Ryan (Mallick Brothers #2)(35)

On that stage was three chairs.

In the center chair was Dom.

There was no mistaking him.

He and Albert could have been twins.

Everything about him seemed dark and cruel from his eyes to his all black jeans and tee to the scar down one side of his face. And he was sitting there like he was some freaking king holding court.

"Well, finally," he said, his voice a little more nasal than his brother's, a trait I found almost amusing even given the situation. "Take the goddamn scenic route?"

"The cunt got..." the driver started.

"I was talking to my brother," Dom cut him off. "The stupid cunt did what, Al?" he asked and against Albert's hand, I could feel my lip curl up at that. You could tell a lot about a man with how freely they used the 'c-word'.

Given the state of little bloody claw marks all up and down his arms and face, he wasn't exactly in a position to lie. "Put up a bit of a fight," Al said, doing the belly-squeeze thing again and everything in me wanted to turn around and hit him as hard as my admittedly much smaller frame would allow. How dare he try to reassure me, call me sweetheart when he was bringing me home like a rat to his owner? 

"I see that," Dom said, looking over his brother before his eyes moved to me. And they did an inspection- over my face, my chest, my stomach, my legs. Every inch of my body felt greasy and I had a strange, almost overwhelming urge to claw my skin off, like there were bugs under it, like they were squirming. "Oh, well," he said, giving me a smile. "How come you guys always leave out the best parts? She's a pretty little hellion, huh? Think she's got a pretty cunt to go with that pretty face?"

Oh, God.

I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to take a breath, trying to not get sick, while also simultaneously wishing there was a way to hold my breath until I died without survival instinct kicking in... or maybe choking on my own sick. Anything, literally anything other than living through his and his mens' hands on me.

"Why don't you bring her a little closer, Al? I need to have a little chat with her. Albert lifted me up again, putting me back down on my feet with my toes actually touching the stage. "I think you can let her go now," Dom said, waving a dismissive hand toward the seat next to him, inviting his brother up. "She can't get anywhere with Ray standing guard, right Ray?" he asked and, despite myself, I turned my head ever so slightly to see the driver. Ray.

"Right. She's not going anywhere until I get all up in that tight ass of hers."

"They'll be a time for that later," Dom said, making my belly slosh around ominously. "First things first, we have another guest to wait for."

There was really only one other person they could mean.

Bry.

Oh, God, Bry.

I swallowed past the bile rising in my throat, knowing exactly what was in our future. Bry would show up and then we would take turns watching the other get tortured in various, God-awful ways.

And in that moment, faced with my grim future, only one thought really came to mind.

Ryan.

Ryan and his perfect eyes, his kind smile, his reassuring words, his hands that could be both gentle and rough in delicious ways. Hands I would probably never get to feel again. Eyes that I would never look into. A smile that I wouldn't feel warmed by. Words I would never hear.

All that was left for me was pain and fear and ugliness.

And, despite myself, I wondered if he would even know what happened to me. He was a good man. He would figure out eventually that I was missing and not voluntarily and he would look for me. But would he ever find me? Would there be a body to be found? Would I just be pieces discarded all over?

With tears yet again stinging at my eyes as I looked down at my feet, I wondered one last crazy thing: would he miss me? It was crazy because it was irrational. Maybe he would miss me in a small way, in a 'we had an interesting time' way. But things were so new. We had only gotten a couple days together. We had only had sex twice. To a man like him, that probably wasn't even a big deal. While to me, it was everything. He was everything.

I guess it was lucky I got to have him for a bit though. It was less pathetic of a life story. Girl who grew up dragged around like luggage, easily dropped off when she wasn't needed or wanted, then built a decent life only to lose it all because of a mental illness and then be raped and brutally killed by drug dealers.

At least there was a tiny little romance in there to cheer it up a bit.

Before the tragic end.

"So, you're the one who has been keeping an eye on my drugs for me for the past couple of years, huh? Ever dig into the stash?" he asked, making my head whip up.

