“Tonight,” Raf cuts in, shoving up from the couch and stuffing his phone into his pocket. “Nothing has changed. We’ll move forward as planned, maybe torture her a little extra for thinking she could threaten us.”
“Have a little patience, Wes,” I add, flashing him a wolfish grin. “You’ll have those pretty lips wrapped around your dick again in no time.”
CHAPTER 13
AVA
After spendingthe afternoon with Bryce on the roof, I’m starting to feel normal again. More like myself.
Sure, I’m still trapped here. Mom still isn’t answering her phone, and I even resorted to trying Gideon, but of course he didn’t pick up either. I don’t have a car, so I can’t leave campus– and even if I could, where would I go? The sad truth is that I’m stuck, so I’m just going to have to make the best of it. I’m not about to throw away my opportunity at a real future because a bunch of fuckboys decided to target me.
I’ve already warned Wes to stay away, and I figure as long as I steer clear of the rest of them, I can make this work. I’ll keep my head down, focus on my studies, and maybe occasionally hang out with people like Richelle or Bryce– potential friends whoaren’tcomplete psychopaths. I can have the true college experience if I let go a little and allow myself to embrace it. The events of last night will eventually become just a blip in my time at Corvus College, fading from memory until I hardly remember at all.
Those are the thoughts that drift through my mind as I lay in bed that night, and they keep me content enough to fall into adeep sleep. So deep that it makes being suddenly woken up even more jarring.
A large hand slams down over my mouth, and my eyes fly open to see a dark figure hovering above my bed, shrouded in shadows. He raises his other hand to his lips, placing a single finger over them in a signal for me to stay quiet.
Yeah right.
I immediately launch into a full-fledged panic, kicking and flailing and screaming into the palm of my assailant. Unfortunately, that’s when I realize he isn’t alone. Someone else has grabbed ahold of my arms and legs–two someones– and fear takes root as it sinks in who these midnight thieves are. I may not be able to see their faces through the dark, but judging by their looming statures and the fact that there are three of them, it’s easy to connect the dots, even in my terrified state.
When they start to lift me from my bed, I fight harder, my screams muffled against the palm still clasped firmly over my mouth. I shake my head back and forth as I continue my attempts to yell for help, my eyes darting around the room in search of something,anything, to put a stop to this. They land on my roommate, safely tucked in her bed across from mine. Her own eyes are open, looking right back at me, and I scream louder, fight harder, holding eye contact with her in a plea for help.
Richelle’s lips move, and for a second, I actually think she’s going to come to my aid. But instead, she just mouths the word ‘sorry’, then gathers her fluffy duvet in her hands and lifts it to cover her head, rolling over to face the wall.
Fucking coward.
My heart sinks as the realization sets in that nobody’s going to save me. It’s three against one, and even if I wasn’t severely outnumbered right now, I’m no physical match for any of theseboys. That doesn’t mean I don’t continue to fight with everything I have, though.
I won’t go quietly.
“Fucking gag her or something,” one of them mutters.
“Can’t we just knock her out?”
“No.”
That last reply comes from the one with his hand over my mouth, the deep, foreboding bass of his voice rattling down to my bones. His other hand wraps around my throat, applying pressure to my windpipe as he leans his face down right in front of mine.
“If you don’t want me to break this pretty little neck of yours, then you’ll shut the fuck up,” he warns.
My blood turns to ice in my veins. I’ve heard that voice before, delivering another warning just last night.
‘Play nice, Ava.’
My eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, and when he pulls back, I can make out the sharp lines of his profile, my pulse hammering in recognition.My stepbrother.
Without taking his eyes off mine, he slowly peels his hand away from my mouth, flexing his grip threateningly around my throat as he does. Paralyzed by fear, I don’t make a peep– not even when another one of the guys, who has a firm hold around my middle from behind, forces my mouth open and stuffs a wad of fabric inside. Then he slips a hood over my head and I’m plunged into darkness once more.
The lack of vision makes it difficult to piece together what happens next. My hands are wrenched in front of me, my wrists secured together by something tight. Then I’m picked up and flung over a broad shoulder, carried out of my room and into the hallway. The way I’m jostled as we descend three fights of stairs makes me nauseous, and when I hear a door open and feel the bite of cool night air against my skin, exposed to the elementssince I’m in nothing but a thin camisole and a little pair of sleep shorts, a feeling of dread settles in the pit of my stomach.
I don’t make it easy for them. I exhaust myself by trying to fight the whole way, not knowing where they’re taking me but fearing it all the same. The one carrying me curses and complains until another takes over, his hands wandering unabashedly over the backs of my thighs. He squeezes and kneads my flesh until my mind’s so twisted up that some of the fight in me dies out.
That fight returns in full force when I hear the gentle lap of water against the shore, and it dawns on me that they’ve taken me out to the lake.
They’re going to fucking drown me.
I completely wig out, writhing and kicking and slamming my bound hands down over and over against the guy’s back until he actually loses his grip, dropping me onto the ground.
