A new wave of panic flushes hot through me as the man spreads his arms wide, and launches his body at me.
“Oh, my God!”
For a precious moment my mind freezes in absolute shock as the bulk of his body slams into mine. Then the sickly stench of his sweat wafts up my nostrils and I almost gag. It’s sour and pungent, robbing me of my breath. It brings me back to the here and now. Quickly, I bring my hands up between us and squirt the spray in his eyes as fast as my fingers can work the bottle.
An enraged roar thunders in the small space of the bathroom, I keep spraying even when he lets go of me to cover his eyes. I should hit him, or kick him, but I’m terrified. I manage to get out of his reach and run back into the room.
All I can hear is my heartbeat and heavy breaths. Before I get to the door something hard slams into me, taking me to the ground. I forgot about the other man. I start to kick and hit at him. I manage to slam the phone against his face and it gives me time to get up and run.
I race down the hallway and take the stairs two at a time. If I can make it outside I can get to Eli.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” a harsh voice shouts from the kitchen where I can hear painful grunts and heavy blows. The brutal words bring me to a shuddering stop. It makes me feel nauseous because I know they’re either hurting Roy or Mrs. Douglas. I can’t just leave them.
I run in the direction of the noise and storm into the kitchen. The sight of Roy on the floor and covered in blood tears a raw scream from me.
“Quinn,” Roy groans hopelessly. He tries to get up but I can see that the beating has sapped all of his strength. “Run!” he shouts desperately.
My whole body shudders at the sound of his broken voice. His breaths are ragged. I shake my head hard and start to wildly glance around, searching for a knife. I have to try and stop the man from hurting Roy.
“Run, Quinn!” I hear the panic in his voice and it makes my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. I yank the nearest drawer open and grab a dull knife from it. I’ll never forgive myself if I leave Roy with these men.
When the man comes at me I recognize him. Steve, the local weed dealer. The other two must be his friends. He’s stoned out of his mind, his eyes wild. There’s an ugly grin on his face.
I can’t form any words for the feelings swamping me. Roy is covered in blood and we are outnumbered. I don’t even know where Mrs. Douglas is.
“I’m going to take that knife and cut every inch of skin from your body, bitch,” Steve sneers as he comes for me.
Before I can lunge at him a pair of arms comes around me from behind, pinning my arms to my sides. The same sickly sweaty stank from the man in the bathroom envelops me. Steve grabs my hand and ruthlessly pries the knife from my fingers. He starts to laugh darkly as he waves it in front of my face.
“What a nice surprise. I’m going to take my time with you, but first,” he says ominously and he walks back to where Roy is struggling to get up.
A horror filled scream is ripped from me as he slams the knife into Roy’s stomach. Roy lets out a howl of pain that grates at my ears. He sinks back to his knees in front of Steve.
The man holding me whispers eerily, “Make a sound and we’ll kill you slowly.”
I can’t keep the whimper back and it only makes Steve laugh manically as he grabs Roy by the hair. He yanks his head back and then buries the knife in Roy’s left eye. The gruesome sight is too much. I lose all control and start to thrash, screaming at them to stop.
This is more than just cruel violence. It’s evil and malevolent. I can see the pleasure on Steve’s face as he repeatedly stabs Roy. The horrid sight robs me of my sanity.
With every scream that escapes from me, Steve plunges the knife into Roy. Roy’s screams grow weaker while mine pitch with distress.
The sounds of Steve torturing Roy are sickening. Hearing how he’s tearing my fiancé’s flesh away from the bone breaks something in me. I twist and yank at the arms holding me back, wanting to rip them all apart, like they’re doing to Roy. I need to stop them.
“Stop! Oh God, Roy,” I whimper hopelessly.
Finally, the man lets go of me and I dart forward. I try to get to Roy, but Steve grabs hold of my hair, yanking me to the side and away from Roy.
“And then there was one,” Steve leers, and his voice is filled with promises of pain.