I didn't know what came over me, but I couldn't keep the words in. "I'm not some lowlife drug addict."



       
         
       
        

"Oh, she speaks," Dom said, smiling wickedly. "Got that sweet kinda voice too. I like that. They scream better. Right, Al?" he asked, slapping a hand into his brother's arm.

"Wouldn't know," Al answered, looking at me.

"Yeah, this fuck. Such a goddamn choir boy."

"I'm pretty sure not raping women doesn't make him a choir boy. Just a decent human being."

Yeah, I couldn't keep that in either.

I apparently got a bit mouthy when I was about to be tortured and killed.

At least I wouldn't go out like a meek little mouse. I had spent enough of my life like that- scared of things that never happened, scared of stupid, invisible monsters. Faced with real-life ones, I wasn't going to cower and cry and let the fear win out.

"Oh, spitfire. Like that too. I see you like to put up a fight," he said, motioning toward his brother who, now that I got a good look at him, did look like he'd been through the wringer. He had nasty, still bleeding cuts from my nails up and down his forearms and two more down his cheek. There was a semi-circle bruise on the soft flesh between his thumb and forefinger where I had bit him momentary, but with every bit of force my jaw had.

I had no real response to Dom's comment so I kept my mouth shut, focusing on trying to remember to breathe and keep swallowing back the bile I felt creeping up my throat with each passing second.

There was a bit of a shuffle to the outside of the room and I felt myself tense as it moved closer. "Boss," someone called from outside the door. "He's here."

No.

No no no.

Why the hell would he come?

He had to have known it was a trap, that he couldn't save me.

I knew he loved me, but what good would it do to come and simply watch bad things happen to me? And then get hurt and likely killed himself?

"Send him in," Dom said and I could feel his eyes on my profile as I turned to face the door.

There was more shuffling then, like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from, in walked Bry.

His gaze didn't even drift around the room.

His eyes found my face and stayed there as he approached, reaching down to grab my hand and holding it so tight that I was genuinely worried about the bones possibly breaking.

"That's real sweet," Dom said, giving us a nasty sneer. "Ain't that sweet, Ray?" he asked.

"Be even sweeter for him to watch me fuck his woman until she screams."

There was a sound coming from Bry that I had never heard before. It came from deep in his chest and was a sort of rumbling, something akin to a growl. When he brought his buddy to my place, sometimes he could be a bit cooler and detached. Normally when he was around me, he was good and sweet and observant and funny. I had never really seen him truly angry. 

But make no mistake, at that comment, he was pissed. His entire body felt like it was vibrating with it.

So when he spoke, he didn't mind his tone or the words he said either. "What the fuck do you want from us, Dom? You got your pills back. Don't think I don't know it was that fuck," he said, gesturing toward Ray, "and one of your other lackeys who did it either."

"Smart," Dom said, nodding. "Got word that your practices were't the ones we agreed on. What I want with you," he said, lifting a brow, "is to make an example so everyone else knows not to fuck with the rules."

"There were no mother fucking rules about where I put the goddamn supply, Dom, and you know it."

What the hell was he doing?

I looked at his profile, my eyes bugging out, giving his hand a squeeze that I hoped relayed the message I was trying to deliver with my eyes: What are you trying to piss them off? Shut the hell up!

And despite knowing each other most of our lives and being able to have nonverbal conversations like that, he was completely ignoring me.

"It's something that my other men simply understand."

"Well, now it has been clarified. I don't see how any of this could have gotten around anyway, Dom. Unless, Ray and his buddy were talking seeing as I'm the only one dealing in Navesink Bank. Can't figure out why I'm being made an example of when you got some guys with loose fucking lips which is a much bigger threat to your organization."

"Enough," Dom said, waving a hand toward Bry.

Apparently that was some sort of nonverbal cue because the next thing I knew, Ray was across the room, grabbing Bry, pulling him to the side. His hand squeezed mine, again like reassurance, before I lost it completely. When I tried to reach for him again, Ray reached out with his free hand and shoved- catching me off-guard and sending me falling to the floor.