Sweet Ride (33 page)

This time it’s the
voice that wakes me. I can’t seem to understand what’s going on.
Why can’t I move? I can lift my head a little more, but
everything’s dark.

“Boss, she’s up,”
I hear a gruff male voice say. I can vaguely hear another guy
speaking, but can’t pick up on any details. For some reason, the
voices sounds oddly familiar, but I can’t seem to place them.

“Where am I? Why
can’t I see? Why the fuck can’t I move?” I start to shriek.

“Oh, she lives,”
another voice says, followed by chuckling in the background.

“Cocksucking
motherfucker!” I yell. Like I said, I’m not up for any shit
tonight or any night. I’ve had enough of people fucking with me.

“Babe, you don’t
want to get me excited again. I have no problem giving you another
shiner. Hope you invest in good make-up because you’re going to
need it to cover up the mess you’re going to be. Now I have some
questions for you, bitch. Answer them, and maybe we’ll take it easy
on you,” he threatens.

“I think you have the
wrong motherfucking person, asshole!” I screech.

“Think again,
girlie.” That’s the last thing I hear before I black out.

“Wake the fuck up! We
need answers, cunt!” the voice yells so closely to my face I can
feel some of his disgusting spit spray.

“Maybe if I could see
who I was talking to, this would go a lot easier. And Jesus fucking
Christ, I don’t need another fucking shower today. Haven’t you
heard the expression, ‘say it, don’t spray it’?” I bark out.
This earns me a smack across the face—nothing I haven’t felt
before from some skank in a bar fight.

“Nice try, bitch, but
that ain’t happening. Now let’s try this again. Where’s the
key?” he asks.

Key? What key? This
shit show is all about some God-forsaken key that I have no clue
about? Someone has got to do some explaining. How the hell did I end
up tied into this?

“What key? A car key?
I have a car key. To start my car with. Jesus Christ. You’re going
to have to be a helluva lot more specific than that if you want to
get anywhere with this today. A house key? Is this about a house key?
I have one of those, too. It’s for my HOUSE, you asshole!” I
scream. This is fucking ridiculous. I need to find a way out of this
hellhole. I reached my limit for abuse long ago.

I try to move my arms,
which seem to be tied behind my back. I’ve seen a few movies, so I
know how this works. I just need to get some friction going to burn
through the rope to get my hands free. Easy peasy, right? Where’s
MacGyver when you need him? I don’t even know how many guys are
here. I hear the voice call out to a boss man, and I also hear a
couple of men chuckling. If there ever were a time for Rocky to break
out, it would be now.

“You dumb cunt! The
USB key with the security codes to the guns! Fuck, all you’re doing
is wasting precious time. That idiot Dag wasted our time, too. Too
bad you can’t see him ‘cause he’s not wasting anyone’s time
now. Stupid jackass, ended that dumb fuck real easy,” the voice
spits out.

“What the fuck is
that supposed to mean?” I ask in alarm. This can’t be good.

“It means exactly
what you think it means, whore. He got a bullet to the head, but not
before telling us exactly what we needed to know, of course. Before I
had the joy of blowing his brains out, your dear boyfriend informed
us that you have the key to the guns.”

“First of all, I hate
to break this to you, but I don’t have the Goddamn key to the
Goddamn guns. And second, stop calling it a key. It’s called a jump
drive. Dumbass!” I rub my arms up and down along the back of the
chair trying to make some progress with the rope. Really, the whole
Dag thing’s never going to leave me alone, is it? I didn’t like
the guy, but I’m shocked to hear that they killed him.

“What the fuck? Do I
have to smack a bitch again? How hard is it for you to learn your
lesson?” With that, the guy slaps my left cheek with what feels
like an open palm. That fucker! If it’s a girl fight he wants, it’s
a girl fight he’s going to get. Except this girl fights dirty and
fights to win.

“Trust me. Even if I
knew about any fucking jump drive, I wouldn’t share it with your
ugly dick. Whether I tell you or not, I have a feeling your plans for
me are pretty final.” I can feel the rope fraying a little bit as I
continue the back and forth motion while trying to be as subtle as
possible.