He drags me into the dining room. I keep fighting, trying to claw at anything. As he drags me outside, shards of glass cut into my lower back and hands from where they must’ve broken through the glass door to get into the house. I barely feel the pain as I try to stop him from dragging me into the darkness.
When he stops, my body is half on the patio and half on the grass, the step digging into my back.
He holds the knife dangerously close to my chin and drops of Roy’s blood drip on my neck.
I want to get back to him. I need to help Roy. I can’t lose him.
Suddenly he tosses the knife to the side and it clatters as it falls on the patio.
“You always treated me like shit. Think you’re better than me, bitch?” Steve sneers and his spit hits my face. “Fuck you! Fuck you all. I’ll kill you all. I’ll show you.”
“No,” I shriek as he raises his arm. His fist slams into my cheek and it makes me bite my tongue. A copper taste quickly fills my mouth. “Stop, Steve!”
I try to claw at his face, trying to get to his eyes, but he’s just out of reach.
His fist keeps slamming into the right side of my face until my vision blurs. He grabs hold of my shoulders and yanks me up against him. His teeth sink into my left cheek and the pain is raw and intense.
I manage to get my right thumb in his left eye and I dig in.
He howls with pain but it doesn’t make him let go of me. He rips at my t-shirt and for the first time I start to worry about what he’s going to do before he kills me.
I hear Mrs. Douglas scream and then a gunshot rings through the house and it makes Steve jerk. He looks back to the house and it gives me the upper hand. I slam my fist against his ear and manage to squirm out of his reach. I launch to my feet and run back to the house. Pieces of glass stab at my feet but it doesn’t slow me down. I’m wild with panic and fear, hardly taking in any of the sounds around me.
When I get to Roy, I fall down to my knees. My hands are trembling violently as they hover over his face.
“Roy,” I whisper brokenly, praying that he’s not dead.
His one eye is a bloody mess while his other is half closed.
“Roy,” I cry when I realize that he’s not breathing.
Strong arms wrap around me from behind, and they try to pull me away from Roy. Nauseating sobs wrack through my body as I’m pulled up. I try to dig my heels in to stop the man from pulling me away, but my feet slip on all the blood that’s pooled around Roy, only making it so much easier for him.
It feels as if my mind has fractured from all the grief and trauma.
The man holding me presses his mouth to my ear and whispers, “Let me get you out of here. We have to move quickly.”
A wave of disgust shudders through me, even more than I felt when Steve was hurting me. I need to hurt someone as bad as I’m hurting.
I start to fight with the meager strength I have left. I swing my elbow back, trying to slam it into any part of his body. But the man is twice my size and once again I feel scared and vulnerable as his arms tighten around me.
I can hear him grinding his teeth. Somewhere in my devastated and terror-filled mind, I still have some sane part that’s functioning, and that part is telling me that I need to calm down if I want to survive.
“Fuck,” another voice growls darkly from somewhere in the house.
“Steve, what the fuck is taking you so long. Kill the bitch already.”
My eyes are glued to Roy. Maybe it will be a good thing if they kill me.
The man holding me tightens his hold, his body suddenly tensing behind me. I find that odd, seeing as he
was a part of this brutal attack.
Steve runs back into the kitchen and when I see the gun in his hand, the fight leaves my body. I didn’t know he had a gun.
“Who the fuck are you?” Steve shouts.
I’m yanked to the side as the man holding me moves back, and then I see why. Two more men are coming in from the other door. I recognize the one from the bathroom. The other man must be the one who tackled me in the room. And then there’s the man holding me. I thought it was only the three of them. How many are there?
The man who tackled me upstairs is big, and he walks as if the world belongs to him. His sandy colored hair is styled with so much gel it glistens in the electric lights shining above us. His eyes scare me. He’s not stoned like the others and it makes me realize how lucky I was to get away from him the first time. There won’t be a second time. They are dark and cold as if he has no soul.
