by Becca Van
Shit. She hated that she had been one of those people who was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t think straight. She had always thought that she would fight until she breathed her last breath. But no, it turned out that she was an utter coward in the face of adversity. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and she sniffed.
A rustle off to her side caused her to freeze once more. Her heart rate escalated, as did her breathing, but something was different. The tight band which had been around her breasts and torso was gone, and she was actually able to fill her lungs with air. Her muscles tensed, and she bit her lip to keep a whimper from escaping when she heard another sound close to her other side.
Oh God, is there someone else in here with him? Please.
Emma, you have to find some courage and get out of here. Who even knows that you’re missing? God, I don’t even know what day it is. Everything is such a haze.
She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to get her fear under control, and some of the tension left her muscles. A hand touched her forehead and Emma snapped. She opened her mouth and screamed loud and long as she hit out and scrambled from the bed. Almost blind with terror, she leapt from the bed and ran. Almost at once, she slammed into a hard, immovable object. Large, muscular arms banded around her chest, but she kept right on fighting and screaming. She dug her nails into the arm and kicked out with her legs. A grunt sounded as her feet connected with another hard body. Oh fuck, there are two of them. Nausea roiled in her stomach and bile traveled up her esophagus. She barely stopped herself from vomiting.
And then a loud voice penetrated her mindless panic.
“Emma! You’re safe, sugar. Calm down, honey.” Large, gentle hands cupped her cheeks. “Shh, Emma, you are safe here. He can’t get to you again. We won’t let him near you. I promise.”
She slowed her struggles. The red haze of fear finally began to clear from her eyes, and she blinked moisture away. Her vision cleared. Standing before her was a stranger. But he was looking at her with such worry and concern it tugged at her heart. His thumbs moved across her face, and he wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“That’s it, sugar. Take deep, even breaths. You are safe, Emma.”
Emma looked into the darkest eyes she had ever seen. They were such a deep brown color they were almost black. His hair was also a deep brown, and messy as if he had run his fingers through his hair all night long. Whoever he was, he was big. Not only was he bulky with muscle, but he stood a few inches over six feet. Although she should have been afraid of his size, she wasn’t.
The arms around her loosened and shifted to her waist as she steadied on her feet. She looked over her shoulder and met green eyes way above her head. The man standing behind her was even bigger than the one in front of her, at least six five. His sandy-colored hair was collar length, and he was linebacker huge with muscles. The heat from his body was oddly comforting and his large hands were gentle on her waist and hips.
Seeing movement in her peripheral vision, she turned her head and stared at the blond-headed, blue-eyed man across the room. He wasn’t as tall as the other two or as muscular, but he was still ripped from what she could see. He smiled at her as if trying to put her at ease, but she could still see worry in his eyes.
Who are these men? Where am I?
She shifted on her feet and the man behind her released her waist. His hands slid over her naked skin. Looking down, she gasped when she realized she was almost naked. The only item of clothing she had on were her panties. She stepped off to the side and away from them, crossing her arms over her chest to hide her breasts from view.
The guy who had been in front of her and had drawn her from her panic backed up a couple of steps, and then turned and pulled the quilt from the bed. He stepped toward her and stopped when she drew away.
“Take it easy, sugar. We aren’t going to hurt you. We want to help you. Here.” He held the end of the quilt up in offering.
Emma took a tentative step forward and slowly reached out for the blanket. Gripping it tightly, she pulled it around her, covering her body with its softness. “Who…”
“Why don’t you sit down, Emma, and then we can talk,” the man with the dark eyes said.
She shook her head and backed away until her shoulders connected with the wall. Pain shot through her, but she contained the shudder that traveled down her spine.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Detective Gary Wade and these are my friends. The big guy is Anton Taylor, but everyone calls him Tank. The blond over there is Dr. Jack Williams.” Gary moved back and sat on the edge of the bed. Jack lowered himself into a chair on the other side of the room and Anton leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his massive chest. His muscles bulged with each slight movement he made.
“Where am I?” Emma croaked.
Jack stood again and walked over to what looked like a kitchen area in the room. He poured a glass of water and then turned back.
“I’m coming over to give you this drink, Emma. I promise not to touch you or get too close. Okay?”
Emma eyed the water and nodded. She looked up into Jack’s blue eyes and held her breath as he crossed the room. Tentatively taking the glass from his hand, she waited until he had retreated before bringing the glass to her lips. The first taste was pure ambrosia, and she couldn’t stop herself from gulping the contents from the glass.
“Do you want some more water, baby?”
Emma whipped her head around and stared at Anton, but relaxed when she saw that he hadn’t moved from his lounging position against the wall. She nodded her head and watched him warily as he straightened and walked toward her.
She frowned because she could have sworn she had heard his voice before. She looked up into his green eyes and frowned again, because even though his voice was somehow familiar, Emma knew she would remember him if she had met him previously.
“Do I know you?”
“We met last night, baby. Don’t you remember?” Anton took the glass from her hand and handed it over to Jack.
“Your voice sounds familiar, but I don’t remember you.”
“You came into the club with that Mitchell guy, but you were sick with a fever so I guess you were pretty out of it.”