“Boss! I can’t get
this cunt to see the brighter side of dying with a clean conscience,”
he yells out. Fortunately, I hear his footsteps walking away from me.
Asshat! Doesn’t he watch any movies? You never leave your intended
victim unattended.

I take this opportunity
to give the rope a vigorous going over with the chair and a good tug.
The rope breaks free, and I now have two mobile arms. Go me! It’s
the small victories. I listen out for any signs of life around me
before bringing my arms forward to remove the blindfold. It takes a
minute for my eyes to adjust to the light. It looks like I’m in
some sort of vacant warehouse. I can make out a group of five men
deep in conversation in the far corner of the place. I quickly loosen
the ropes on my legs enough that I’ll be able to slip them out
easily before any of them gets the smart (not too likely) idea to
check on me. I make a quick assessment of the place and can’t see
any easy exit.

With my adrenaline
pumping, I glance over once more at the group of men. As they move
around, I can only see the faces of four of them. The other is shaded
by the dinginess of the warehouse. It’s those fuckers from the bar
the night I first saw Jack! What the hell? How does this all tie
together? One of the men starts walking toward me. I quickly replace
my blindfold, leaving enough space so I can see everything this time
and place my arms and legs back into position. I’m going to have to
wait this one out ‘til I can get the perfect opportunity to make my
escape—hopefully while doing some damage to these assholes.

“Here’s the deal,
slut—either way we’re leaning toward killing you. Now you have a
choice here. You tell us where the key is, and you go fast and as
painlessly as possible. Or you don’t tell us, and Tony here will
pleasure his twisted soul by torturing you ‘til you beg us to just
finish the job.”

There’s no way I’m
letting them go through with any of those plans. I just need to make
sure I can place all of the men before I make my move. I can’t have
any surprise attacks from their side.

“How about I take my
foot and shove it up your poor excuse for an ass?” I say politely,
or as politely as one can say such a thing. No one ever told me I had
a way with words. I don’t see them starting now, either.

“You fucking bitch!
We’re trying to make this easier on you!” a third shouts from the
far end of the warehouse. Ah, so that’s where he is.

“I don’t have time
for this. Do your jobs and finish this problem. Either way, I need
that USB key. You don’t get it—you have to pay. And I am not in a
generous mood,” I hear the so-called boss say, followed by the
slamming of what sounds like a metal door.

“You hear that,
Victor?” I can make out the fourth man telling this to a guy at the
back. Well, that’s two of four named.

“Fuck off, Desmond!
Just because you’re second in command doesn’t mean you can tell
me what the fuck to do,” Victor replies. Ooh, sounds like there’s
problems in the family. This could work to my advantage. They’re
obviously getting complacent now. Next thing you know, they’ll be
sharing their addresses and who they’re fucking. Bunch of morons.

“That’s exactly
what it means, idiot!” Desmond responds. “Now get the fuck to it!
If you don’t want to, I’m sure Alex’s more than willing.”

“Let him fuckin’ do
it then!” Tony barks back, in defense of his buddy, Victor, then
storms away.

“Come on, man, I’m
aching to play with this cunt,” the twisted motherfucker Alex
pleads in a sickening voice. “I would’ve already had my way with
her, if Hayden hadn’t fuckin’ cock-blocked me,” he adds. This
guy’s the one that pulled me onto his lap that night. The thought
makes my stomach do a nasty roll. God, the last thing I need is some
sicko trying to re-enact some fucked up fantasies he has. Time for me
to bullshit my way through some sort of escape plan.

“I give up! I give
up! I know about the jump drive! I know where it is!” I scream out.
You want to play? I’ll play.

“’Bout fucking time
you made this easy, bitch,” Desmond says, “For that, we’ll make
it as painless as possible. Now tell me where I can find it.”

“I don’t want all
these fuckwads hearing it. Who knows, maybe someone’s a narc. You
gotta cover your bases.” I bait him.

“We can trust
everyone here, but whatever cunt. JUST TELL ME WHERE THE FUCK I CAN
FIND THAT USB KEY!” he shouts while creeping closer to me.

I mumble some nonsense
that I know he won’t be able to hear.

“Speak the fuck up!”
he exclaims while coming within a foot of me. He reaches his right
hand behind his head and backhands me across my right cheek. I’m
going to make this motherfucker pay. No one’s ever going to take
advantage of or abuse me again.