Instinctively I cower away from the man approaching me, pressing my body into the chest of the man standing behind me. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen his face yet, that he doesn’t pose as big a threat to me.
“I know you,” the big man says as he starts to laugh. “Oh man, this is going to be fucking awesome.”
I realize that he’s not talking to me but to the man behind me.
“Leave while you still can,” the man holding me growls. His voice rumbles from deep in his chest. I can feel it against my back. I can hear the restrained anger, and it scares me. I want to go to Roy and help him. I want this nightmare to be over.
“You’re a Jackson. You wouldn’t know anything about my cousin being beaten out in the woods?” The big man now looks tense, his hands fisted at his sides.
“Nope. No idea,” it comes calmly from behind me and only then do I recognize his voice.
“Eli?” I whisper. Instead of relief, a new fear bleeds into me. I can’t lose Roy and Eli.
“Shut up, bitch!” the man snaps at me. “Open your fucking mouth again and I’ll cut your tongue out.” He looks back to Eli. “You sure? Rumors are all over town that you and your old man gave him that beating.”
The man rolls his shoulders as if he can actually roll the growing anger off of them.
Eli’s one arm slips to his side while he holds me with the other. I can feel the tension coming off him, and it makes me feel sick.
“Doesn’t ring any bells,” Eli answers calmly.
“Are you sure?” The man takes a step towards us as he pulls a gun from behind his back.
These men are like a pack of wild dogs. Them having guns turns this nightmare into a hopeless horror. There’s no way we’re going to get out of this alive.
Eli clamps his hand around my bicep, as if he’s preparing for something and it makes every muscle in my body tense painfully.
“I did some digging of my own after they found my cousin tied to that tree like a fucking dog. Apparently, your family doesn’t know when to look the other way. You’ve been really bad for my business. How’s a man supposed to move drugs through this shitty town if the lowlifes are scared of you all?”
When Eli doesn’t answer him, the man throws back his head and laughs rowdily. It sends shivers down my spine.
“Well, things are about to change around here.”
I can’t handle the fear anymore. The man in front of me scares me to death, more than Steve ever can. He’s obviously the one in charge. I can’t stand the pressure and turn around. If I’m going to die I want Eli to be the last thing I see and not some deranged man.
I almost flinch back at the anger in his eyes. I’ve never seen anger so alive, and there’s something else – vengeance? I’ve never seen this side of Eli, not even back when we met. It’s like I’m staring at a stranger.
My whole world comes to a shuddering, horrible end as the man says, “Take them upstairs. Keep him alive for me. Get the girl to open that safe, after that you can do with her what you want. Just make sure she’s dead so she can’t talk to the cops.”
Eli
I just have to stay calm. Dad and Ethan will be here any second. Thank God I remembered to call them just before I came in. One wrong move and this can all go to hell. No matter how badly I want to kill these fuckers, I have to keep calm for Quinn.
When she called, my fucking world came to a stop. Hearing the fear in her voice and not being able to hold her almost killed me. Hearing her screaming and fighting ripped my heart clean out of my chest. I thought losing Quinn was the worst pain, but I was wrong. Hearing the person you love most in this world screaming while you’re helpless to do anything, that’s soul shattering.
Quinn’s whole body trembles against mine, making my protective side kick into high gear. She’s going into shock, and I need to check how badly she’s hurt. She won’t be able to handle much more.
Her eyes keep darting between my face and Roy. There’s a wild look of pure terror on her face, and it kills me seeing her in such a state. So help me God I’ll protect her, but these fuckers are dead the first chance I get. If I don’t get to kill them tonight, I will fucking hunt them to the ends of the earth.
I take hold of her shoulders and pull her closer. She’s taking small gasps of air and grabs hold of my shirt with her tiny fists. There’s a bite mark on her left cheek while the right side of her face is beaten badly. She came in from the opposite side and Steve followed her in, which means he must’ve been the fucker who hurt her. I make a silent promise to take my time in killing him.
