Benzos? Drink? Can’t fight back?
Dread swirled in the pit of my stomach.. Too many sensations and thoughts ran haywire through me. I felt like a system about to short-circuit.
“Good.” The one in front of me patted my face like I was an obedient lap dog. I couldn’t see his face, but I heard the smile in his muffled voice. “How does it feel to get a dose of your own medicine, Remington? I bet you didn’t see us coming, huh? We’re going to enjoy exacting revenge. Even your daddy and brother won’t be able to recognize you once we’re through with you.”
If anything happened to me, Josh and Uncle Vance would avenge me. I wasn’t scared or worried. I mustered enough strength to spit at his masked-face. Some of the saliva dribbled down my chin. “K-kiss my ass, you little bitch.”
“Fucking cocky bastard!” He backhanded me and rose to his feet. “Drag him into the car. We’ll show him who’s a little bitch soon.”
Using the last bit of my fight, I grappled to be free as theyhauled me towards the gates. An unmarked black Escalade sat at the curb.Fuck. They were going to kidnap me, beat me to death, and no one would know where I was.
A girlish shriek boomed in the air.
My captors’ heads swivelled in the direction of the sound.
Through heavy lids, I spotted none other than Darla, standing near the edge of the woods. As though she just emerged from there and fell upon us. “Oh my God! What are you doing? Let him go!”
Darla’s screams drew the attention of others.
More shouts rang in the air, sounding like my friends nearing us.
Darla ran towards me bravely, not realizing that these masked fuckers were dangerous and had guns. They wouldn’t hesitate to shoot us both. I tried to yell at her to stay away, but only garbled sounds escaped me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” One of the masked men growled. “There’s too many of them. Forget him and let’s get out of here! Now!”
They dropped me and I crashed forward, the side of my face scraping against the cobblestone driveway. I rolled over to my back with my hands still tied, groaning from the pain circulating through my body.
Darla reached me first, falling to her knees. “Oh, God! Cade? Can you hear me?” She pressed two fingers to my neck, feeling my pulse. “Are you okay?”
I tried to speak, but my stomach churned and I gagged. Acid bubbled at the base of my throat and trickled up to my mouth. Darla automatically shifted me to my side and I retched loudly. It was long, gross, and extremely humbling.
During my vomiting episode, my friends reached us too. Shaun dropped beside Darla. “We caught him leaving the house, chasing after Ella. He didn’t look fine. What the fuck happened here?” he demanded.
“I don’t know,” Darla rushed out, distraught, and dabbed at the blood on my face with a handkerchief. “I was coming out of the woods and I saw four guys dragging him to the gates.”
“What did they look like?”
“They all wore black and their faces were covered. That’s all I saw.” Darla’s hand trembled as it continued wiping my face. “Shaun, this is a lot of blood. Oh, God. This is bad. This isreallybad.”
“The car’s gone!” I think Nico spoke. “Black Escalade. No license plate.”
“Cade, can you hear us?” Shaun spoke close to my ear, brushing my forehead with his hand. “Fuck, he’s burning up.”
“We have to get him to a hospital.”
“N-No,” I protested weakly. No hospitals. That would cause too many questions. We always handled business behind closed doors.
“He doesn’t look right,” Sam said. “We should—”
“N-No.” I cut them off then heaved.
“Fuck,” I heard Nate cussing. “We need to find Josh and see if there’s someone who can handle this discreetly since he’s insisting on no hospitals.”
I started vomiting again while the boys sought help. Darla and Shaun stayed with me. The former kept cleaning my face while the latter rubbed my back and put his hand under my head so it wasn’t resting on the cold ground.
Eventually, it was all over. I closed my eyes and breathed softly when the summer wind glided over my feverish skin, cooling me down.
“Shaun, I’m going to get him some water from my car while the others go find Josh.” Darla said. “Don’t leave him, okay?”
