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Lucky? I’m not sure whether I should attempt to claw my way out of here or sit, like I’ve been told.Lucky?
Choosing the latter, I move to the table, my eyes never letting either of these men out of my sight. The air around me is thick.It carries uncertainty. With every moment that passes with these two arseholes in each corner of the room, my worry intensifies. The ideas of what’s about to go down in here multiply by the second.
I hear a door unlock. The jarring of the iron should make me flinch in my seat. But it doesn’t. It comes like a full stop. Signifying my ending.
Unexpectedly, the two officers leave with haste, and I swing my head around, panic peddling over me. There’s no one there. I wait as adrenaline starts to crash against my insides. It tumbles over me—again and again and again, leaving my body shivering, my mouth dry.
And still, I wait for someone to appear.
What the fuck is happening? A weird chill takes control of the hairs on the back of my neck. They stand on end, dancing in the woosh of air that comes when another door opens. I look. Listen. Wait. Whoever’s coming, they’re stalling for effect. They want me panicked. Want to see me sweating before they show themselves. It’s working. I hate to admit it, but it’s fucking working.
Taking a deep inhale, I steady myself, controlling my breathing. I look down at my hands, turning them over. Fresh blood seeps from the cut on my palm when I stretch my hand. For some reason, I stretch my hand open wider, relishing the tear of my skin. I watch the oozing blood trickle, leaving me. Then I stretch it some more, knowing this is the last thing I’ll control.
When I curl my hand again, the light scuff of a shoe brushing the floor has me balling my fingers to a fist. I stiffen, my shoulders tensing tight. I can’t see who it is. I think about looking at who’s come to take me out.
Steady feet then hit the floor, and I know this isn’t an ambush. This isn’t someone coming in to end it all and get out sharpish. Men in here are too sloppy. Too quick. They crave immediate gratification where others have learned patience. This is an outsider.
To my left, the presence of someone begins to enter my vision, walking around the table. My eyes never look up. I wait until they take a seat opposite me.
I’m leant back in my chair. Then, as though every sense awakens on a beat of my heart, I’m suddenly numb. The blood in my veins, freezes. I’m stripped of words. Stripped of the ability to move. Even my eyes remain paralysed to the person sat in front of me.
“You?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
UNKNOWN
Six months earlier
“We’re sorry,” they’d said, turning their backs on me. Gone. They weren’t sorry. Never fuckin’ are. The amount of shit they put us through, you’d think they’d at least recognise how much time and effort we put into this life. But no. We’re like scrap; chewed up, spat out. Forgotten.
What happened this morning scratches like a broken record in my mind. Everything I have has been given to them. I sacrificed a normal life. A wife. Children. None of that appealed to me—not like this did. Now what? Now what do I do? When I get out of here, what waits for me?
The club? A dry sob threatens to leave me. But I won’t let it. I don’t want them to have the satisfaction.
Turning gingerly on the bed, I let my head drop to the pillow. It hurts. Bruised and broken.
Searching for sleep, alone in my thoughts, the subtle click of the lock makes me turn to see two men enter my room. They’re not the same two who came by earlier.
My head thumps when I jolt, startled, wondering what the fuck is going on here? I said no visitors. I said I don’t want to seeanyone. I don’t want people to see me like this. A man without purpose. Weak.
“Nice to finally see you awake.”
I look up to the tall one. His face is sharp, his nose pointed. I don’t say a word. Instead, I look between him and the other man as I slowly sit up.
“We need a moment of your time.”
That’s all I’ll have now.
When I remain silent, the small one inhales a breath, shoving his hands in his pockets. He ambles around the foot of the bed, his chin down. “We have a proposition for you,” he says.
Skipping between them, my eyes take in the two strangers. Both wearing casual clothes. They look like your average run of the mill soccer dads. Who are they?
The short one stops by my side. “We’re aware of what happened this morning.”
My teeth grind. My muscles tighten. With a long blink, I look up.
“We’re here to change that.”
