by Alice Raine
My entire body tensed, sure that Greg was going to punish her for her anger, but instead, her words drew the opposite reaction.
He looked...thrilled.
‘Is she telling the truth?’ he demanded, his demeanour completely changing before my eyes as his jaw slackened and eyes widened. ‘Have you really saved yourself? For me?’ Christ, he really was deluded. In a twisted way he was partly right–I hadn’t slept with anyone because the memories of him had been too horrific. I certainly hadn’t been saving myself for him, though, but it was just possible I could use this to my advantage, and so I chewed my lip, trying to look contrite and shy and then nodded slowly. ‘Yes.’
‘You’re still a virgin?’ he asked in a shocked whisper, causing me to nod again as my cheeks bloomed with an instinctive blush.
The room filled with a tense silence. Allie was still on her knees, and Greg was staring at me as if trying to look through my skin and see if my hymen really was still intact.
‘Let Allie go, then you and I can go upstairs, just the two of us. If you want?’ I asked, trying to make my offer sound inviting, even though the very thought of him touching me was almost enough to make me vomit. I was willing to go through with it, though, if it meant saving Allie.
For a few moments, I thought Greg was about to agree–his grip on the blade visibly loosened, and he momentarily let go of Allie’s shoulder.
‘I won’t fight you, I promise,’ I declared, knowing full well that as soon as that knife was away from Allie’s skin I would be fighting tooth and nail. I should have kept my mouth shut, because my words seemed to snap him out of his reverie and he looked at me with an evil glint in his eye.
Fuck.
‘As tempting as that sounds, I think we’ll keep Allie here. Now get undressed,’ he ordered, his wide-eyed look gone, replaced with nothing but malicious intent. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Frozen to the spot, I couldn’t do it. My body was like a lump of rock, ignoring all commands.
‘Now, Cait. Strip those clothes off that gorgeous body of yours.’
‘Leave her the fuck alone!’ Allie sobbed, but neither Greg nor I looked down.
All my fight left in a rush and I felt like a wreck. ‘Please, Greg, not like this. I...I can’t ...’ My voice was pleading and pathetic, but it didn’t impact Greg at all. Instead, he calmly put the gag back into Allie’s mouth and flashed me a grin.
‘Try harder.’
Unclenching my hands, I stuttered out a breath and felt a tear escape from my eye as my useless body continued to fail. Now that I was faced with my imminent de-flowering at the hands of a man I despised, I really, really wished I’d slept with Jack. At least then my first time would have been with a man I loved.
‘I thought you might be a touch reluctant. Now, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to fuck you,’ he paused and grinned again. ‘And you can either make it easy for me, or fight me.’
The adrenaline rushing through my system told me I would be fighting all the way, something Greg must have picked up on, because he smirked and threw his head back and cackled. Then, as I watched helplessly, he raised the blade in his hand and swiped it near Allie’s scalp, causing her to flinch and squeal behind her gag.
At least I had thought it was above her head, but to my horror I watched as a bright red stripe of blood suddenly escaped from her hairline and began to run across her forehead.
Holy fuck, he’d cut her? I dived forwards to protect my friend, a scream tearing from my chest, but he raised the blade to her throat and pressed it to her skin, sneering as spittle collected at the corners of his mouth.
I froze mid step, his threat enough to make me instantly hold my hands up. My eyes made the trip back down to Allie’s face and I swallowed loudly.
Oh. My. God.
Blood. There was so much blood.
He’d actually cut her.
And pretty badly, judging by the quantity of blood now dripping from her eyebrows. Immediately I began to desperately pull at the buttons of my shirt. ‘OK! OK! Please don’t hurt her, I’ll do it.’ My fingers were so shaky I could barely undress and I ended up grabbing the collar and ripping my shirt open in frustration before I chucked it off and threw it to the floor in despairing panic.
‘Thank you, Cait.’ He sounded so calm, as if I’d just offered him tea and biscuits. His greedy eyes travelled to my bra and I cringed and watched with growing dread as he bit on his lip and let out a lusty growl. ‘You always did have lovely tits. A little on the small side, but fucking lovely none the less.’
