Chapter Five #2
Pulling the freezing air through her nostrils, she stared at the screen defiantly.
Enough.
Enough with men dictating what she was thinking and feeling, and more importantly, enough with her handing them that power. Of course she wanted a meaningful relationship, but in the short term, she’d take her cheese pizza and some damn peace.
She’d just taken a tenuous step toward at least one of those goals when her phone buzzed again.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered, her jaw tensing as she lifted the device again.
Whoever they were, she was going to tell them precisely how much they were pissing her off. She’d already apologized for being rude. At that point, there wasn’t much more to say.
Empowered by the rush of determination, she intended to tell them just that, but the words waiting for her almost knocked her off her feet.
You’re in danger. Go. Home. Now.
“What?” She actually asked the word aloud, even though doing so made no sense.
There was no danger, save for the ice and the distraction of their messages. More to the point, there was no way they could have known where she was, or whether she was in trouble or not.
“This madness has to stop.” She paused her pursuit of pizza again to tell them so.
I don’t know who you are or why you’re doing this, but stop.
She hit the send button before starting to type a short conclusion.
If you’re trying to frighten me, then it’s not working. I—
“Hey, darling!”
Her fingers stilled over whatever she was going to type next, the thought obliterated when she glanced up and took in the three men suddenly looming around her.
“Are you lost?” The dirty blonde one cocked an eyebrow at her, his lips twisting into an ugly smirk.
“No,” she replied, fumbling her phone back into her pocket as the three of them moved in closer.
She should have been using it to call for help, but in the haze of her rising unease, she didn’t think.
She’d taken a few steps on from the front of the newsagent’s and found herself trapped against an unforgiving brick wall. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“You look lost.” The darker-haired guy flashed a grin. “And, you know, it’s getting late. Probably best that a pretty young thing like you isn’t out on the street on her own.”
“I’m fine, thank you.” Her tone was firmer that time, belying the panic shooting fireworks into her mind.
She despised situations like the one she’d inadvertently fallen into, moments when she felt forced to be polite to people who almost certainly did not have her best interests at heart.
But what other choice was there? As a woman, she was physically smaller and weaker than all three of them, let alone the fact that she was outnumbered.
Life had taught women like her that the only hope of worming their way out of hazardous settings like that one was to play along and smile, praying they wouldn’t provoke the angry bear, but deep down, she was angry at the inference.
Fed up with Shaun, her mysterious messenger, and the morons surrounding her.
“I’m almost home.”
“Oh, you live around here, do you?” the third, and stockier, one asked in a wry tone. “Then, shouldn’t you know better than to be out here on your own, love?”
“Can you move out of my way, please?” Scanning all three of them, she sharpened her tone as much as her galloping heart would permit. “I have somewhere to be.”
“Yeah.” The blonde took another step toward her, his comrades mirroring the deed to ensure the semi-circle around her was slowly reduced, as well as any possible escape routes. “But we reckon we have somewhere better for you to be.”
“That’s right.” The stockier one laughed. “We can get you out of the cold and make sure you warm up nicely, darling.”
“No, thank you.”
Her voice was alarmingly squeaky that time, the demeaning tone only amplifying her nervous powerlessness as the dark-haired one in the middle pushed her against the brickwork.
“Yeah, well, we ain’t fucking asking.” His voice lowered to a growl, its timbre escalating her urgency.
I’m in trouble! The words pinballed around her head as though they were mocking her. Oh my God. It’s just like the message said.
Cold alarm seeped through her body, turning her legs to lead and irrefutably ending any chance of slipping past their encroaching bodies and fleeing.
What am I going to do?
“Don’t worry, darling,” the one pinning her against the cold wall snarled. “We can’t promise to be gentle, but we might drop you off back here once we’re done with you.”
“No.” She forced out the cry, trying to push past the prison of their bodies and make a break for freedom, but the sound emanated as more of a pathetic whimper as she was smashed back onto the brickwork. “Don’t, please!”
She loathed herself then. The fearful way she pleaded when she should have been fighting back, but at the sharp end of her swelling alarm, there didn’t seem to be any other choice.
Fear had become less of a foe and more of a friend, wrapping her in a perturbing state of comforting numbness that meant she felt little in the way of pain when the stocky one on her left shoved her harder and slapped his dirty palm over her mouth.
“Shut it, bitch.” He was right beside her, they all were, his breath reeking of cheap booze and old cigarettes.
Her hands flew to his, her fingers clawing to rid her mouth of his disgusting flesh, but the one to her right snatched them down, gripping hard at her wrists and shoving them between her legs while he hurled insults.
“Looks like we’ve got a fighter!” the blond scoffed as though she was pathetic and, willing him from her line of sight, she closed her eyes, holding her breath, so she didn’t have to breathe in the scent of whatever was on his mate’s hand.
“Reckon she likes it rough,” another of them barked, and she opened her eyes in time to see the dark-haired one unzipping his flies. Let’s see, shall we?”
Ignoring the smell of the repulsive skin plastering her mouth, her lips parted, and she let out her frustrated fright as a long, horrifying scream. The noise was muffled by the stranger’s hand, yet still disturbingly able to convey her absolute terror.
Frantically, her focus flitted past her attackers, hoping beyond hope that someone—anyone—would be walking along the street and able to come to her rescue.
“Ain’t no one coming to save you, princess.” The blond one’s cruel laughter whipped past her ears. “No one gives a shit.”
“Wrong.”
The voice that came from behind them was deep, stern, and definitely male.
She couldn’t see who it belonged to. The adrenaline flooding her system made it difficult to focus on anything except the revolting skin blocking her airways and where her next breath of fresh air was coming from.
However, when the dark-haired thug pressing himself against her was wrenched away like a rag doll, a chink of hope suddenly swathed her.
Kris watched as the jerk lurched into the air and landed on the cold concrete, his aggressor still unknown, and her heart hammering so fast she was sure it would exit via her still gagged mouth.
“Hey!” The one with his hand over her mouth flew to face her unseen rescuer, finally relieving her of his palm. “Who do you think you are?”
The resonance of the response that flew back to where she was standing was so low and rumbling, Kris swore she felt it in her body.
“I’m the reason you’re going to wish you’d stayed at home, pretty boy.”