42. Forty-Two #3
She’s hypnotic, beautiful even. I wonder why she’s here, how she got entangled in this world, and if she’s begging to escape it as much as I am.
She brushes her hand to her breast seductively until I notice her reaching for something in her bra and places it between her teeth.
With deliberate slowness, she leans closer, her lips softly kissing mine.
I almost get caught up in the feel of her when her tongue parts my mouth open, letting whatever she holds between her teeth drop onto my waiting tastebuds…
I jerk my face away, about to spit it out, but she instantly whispers in my ear, “Swallow, Sara. They will inject you with something, and this will counteract it.”
I stare at her masked face inches from mine until her eyes her bright blue eyes strike me with a recognition so fierce, I get whiplash.
Mimi.
Her words slice through my panic, and I swallow the small pill.
“Good girl,” Mimi breathes against my ear. “Now listen carefully.”
I discreetly nod and she shifts on my lap as she continues her performance, making it look like she's dancing for me and for the entertainment of the masked audience.
“Don't react.” Her lips brush my skin as she continues. “Keep your face neutral. They're going to take you to a private room soon. Don't fight it. I'll let Liam know you're here. I’m hoping they don’t take you on the yacht.”
My eyes widen behind my mask. "Who Mimi? Who’s going to take me?”
She doesn't answer my desperate questions. Instead, she slides off my lap with grace, her fingertips trailing across my shoulder as she slinks into the crowd. Her hips sway to the music as she disappears, leaving me alone in the row of women.
Whatever she made me swallow sits heavy in my stomach. My head swims, vision blurs at the edges, spreading warmth through my limbs that quickly turns to heaviness. I grip the arms of the chair, trying to anchor myself as the music distorts…
Is this what she meant by counteracting what they'll inject me with? Or did she drug me like everyone else here?
The purple lights stretch into smears of color. Faces around me melt together, becoming unrecognizable blobs behind their ornate masks.
Liam… What have I done?
A man in a black suit and silver mask appears before me, his features unrecognizable even if I tried. He extends his hand, and I take it, rising from the chair on unsteady legs. My body feels disconnected, as if I'm piloting it from somewhere far away.
I try to focus, but the red lights blur into a haze as we walk. Suddenly, I recognize the line of doors. This is where Tyler cornered me, where I escaped him. The second we reach one of the doors, I fight to wrench my arm free.
No, no, no.
My nightmare seeping into my reality and being locked into one of those rooms is making me feel like I’m going to die. He unlocks it with a key card held around his neck, the mechanism clicking as it disengages.
The door swings open to reveal a sparse room with nothing but a bed and a small table. The walls are bare concrete, and a single light fixture casts harsh shadows across the floor. My head is spinning violently, and my eyes can barely stay open. Their voices inaudible, and their laughter haunting.
I’m thrown to the hard, disgusting mattress.
I kick and scream, and I hear my phone fly against the wall.
I see two pairs of men’s legs in their stupid black suits from my angle as they hold my head down, trying as hard as I can to get them off me.
And then a pinch on my arm makes me hiss.
I can barely lift my body up from their hold when I see one of them holding a syringe.
I want to go home. My heart races and I feel so scared, but I have to push through and be strong.
I try to claw at the man’s wrist, but I’m met with a backhanded slap to my face that makes me bite my cheek, blood on my tongue and tears threatening from the sting of it.
“You don’t want to mess with us,” one man says. I can’t even respond. I’m writhing, the heat from what they injected burning my veins, making me want to scratch my skin off.
Their laughter reverberates again, and I hear the clinking of a belt, a rush of movement, and fear surges through my entire being. One lifts my arms over my head, pins them violently, while the other spreads my legs apart.
No, please, this can’t be happening.
“Hurry up, I’m next,” the other man says, and I’m too drugged up to say a word. Tears leak onto my face. My body, in excruciating silence, begs not to be violated, to only have Liam’s hands ever touch me. Earn me. Love me. And I want these men dead.
I fight with my body's strength to push him away, but he’s too strong, too close. He reaches to unzip his pants when the door flies open.
“What the fuck are you doing?” a voice says, stopping the two men in their tracks, and they both release me.
“Get off her, you’re not supposed to touch her. Get out.”
I turn my head, heavier than a brick wall, and my eyes fall on Tyler’s. My breath is shallow from the drugs as he lifts me up into his arms.
“Fuck, my dad is going to kill me.” I hear him say.
I can barely make out the question, “Who’s your fath—” Before my eyes close of their own accord and I hear Tyler say, “Take her.”
My spine turns solid with fear, and darkness pulls me under, dragging me down into a bottomless sleep.