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“And what happens if one of us dies?” someone within the group asked aloud.
I forced my fearful stare away from the guards and laid eyes on Kinsley Sinclair coming forward with her arms crossed fiercely against her chest.
“Then you die,” Phantom replied. He said it so callously it made my spine quiver. “Now, if you want to survive, then fucking prove yourselves and fight for it. It’s the only way you’ll make it out of this alive.”
Twenty-Nine
Samara
“Youdoingokayoverthere?” asked Kinsley, who was sitting on the floor in front of me, stretching out her arms and legs.
Every female recruit was in the hallway outside the pool, waiting for the guys to finish with their trial. At the literal last minute, the Ravagers—well, it was more like Rhett—thought separating us women from the men would somehow make things less traumatic for us. Isaac and Phantom reluctantly agreed, so they had the guards unlock the doors and ordered three of them to keep uncomfortably tight eyes on the ten of us while we waited.
You know, just in case anyone decided to get any, again, as Rhett put it,misguided thoughtsto run.
Gretchen hollered out Kinsley’s name, and without waiting for my response, Kinsley sprung to her feet and rushed over a few feet away where Gretchen was standing next to Janice, who was sobbing, clearly scared out of her fucking mind.
She wasn’t the only one.
This was… Fuck.
I couldn’t verbally begin to describe how warped this shit was.
I wasn’t okay. The possibility of being thrown in the pool frightened me ever since Isaac revealed all the sadistic details. My body sinking. Being wrapped in chains and locked up with no way to move my limbs. The weights latched against my feet, pinning me down. No way to save myself if my partner couldn’t.
I could see all of it even though it hadn’t happened yet.
And it fuckinghauntedme.
My first trial for the Outlaws wasnothinglike this. For them, it was simply nothing more than a standard assessment of how well I could aim and shoot a gun. Per Damien’s orders, it was up to Jace to teach me how to shoot. How to properly defend myself armed,andin hand-to-hand combat.
That was my second trial. About two months ago, I met with Damien and Jace in this little martial arts studio that Jace had paid a hefty penny to privately rent out for two hours each day just to train me. All that time we’d spent together was what caused us to fall in love. On that day, my opponent was Jace. They ordered me to bring him down and force him to submit however necessary. I won, of course, but that wasn’t what had hurt me the most aside from the bruises and busted lip I’d walked out with.
Jaceletme win. I was dazed, staggering to stand, when somehow, I’d managed to gain just enough strength to land a wicked right hook to Jace’s jaw. He’d fallen to the floor andpretendedto be knocked out cold. It was his false injury that’d earned me Damien’s praise and had gotten me where I am now.
“Samara?”
I shook my head and looked up, laying eyes on Kinsley hovering over me, her face stained with worry. As I leaned back and glanced behind her, I’d found the other girls lining up to reenter the pool.
“Are you ready?”
I shook my head again and stood tall. “No, I’m not, but I guess I don’t have much choice but to be.”
“Just remember what I taught you, and everything should be fine.”
A thankful smile was all I could give her. I followed as she got in line behind the others and was the last to enter.
Trembling screams pierced my ears. It was then when my eyes flashed wide in horror at the guard pulling a body out of the water, and a soaked Greyson running towards them, crying his fucking eyes out.
I watched numbly as he fell to his knees next to the body, broken and in shambles. As I neared closer, my own breath shuddered once I’d realized who it was.
It was Michael, the same guy who’d approached Rhett at our last meeting with Greyson and their other friend, Darren.
My attention slid up and away from the scene and settled across the pool, finding the Ravagers in deep conversation by the entrance to the gym, each of their faces pinched with disappointment while they glared at Michael’s body. The other recruits were nowhere in sight.
I was flummoxed at first, but then Kinsley whispered to me that there was a separate emergency exit located inside the gym. The other guards must have ushered them out from there. The more I thought about it, it made sense, and it did better explain why the Ravagers hadn’t moved from that spot. They were shielding that exit.
The guard at Greyson’s side lifted Michael’s lifeless body up in his arms and threw him over his shoulder. He hauled the body out with a distraught Greyson following in tow. His frantic sobs bouncing off the walls made my ears ring and my guts clench.
