"Are you shitting me?"
"No, I am not shitting you." I was starting to lose track of the conversation.
He clenched his jaw. "I fucking know you wouldn't cheat on me, Lulu. Doesn't mean I want some other guy putting his filthy hands on you."
"However you spin it, it sounds like you don't trust me."
"I trust you. I don't trust them." He jerked his chin to the dance floor. "And you're sure as hell not thinking straight right now."
Whoa, whoa. What?
"I don't like what you're implying," I said, not loud, but his eyes were on my mouth and I knew he read my lips.
"I'm not implying any-damn-thing."
I planted my hands on my hips. This argument had nothing to do with what just happened and we both knew it. "You think I'm being stupid. That I'm some overly emotional female. That I left you without thinking it through, admit it?"
He jerked back. "Left me?"
Shit. "I didn't mean . . . I . . ."
The muscle in his jaw jumped. "Right now isn't the time for this discussion."
"Agreed. Which is why you two should leave," I said motioning to Neco.
Ruby tried to move closer, but Neco snaked a hand around her waist stopping her. "Stay out of it," he growled.
The expression on Hunter's face went from wanting to shake me to wanting to strangle me with his bare hands. "I'm not going anywhere. No fucking way am I leaving you alone here like this. Woman, you're drunk off your ass."
I was too stubborn and too angry to back down. The cocktails weren't helping either. So I shrugged. "Fine. I'll leave."
"Like hell," he gritted out.
God, I hated fighting with Hunter. I hated being separated from him. Seeing him here tonight had just made it worse.
My eyes and nose started stinging. Shit. I was going to start crying, and not just a few tears. I was on the verge of extreme ugly crying and there was no way to stop it. I needed to get away, clear my fuzzy head. With that the only thought in my mind, I spun on my heels, shoved through the crowd, and ran in the opposite direction. People closed around me and I pushed through, hitting the hall to the bathrooms and sprinting to the door at the end with "Exit" above it.
That's when it happened. One minute I was running, hand lifted to shove through the door, the next . . .
Nothing.
I woke up in the dark.
The first thing I became aware of was the fact that I was not alone. The second was that I couldn't move. At all. My body felt weighted down by something-by someone.
I froze, every muscle locking up tight while my mind scrambled for answers. Images, conversations, flashed through my mind. The last thing I remembered was running though the club after my confrontation with Hunter. Then nothing.
Whatever had been used to knock me out made my limbs weak, like soggy noodles. Had someone stunned me? Fear fired through me, sending spikes of pain along every nerve ending.
Wherever I was, it did not smell great. The mattress underneath me felt damp and cold, the musty scent of mold so strong I could taste it. Whoever was on top of me didn't smell great either. I sucked a panicked breath in through my nose, biting my lips together to stop from screaming. I wanted to shove him off and run, but his weight was almost fully on top of me, unmoving, and unfortunately for me, still breathing. His mouth was close to my cheek, and every exhale sent a wave of rancid, stale breath across my face.
I had to move, do something, get the hell out of there. I tried to ease my arms free, and realized they were tied together, tight. Oh dear God. My leg had some wiggle room, so I reached out with my foot for the edge of the bed. He still hadn't moved, so when I felt the lip of the mattress, I hooked my heel over the side and tried to drag myself out from under my kidnapper.
I managed to get my right hip and half of my torso out from under him, but my hair pulled painfully when I tried to move my head. He was lying on it. Shit. Shit. Shit. I winced, then lightly and carefully tried to yank it free. As soon as I did this, his arm over my belly tightened. Hard fingers curled into my side.
I froze, lungs seizing, heart hammering so hard I could barely hear anything except the blood rushing through my ears.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I recognized the voice instantly. Pierce.
I jerked back, arms and legs flailing in my renewed effort to get away. "You're dead," the words exploded from me, loud and raw as I bucked and fought.
He rolled fully on top of me, forcing the wind from my lungs. His fingers wrapped around my tied wrists and he shoved them above my head, pushing them into the mattress. "Stop," he hissed. "Now."
My muscles locked up. The depth of ice in his voice sent fear through my blood, enough to render me completely helpless. I blinked into the oppressing darkness, my eyes aching from the strain. Not a single shard of light penetrated. The room was a complete blackout. It felt like the walls were closing in. It was me and him and the bed beneath us. Like Pierce and I were the only people left on the planet. This time there would be no one to save me. No Hunter barging in to drag me home. No escape.
"How?" I rasped. How was he here and not buried in some shallow grave somewhere?
He forced my legs apart with his thigh, grinding his hips into mine, his erection pressing into me. Then his fingers slid down the side of my face.
"That's it. Nice and still, there's my good girl," he crooned, ignoring my question. "Don't be afraid. I forgive you for what you did. I've had time to calm down, to think about it. I know you were just scared. But Hunter's not here. You don't need to be afraid anymore."
I shuddered at his touch, at the words he was saying that made absolutely no sense. How unhinged he sounded.
He chuckled. "You can't hide your reaction to me, to how much you like my hands on you."
The psycho had mistaken my disgust for something else entirely. I shuddered again. "People will be looking for me. . . . they . . ."
"They won't find you."
The certainty in his voice hit like a physical blow. Like a thousand volts firing through my body, again, but this time I was awake to feel it. I didn't want to be awake. I wanted to sleep through it all. My mind seemed to scramble. No words would come, like it was closing down, anything not to think about what was about to happen.
"I've been waiting for my shot at you. I knew that fucker would mess up eventually. I fooled him. I fooled all of you. I knew Tomas wouldn't call in the cops if I left the body in his territory, that there'd be no way to confirm who was wearing the ring. The rest was a little harder, beating someone to the point that they're unrecognizable takes strength and stamina." He was close, so close I could feel his lips move against the corner of my mouth. I fought not to gag. "But it was worth it. And once you tell me where the painting is we can get the fuck out of this city and cash in."
Oh my God. "I don't . . . I don't know where it is . . ."
He stroked my hair back from my face, fingers digging in hard. "I don't believe you. Maybe you're still upset that I got a little rough with you, hmm? I only did it because you were holding out on me. Being a little cock tease. You know that right? It's you I've always wanted, you I was thinking about when I was with your mother. She's gone now. We can be together like we always should have been."
Vomit tried to crawl up my throat. The last time I'd seen him, he'd hurt me, beaten me black and blue, had attempted to rape me. He was living in some sick, twisted fantasy world. I tried to think, think past the fear.
This might be my only chance.
"What are you going to do, Pierce?" I said his name softly, did my best to relax my muscles so my body wasn't so tense beneath him.
He ran his nose along my temple, drawing in a deep breath. "I'm going to sell the painting and then take you away, somewhere hot, maybe near a beach. You can sit around in a bikini all day. Would you like that, sweetheart?"
He was delusional, but I wasn't stupid enough to contradict him. I had to play along until I got my chance to escape. "I-I like the beach."
"I know you do." He kissed a trail along my throat, dragging the neck of my shirt down as he went, pressing his lips to the bare skin he revealed. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to freak-out, tried not to scream and shove him off. "We just need some cash so we can get out of here. The money from the painting won't be enough, and it could take time to find a buyer. But now I have you, I've got a plan, a way out."
His hand moved down over my stomach, to the waistband of my jeans. I held my breath, but his hand didn't go to the zipper, it went to my pocket-and pulled something out. A bright light assaulted my eyes, so blinding I had to squint against it, followed by the little tune that said my phone had just been turned on.
My phone.