Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
The truck jerks to a stop, making me throw my arm out in front of me so I don’t smack my head on the windshield.
“Are you fucking serious?”
Instead of apologizing or saying anything at all, he grips my same sore wrist and pulls me from the truck.
His steps don’t falter even when Landon pulls up outside of the fucking house he’s brought me to.
“Hey, asshole,” Landon yells. “What the fuck are you doing?”
The man kicks in the front door of the house, and when he shoves me ahead of him, I’m scared for real for the first time. It’s clear the house is abandoned. The furniture is filthy, some turned on its side with trash littering the floor.
He pulls me to his chest, and it isn’t until I fight to get away from him, needing to face him to yell at him, that I notice the gun.
Midmorning sunlight shines though the window, glinting off the barrel.
I open my mouth to scream when I hear one of the guys on the front porch, but he clamps his free hand over my face and pulls my back to his chest.
My heart is pounding as guilt swarms through every cell in my body. He’s going to kill them and that’s going to be on me. I could’ve fought him. I could’ve kicked and screamed while on campus, done anything to delay him from taking me to a secondary location.
“Close the fucking door,” he growls when all three guys enter the house.
Landon spins around as if he’s going to come to my rescue, but the gun angled under my chin stops him in his tracks.
“Fuck,” Blaine whimpers, terror in his voice.
“Fuck is right, little boy.”
“Just let her go,” Landon says, taking a step forward as he positions himself in front of his husband.
“Or what?” the man holding me challenges, as if he thought Landon was going to issue some ultimatum. “You, pussy boy, grab that rope and tie your friends up.”
Blaine looks down at the duffel bag, and it makes me realize this man is more prepared than I originally thought. This isn’t just some random house he picked while driving by. He made plans to bring me here.
“Quicker,” the man says, making me wince when he presses the gun harder against my chin.
Unwanted tears stream from my eyes, but the rest of my body is frozen in place.
Landon looks pissed beyond words, disapproval and blame in his eyes as Blaine ties him to one of the chairs. Rick looks terrified when he’s next.
“Your turn, Alani,” he whispers, pushing me away from him. “Tie your friend up.”
I glare at the man, wondering how he knows my name as I inch closer to Blaine. Landon was honestly the only one who could possibly be a hero here today, and of course this guy surmised that and had him tied first.
“It’ll be okay,” Blaine says, trying to assure me despite the threat of tears in his own voice.
“You’ll never get away with this,” Landon spits as I finish tying Blaine up.
“Sit,” the man growls at me, pointing to another chair.
I contemplate kicking him in the face when he bends to tie my legs then my arms to the chair, but I know the minuscule amount of pain I would cause him now will only lead to more pain on my end.
I search his eyes for something, any hint of humanity, but I come up empty.
He doesn’t say a word, but I notice how he keeps his gun ready to fire and his back to the wall. It seems practiced, like this possibly isn’t the first time he’s done something like this. Maybe he was involved in the abduction of that one girl who was found recently. She disappeared the same day I came to campus, and everyone was talking about it the next day. The fear that I could be taken, too, kept me inside if it was dark out for the longest time.
I watch as he pulls his phone from his pocket, pressing several buttons before holding it to his ear.
“Where the fuck are you?” he grunts into the phone, waiting for the other person’s response before speaking again. “You were supposed to be here hours ago.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Landon threatens, interrupting his phone call.
“A complication,” the man grunts into the phone, ignoring the threat coming from across the room.
“Nothing for you to worry about. I’m sending you an address,” the man says to the person on the other end of the line.
“Piece of shit! Let us go!” Landon yells, fighting against the ropes.
I want to tell him to calm down, that the odds of getting the upper hand on this man are extremely low. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to any of them, because it would be completely my fault.