I must have dozed off as I was suddenly aware of voices whispering. Keeping my eyes firmly closed to feign sleep, I listened to the hushed conversation which sounded like it was happening right outside the door to the room I was being kept in.
“You gotta let her go if you love her, Zak. That's what happens. I heard a saying... If you love someone... you gotta...um... you don't gotta... Aww shit... what I mean is you don't kidnap someone and keep them against their will, bro.” Tyler's insistent tone eased my worries. I had planted a seed and it had begun to take root.
I heard muted, mocking laughter. “Oh yeah, I heard that saying too. Reckon it was on a fucking Hallmark card, you dick.”
A loud crack occurred and Tyler protested. “Dude! What the hell was that for?”
“Because you're a dumb-ass, little brother. And for your information I don't love her. I just wanna fuck her.”
Tyler gasped. “You told me you loved her, man. You lied to me. That's so not cool.”
“Yeah? Well don't go getting any stupid ideas about letting her go, you hear me? She's mine to do with as I see fit. So you do not let her go. You do and I kill you. Capiche?”
“What are you Spanish now?”
“Seriously, Ty? You think Capiche is Spanish? I see it did a whole lot of good sending you to fucking college, little brother.”
Someone appeared beside me but I kept my eyes closed in the hope that whomever it was would leave me alone.
No such luck.
“Hey doll face. Time to wake up. Got to put your make-up on. Got to make sure you're pretty for the photo we're sending to the Sinners.”
I fluttered my eyes open and was greeted by the piercing eyes of Zak sitting a little too close for comfort. His rancid breath on my face did nothing to settle my already roiling stomach. I retched as I stared up at him, hoping that he realized how repulsive he had become to me in every single way.
He gripped my body and yanked me to a sitting position. “I think we can unfasten your blouse. Let's give the guys something to get excited about, huh? Ty! Bring that girlie shit in here.” He reached toward me and began unfastening the buttons on my once white cotton top, but I turned my face away, unable to look him in the eyes.
Tyler appeared at the door holding a pink make-up bag. Where the hell has that come from? It's not mine. This thought was rapidly followed by another. On second thoughts I don't want to know.
“Come on little bro. You're the artistic one. You can paint her face and make it all pretty. But don't go ogling at her tits now, you hear me? She's mine.” The sick grin on Zak's face made my stomach attempt once more to eject the minimal food it contained.
Tyler silently crouched before me and began to apply make-up to my face with an apologetic look in his eyes.
♥♥♥
Six
The hours we had spent riding around the whole damned area had brought up no sign of Chloe. The longer it was taking the heavier the knot of dread became in my stomach. Our attempts to reach out to Loki's Legion had proved fruitless too. They denied all knowledge of being involved in Chloe's disappearance. But why would they admit it? I was dumb if I expected anything else from that set of low-life, scum-sucking bastards.
I checked her apartment again on the off chance that they had realized their mistake and brought her home. Of course that didn't happen either. Cain was still in hospital and for that I was now grateful. Knowing what he could be like in situations like this, I imagined he would have gone over to the Legion, all guns blazing—literally—to seek his own unique form of revenge. My approach was going to have to be subtler. Especially considering the information I had received about Zak from former Legion girl, Sondra.
She chewed on her nail and her eyes darted around the coffee shop as if she was waiting for someone to jump out of the shadows. “He was...I don't know...unhinged. One minute he would be all normal and kinda sweet. The next it was as if something had...I don't know, possessed him. He'd get all aggressive and shit. I had to refuse to be with him after he broke my cheekbone. In fact, it was that incident that made me leave the club all together. I ain't there to be anybody's punching bag.” She had told me.
Every single time I thought about Chloe at the hands of this twisted son of a bitch, I wanted to rip him limb from limb. Tear his fucking heart out and hand it to him while it was still beating. I had never been eaten up by so much hate and that was saying something.
After another day of searching I laid in bed in the darkness of the end room upstairs at the club. Eyes closed but feeling anything but relaxed. Images of Chloe's last beautiful dance for me played in my mind. Her long legs and pointed toes, arched back and pert breasts pushed out toward me. I wanted to feel her against me again. Hold her. Keep her safe. But I felt that the possibilities of all that were slipping between my fingers and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I rolled over and punched the mattress as hard as I could as I yelled into my pillow.
♥♥♥
Chloe
I was losing track of days. But it felt like I'd been holed up in the pigsty forever. The stench of sweaty bodies—including my own now—was enough to burn the nostril hair from anyone.
My one attempt at escape had gotten me as far as the window. Staring out at the eerily familiar location just before Zak knocked me out again was yet another blow to any hope of me finding something good in Zak. It turned out I was being held in the little tumble down shack close to the place he had brought me for a picnic. He'd clearly been planning this for a while. Knowing it wasn't something that happened on the spur of the moment terrified me even more.
My mind replayed the sick photo session I'd been subjected to. Made up like a bad transvestite with my tits on show and my hands still tethered behind me. Creepy bastard. I was just thankful that he hadn't attempted to assault me sexually. But I was plagued with the fear that it could happen at any given moment.
As I imagined Six, Colt and the others looking at the photos of me like that, my lip began to tremble and my eyes stung. What would they think of me?
I just wanted to go home.
I wanted to see my mom.
But most of all I wanted to see Six. To tell him I had made a huge, incredibly stupid mistake. To ask his forgiveness. Even if all he could accept from me was friendship after I dumped him so awfully after spending that mind blowing time with him. I just wanted to see his smile. Hear his deep rumbling laugh and watch his eyes crinkle at the corners. Feel his thick arms enveloping me, protecting me. But the chance of that ever happening again was so slim and it broke my heart thinking of what I'd done. How I had made the one man I truly cared for give up on me. I did that. Not Six. Me.
Tyler hadn't been in to speak to me since he had painted my face and I began to think that Zak had gotten wise to my plans to get him on side. I feared for Tyler's safety now as well as my own.
The situation was becoming more and more unbearable. And any hopes I had of getting out of this hell hole alive were dwindling fast.
I dreaded meal times. Dry bread, sometimes mouldy, and a glass of what I think may have been rainwater, twice a day was all that I had to sustain me. I was, in the true essence of the word, a prisoner. I was weak, making any attempts to escape completely futile. Where the hell would I go? I knew how far away from everywhere this place was. Clearly the reason Zak had chosen it. And I knew that I would simply be caught and brought back...or worse. And if there was a light at the end of the very long, dark tunnel that my life had become then I guessed someone had switched it off.