Page 59 of Grace

Small lights appeared on the horizon. They were getting closer and closer. I turned the lights off. My heart was beating in my throat as I watched the lights in the darkness from the window.

It wasn’t that arrogant man who had arrived, but Bo and his gang. The moment I heard their voices, goosebumps prickled across my skin. I didn’t open the door—but Bo let himself in anyway. My sister had given that asshole a key!

Fear tore the gaping hole in my chest even wider. Anger and sorrow burrowed deep into my bones.

I was tiptoeing silently toward my room when the door burst open and the light snapped on. I turned toward Bo, blinking, as he stood in the doorway like some twisted vision of Jesus. He looked me up and down with a predatory gleam, the corner of his mouth curling into a sneer.

“Hello, Grace.”

Run! I ordered my legs, but they stayed numb, paralyzed by the darkness pouring off Bo, filling the room like thick fog. The sound of boots on the rotten floorboards made me tremble.

I looked down, my heart beating frantically.

Now! I commanded my body to move, but that weasel was almost unnaturally fast. He was standing before me in the blink of an eye, barring my way. I stepped to the right, and so did he. I stepped to the left, and he did too. His cronies laughed scornfully at my pitiful attempts to escape. I was trapped.

“You’re in a hurry again, even though we’ve just arrived,” Bo said in a soft voice, his breath burning my face. My stomach twisted into a knot, and bitterness filled my throat.

For a second, he took his eyes off me. I seized the chance and darted around him—but he lunged after me and grabbed my arm, and Whiskers’ bristled tail lashed around it. My cat meowed sharply and clawed Bo’s hand, drawing blood in thin lines.

Alarmed, I looked up at the man in whom something had visibly switched. His jaw twitched. He wanted Whiskers.

I held the cat tight against my chest and started running in the opposite direction, but Bo got hold of me in an instant and grabbed Whiskers by the neck, who tried to break free, thrashing and clawing.

“Let him go!” I shouted. One of my hands pounded Bo’s shoulder, the other held my suffocating cat.

“Boys!” Bo shouted. Chop—Bo’s right-hand man—was suddenly beside me and overpowered me while that bastard wrestled my cat out of my grasp.

“Don’t do this! He was just protecting himself! He’s innocent!”

“Innocent?” He spat the word. “Innocent creatures don’t do this.” He showed me his bloody hand.

“You deserved it.” I looked at him, my eyes burning with anger, because the hole in my chest had just been torn even wider.

His lips twisted into a tight, icy smile. He grabbed Whiskers’ head and tail, then yanked them apart. I heard vertebrae crack, then my cat thumped to the ground.

“Noo!” I screamed. “You monster!” I kept yanking my hands, trying to break free.

“Now it’s your turn.” The man holding me let me go. Bo’s body slammed into mine, and he grabbed my face. “I know you’re a whore, Grace. Nikky has told me a lot about you.” I heard enjoyment in his voice—and craving.

“That’s a lie!” I said quietly through clenched teeth.

Bo tried to shove me toward my room, then, when I resisted, he lifted me.

“No! No!” I protested and pressed my feet against the wall. I screamed for help.

Bo fell to the floor with me. I couldn’t crawl away from him because his weight pinned me down.

“I like it here too, Grace. I’m not squeamish.” He tore off my shirt. I didn’t know which part of my body to protect—should I hold on to my pants with both hands, or protect my breasts?

Bo saddled me. I clawed at his face, then his fist crashed into mine. It felt as if my head had just been slammed against a brick wall. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. My grip weakened.

Bo grabbed my hair and kissed me while he rubbed his erection against my pants.

“What the fuck is going on?” Nikky’s icy voice swept across the room like a storm.

Bo let me go. He combed his medium-length hair back behind his ears with one hand, grinning, then straightened up.

“Hi, babe.”