I mumble some mumbo
jumbo again—this fucker’s going down. I try to quickly place each
of the guys while looking under the edge of the blindfold. Desmond’s
straight in front of me; Alex, the twisted fuck, is approximately ten
feet away from what I can make out; which leaves Victor and Tony at
the back of the warehouse.

They wanted to play
this game with me. Shame no one warned them I don’t play fair, or
that I play by my own rules.

Desmond leans in to
make out what I’m mumbling. I take this opportunity to nail him in
the junk with my knee. As. Hard. As. I. Can. That asshole is down for
the count screaming something about his woman wanting babies. No
asshat like him should be able to procreate. I’m doing her, and the
world, a favor.

I rip the blindfold
down from my eyes before Alex can figure out what’s going on and
react. I jump up and hurl the chair in his direction, knocking him
off balance. With him teetering on his feet, I leap onto his back
knocking him to the ground. Take that, fucker! I’m about to send
his balls on a trip up his ass when I hear a commotion in the
background. Alex seems to be distracted, as well, so I risk a glance
in the direction of the back of the warehouse. To my surprise, I see
four police officers sweeping the area with guns drawn, and someone
has Victor and Tony on their stomachs with their hands behind their
backs.

About time, assholes!
With that thought, I make out Jack running toward me. I take notice
as Alex escapes my hold and is trying to make a getaway through a
side door I wasn’t aware of. He gets about five feet before one of
the other cops lunges at him with a taser gun. Looking to my left, I
see Desmond’s also in custody. My attention then drifts back to the
man who’s now hugging the crap out of me.

“Am I always going to
have to do your job for you?” I ask Jack, teasingly.

“Oh, babe, what kind
of mess have I gotten you into? Those fuckers are going to pay for
touching you.” He looks at me with regret in his eyes.

Before I can admit to
him it’s just as much my doing as his, he’s holding me at arm’s
length inspecting every inch of me. And not in the way I’d like him
to be, if you know what I mean.

“We need to get you
to the ambulance and get you checked out. It better not be anything
serious, as I’m ready to rip their fucking heads off as it is. I
need to stay as far away from them as possible,” he says through
gritted teeth.

Jack puts his arm
around my shoulders and guides me to the back of the warehouse
through the door and out to the waiting ambulance. The paramedic
takes my blood pressure and checks for any signs of damage on my
body. From what I can feel, I figure I’m a little banged up. It
doesn’t seem like anything too serious, though, mostly bruises. The
paramedic examines my face, which I’m guessing is a little worse
for wear. He looks at me and gives me his verdict.

“You have a couple
contusions, but nothing too major. There’s a laceration above your
eye that’ll need to be cleaned up and bandaged. Your eye’s
bruising up a bit, doesn’t look too bad, though it does cause
concern in regards to a concussion. We’d like to take you to the
hospital, overnight, to keep an eye on you,” he explains.

There’s only one
thing wrong with this, and for some reason I’m having a hard time
sitting still. I look around for Jack, who left me for just a minute
to see what they might’ve found out from this Desmond guy. I spot
him as he turns around to check on me. Oh. My. God. I can’t stay in
the hospital. I need to get this man to the closest secluded area and
ride out whatever it is that’s making me feel so alert.

“Jack! Jack!” I
call out. He comes jogging over. He looks at the paramedic, and
somehow communicates without speaking.

“We need to get her
to the hospital. She may have a concussion and, if that’s the case,
it’s best she’s in the care of professionals. Besides that, from
what I can tell it’s just a few bruises. She’ll be tender for a
few days, and once her adrenaline finishes kicking in, she’s going
to crash,” he informs Jack.

“Jack … can’t do
that. Need to go home,” I say, trying to convey my meaning through
my eyes.

“Bella, I failed you
earlier. I need to feel like I protected you as best as I can after
letting you down like that. I’m never going to forgive myself.
Never.”

“Honestly, none of
this is your fault. And babe, we need to go. Right now,” I say,
again trying to send brainwaves through the air to him. It’s either
this, or we’re doing the deed publicly in the back of this
ambulance.

“This is for the
best. In no time, it’ll be morning, and we can go home,” Jack
reassures.