He attempted to manufacture an excuse they could believe.
“I just… honestly, you can bust my balls all you want, but I don’t think I can get it up with you guys watching. I’m not into that shit.”
“Let’s see,” Lane replied, walking over to the girl and removing her blindfold. When it looked like she might protest again, he grabbed her roughly by the jaw, jerking her gaze to his. “If you open your fucking mouth again, I’m going to give you something decidedly less pleasant than a gag to occupy it, are we clear?”
The girl’s gray eyes widened in terror and she nodded jerkily.
Hit with recognition, Ethan felt like someone socked him in the stomach. The girl they wanted him to rape was the same 18-year-old missing person he had been emailed about hours earlier.
“No one’s had a turn with her yet?”
Lane shook his head. “All yours, Jackie-boy.”
Although she still appeared to be frightened, the girl raised her gaze to meet his and briefly appraised him. He knew what she was seeing—tall, lean, pitch black hair, ice blue eyes, dark stubble along his strong jaw since he hadn’t had a chance to shave in a couple of days. Ethan knew he was attractive, especially when the only other guys in the room were Tito, Lane and Chuck.
But attractive didn’t make rape go down any easier.
Just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach. There was no way in hell he’d be able to perform. Sure, he’d be mocked mercilessly, but at least he would have a valid excuse. Then he’d take the girl into a private room where he wouldn’t be so “shy” and he’d pretend to have sex with her. It would get the guys off his back and hopefully save her from being raped by one of them.
It was the best plan he could come up with under the circumstances.
They needed to transport the fucking girls so he could get the one he came for and get the fuck out of their shitty-ass thug life.
Never, ever again. He was never going undercover so deep ever, ever again. Once he got himself out of there alive, it would be cheating spouses, fraudulent injury claims, and finding girls who hadn’t been abducted by crime rings. Nothing more strenuous than that.
Ethan wished he could let her in on his plan without signaling everyone else, but he couldn’t, so as he shook his head and unzipped his jeans, the horror in her eyes grew. The look of accusation she leveled at him went straight to his gut, but that was good—made it even more unlikely he would be able to rise to the occasion.
As expected, he was not aroused. When he moved to stand behind the girl and lifted up the tiny skirt they had put on her (nothing underneath) he tried not to look right at her round, firm ass as moved his hand over it, giving it a light smack that made the girl jump.
He had to make it seem like he was really trying.
“Is that one Antonio’s daughter?” Tito suddenly asked.
Lane merely nodded, that thin smile spreading across his face again.
“Wouldn’t we make more money off this bitch if we just ransomed her to her daddy?” Tito pointed out, probably trying to think of a way to save Ethan.
“Fuck Antonio. We’ll get our money—out of the bitch’s pussy,” Lane stated.
If they were talking about the Antonio he thought they were talking about, he suddenly wanted to fuck the girl even less. Even if he made it out of the little leagues unscathed, her father would probably track him down and burn his house to the ground with Ethan and his whole family still inside.
A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. What the fuck had he gotten himself into? Amanda had been telling him ever since Alison was born that he needed to stop taking dangerous cases, that one day he would get himself into a mess he couldn’t get out of.
Of all the things for her to be right about.
“He has a point,” Ethan chimed in. “Antonio’s her dad? Antonio Castellanos? You would make a lot more if you ransomed her. I also… don’t want to be castrated when he finds out I raped his daughter.”
“They’re not close,” Lane said, as if that made all the difference. “She was illegitimate, a fling—not a daughter he actually raised. Still, he’ll be insulted when he finds out she’s making Delmonico money on her back.”
Ethan knew Delmonico didn’t like Castellanos, but that seemed like a truly terrible idea—especially for him.
That time, the girl spoke up. “He’ll pay a ransom. We aren’t that close but he’ll pay a ransom as long as I’m unharmed.”
“What did I say about speaking?” Lane snapped.
Ethan couldn’t see her face since he was behind her, so he had to look to Lane to see if he seemed satisfied. He did, so she must have submitted.
“Get on with it,” Lane said, throwing his arms into the air. “I don’t have all day to sit around waiting for you to get hard.”