Torn from You (6 page)

“Yeah. How many women have you fucked over?
Let me guess, since you took your sweet ass time making me fall for
you first, I’m guessing four girls a year. Do your bandmates know
what you do in your spare time? What about your mother? Does she
approve of your extracurricular activities?” My head was yanked
back and the edge of a blade held to my throat.

Logan took in a long drawn in breath. “You
see Jacob back there? The one who can easily slit your throat?
Well, he doesn’t listen to me. He is Raul’s right-hand man and does
exactly as Raul wants. And if Raul has told him to keep an eye on
you and kill you for being a bitch then that’s what he’ll do, and I
can’t stop him.” He paused then said, “Or, rather, I won’t.”

I felt the coldness of the blade slice into
my skin. A trickle of blood dripped down my neck then slid onto my
T-shirt and absorbed into a big red blotch. The creak of leather
sounded as Jacob released me and sat back.

I wanted to fight, scream and rake my nails
down Logan’s face until he bled like I was. I even considered
jumping out of the car and taking my chances with my injuries, but
instead I sat quietly and stared at the highway ahead. After ten
minutes of silence Logan shoved a water bottle into my hand and two
pills. “Swallow them.”

I considered throwing them back at him for
about one second, and I think he knew it, because his frown
deepened. Then I thought of hiding them under my tongue, but
whatever the pills were they weren’t going to kill me; they
could’ve easily done that by now.

I tossed the pills in my mouth then chugged
every last drop of water. I was so damn thirsty that my skin felt
like it was shriveling up like a dead animal left in the desert
sun.

“Check her.”

Before I knew what was happening Jacob
grabbed my chin and pressed—hard. I had no choice but to open my
mouth. His finger slid inside, and I gagged and coughed as he
crudely searched my mouth to make sure I’d swallowed the pills. I
tasted cigarettes and wished I kept some water to wash out my mouth
after he finished.

“Clean.”

Logan nodded. “We’re crossing the border.”
He pulled out a passport from his back jean pocket, and I gasped
when he flipped it open and I saw my picture. Then I saw with it
the round circular plastic case—my birth control. He tossed it on
my lap. God, he’d thought of everything. I did wonder why he cared
if I was taking my pills or not. “You’re going to feel sleepy. If
we’re lucky they won’t question us, but if they decide they want to
talk to you and your wakened— We’re going to a wedding in Ohio.
We’re all friends, and the bride is your friend, Kat. We have
clothes in the trunk to prove all of this, so don’t even think of
fuckin’ with it.”

Kat. Oh God, Kat. I closed my eyes and
thought of the last time I’d seen her. We’d both been laughing.
Happy. Another sob escaped my throat.

“Emily?” his voice was gruff and cut into
me. “The story? Do you have it?”

I nodded.

“Words, Emily.”

“What?”

“You will always answer me with words.”

“Yes.” Humiliation swam over me, it was like
he was talking to a child, and I couldn’t wrap my head around the
fact that I’d had sex with this man. I’d been held in his arms,
slept in them. I couldn’t grasp the idea that Logan was acting like
this. He was going to be a rock star. He had a band. He had
friends. Why would he give up everything to kidnap me? Had all that
been a lie too?

I lay my head back on the seat and closed my
eyes as tears threatened to fall. No, I wouldn’t give him the
satisfaction. He deserved my hate, not my tears.

Whatever he drugged me with began to take
effect, and I couldn’t remain awake any longer. At one point I
heard voices, and I opened my eyes briefly, but I was too tired,
and I curled up against the window and went back to sleep.

I was kept
drugged for three days. The car stopped briefly for food, gasoline,
and bathroom breaks. Most of the time I slept, too groggy to fight
Logan, and too weak to do anything but eat when given food and go
to the bathroom with Jacob who stood outside the stall door. Logan
had offered to take me the first time, but that was nixed when
Jacob grabbed me. Ever since then Logan stayed with the car.
Anywhere I went Jacob went. The other guy Dave, who looked Hispanic
and spoke very little, kept to himself and never once touched me
even when I stumbled getting out the car once and he was closest to
assisting me.

The days were
a foggy haze of terror. I felt like I was living in the bottom of a
well, cold and alone, barely breathing, and when I did breathe it
was stale air.

I heard
Logan’s window slide down and then his sterile voice. “We’re here.
Open the gate.”

Day 6

Wherever we
were it was completely surrounded by tall brick walls with guards
standing at the gates and several walking the perimeter with German
shepherds. The property was massive with several buildings and one
main building that looked like a mansion. Logan drove up the long,
narrow driveway then stopped at the house and shut off the car.

I looked at
Logan, my body beginning to shake as I realized wherever we were
was not a place I wanted to be. His hands gripped the steering
wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white, and I could hear the
leather crack beneath the pressure. It scared me. No, it terrified
me.

He got out of
the car as did the two men in the back, and I sat with my knees to
my chest watching as he spoke to them and nod toward the house.
Both men disappeared inside, and Logan stared at me through the
windshield. It was like he was unable to move, his body stiff and
looking every bit the fierce fighter, not the gentle rock star who
wrote me a song I never had the chance to hear.

He strode
toward me, and I wanted to disappear into the leather seat. I
couldn’t control the trembling, and it made me angry that Logan
would see it. I wanted to be tough, to have him feel nothing but
anger from me, but the panic treading across my body was too
overpowering.

The door flung
open. “Out.”

It took me
several tries to unclip my seatbelt, because my hands were shaking
so badly. When I finally did, he snagged my forearm and pulled me
out. “Do exactly as I say.” His voice was low as he spoke. “Don’t
look at anyone. Eyes down at all times, and do not speak unless
asked a question.”

