Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

I saw red in my vision and when the man reached a hand toward Aleks, I grabbed him by the wrist. The man gasped at my painful hold and pulled his hand free. He was a beefy guy, but not muscular… most of the weight was centered in his belly and chest. His suit, while expensive, couldn’t hide the extra flab, and all it did was make him look like he was trying too hard. He had closely cropped dark hair and a pudgy face, and he looked like your average guy; there was nothing standout about him. Except his eyes…

There was no mistaking the evil in those eyes.

“He’s taken,” I growled as I tried to stick to the role I was supposed to be playing. But I couldn’t have, even if I’d wanted to.

Because Aleks was still whispering the word “no” over and over again.

“Ah, yes,” the man said as he eyed the collar. “I heard about Mr. Black being lucky enough to stumble across our little Aleks here,” he said. “Though it looks like the time away from us has caused a few unacceptable habits,” he added distastefully at Aleks’s continued display of emotion. “What did I always tell you about being good, Aleks?” the man drawled in a voice that had shivers running up my spine.

Aleks began to cry as he slid down the wall and dropped to his ass. I started to kneel down in front of him, but when the man tried to reach for Aleks again, I straightened and shoved him back.

“Hey,” the man snapped as he smoothed out his coat. He seemed to catch himself, like the outburst wasn’t the right reaction. He smiled and said, “Tell your boss that if he needs a hand in retraining this one” – he motioned to Aleks – “I’m happy to help. I prefer younger charges myself, but to each his own, right?” He let his eyes roam over Aleks. “I’m always up for new challenges,” he murmured, his tone positively sickening now. “Tell your boss to come see me after the auction if he wants to take me up on my offer or trade this one in for something a little less… used. A couple of my students are expected to sell for top dollar tonight, though I doubt they’ll go as high as little Aleks did.” He paused and then said, “Tell him to ask for Brian.”

Brian.

As in the Brian who’d been the first man to rape Aleks. Brian, who’d tortured Aleks by making him believe that if he didn’t behave, his brother wouldn’t come for him. Brian, who’d had an innocent woman brutalized and murdered in front of a little boy to teach him a lesson…

It wasn’t something I needed to think about any further. I hit Brian hard enough to knock him out cold. His head hit the wall behind him before he crashed onto the floor. I was on him despite the fact that he was unconscious. It was only Aleks calling my name that eventually got through my muddled brain, and I somehow managed to tell my fists to stop their downward trajectory.

“James, stop,” Aleks said as he frantically grabbed at my sleeve. My knuckles were covered in blood.

As was Brian’s face.

What was left of his face, anyway.

I saw his chest rising and falling, so I knew I hadn’t killed him.

I was glad for that because he wouldn’t have felt even a single one of my punches after the first one.

“James,” Aleks cried. All my faculties returned at once and I remembered where we were and what would happen if we were discovered. My eyes fell on a little piece of white paper on the floor next to Brian.

I snatched it up and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was the door code for the room he’d just been in.

The door right behind us.

I punched the code in and sent my thanks heavenward when the door clicked. I pushed it open, then reached down to grab Brian beneath his armpits. I dragged him into the room and threw him on the floor, then took Aleks’s hand and pulled him inside with me.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

Aleks was staring at Brian’s body. I’d put Brian down face first, so he couldn’t see his front, but it didn’t matter. He was clearly in shock and probably not because of what I’d done. I knew there was no way Aleks would be able to recover enough from this to get through the next fifteen minutes. Not to mention both my hands and probably other parts of me had blood on them. And someone was bound to come looking for Brian at some point, especially once the auction started.

“Aleks, we need to go,” I said. I searched the room. It was simply furnished with a bed, dresser, and nightstand. The bed had clearly been used and I could see a condom discarded on the floor. I felt sick as I went to the bed and snatched the pillow off it. I mentally thanked Con for having had the foresight to make me wear a tie. I ripped the tie off my neck and pulled the pillowcase off the pillow. There were some towels on the nightstand, but the drawers proved to only have condoms, lube, and a handful of sex toys in them. I felt sick to my stomach at the sight and slammed the drawers shut before Aleks could see what was in them.