Adam laughs. “Come on, only a few more minutes, we’re gonna have fun. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I’m gonna kill you. I’m going to find a way to fucking pummel your face, you dirty piece of shit.” Saylor is still fuming, but his voice is laced with fear.
Adam grips me harder and holds me tighter to his chest, my feet dragging over the ground while he starts to walk again, but I can’t see where we’re going since my eyelids refuse to open again.
I hear two car doors slam shut, and I wonder if he’s going to drag me in his car.
“Thank fuck,” Saylor lets out a watery sob when different, warm hands grab me and pull me out of Adam’s grasp.
I’m lifted into a bridal hold, and I smell the mix of spices of the expensive cologne I’ve come to know, which makes my panic come down a notch.
Nothing bad can happen when Satan has your back.
I’m slack, and my head is lolling back, but his lips find my ear as if he knows I can still hear everything.
“We’ve got you.”
As I dangle in his arms, I can’t see what’s happening, but I can hear the muffled sounds of a struggle.
Nash’s voice, filled with fury, cuts through the air. “What did you do to her?”
There’s a sickening thud, followed by the sound of what I hope is Adam being pushed against a wall and not Nash.
“Chill out. She just had a little too much to drink. I was getting her home.” Adam tries to defend himself.
“Fucking liar,” comes from Saylor.
“She was in there for half an hour. Nobody gets this blackout drunk in half an hour.” North’s voice is low and steady, but his tone is as cold as I’ve ever heard.
“Maybe I helped out a bit, okay? Chill, we all do that, right, Nash?” Adam asks, but it is the wrong thing to say, given how a strangled sound comes from him next.
There is a pause, and Nash’s voice is strained when he grinds out, “Don’t compare me to you. I would never stoop that low, and if I’d known you did, I would have kicked your ass long before now.”
Nash isn’t holding back. He’s delivering punches with relentless anger, each hit making a sickening sound.
“Told you I’d find a way to fuck up your face, dickhead,” Saylor exclaims from beside me.
My body trembles in North’s arms, prompting him to shush me gently before he intervenes, his voice more controlled but equally stern. “Nash, that’s enough. You’re gonna kill him.”
“Not before he tells me what he’s given her!” Nash roars, the intensity of his voice making me shiver once more.
“N-nothing bad, okay? She’ll sleep it off. She’ll have no memory of this tomorrow, like nothing happened,” Adam stutters, and the final thud that follows his words leaves him groaning.
“Fucking dick. You laid your dirty hands onour girl… that’s what happened,” Nash’s voice comes now from beside me, and he gently kisses my forehead, whispering, “I’m so sorry, pretty girl.”
I can hear Adam breathing, whistling with every breath, “You’re fucking crazy. That’s how you treat a friend?”
Nash’s reply is swift, “I’d never be friends with someone who does shit like that.”
Then, North chimes in, his voice cold and unforgiving, “And I’d never employ some sick bastard like you. You’re fired, and we’ll make sure you won’t get a job with any other company we have ties to. And when she wakes up and decides she wants to report your sorry ass, I’ll make sure you’re gonna be locked away in the dirtiest hole they have.”
I shudder at the thought of anyone getting locked away, even when he deserves it.
We turn and walk away, Adam’s harsh breathing and mumbled pleas fading with each step.
The concern in Nash’s voice is undeniable. “Give her to me so you can drive.”
But North only takes one hand off me and slightly fidgets until I hear the clinking sound of keys. “You drive. I’ll sit with her.”
