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Thirty-Seven
Shiloh
The next few days would have been perfect if I hadn’t had another awkward run-in with Wilder and had to rush Ace to the vet because he had gotten into Uncle Neil’s chocolate stash. Also, Gage was going to be out of town the next two nights. He and Huck had to accompany Blaise to a ranch in Tennessee to see a horse. Uncle Neil was taking me home after work, and Levi was picking me up at seven from my apartment to take me to stay with Trinity at the house.
Knowing our past and understanding why Gage had treated me the way he had made it easier for me to accept. This life. The family. The secrets, crime, and whatever else they were involved in. It was like I’d told Gage—I loved him, and because I loved him, I wasn’t leaving.
Uncle Neil had a late patient come in with a broken arm. I finished closing up things, then got the trash together to take outside to the dumpster. The office would be closed for the next three days, so we always made sure it was clean and food was all disposed of properly. I had to text Levi and tell him I needed a little extra time to pack since I would be getting home later now.
The sunset was getting later the closer we got to spring. It was nice to go outside at five and it not be dark anymore. Smiling at the last bit of sunshine, I walked the bags out to the trash. My thoughts went to Gage and how he’d woken me up with sex this morning. He’d been demanding, and I loved it when he was like that. But then I loved it when he was sweet and when he was dirty.
A noise that sounded like a van door caught my attention. There were no cars back here but Uncle Neil’s when I walked outside. I started to turn around when a sharp pain hit my head, and then everything went black.
The throbbing pain in my head made it hard to open my eyes. I tried twice and had to close them. The light in the room was too much. When had another migraine hit me? I didn’t remember it. Where was I? I tried opening my eyes again, and I winced. I couldn’t do it.
Focus. Where had I lain down? The smell of stale beer and cigarettes made me cringe. Why would I be asleep in a bar? A dirty one at that? Something was wrong. I tried to move, and the coarse rope around my wrists made that impossible. I froze as fear slowly trickled in. Okay, this wasn’t good. My ankles were tied together too.
I went still and tried to make my breathing slow and even as I waited to hear something. Male laughter from a distance. I wasn’t sure how far away, but it wasn’t in this room. Then footsteps coming closer. My heart started to hammer in my chest. Why would someone have me tied up like this? Where had I been last?
The garbage! I had been taking the garbage to the dumpster. How had I gotten tied up and in a strange, foul-smelling room?
“You awake yet?” a male voice asked as the footsteps behind me came to a stop.
“You hit her too fucking hard,” another one said, farther away.
They had hit me in the head. I’d been taken. Oh God, oh God. What did I do now? Did I let them know I was awake? Why did they have me?
“She’s awake,” the first one said, sounding amused. “She’s breathing too fast.” He moved, and I could tell from the shadow over my eyes that he was in front of me. “You can open those eyes. You’re not fooling us.”
I winced. “I tried. It hurts too bad. The light hurts my head.”
“Told you that you hit her too hard,” the other one said.
“Fuck off.” He moved closer, and I jerked when he ran a finger down my arm. “You’re sure nice to look at.”
Tears stung my eyes.Please, please don’t let them rape me.I’d rather they killed me.
“You can’t fuck her. Not yet at least. He might let us fuck her later.”
I was going to start crying, and that was only going to make my head hurt worse. “What do you want with me?” My voice cracked.
One of them laughed. “Can’t answer that.”
A phone rang behind me.
“We got her. She’s awake. Uh, she’s not talking much. Won’t open her eyes. Says it hurts. No, he fucking hit her head too hard. Yes, boss. I will.”
“What did he say?” the other guy asked.
“He said to get her some water. See if she’s hungry.”
“He’s gonna get in trouble for that. He must have seen what she looks like.” The other one sounded amused.
“Yeah, he did his research.”
A hand touched my arm. “I’m gonna sit you up. How about opening those eyes?” he asked.
I squinted, and it was bearable. I gave them time to adjust, then managed to open them up all the way. A man with long, greasy black hair, a matching beard, and a big gut was looking at me. He had a snake tattoo around his left arm, a scar across his nose, like it had been sliced once, and a large mole on his neck. I tried to take in the details in case I made it out of this alive.
