“Let’s see where all of that food goes, shall we?” he asked.
His smile was crooked and his eyes were filled with malice. I’d never seen a look of pure evil before, but as I stood there—pinned between his disgusting erection and the brick wall—I found myself face to face with it.
“Get—off me!” I cried out into the palm of his hand.
His free hand worked its way up my shirt and tugged at my bra. “Ah, there we go. Just what I was looking fo—SHIT!”
I opened my mouth as wide as I could and bit down against his hand. I dug my teeth into his skin until I tasted something warm and metallic against my tongue, and he ripped his hand away. I started screaming. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I started running toward the parking lot. But, yet another yank of my hair sent me tumbling to the ground.
Soaking my stomach in the stale muddy waters of the alleyway.
“Stupid bitch,” he growled.
He slammed his fist into my lower back, and I cried out in pain. He threw me around like a damn ragdoll, picking me up from the ground and tossing me back against the wall. My legs gave way, sending me plummeting back to the concrete. But, not before the back of his hand smacked me against my cheek.
Sending tears to blind my vision.
“I’m going to have fun with you,” he said as I heard the clattering of a belt buckle in front of me. “And when I’m done with you, maybe you’ll learn some goddamn manners along the way.”
“Maybe it’s you who needs some manners.”
Bury’s voice came out of nowhere and I crumpled to the ground. I curled up into a ball, sobbing into the waters that drenched my skin. My clothes. My book. The tears fell like raindrops from the sky. Big, heavy teardrops that held the sins of my past, my present, and probably my future. I blocked out the sounds. I focused on the way the wind kicked up, sending microscopic ripples of that muddy water against my cheek.
Almost as if it were caressing my tears away as I cried them.
Suddenly, I felt a set of hands on me. I flailed around, screaming and crying and beating my fists against anything I could touch. I kicked my legs. I spat a mouthful of blood down onto the ground before shoving my shoulder into someone’s gut. At least, I thought it was their gut.
It wasn’t until Bury tossed me over his shoulder that I heard his voice.
“We have to get out of here. I’m taking you home.”
And as that word echoed off the corners of my mind, relief took hold as more sobs poured forth.
Home.
Bury was taking me home.
Home, to the only place that had felt safe since I had moved out of my childhood home.
Maybe I really am better off inside with the guys.
19
RANGER
“Ranger!”
The sound of Bury’s bellowing voice brought me to my feet.
“Ranger! We have a problem!”
I took off running down the stairs, and when I saw Naomi tossed over his shoulder, I froze.
“What happened?” I asked as I rushed over to him. “Tell me everything.”
“Ra—ra—Ranger?”
I furrowed my brow. “What’s wrong? Why is she crying?”
