***
Pain.
That was all I knew.
Pain in my face. Pain in my chest. And a dull ache in my heart as the memories of what had happened to Micah and Axel came flooding back to me.
He’d hurt them. He’d hurt me. My jaw ached, and I had a splitting headache. It felt like I’d run face-first into a brick wall.
It took all of my willpower to keep my eyes shut and to stay quiet as the bumps in the road jostled me. Pretending to be unconscious would buy me a few more precious seconds to think, to block out the pain, and take stock of my situation without drawing any unnecessary attention to myself.
I was in a vehicle, and my hands were tied behind my back. Those were the only two things I was certain of. I wiggled my fingers and wondered if there was a way I could untie my hands without being seen.
But no.
The rope was tight, and I didn’t need to open my eyes to know I was sitting next to someone. Someone who was breathing heavily and humming along to a tune that played only in his head. Someone who smelled of tobacco and rain and dirt.
Randy Johnson.
Randy fucking Johnson.
Ugh, seriously? Of all the people who had tormented me in high school, Randy Johnson had barely even been on my radar. He’d been a spoiled rich kid, and my family had been so poor that my parents had gotten married just for the rice.
Okay, that was a line from a movie, but it was still sort of true in my life as well as in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.
We’d barely spoken back in school, and I’d always thought he was sort of a creep. The few times Randy had actually talked to me, he’d left me with the impression that he thought I should have been grateful for his attention.
Which was just... gross.
Maybe it wasn’t anything to do with me, and Randy had been holding a grudge against Axel and Micah for some reason. That wouldn’t have surprised me much since I’d been holding a grudge of my own right up until very recently.
That would have explained the way he broke in and started beating the hell out of them while we all slept, at least. In which case, why was I in that situation?
But what about me? Did that make me collateral damage? A hostage?
I might not have fully understood why he’d done it, but there was no way I was ever going to forget the smug, hateful look on his face as he stood over Axel and Micah’s crumpled bodies.
Had Randy shoved the three of us in the vehicle together? Were Axel and Micah lying on the floor of the vehicle, still unconscious? Or worse?
That question finally made me crack open my eyes.
My head throbbed as I looked around, but I didn’t see Micah or Axel anywhere in the front or back of Randy’s pickup. And I honestly wasn’t sure whether I should be happy or worried that I was all alone with the creep.
“Look who decided to wake up for the party,” Randy sneered, glancing over in my direction. He reached out to pat my leg, and I tried to flinch away, but there wasn’t anywhere to go, and it wasn’t like I could stop him with my hands tied behind my back.
Thank God I wasn’t naked. Well... not completely. Randy had wrapped me in a blanket before kidnapping me, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think that had been for my benefit.
No doubt he hadn’t wanted to draw any extra attention to us—the kind of attention that would definitely come with transporting a bound, naked woman in the front seat of his truck.
“Always so feisty,” he sighed, thankfully pulling his hand away. “That’s what I like about you.” He paused, then added, “You’ll come around, and you’ll realize all the things you like about me, too.”
I wanted to throw up. Adrenaline, fear, and his gross words were a nauseating combination. “I don’t like anything about you. What did you do to Axel and Micah?”
He raised a brow. “Would you be too upset if I told you I killed them?”
I gasped, then choked as I turned my head away from him—my God. I really was going to be sick.
“Oh, relax,” he grunted. “Your little boyfriends aren’t dead. Or they weren’t when I left, at least. But that isn’t something you need to worry about, anyway. You won’t be seeing them again anytime soon.”
My stomach churned again, and I had to struggle to hold back a sudden rush of tears that welled up in my eyes. The thought of never seeing Axel or Micah again had not so long ago seemed like a dream come true. Literally the answer to all of my high school prayers.