“Why didn’t you just leave her in the desert? Now we have three people we need to deal with. The Garcia brothers are only expecting two people. Besides, she’s a little old.” That came from the guy called Diablo.
“Look, I know she’s no teenager, but she’s blonde and American. That has to be worth something. Why don’t you ask the Garcia brothers if they want her. If not, then I’ll have some fun with her and then dump her in the desert.”
My heart froze in panic. They were talking about me!
The Diablo guy was silent for a moment, apparently contemplating the idea. It was then that I heard soft whimpering coming from the other side of the room.
“You shut up!” the second guy said. “I told you both to stay the fuck quiet.”
After what felt like forever, the Diablo guy said, “Fine. Come with me and we’ll go down to where we get reception and I’ll call. If I can’t get at least a thousand for her, you can have her. I highly doubt they’re gonna want some chick in her thirties.”
In my thirties? If I weren’t in this position, I’d be offended. I was only twenty-five!
“I’m getting ten grand each for the teenage girls. I said they were virgins, though.” The Diablo guy laughed and his companion joined them.
“Too bad, I wouldn’t mind giving them a little going away present.”
“Don’t fucking touch them. You can have the old one if he says no.”
Their footsteps crossed right next to my head as they walked to what I assumed was the door.
“You both stay fucking quiet. I don’t know what you did to get her attention, but if it happens again, you will be very, very sorry.”
I waited until I heard the door close and the footsteps walking down the stairs before I tried to speak.
“Hey,” I said softly. My voice sounded hoarse.
“Paige? Is that you?” Bailey whispered. “We’re blindfolded and can’t see anything but we heard them drag someone in.”
I forced my eyes open, but all I could see was a sliver of light reflecting on a popcorn ceiling. “Oh my god, Bailey! I’m so glad you’re all right. Is Lily okay, too?”
“Yeah. I’m okay. My shoulders hurt from being tied up.”
I rolled over and saw her tied to a chair. “I was banging the chair against the sink to make noise.”
“That was smart. I heard it and that’s why I came upstairs.”
There was a moment of silence and then Bailey said, “Paige, I’m scared.”
“Me, too,” said Lily.
“What’s going to happen to us?” Bailey asked.
“I don’t know, guys. But I can tell you one thing. I am not leaving your side. There are people looking for you and they will find us.”
“I don’t know who did this, that’s the thing. We got out of the car a few blocks from the convention center so we could look at t-shirts and stuff. We were talking to this kid and the next thing we knew this big SUV pulls up and these guys get out and grab us and drag us inside.”
“We didn’t even have time to fight!”Lily said.
“I heard the kid yelling. ‘Hey stop’ but we drove away.”
“So you never even made it to the concert?”
“No! I bet it was amazing.” Poor Bailey sounded distraught. “We had floor seats and everything.”
“Actually, the concert was interrupted. Billie Eilish did her set and then there were some kind of gunshots or something right after MCR went on.”
“What?” they both asked.
