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Feeling my legs starting to get shaky, I panicked and darted into a wide alleyway hoping desperately for a place to hide. I dove behind a dumpster amid a swarm of flies and the overwhelming stench of rotten garbage. I heard the men follow me into the alley, and I wondered wildly if they were friends of Cole’s, already dispatched to capture me.
“Where’d she go?” barked one of them.
“She’s around here somewhere, bro,” said another. “Hiding like a little coward.”
“They’re all fucking cowards, without their money and their guards, huh?”
“Yeah, take ‘em out of their gated communities and suddenly they ain’t shit anymore.”
“Here!” called out one of them, and he sounded very close to me. I whimpered and tried to withdraw further into the shadow, but the guy reached back and took hold of my arm. Dragging me out, he shouted, “I found the bitch!”
The other three approached with grins on their faces. They were all stocky, muscular white men, two with cropped blond hair, a really tall one with long, stringy brown hair, and the one who held me had dark curls and darker eyes. He bent down to smirk in my face, and when I reached to hit him with my free arm, one of the blond men seized hold of it.
“Damn, girly, you’re a stupid one. You really think you stand a chance against all four of us? You wanna die, bitch?” cursed the one with stringy hair. He spat on the ground and moved into the circle, squaring his shoulders. I got the impression that he was the leader.
“Please let me go,” I murmured, choking back a sob. All of them laughed.
“Not a fucking chance. Not until we’re done with you.”
“How much money you got on you, slut?” demanded the dark-haired man. “Search her pockets, bro.”
The two blond guys felt me up and reached into my back left pocket to find my wallet. I never carried much cash with me, and I only brought my card along for specific purchases, so it wasn’t present when they handed my wallet over to Stringy Hair.
“What the fuck is this?” he swore. “Thirty bucks? I thought you said she was that bitch from the magazine!”
The dark-haired man shook me angrily and shouted back in defense, “She is, dude! I recognize her! This is definitely Julie Mason’s kid. Shackin’ up with fucking Todd van der Hausen. Livin’ in a goddamn mansion.”
“Where’s the money at, then? This is fucking nothing!” growled one of the blonds.
“Shut up,” hissed the dark-haired man. Stringy waved his hand dismissively.
“Whatever, dude. Doesn’t fucking matter. We can just hold onto her for a little while, do a ransom deal or something. Either way, she’s comin’ home with me.” Then, bending down to glare into my face, he asked in a faux-saccharine tone, “You a virgin, little girl?”
I didn’t answer, too captive by fear to make any reply. He snorted. “That’s a yes.”
More raucous laughter from the others. The dark-haired man thrust me into Stringy’s arms after some hesitation. “You gonna share her, man?”
“Of course. It’s only fair, bro. But I’m gonna break her in for ya, get her warmed up, if you know what I mean,” Stringy said crudely.
“Help!” I yelled at the top of my voice. A quick slap to my face shut me up.
“Quiet, bitch. One more stunt like that and you’re dead. I’m gonna rip that virgin pussy apart, whether you’re awake for it or not,” he sneered, spittle flying into my face. I winced and shrugged my shoulder to wipe it away.
“Let’s get out of here, man, before someone sees!”
Stringy dragged me down the alley and out onto a cross street, heading in the opposite direction of my home. I struggled for a minute, until he leaned in and hissed in my ear, “If you fight me, I’ll fucking break your neck.”
Tears soaked my shirt and hoodie and dampened my hair as we made our way along, keeping to the little, darkened side streets to avoid detection. Exhausted and overwhelmed with terror, I began to slip into a haze. How had this day escalated so steeply and violently? Was I dreaming? Would I ever see my mother again?
From the depths of my clouded mind, another thought somehow prevailed: would I ever see Cole again? His face swam muddily at the forefront of my brain, and then as I sank into darkness, I heard his voice calling out… calling… to me.
“Mackenzie!”
Suddenly, I was jerked away and slammed into a wall as Stringy and the dark-haired man pinned me behind them. I blinked my eyes several times to try and make sense of what I was seeing. The two blond men had tackled a new stranger, who was dressed shabbily in jeans and a baggy t-shirt. He threw them off with an athletic ease, and in that instant he looked up and caught my eye—
It was Cole!
“Let go of her or I swear to god I will fucking kill you all,” he bellowed.