“You’re going to be fine,” I say, hoping the words will help her remain calm. “I need you to stay calm, Quinn. Can you do that for me?”
She swallows hard as she nods. Good. She’s still with me.
I look at the leader of the group. Erick Thompson. I know he’s been a problem for the sheriff department. They can never get anything to stick on him. He transports drugs using small towns and always gets the local drug addicts to do his dirty work. The guy standing behind Erick is his second in charge, Clint Williams. He’s gone to prison for Erick so I know this kind of thing is nothing new to him. He’s not nervous and stoned like Steve, which means Steve is my biggest threat right now.
There’s been a string of robberies lately, but never on this side of town. At least now I know who’s responsible for all the break-ins.
Erick turns to him and says, “When you’re done with the bitch bring Jackson to the warehouse. Make sure you get everything and take that ring she’s wearing.”
Clint nods and watches as Erick leaves the kitchen, then he shouts, “Enough of this shit. C’mon! Move your asses,”
Quinn presses harder against me as if she’s trying to burrow her way into my chest so she can hide.
I grind my teeth as frustration sets in. If it were just me, I would’ve taken the chance to take Steve and Clint out, but I can’t risk Quinn’s life.
Feeling her fear is smothering me inside out. Every part of my body is screaming to eliminate the threat to her life. I have a savage need to protect what’s mine.
Clint raises his gun and points it at Quinn and it makes every muscle in my body tauten, ready to attack.
I take a step to the side which makes Quinn grab for me. She starts to shake her head and moves to stay in front of me.
When I look down her eyes are turbulent with fear.
“They’ll kill you,” she whimpers and it’s then that I realize the fear on her face is for me.
“Get your asses upstairs!” Clint barks again.
I reach down and pick Quinn up. A growl escapes my suffocating chest and I hold Quinn tightly to me.
Steve follows behind us as we all walk up the stairs. I just need to buy us time until Dad gets here.
We get shoved into one of the rooms, and I feel a little of the tension give way when they close the door, leaving us alone.
I walk over to the bed and try to put her down, but she only tightens her grip around my neck.
I start to pull her arms away from my neck when she whimpers, “No! Please, no.” Her v
oice breaks as tears roll over her cheeks.
“It’s okay. I’m here,” I try to pacify her. “It will all be over soon.”
There’s something about a woman’s tears. It’s like God gave them a special way to deal with pain. I’ve seen women cry before, but it’s never affected me the way Quinn’s tears do.
Quinn’s tears take me down like a ton of bricks. She throws her arms around my neck, squeezes her face into the space beneath my chin and sobs. I sit down on the bed and hold her, wishing there was a way I could calm her.
“They killed Roy,” her tiny voice is muffled against my skin but the words hit hard. I feel a twinge of guilt. I never wanted him dead.
“I don’t know what happened to Mrs. Douglas,” she says. “I heard her scream but I haven’t seen her. We have to find her.”
The moment we hear voices outside the door she tenses in my arms. I can’t hear what they are saying, their voices are too low.
I try to let go of Quinn but she holds on tight.
“Let me go listen,” I whisper.
Hesitantly, she pulls back. I walk closer to the door, keeping every muscle in body tense and ready to strike.
“Why fucking bother? Just finish the motherfucker off. I say we take the girl. We can at least have fun with her. We can tell Erick the guy started fighting and we had no choice,” Steve says.
“I decide what happens. Erick left me in charge,” Clint snaps. He sounds on edge.
“The bitch tried to claw my fucking eye out. Let me at least teach her a lesson,” Steve hisses, sounding pissed off.
I glance back at Quinn. Whatever’s going to happen next won’t be good. If Dad doesn’t get here soon, I have no choice but to take them both on and pray that Quinn doesn’t get hurt in the process. I have to prepare her. She can’t keep sitting frozen like that.
I stalk over to her and take hold of her face with both my hands. She looks fragile, so fucking terrified in my hands, but I have to do this.
Redemption (Men of Honor Book 2) Page 4
