For a few seconds, I lost the sound of them. I tried to move as quietly as possible, sacrificing a bit of speed to keep quiet. My heart soared when I thought I’d lost them, so I sprinted outright again, hopping over branches and between bushes, uphill toward the Kingston house.
Until an arm came out of nowhere as I was mid-hop. My body curled around it with an oomph, taking my breath for a few seconds as I tried to struggle against my attackers.
When I got my breath, I screamed at the top of my lungs, desperately hoping I was close enough to the manor that the dragons’ excellent hearing would pick up my distress.
Didn’t Rico say he’d felt me before? He’d felt my extreme upset on the day I’d pushed him out of my life. Maybe he’d feel it now, all the way in Arizona or wherever he was, and call someone here in Black Claw to tell them to look for me.
I kicked and swung my arms wildly, aiming for vital parts. As hard as I fought, though, they overpowered me. “Tye isn’t paying us enough for this,” one of them said as he wrapped a bandana around my face and gagged me. He had a long, deep scratch down one cheek from my fingernails.
Good.
Soon, they had my hands tied too. I fought until my muscles burned and my throat was raw from screaming, even around my gag. If any of the dragons got close enough, they might’ve heard me. I had to keep fighting until they came.
With one hand on each of my arms, they marched me back through the woods and out by my wrecked truck. I moaned when I saw it. It would be totaled for sure.
After stuffing me on the floorboard of the back seat of their SUV, I kicked out at them again, getting one in the stomach. They grabbed my ankles hard and tied my feet, blindfolded me with another bandana, then the two assholes got in the front and turned the vehicle around.
I bounced around as they hurried down the gravel road, bumping my elbows and head on the floorboard several times before they finally pulled out onto a smooth, paved road. But they turned left.
Away from town.
Fuck.
They didn’t drive all that long, however. I was pulled to my feet. I hoped they’d untie them, but someone lifted me into their arms. The sound of crunching gravel underfoot was the only indication of where I was. Somewhere with gravel.
Super helpful.
We went inside. I heard a door slam shut and the light behind the bandana disappeared. Another door opened, and the man’s boots clomped down an old wooden staircase. It smelled damp and musty around us.
The guy holding me dropped me onto a sort of soft surface. A sofa, I was pretty sure. I struggled to sit up with my hands bound behind me and feet still tied together. Silence settled over the room, and my muscles shook. I knew what kind of stuff happened to girls who got kidnapped. I’d seen enough horror movies. If the Kingstons didn’t hear me, if they didn’t get to me in time, I would die down here.
Sometime later, a door slammed, and another set of boots stomped down the steps. I caught a whiff of smoke and people moving around. Then the bandana around my eyes was ripped off, and I blinked up, squinting to see where I was. It was a large basement that had been converted into a cozy living area. With Tye lounging on a couch across from me, smoking a cigar.
And I wasn’t on a sofa. I was on a bed with a really shitty mattress. The smell of the place sunk in. Stale cigars and something even less pleasant.
Tye leaned forward and put the cigar in an ashtray on a small table between us. The other two men were nowhere to be found. “Do you know what it feels like to have people look at you like you’re trash? For someone to call your parents and tell them you’re a sexual deviant? They told my parents I tried to rape you.”
I shook my head, still gagged. I didn’t know much about his life after high school. I’d heard rumors that his parents had kicked him out, but I didn’t know why.
“After what I was falsely accused of in college, this time they believed it.” He snarled his lips at me. “They took care of it last time. Used their money to cover it all up. But this time, you and your boyfriend fucked it all up. You’re going to pay for that.”
I shook my head. I hadn’t told them anything. “No!” I tried to talk around the gag, but Tye stood, towering over me.
I didn’t have time to do more than flinch before the back of his hand connected with my cheek. “Someone sent them proof of the college stuff, proof of what happened between us. Videos and pictures. How did you get all that?”
I kept shaking my head as tears streamed down on my face. I cowered, scooting as far back on the bed as I could. Was that what Rico had been doing? Finding information about Tye? Why hadn’t he checked in with me or told me what was going on?
“You and your precious boyfriend want to sneak around and make these claims, ruin my life? Well, I’m going to give you something real to complain about, you uppity bitch.”
22
Rico
I turned my cell back on as the plane touched down. I’d turned it off the moment I stepped outside of Black Claw, using only the burner phone. It had nearly killed both me and Valor not to contact Kara, but it had to be done. We couldn’t risk putting her in danger.
The people I’d gone to were not the sort that I could tell about Kara. If they knew about her, they’d use her against me. I’d gotten all the proof I’d needed