“Club? What club?”
“Why don’t you come and sit down, Emma?” Gary asked, indicating the large armchair near the bed. “You need rest to heal properly.”
If she hadn’t felt so tired, she would have refused, but she made her way toward the chair carefully so she wouldn’t trip on the quilt and then sighed as she sat down.
“Good girl.” Gary studied her face but he didn’t move from his perch on the bed. “Can you tell me what happened to you, Emma? I need to take a statement so that when we find Mitchell we can arrest him.”
Emma opened her mouth but snapped it closed when the door to the room burst open. She jumped as it slammed into the wall behind. Two more men followed another woman into the room.
“Oh, you’re awake. Thank God. We’ve all been so worried about you.” The woman rushed over and patted the hand that was peeking out the top of the quilt where Emma was clutching it closed. “How are you feeling, Emma?”
“Okay.”
“You don’t remember me, do you?” the woman asked with a smile. “I’m Charlie Winston-Pike and these two big lugs are my husbands. This is Turner Pike and Barry Winston.”
Did she just say husbands? No, I must have heard wrong.
“Hi, Emma. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Hi, Emma. Thank God you’re safe.”
Emma didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even know these people, so she kept silent.
“Why don’t we leave these four to talk,” Turner said to Charlie and clasped her hand in his own and began to lead her from the room. “We’ll get breakfast ready and call you all when it’s done.” Turner, Charlie, and Barry left the room, closing the door behind them.
�
��Emma, you are in the Club of Discipline. That asshole you were with last night brought you here. Do you remember what happened?”
Emma stared at the three men watching her. They were all so big and handsome and could hurt her easily, but she knew they wouldn’t. They said she was safe with them and she believed them. The big guy, Anton, no, Tank, had helped her get away from him. If these men had wanted to hurt her, they wouldn’t have helped her in the first place. Gary pulled a small pad and pen out of his pocket, and she knew he was waiting for her to give him a statement.
Why had she agreed to go on a date with him? He’d seemed so nice, had spent the last four weeks talking to her at work. She should have known something wasn’t right. A couple of times she had caught him staring at her, but she had just put that down to his attraction toward her. How wrong she had been. She pushed her thoughts aside and tried to concentrate on what she had to say.
“Andrew and I work together in an insurance company call center. He sat a few cubicles away from me, but we began talking when it turned out we had the same breaks.” Emma shuddered and took a deep breath.
“It’s okay, sugar. You are safe here,” Gary reassured her.
“He was so nice to me, and after we had shared the same shifts for four weeks running, he asked me out to dinner. And foolish me, I said yes.”
Tank had been standing at the end of the bed holding the glass of water, which he seemed to have forgotten about as he listened to her. When he looked down, he frowned and then walked over to hand her the glass.
“Thanks.” Emma stared into the glass, but she was aware of the three men nearby. Jack had moved his chair closer so he could hear, and now Tank sat on the bed next to Gary.
She took a sip and then continued. “He was to pick me up Friday night at seven and then we were going to a restaurant. But we never did get to eat. He took me to an abandoned warehouse which had been set up with a bed.” A shiver wracked her body as she remembered the chains hanging from the ceiling, and she took a deep, steadying breath. “As soon as I saw the chains dangling from the ceiling, I began to get nervous. He was standing behind me, and as I decided I wasn’t staying and turned toward the door, he grabbed my hands and pulled them over my head. I should have screamed and fought, but he just stared at me so coldly and I was so scared I froze.” A sob escaped, but she took another deep breath and told the three men how he handcuffed her and chained her arms up and then how he’d stripped and whipped her.
The memories assailed her once more, and even though she continued to talk, she was once again lost in terror.
* * * *
Emma whimpered as the asshole strapped her cuffed wrists to the chain hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. His green eyes were blank of all expression and chillingly cold, and even his smile was full of malevolence. Her panic and fear increased. She was so scared she could barely get enough air into her lungs as her breath panted in and out of her open mouth, rushing past her teeth. Shivers and shudders wracked her body, and her trembling legs felt so weak she wondered how she was still standing on her toes.
He turned away and walked over to the wooden bench on the far side of the warehouse and rummaged around for something. When he spun back around she could see the evil and insanity in his eyes. He lifted his hand and bared his teeth at her. Emma’s eyes dropped to his hand. She tugged against the restraints as fear permeated her body and her heart beat so hard and fast she wondered if it would burst out of her chest.
The leather cuffs at her wrists burned her flesh as she pulled and twisted, trying to get away from him, but she couldn’t get any purchase as he had her on the very tips of her toes. Even though she knew her efforts were futile, she couldn’t give up. She had to escape or she would die trying. A hysterical bubble of laughter formed in her chest and traveled up her throat to escape her mouth, sounding like a wounded, laughing hyena. The light from the bare bulb above her head shone on the metal in his hand, and tears ran down her cheeks.
He stopped in front of her. She looked into those evil, blank eyes and saw her own death. She screamed when he raised the scissors toward her and then screamed again as he began cutting her clothes away from her body. His laughter was a grating, malicious sound which scraped her already ragged nerves.
