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One of the girls lunged at me without warning, managing to snag my ponytail. As I whipped around, she yanked at it painfully, but a swing of my poker sent her dodging farther away, her fingers slipping from my hair. A shudder ran through her skinny frame. As high as she appeared to be, she recognized me as a threat.
I aimed the poker at her and then the others. “Take one step toward me, and you’ll regret it.” Best to establish boundaries immediately. I had an entire night to spend with them, and if Wylder had anything to say about it, maybe even more.
Sinking into the empty corner, I braced my back against the wall and set the poker over my drawn-up knees. I could already tell it was going to be a long, sleepless night.
The women paced around me. For a little while, they took turns hurling insults like “bitch” and “cunt” at me. Gia, who’d clearly established herself as the ringleader, murmured in one girl’s ear. A few minutes later, the groupie came at me by leaping onto the nearest cot and slashing her fingernails at me. I managed to smack her arm away a split-second before she dug them into my face. Gia watched with a vindictive grin.
Someone hurled an open can of soda at me, the contents splashing over my already sticky clothes. I grimaced and kicked it away. Next I got a shoe to the forehead—it would have been my eyes if I hadn’t ducked quickly enough. Gia let out an approving whoop, and the other girls giggled, their eyes sharpening with a predatory gleam.
After that, they took turns spitting at me, most of them missing but a few droplets speckling my face and hair. I grimaced, swiping at myself with my sleeve as well as I could without loosening my hold on my weapon. More curses and insults battered my ears; any hard object they could lay their hands on was fair game to be chucked in my direction. A beer bottle clipped my chin so hard I was pretty sure it’d leave a bruise. I refused to wince.
They got tired eventually, of course. Someone turned out the light, and most of them got into their beds. But every time my eyelids started to droop, someone would slip off their cot with a squeak of its legs or dart toward me through the shadows. I had to snatch up the poker again and wave it at them to show I was still awake and prepared to defend myself.
My head started to swim. The stuffy smell of the room was turning suffocating, and my eyelids were heavy as lead, but I kept shifting and twitching to hold myself awake. If I drifted off, I’d be an open target.
After what felt like an eternity, sunlight finally appeared in the window. Most of the groupies were curled up on their beds, but a couple had woken up to take over the watch. As I stretched my arms, their accusing eyes followed my movements. My ass and back ached with a stiffness that had seeped into my bones.
Gia yawned and stood up. She had the bed at the front of the room, a slightly wider cot with a few neat piles of belongings stuffed under it that all of the other women seemed careful not to touch.
She sashayed over. “Poor little princess. Is Daddy coming to save you? Oh, that’s right, he can’t because he’s dead.”
I gave her a weary glower. “If that’s your best shot, you need to collect better ammunition.”
She sniffed. “That guy who caught you in the Bend is the one who killed him, isn’t he? I’m surprised he didn’t do the same to you like you deserve, the way he had you surrounded like that.”
My glower turned into a glare. “So you know it wasn’t a friendly chat. Why the hell did you tell Wylder Iwantedto talk to Colt?”
As if I had to ask. She gave an innocent shrug, but her eyes gleamed with malice. “I didn’t want them to go easy on you. You might have been a snitch and that whole thing was a show.”
“A show I set up for who? It wasn’t as if I knew I’d run into you.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I look out for the Nobles over some bitch who thinks she’s so much better than the rest of us.”
In that moment, I believed her—that however horrible she’d been to me, it was out of some misguided attempt to protect Wylder and the others. In my sleep-deprived state, a twinge of curiosity caught me. “What is it like to want someone so badly who doesn’t want you at all? Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
Her jaw twitched. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Just then the sound of footsteps carried from down the hall. Gia posed herself back on her mattress just in time for Wylder to stride through the door. He was followed by Axel and another man I didn’t recognize.
“Just get someone on it,” Wylder was saying over his shoulder to Axel. “The engine shouldn’t be overheating like that—there’s probably a problem with the radiator.”
Gia leapt to her feet, her face brightening. “Do you need help with your car? I could take a look—I know a few things from helping my dad.”
She reached for his arm, but Wylder batted her away. “That’s not what you’re here for.”
He turned all his attention on me instead. At Gia’s pout, Axel lifted his eyes heavenward and sighed. “I’ll make sure it’s handled.” I couldn’t tell whether he was more annoyed by Gia’s antics or by having to follow Wylder’s orders.
As I stood up, Wylder ambled over. “Good, you survived.”
“Is that good?” I asked. “I thought you were hoping they’d beat me to a pulp.”
He chuckled and stepped so close that it was either let his chest brush mine or end up pinned against the wall. I held my ground. His leather-and-brandy scent washed over me with a jolt of heat that shocked me out of my exhausted daze.
“Oh, no, Kitty Cat,” he said under his breath. “I’d very much like to find out that you’re up to everything I have in store. I just can’t give you a pass if you skip the tests.”
A weird tingle shot through me at the promise in his words, but a flicker of dread followed it. “What are you up to now?”
“Come along, and you’ll find out.”
I hated the sense of Gia’s and Axel’s eyes fixed on me as I had to decide between giving up and giving in. I huffed out a breath, but when Wylder swiveled and headed out, I followed him.
“Where are we going?” I demanded as I hurried to catch up with him.
“It’s time for a very important lesson,” he said in a sing-song voice that told me he was deeply enjoying this. “You’re going to see just what happens when you double-cross a Noble.”