Allie was bleeding, I was shit scared, but he sounded like there was not a care in the world. He was way, way more deranged than I’d ever thought.
‘This first cut here,’ Greg explained as he paused and pointed to Allie’s bleeding scalp, ‘is nothing, really. Head wounds bleed excessively but it’s not life threatening.’
My blood was pounding in my ears.
‘Allie’s survival will completely depend upon you, Cait,’ he stated, a look of confidence crossing his sharp features.
‘But...but you said that cut wasn’t life threatening...’ I stuttered as I fumbled with the button for my jeans.
‘It’s not,’ he confirmed. ‘But you’re a fighter, so I plan to use Allie as my insurance policy. Sorry, Allie, you were just in the right place at the wrong time.’
His hand moved in a blur and before I could even let out a scream, he had plunged the blade into Allie’s side. My whole body erupted to throw myself forward, but I held back. Allie screamed behind her gag, her eyes widening with terror as blood instantly bloomed on her white T-shirt.
My head was thumping and the room around me began to spin. This was a nightmare. It had to be. My vision went hazy, and I would have liked nothing more than to float into unconsciousness, but I forced myself to stay conscious for Allie’s sake.
‘Now that wound will bleed like a bastard,’ Greg stated smugly, watching as the side of her T-shirt quickly became saturated with crimson. ‘It’s a shame her hands are tied, because someone really needs to stem the blood flow.’
‘Please...Greg, don’t do this. Help her,’ I begged, the words falling from my tongue.
‘If you make things easy for me, I’ll let you see to her wound after we’re done with round one.’ Round one? I didn’t care about myself, or my long-held virginity any more. He could fuck me a hundred times as long as Allie survived.
‘Tell you what. If you make it good for me, I’ll suture her cut myself. But if you struggle?’ He gave a casual shrug. ‘If you struggle, she’ll probably bleed out while I’m still burying my cock inside you.’
White lights were flashing before my eyes as I desperately tried to steady my shaking limbs and rip my remaining clothes from my body. Even as I undressed I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my best friend. She was slumped sideways, moaning in her throat, and the blood had started to soak into her jean shorts.
She couldn’t die, not because of me.
My skin bore scratch marks where I had urgently disrobed, but finally I was naked, and I looked Greg in the eye and stepped towards him, desperate to get it over with.
‘I’ll be good, Greg, I swear to God. I won’t fight you.’
Greg cast a gloating look at Allie and reached out and caressed my cheek again. ‘I know you won’t, sweetheart. Now lie down and spread those legs so I can finally claim what’s mine.’
Forty-three
Jack
Sean was getting better and better at this, and it was starting to put me to shame. Watching as he selected his club and set another golf ball upon the tee, I crossed my arms, trying not to look as if his increase in skill bothered me. But it secretly did.
I’d been playing since I was six, had numerous lessons throughout the years, and even managed to win the odd amateur tournament. I was the one who had introduced him to golf in the first place. It stood to reason that I should be better than him. But I wasn’t, not any more.
Flynn gave me a nudge
in the ribs and I glanced across to see him watching me carefully. ‘Got a bit of the green-eyed monster?’ he remarked.
‘Mmm. A touch, perhaps.’ I aimed for nonchalant, but probably came off as prickly. ‘Looks like he could beat us both,’ I added, trying not to let my ire show.
‘Yep,’ Flynn agreed amiably, ‘although I’ve only started playing this idiotic game since I’ve been working with you, so I don’t put in half as much effort as you do.’
Nice. Leave it to Flynn to further batter my ego.
Sean swung his club, connected with the ball, and sent it sailing off into the distance in a near perfect straight line. Bastard. My tee shots always went to the left, no matter what I did.
‘Pretty good, huh?’ Sean enquired with a cocky grin.
‘Yeah. Not bad,’ I conceded, packing my clubs away.
‘I told Allie I’d meet her after golf, but do you wanna grab a coffee before we head off?’
