Jase looked over his shoulder at Scar Face, who just shrugged. He slid the blade under Stone’s shirt, right against the skin on her chest.
“If you cut my skin, I’m going to cut your shriveled balls off and shove them down your throat and then I’m going to take your bank card out of your wallet, walk out of this place and drain your bank account of all twenty-two dollars and fifteen cents on a new shirt, since you already fucked up this one. It was one I loved, Shrivs, so you know I’m not joking.”
His eyes narrowed. “And what if I think cutting your flesh is worth the risk? You’re tied up, after all. And I’ve got the knife.”
Mae gagged, mostly for dramatic effect, but also a little because her senses were overwhelmed by his horrid breath and his closeness. “First, who says ‘flesh’? That’s disgusting. Second, I truly couldn’t care less. But on the off-chance that you do make it out of here without Stone or my brother or one of my friends killing you, they certainly will return the favor ten fold of anything you do to me when they hunt you down.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he laughed as his hot breath polluted the air around her face.
“I swear toGODyou picked the wrong day to do this tome. I am inno moodto be manhandled, let alone shoved in a dirty van and driven into the middle of god-knows-where! This has been so stupid. I’m done. Either tell your boss I’m here and get the show on the fucking road or knock me back out so I don’t have to look at your ugly faces anymore.”
Mae knew her wits and her attitude were what could save her there. Because they would be expecting someone meek. Someone who crumbled at the first sign of pressure. Men like that thought all women were weak, and good for only one thing. Well, wouldn’t they be surprised when she outsmarted them?
“Don’t touch her again!” Scar Face’s fist pounded into Jase’s mouth, the man stumbling away from Mae. “You know what the plan is. If things go sideways, she needs to be ready for the auction. You think someone will pay for a mutilated woman?”
“Some men are into that. Matches their own features.” Jase spit a mouthful of blood on the concrete floor before wiping his fist across his split lip. “But I get it. Don’t damage the merchandise. I’ll explain what happened to Chris if he asks. And the bitch will still bring in top dollar. Just look at those tits.”
Mae scrunched her face in repulsion. “Yeah, so it’s weird that you are talking about me, but like, I’m right here and you’re acting like I’m not. If this is some little dick enforcer bullshit, you can just stop. And I don’t think your boss will want me for anything like that. I just had a fucking miscarriage. I’m a mess.”
Her own mask slipped for just a second. As the sadness and fear crashed over the lowered wall, Mae froze. It took every ounce of strength to zip up her emotions, but she did it. Every self-defense class she’d taken starting at sixteen flooded into her mind. Every trick Hawk… and Stone. No shit, don’t think about him… every trick her brother had taught herflashed before her eyes. Yeah. These assholes might have gotten the drop on her, and they might have moved her to a second location, and she might be tied up… and completely alone… with most of her clothes missing in a freezing building and no one to realize she was missing… oh fuck. No. It would make one hell of a story when she got herself out of this situation.
“Wow. That was like an entire movie just played out in your expressions, little vixen.”
Mae opened her mouth and hissed. She didn’t know what had come over her, but like hell was she going to let those morons know she was scared.
“Just put your little play thing in her cage and be done with it until Christopher is back.”
No. No way. Mae’s head swiveled around, her stomach lurching as soon as her eyes landed on the figure behind the bars. How had she not thought to look behind her? Well, aside from the fact that it was almost impossible to twist her head that far. She might not be able to see, but she would know that voice anywhere. Especially after what the person who owned it had done to her family.
Well, she just solved the mystery of why the annoying reporter who almost ruined Stone’s life had gone missing. Laurel was being held there, too. Mae bounced in her chair, getting it to move just a few inches to the left. That was all she needed to have a completely different view of the room. From the looks of it, her captors hadn’t been afraid to mess up Lo’s face. Black and blue bruises marred her rosy skin. Her left eye was so swollen she wasn’t even trying to open it. Or maybe she was and couldn’t. It didn’t matter. If her face was that bad, Mae could only assume what other injuries she had that weren’t visible.Guess they weren’t going to try and auction her off… lucky bitch.
Mae twisted her head over the other shoulder, and her heart sank through her stomach and nearly landed on the floorwith a wet splat. Huddled in the opposite corner of the….the jail cell… was Jessie. The two of them were definitely going to slow down her escape plans.
“You don’t give us orders, bitch.” Scar Face cursed at Laurel. Interesting. He’d been acting almost as if he enjoyed Mae’s sass, but he wouldn’t accept the same from the reporter.
“She’s right though, Luke. Let’s just put her in there and be done. I’m sick of babysitting duty. We’ve got other shit that’s a priority. That shipment's going to be here in an hour, and you know he’ll be pissed if we aren’t ready for it.”
Luke.Damn it. Goodbye nicknames.
“Fine.” His hands came down roughly against her wrists, forcing Mae to stand as he shoved her towards the cell. Mae couldn’t figure out what the hell kind of facility they were being held in. And where the hell that building actually was? She couldn’t hear anything beyond the room they were in.
Luke shoved her through the open door, slamming the metal closed behind her.
“Put your hands through and I’ll take off the cuffs,” he grumbled.
“Wow. Five star accommodations and service with a smile. How lovely.”
“I could make you suck me off first. While you're down on your knees I could force you to beg, little vixen. So be fucking careful with that sass. Because I really fucking like it, and you wouldn’t survive me.”
Nausea rolled through her body at Luke’s threat, but Mae forced herself to smile as she turned around and slid her hands through the space in between the rusted bars. As soon as the cuffs opened, she pushed away, baring her teeth at the two men.
“Either one of you try to put your disgusting, dinky little dicks anywhere near my mouth and I’ll bite them right off. Try me. I dareyou.”
“Christ. We thought the boss had a good time with blondie, but damn. He’s going to eat you alive.”
“Not if I eat him first.”
Never back down. Never let them have the last word.