Her clothes fell away, leaving her feeling cold, vulnerable, and exposed. Her skin crawled as he ran his eyes over her body. She felt so dirty. She shuddered with fear, and her legs buckled as the scissors in his hand moved toward her once more. He chuckled as he cut away a lock of her hair and then brought it to his nose, sniffing. Pain radiated from her shoulders and down her arms, the only things holding her suspended weight up. When he walked away, she sighed at the temporary reprieve and was able to get her fear under control. He was back at the bench, and she prayed to God that someone would find her and help her.
Please God. Please save me.
Emma sobbed as he strode back toward her, resolve and aggression in every stride. He had what looked like a whip in his hand. Oh God. Please. He stopped in front of her and stared into her eyes and then he winked at her. Nausea roiled in her stomach. He moved again, walking behind her, and bile rose in her throat with terror and anxiety.
What’s he doing? Oh please God. Help me!
The whoosh was almost drowned out by the pounding of her own heart and panting breaths, but the crack was loud even to her ears. Emma screamed in pain as the lash landed and fiery hot agony radiated out across her back. She screamed over and over as the thick leather landed again and again. Her back was a mass of burning hurt, and she felt small trickles over her agonized flesh. She was bleeding. It felt like he had cut her back wide open with each lick of the whip against her sensitive flesh. Her body was hot, and yet she shivered with cold. Please, please, please.
He released the cuffs from the chain, and she slumped against him. She didn’t want him holding her, but she couldn’t stand on her own. Her shoulders ached, and her hands began to tingle as blood flowed back into her limbs. She tried to push him away, but she was weak and in so much pain that she had no strength left. He picked her up and carried her to the bed in the corner of the room, dumping her there. She screamed as her tortured back connected with fabric.
She couldn’t see. She wondered if she had closed her eyes. The blackness of her vision spread into her mind, and she gratefully sank into oblivion.
Emma whimpered as hands pulled and tugged at her. He slid panties up her legs and then fastened a short leather skirt around her hips. She cried out when she was rolled over and then screamed as something was pulled tight around her breasts, torso, and back. God, how long is he going to torture me? How long before he kills me? How long have I been here? I don’t know how much more I can take. Please, let me die.
“Get up,” he snarled and pulled her across the bed by her arms. Emma swayed on her feet, her vision blurry with pain and dizziness. He shoved her feet into shoes and then grasped her arm and pulled her out the door. She wanted to fight, but she was too weak and scared to say or do anything. She was frozen inside with fear and in too much pain to see. He shoved her into a car and buckled her in. Her limbs were feeble, and she was in so much discomfort she felt sick. A shiver wracked her body and she managed to move her arms to hug herself.
How long had it been since she’d eaten or had a drink? She licked her lips, but it didn’t help much. The car stopped and she realized she had her eyes closed. God, Emma, find some strength and courage. You have to get out of this or you’re going to die.
He shoved a bottle into her hands, and she managed to open her eyes wide enough to see what it was. Water. She wanted to open the cap and guzzle the whole bottle down in one go, but she wasn’t about to make it easier on him. In a fit of pique she dropped it. He cursed and then laughed evilly as he dragged her from the car. The pain in her back was so intense that nothing she saw registered in her brain.
“If you give me any trouble I will beat you, rape you, and then slit your throat,” Andrew whispered
through clenched teeth, pulling her along with a bruising grip on her arm. She automatically walked up steps and then stood still when he told her to. Noise registered in her brain but she couldn’t work out what she was hearing. She gripped her fingers so tightly her knuckles ached. His voice grated on her nerves, and she shuddered. Was he talking to someone?
Sweat formed on her upper lip and she stared unseeingly at the floor. Whatever was around her breasts, ribs, and back was so tight she could hardly get a breath. She heard a thud and then a muscular arm was around her waist as her legs buckled. Emma didn’t hit the floor like she expected, and darkness once again formed on the edges of her mind. A hard hand gripped her arm with bruising force, and then she heard someone yelling. A door slammed and then she knew no more.
* * * *
By the time she’d finished, she was crying again.
Strong hands pulled her from her chair, and she found herself snuggled up in a firm, warm embrace and on someone’s lap. She felt safe for the first time in what seemed like forever, and all her fear and emotions came out in wrenching sobs. Her crying finally calmed, and she became aware of a hand rubbing up and down her arm through the thick quilt and of the calm voices talking to her.
“Shh, sugar. He can’t hurt you again.”
Emma finally sat up and looked into Gary’s dark eyes. “What day is it?”
“It’s Monday morning, Emma.”
“Shit. I missed work. I was supposed to have the early shift.”
“I’ll take care of that for you, Emma. Tell me where you work and I’ll get a couple of my officers to go and see your boss. We need as much information on Andrew Mitchell as possible. It’s not the first time he’s assaulted a woman, and he wasn’t at home when they went to pick him up. His car was still in the driveway, too.”
“You think he’s on the run?” Emma asked Gary.
“Yeah, I think Tank, Barry, and Turner scared the shit out of him, but until we know for sure, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be alone. Do you have any family you can stay with for a while?”