‘Yeah, sounds good,’ I agreed. ‘I’m meeting Caitlin tonight. Before you know it we’ll be going on double dates.’ We were sharing a laugh when my phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out, I saw Caitlin’s name and grinned. ‘Speak of the devil.’
‘Did you know you blush like a little girl whenever she calls?’ Sean teased, before Flynn released a snort.
‘Yeah, yeah. I’m under the thumb too, I get it.’
Clicking the screen to accept her call, I raised it to my ear. ‘Hey, sweetheart.’ There was no reply. ‘Caitlin?’ I tried, but after listening for a few seconds I shrugged and checked the screen to see if the call was active. ‘Huh. She must have pocket dialled me.’
‘Happens to me all the time. I always forget to lock the screen,’ Sean said as he packed his golf clubs away and pulled off his glove.
Lifting the phone to my ear to check once more, I heard voices, but they were faint.
‘Drop the phone and keys, right now. Lock the door behind you.’ There were some muffled noises and the sound of some keys rattling.
Shaking my head, I drew the attention of Sean and Flynn. ‘This is a really weird call, there’s a man’s voice. Listen to this,’ I murmured, putting the phone on speaker.
Sean smirked. ‘A man’s voice on Cait’s phone? You sure she hasn’t got another guy on the go?’ he teased. I couldn’t even muster a laugh, because a strange, sickening feeling was forming in my stomach. Sean must have sensed my unease because the smile dropped from his lips and he leant in closer.
Suddenly Caitlin’s voice came over the line. ‘Let her go, Greg.’
Greg? That fucker was there? I knew I had recognised that voice. ‘Fuck! She’s with Greg!’
Caitlin’s voice interrupted my rising panic as she spoke again, ‘Allie has nothing to do with this.’
Allie was there?
‘We need to move, right now! Flynn, call the police!’ Sean yelled as he threw his hands up into his hair.
‘Wait! Flynn, call the police but keep them on hold, we need to know where they are before we go careening off. Call Tanya too and find out what the hell is happening.’
‘Fuck waiting! Let’s go to the studio! That’s where he was last time!’ Sean yelled, his impatience drawing the attention of several other nearby golfers.
‘Cait had work today then she was going to get some stuff from their house but I’m not sure when, so they could be at the studios, your house, or their old place. Just listen for a second, please,’ I implored him, desperately trying to listen for any noise or sound that would give me their location.
Flynn stepped away to make his calls just as Lambert’s lecherous, vile voice came over the line again. ‘I don’t think so, sweetheart.’ My stomach roiled. That was my nickname for my girlfriend. How fucking dare he.
‘Well, at least put the knife down.’
‘Knife?! Jesus Christ!’ Sean expelled.
My ears were ringing with every second that passed, but I kept my cool until finally Lambert gave me what I needed. ‘Nah. This might be your house, but today we play by my rules.’
‘He’s at their house, move!’ The three of us deserted our golf clubs and started sprinting for the exit like there was a tsunami on our tail. It must have looked like a scene from a movie as we all leapt over golf bags, threw people aside, and yelled to clear the pathway. As we reached the car, Flynn had his mobile pressed to his ear as he ordered police and an ambulance to Caitlin’s house, so I jumped in the driver’s seat and gunned the motor.
My phone was still on speaker, and through the receiver I heard Caitlin’s voice again. ‘I’m here now, you can do what you want to me, Greg, but let Allie go.’ Oh God. My brave, beautiful girl was offering herself up in return for her friend’s safety. It was exactly what I knew she would have done, but I couldn’t help the dread rising up in an attempt to drown me.
‘Tanya? What the fuck are you playing at? Cait and Allie are inside with Lambert! I don’t give a fuck how it happened, we’re one minute out, go around back and await my call,’ Flynn grated though clenched teeth, pocketing his phone.
My reflection in the rear-view mirror was one of barely concealed desperation. Thank God Flynn was here, sitting beside me holding his gun with a look of grim determination on his face.
Hold on, Caitlin. I’m coming for you, sweetheart.
Forty-four
Sean
The drive from the golf range to Studio City felt like an absolute age. We’d only been in the car nine minutes, and we were nearly there, but nine minutes was a long fucking time when you knew the woman you loved was in a room with an armed maniac.