“Where are we?
Logan? Please why are you doing this to me?” I couldn’t help it.
The words tumbled from my mouth in quick succession. What little
connection I felt he tried to make shattered the moment Logan
grabbed me by both shoulders and shook me.

“Don’t you get
it yet, Emily? Raul owns you. He’s ruthless, and he’ll break you
down, torture you, and when you beg him for mercy he’ll torture you
some more.” His bruising fingers tightened, and I winced. “Do not
fuck this up.”

I broke. I
couldn’t help it, and I hated myself for falling so low as to let
him or anyone else see me do it, but for that one second I let the
fear take hold of me as I said, “I’m scared.”

Logan stared
at me with eyes that were cold, dark, and without a spark of ...
anything. “You should be.”

My breath
hitched, and it was at that moment I knew I had to face my fear
head-on and conquer it or I was going to die. Logan wasn’t going to
save me; only I could do that.

Walking into
what looked like a huge dining hall, I kept my head down like Logan
told me to, but my eyes drifted upward. It was an uncontrollable
reaction. Survival maybe, I didn’t know why, but I was facing the
unknown, and I had to look at what the unknown was.

The room
was filled with over a dozen men, most sitting at a long wooden
table laden with food. I could smell the aroma of cheeses, wines,
and the sweetness of an array of fruits. The sound of laughter
echoed off the walls, along with the clinking of glasses and men
talking and shouting.

But it was the
subtle sounds of groaning and sobbing that caught my attention. My
heart started pounding harder and faster. The noises were wrong.
They reminded me of trapped animals in cages and their sobs of
despair. I raised my head, eyes searching the room as the sounds
pulled at me.

Lying
shivering on the floor was a naked girl.

Then another
tied to a chair.

Beneath the
table.

Over in the
corner of the room, a girl kneeling.

My eyes
widened, and my breath caught in my throat as I stared horrified at
the women ... They were young, some maybe younger than me.

My stomach
rolled and lurched, and I staggered backward, fighting against
Logan’s grip as I heaved with revulsion at the scene before me.

I shook my
head back and forth over and over. “No. No ...” I repeated, my hand
over my mouth.

One girl knelt
at a man’s feet while he fed her pieces of meat like a dog. She had
a metal collar on that had a chain attached to the man’s belt. She
was naked, and I could see red welts running the length of her
spine.

Beneath the
table, another girl was between an overweight man’s legs. She was
... her mouth was on his cock as he groaned and pushed her face
back and forth into him.

But it was the
girl kneeling on all fours nearest me that was the one sobbing
quietly. Her cheek was pressed into the floor with her butt in the
air as a young man pumped into her from behind. He was also naked
and wearing a collar, and he had scars running the length of his
back.

“Emily.”

Alfonzo was
standing beside the girl laughing and drinking his wine as he
watched with a sickening gleam in his eyes. Another man, tall and
lean, who looked in his thirties stood beside Alfonzo watching as
well, but he wasn’t smiling. The girl. Oh God, the girl’s eyes
stared at ... nothing. Blank and empty, yet filled with tears. Her
body rocked back and forth, her hair swinging with the motion. It
was when Alfonzo raised a crop and hit the guy on the back and
said, “Harder” that I lost it.

I was
hyperventilating, and I couldn’t hold it together any longer as I
turned my head away and bent over coughing and choking. I couldn’t
look as a girl screamed, and I knew ... I knew it was that girl
with the dead eyes.

“No. No.” My
mind was like a tornado filled with the sounds and images of what
Logan had walked me into. Nightmares couldn’t compare to this. What
I thought couldn’t exist in this world ... The realization that
people could be so cruel. That this ... slaves ... girls ... It was
hidden from the eyes of the world, but it was alive and real.

Logan hauled
me up beside him. His voice low as his steal tone whispered in my
ear. “Pull it together. I told you not to look. You have to learn
to trust me.”

He was a lie.
I didn’t trust a single word from his mouth, but I nodded anyway,
because I couldn’t think of what else to do as the horror kicked me
in the gut. I heaved in breath after breath, my chest wheezing,
limbs shaking as I stared at the stone tiles beneath my feet and
tried to get the images out of my head. They wouldn’t leave me. The
sounds of girls whimpering and screaming, the look of the girl with
her cheek pressed to the floor.

I squeezed my
eyes shut, trying desperately to block out what I’d seen, but it
wouldn’t go away. How could Logan be standing there so immune to
the horror? Was he even human? No, none of them were.

I heard slow,
casual footsteps approach, and Logan’s grip tightened on my arm,
and my body went rigid.

“After days in
your care, I thought she’d be better prepared for what awaited
her.” The voice was the same one as in the house where I was
whipped. The scent of sweat and garlic wafted off him.

“Look at me,”
he ordered.

Oh God. I
didn’t want to, yet I was terrified of what would happen if I
didn’t. When I raised my head, I instantly recognized him. The man
from Sculpt’s fight with the two bodyguards Jacob and Dave. I could
remember him intently watching Logan after he’d won the fight. That
night seemed so long ago.

The man’s
finger came under my chin, and I balked at his touch.

His fist
punched me in the stomach so fast and hard that I stumbled backward
and would have fallen if Logan hadn’t been holding my arm. I tried
desperately to suck in the air that he’d knocked out of me.

“That was
unnecessary, Raul,” Logan said in a calm, contained voice.

“You’ve taught
her nothing,” he shouted. “Nothing!”

Logan’s voice
remained controlled as he answered, “She was drugged.”

“I gave her to
you in good faith, but if she doesn’t conform then I will take her
myself, and she’ll be sold.”

“You think I
don’t know what’s expected of her? Don’t think for one second I’ve
forgotten, Raul. She’ll behave.” Logan pulled me tighter into his
side, and I could feel every muscle flexed and rigid. “When is my
first fight?”