared. “Why won’t you let me leave?”
“Because this is our territory,” he warned me. “The Kaisers are being squeezed out.”
“By whom?” I questioned, hoping to keep the conversation going until I managed to escape or something else happened.
They remained silent, but what their mouths weren’t saying, their stares and body language were.
“I’m leaving now,” I argued, shrugging off their threats as my feet shuffled closer to the door, but I had to pass these two first.
“No, you’re not,” Shaun repeated, but in a panic, I hit the ground running toward the door, only to be grabbed by the jock.
I let out a bloodcurdling scream, hoping someone in the library would hear me, but knowing it was unlikely, therefore, I had to figure out how to get away. It was me against these two bulky men.
As the jock wrapped his solid, thick arms around me, I lost my grip on my phone and it smashed onto the concrete. The back of the phone unfastened, exposing the battery.
Something caught Shaun’s eye, and he picked up the phone, removing a tiny device and holding it up between his fingers. “A bug? Were you recording this?”
“No, I didn’t know it was there,” I lied, realizing that Bitchtective had put it there to listen in on my conversation, and hopefully, she was listening to this one.
“Who put this here?” Shaun scrutinized me.
“I already said I didn’t know that was there,” I argued wrestling against the strong limbs of the jock and it only urged him to clamp down harder. “I swear, I did not know that was there.”
He didn’t seem convinced and glared at me with a sinister darkness that made me gasp. The jock squeezed me tighter causing my spine to crack as his arm moved over my breasts and he grabbed my glasses with his hand and tossed them to Shaun. But Shaun allowed them to fall to the ground, where he slowly stepped on them with his heavy boot, and I cried out in protest.
The popping sound the lens made as he swiveled his boot, and the lens crumbled under his weight, made me shudder. “Your phone was on,” Shaun pointed out as he picked up the battery and the phone, which now had a cracked screen.
“No, it wasn’t.” My plan wasn’t working, and I had no idea how to escape this situation.
“Don’t lie,” his voice was laced with venom. “You were recording this conversation, weren’t you?”
“No,” I replied.
He slotted the battery back into the phone and pressed the on button, but it didn’t work. “Who the fuck were you calling?” he shouted angrily, dragging a gasp from my lips.
“No one,” I yelled back, half crying. “Please. I beg you, I wasn’t calling anyone.”
Ignoring my pleas, “Was it the police or the Kaisers?” His voice growled.
“Neither. Why don’t you listen to me? I had no idea there was a bug in my phone,” I shouted as tears streamed down my cheeks and the jock squeezed me tighter as my chest constricted, making it difficult to breathe.
The jock’s thumb brushed over my nipple and I cried out. “Please,” but it was no use. His teeth sunk into my neck as his other hand ran down my abdomen and cupped my pussy. “No,” I tried to wrestle against his anaconda-like grip, suffocating me.
Shaun chewed on his bottom lip. “What should we do with her?”
The jock’s hot breath pressed against my cheek laced with something rancid. “If we let her go, she might run to the Kaisers,” he argued.
“That leaves only one option,” Shaun raked his eyes over my legs, ignoring my sobs and cheeks wet with tears.
I shook my head desperately. “I promise,” I cried. “I won’t tell anyone.”
Shaun sighed as his eyes rolled in his skull as if deliberating his choices, particularly his strained relationship with the Kaisers. Then, after several beats of silence, he was staring at the door. “Let her go.”
“What?” the jock protested giving me another squeeze with his arms. “She’s going to go running to Gunner.”
Shaun flicked his hand at the jock. “Let her go, but keep an eye on her.”
“Are you serious?” the jock refused to release his grip.
“Yes, fuck it,” Shaun pointed to his mouth, reminding him happened when he slept with me and my obsessive stalker, Rourke/Gunner gave him a warning of what could happen if he hurt me. It did hurt me the way he slept with me, then flung me aside. “Let her go.”
The jock reluctantly released his grasps on me and I picked up my bag and fled to the door, pausing to wrangle the lock with trembling hands, terrified that they’d change their minds.
Once I opened the door, I turned back to check what they were doing, and I found that they were examining my broken phone, wearing an expression of concern. “Was it a setup?” I shouted. “You being friendly and worming your way between my legs, was it a setup? Did you even care about me?”
He glanced up but remained silent while a smirk spread across the face of the jock.
“Was it on Gunner’s order? Did you become my friend because Gunner Kaiser told you to?” I pressed.
Shaun’s brow furrowed as he bowed his head slightly, still gazing at me beneath his lowered eyebrows. “You’re not my type.”
Fine. At least I know what these men were about, and I shouldn’t trust them. But why did Gunner send Shaun to befriend me? Why me? Could Gunner see through my disguise? If so, that puts me in a hazardous situation.
Once outside into the sunshine, I shielded my eyes from the bright light and stumbled down the steps onto the flat.
“Riley?” I heard a familiar voice and turned around to find Cheetos following me from the library. “Where’s your glasses?”
I exhaled, feeling the weight of grief. I was so sick of faking everything. I was so sick of pretending to be someone that I wasn’t.
“Oh, they fell off my face and someone stepped on them,” I told her.
“Oh,” her reaction was the usual awkward and unemotional that I had come accustomed to from Cheetos. “Will you be able to see?”
“A little. I need them mostly for reading, but I have a spare pair in my dorm room,” I explained, then pulled her aside to add. “I really need that gun, Cheetos.”
The figures of Shaun and the jock emerged from the library and Cheetos read my expression and followed my stare. “Are you okay?” she asked, weighing them up mainly after they glared at me.
“I’m fine, but that gun, Cheetos. I need it. Or I’ll find one from somewhere else,” I stressed, stepping down the stairs to lengthen the space between us.
“I’m on to it. I know someone, so I’ll contact you with a price,” she called after me as I walked away from her.
I stalled in disappointment and turned back. “Ah, my phone is broken,” I sighed, aggrieved. “I need to get a new one.”
Cheetos looked back at the guys watching us closely, as if she were reading my mind and knew that my phone and glasses were broken because of them.
“Don’t worry,” she yelled after me, “I’ll get it sorted.”