“Dude,” Carl plead, “I wanted to have some fun with her first. Take her to the office.” He gestured to a door with a leering grin.
“Are you crazy? We want Blayne to work for us not kill us. Do what I said. And don’t call me ‘dude’.”
“Gah, Aaron, you spoiled my fun.”
“Just shut your mouth and get her tied up. We need to get a move on.”
Carl shoved her none-too-gently into the chair. She drew a sharp breath and grit her teeth. She couldn’t help but cry out when he grabbed her injured arm and yanked it to the armrest of the chair.
Aaron sauntered over. “What’d you do to her?” He leaned in closer, holding a lantern up. “She’s all beat up!”
“I didn’t do nothin’. She fell down the stairs.”
“Yeah.” Aaron pressed on her shoulder. Kaylee squeezed her eyes shut and tried to swallow the groan forcing its way out of her throat. “Her shoulder’s dislocated.” He looked at Carl. “Idiot. Let her put her arm the way she had it and just tie the rope around her and the chair. You can tie her other arm to the armrest. Leave her feet, she ain’t going nowhere.” As he walked away, Kaylee spotted the grip of a gun sticking out of the back of his jeans.
Carl muttered under his breath as he wrapped a long cord around her several times, pinning her left arm to her torso. He glanced in the direction Aaron had gone, then leered back at Kaylee, pausing in his duties to grope her. She raked her ragged fingernails across his face with her still-free right hand. He backhanded her, jarring her already concussed head. She refused the tears forming in her eyes, closing them tight as Carl tied her free hand to the chair.
His stinking breath stung her nostrils as he leaned close. Her eyes flew open as he gripped her face so tight her cheeks nearly touched. “That’s the second time today you’ve drawn blood on me. You owe me somethin’ for that.” He slammed his mouth against hers, forcing his tongue inside.
Kaylee tried to pull away from him, twisting her head from side to side, but his fingernails dug into her cheeks, holding her face hostage. Her muffled protests only seemed to excite him more. Her stomach heaved, her throat constricting in a loud gag.
Carl reeled away from her, but still held fast to her face. “If you puke on me, I swear—”
“Carl!” Aaron yelled from an unseen doorway. “Get in here and help me! How long does it take to tie someone up?”
With one more rough grope, Carl whispered, “Aaron won’t always be around.” He walked away, his footsteps echoing on the tile floor.
Kaylee struggled against her bindings, but they were too tight, and her head was pounding, her shoulder aching. She gave up and gave in to the infuriating tears. Her breath hitched as the tears flowed freely. How had this happened? Where was Blayne? Damn him!
Loud voices awakened Kaylee from her uncomfortable sleep. She lifted her head, wincing at the pain in her neck, and shoulder, and, well, everywhere. She had no idea what time of day or night it was.
“Dammit, Carl! Now she has bruises on her face. Blayne’s gonna’ freak.” Aaron and the object of his ire stood a few paces off.
“Come on, dude. It’ll just make him more likely to cooperate with us.”
Aaron glanced at Kaylee then back at Carl. “Maybe. Where’d you put her phone? Let’s get this over with, we have a ton of product to move.”
Carl dug in his pocket and handed him Kaylee’s phone.
“Where did you get that?” she asked.
“You dropped it.” Carl smirked. “And finders keepers.”
No wonder Allie hadn’t been able to find it when she’d gone to look.
“Your boyfriend’s been texting and calling non-stop for the past few days. Too bad we couldn’t figure out your code so we could mess with him a little.”
“Speaking of code,” Aaron said, “what is it?”
Blayne had been trying to get ahold of her. Why hadn’t he just come to her apartment?
Aaron snapped in her face. “The code, princess.”
“Why should I tell you?” She lifted her chin in defiance.
He leaned in close to her face. “Because us getting ahold of Blayne is your only ticket out of here.”
“Use your own phone.” Her wobbly voice gave away her fake bravado.
“Listen, princess, he’ll answer if he thinks it’s you. Now, I’m only going to ask one more time and then I’m gonna let Carl have his way with you if you refuse again—what’s the code?”
Kaylee glanced at Carl and swallowed. “Two, nine, four, six.”
He patted her on the arm. “Good girl.” He stood and jabbed at the screen of her phone. “Here are the rules. They’re simple. I’m going to talk to your boyfriend and you are going to keep quiet. One peep from you, and, again, Carl.”
Carl mimed an obscene gesture as he leered at her.
Kaylee looked away from him and nodded.
Aaron thumbed through what she assumed were her text messages. “Wow. Blayne has it bad for you. ‘I’m so sorry.’ ‘Let me explain.’ ‘Kaylee please.’ ‘Please just answer me so I know you’re okay.’” He rolled his eyes and laughed. “Who knew Blayne was so fragile? Let’s see what his voice messages say, shall we?”
“No!” Kaylee fought against her restraints. “That’s none of your business!”
He ignored her and put it on speaker-phone. “Kaylee, I’m so sorry. Please just call me back, I can explain.”
“Oh,” Aaron said mockingly, “he sounds so upset.”
“There are just too many to listen to all of them, let’s skip to the end.” Blayne’s voice sounded distant and hoarse. “Kaylee, I won’t bother you again. It’s obvious that you don’t want to talk to me. But I still want to
