I shouted in anger, looking over my shoulder to glare at the blond, who smiled mischievously down at me. The brunet shoved him off of me, kneeling to grab my arms and pull me up.
I spat in his face.
He blatantly ignored it as he spoke in a soft voice, “We don’t want to hurt you, but we must hurry.”
“Say that—” I clenched my teeth through a groan of sharp pain as the brunet failed to get me to my knees, “to mybrokenfuckingankle.” Then I wrenched my grip out of his and clawed at his eyes as aggressively as I could. He shouted, and the cry of his pain made my mind go dizzy again. He dropped his hold on me, covering his eyes, which were finally starting to bleed.
As the brunet struggled to collect himself, though, the blond grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked me up to him. My feet were dangling, unable to find purchase, and I thought my scalp might be on fire due to the burn of his grip on my hair. I desperately clutched his fist as he held me close to his face, desperate to bring relief.
“You’re difficult.” He leered at me with a gross smirk, ignoring me when I spat in his face, too. “That just means you’ll be that much more fun to break.”
I screamed, kicking him once with my non-injured foot, before he roughly threw me into the main cabin of the boat. The door was open; my head made impact with the doorframe as the rest of my body flew through the threshold.
Warm wetness started to soak my head as I collected myself enough to realize that I was on my back on the main level, where the lounge area and a small kitchen were. My head was throbbing; my ankle was on fire. My neck was in the worst pain I’d ever felt. I may not be paralyzed, but I definitely had a spine injury of some sort.
Heavy footfalls entered the cabin, and the blond’s face towered over me.
Then he kicked me in the head again.
Everything went black.
A thick, heavy fog surrounded my existence.
“Don’t!” I didn’t recognize that masculine voice at all. “Don’t accidentally kill them, Aud.”
“I—I—” That was Audrey, and she sounded distraught.
Everything was weighted down on me. I couldn’t move my body. It took every ounce of concentration and determination to open my eyes. But I did. And through the threshold of the cabin entrance, I saw Audrey standing on the deck.
“Who sent you?” That was the man’s voice I didn’t recognize. He was new and had long curly hair. He towered over Audrey but stood at her side, facing the men. I blinked, and Audrey quickly flicked her wrist, throwing the two men who attacked me right off the boat and into the harbor.
Then everything went black again.
Chapter 2
Before I opened my eyes, I was distinctly aware of bedsheets around me, and I almost whimpered in relief from the sensation. Sometimes, my gummies that I took to help me get a full night's sleep, hit me harder than usual. It really depended on what brands the dispensary was stocking whenever I walked in.
It really was just a fuck ass dream.
My bed sheets had never felt this good. I’d never felt this warm and cozy and safe as I slowly rose to the surface of consciousness. This was the most comfortable my bed had ever felt. There wasn’t a single joint in my body that ached. I rolled over, desperate to squish my face into the comforting smell of my pillowcases.
Except when I did, I didn’t recognize the smell.
My pillows smelled good, fresh, and clean, but they weren’t mine.
“Van?” Audrey asked.
Audrey was here. Maybe I fell asleep in her bed? Had her bed always been better than mine? When did she get a new bed?
Somewhere in the room, the sound of a TV was going, but the people weren’t speaking English.
“Van?” Audrey asked again.
“What?” I replied, my mouth muffled in the pillows.
Audrey snorted before pressing her hand on my shoulder and asking, “How are you feeling?” in a gentle voice. She spoke to me like she was trying not to scare me off. As if I were a little fawn, seconds from bolting.
“Confused,” I replied into the pillows, then turned my head to face her. I pried one eye open to address her, “When the hell did you get a new mattress?”