Drawing in several deep breaths, I cursed myself again. I was supposed to have had lunch with Allie at twelve, but I’d delayed it so I could get my golf lesson in. I should have been with her. I wasn’t, and now Greg had her and Cait at knife point.
I should have been there, but I wasn’t – it was my history with Elena repeating itself.
If anything happened to Allie, I would never forgive myself.
Visions swum in my mind and I felt my grip on reality fading as a panic attack reared up on me, sucking me in with its cloying, inky darkness. My breathing altered to short, sharp pants as I struggled to get the oxygen I needed and I clawed at the leather seat.
No. No. I needed to pull myself together right fucking now. For Allie’s sake. My girl was going to need me to be firing on all cylinders when we arrived, so that’s what I’d do. Straightening my back, I felt my anxious adrenaline turning into a more constructive fuel, one that tightened my muscles and had my fists clenching in my lap. That was much better.
Flynn had called ahead to gate security and informed them that there was an emergency, so when we arrived just a few seconds later the gates were open, allowing Jack to careen straight into the compound, tearing up several neat gravel paths as he went off-road and cut two corners to get to the girls’ house in the quickest possible time. We’d calm any angry gardeners with a reimbursement later.
There was a compound security guy running up to the house as we arrived, but no police cars in sight, so we must have been first to arrive on the scene. The three of us shot from the car in a mass of pumped muscles and barely contained fury, but just before we reached the front door, Flynn held up a hand to stop us, indicating for the compound security man to join us. ‘Wait! If he’s armed and we burst in, he could injure one of the girls by mistake. I told Tanya to check the back entrance and wait for my call, you, go around and back her up,’ he ordered the campus security. ‘The rest of us will go in through the front. The curtains are drawn, but check if you can see anything through the gap.’
Jack and I crept to the front window and tried to peer through. My vision was blocked by the handle of the window, but Jack, crouched below, must have seen something because the next second he erupted, shooting from his crouched position and slamming his massive body into the door with a guttural roar.
Holy fuck. I strained to look inside, and finally caught a glimpse. Caitlin was on the floor, and a man
was pinning her down as he writhed on top of her. Jesus Christ. As Jack exploded at the door again, I watched Greg look up with fury on his face as he began to stand, and as he moved I saw what had been hidden behind him.
Allie. Oh my God, Allie. Her body was slumped in a pile in the corner. She was covered in so much blood she was hardly recognisable.
He’d killed her.
Sense went out of the window as a red mist rose before my eyes and I threw Flynn aside to join Jack at the door, slamming myself against it in time with his shoulder barges. First the frame began to give way, then the door shifted, and finally, the door, frame, and several huge lumps of plaster went crashing inwards in a cloud of dust, allowing the three of us clambered inside.
‘He went out the back door!’ Cait screamed, causing Flynn to sprint away in pursuit. I couldn’t think of anything except Allie, but as I flew across the room I found Cait already there, crouched beside my girl and pressing her tiny hands to the blood-soaked fabric at Allie’s side.
Oh God. She looked dead, like a lifeless doll. Some sick, blood-covered image from a horror movie. Her hair was strewn across her face, but there was so much blood it almost looked red.
She couldn’t be dead. I couldn’t lose her. She was so important to me that I couldn’t imagine how I would go on without her. Lifting a trembling hand, I pressed two fingers to her neck to check for a pulse, but her skin was so slick with blood that my fingers kept slipping.
If it weren’t for all the blood she could almost be asleep. My panic was rising at my inability to find a pulse, when I suddenly felt a flicker. Struggling with the slippery skin, I finally honed in on a beat.
She was alive! Thank fuck. I could barely believe it, but it was definitely there, a faint but steady pulse.
‘Get an ambulance, now!’ Caitlin yelped.
‘We already called one, but I just checked their ETA and they’re one minute away,’ Jack said, as he threw down his phone onto the sofa and came to kneel beside us, gently working on the rope that had Allie’s hands tied behind her back.
