“Well, how about this. You ask her whatever you want to know, and if she is being a good bitch and tells you everything, then I won’t hurt her,” Paul grins, and I already know he is full of shit. He will hurt me either way.
“Just tell us, Stella, what did Easton and Cameron do to James?” Katie asks me, pinning me with a gaze that’s both desperate and apologetic.
“I-I don’t know…” As soon as the words leave my lips, Paul pulls back his hand and swings at me. The palm of his hand makes contact with my face, making my head snap to the side, right before a searing pain erupts across my cheek. The coppery taste of blood fills my mouth, and a whimper escapes my quivering lips.
“Stella,” Katie’s voice cuts through the fog of pain. “Tell me, and this will all be over. We’ll let you go. I promise. I just want to know the truth. I want to know what happened to him.”
I wish I could believe her, but even if she was telling the truth, could I tell them? I already know the answer. No… I couldn’t. I gave Cam and Easton my word, but more than that, I couldn’t bear them going to prison, because that would mean I couldn’t be with them.
I’m so stupid for having that epiphany now, in the worst time and place. Why couldn’t I have realized how much they really mean to me a few hours earlier. I wouldn’t be in this mess. I would be safe and sound in bed, waiting for them to return. I should have stayed, should have fought for them instead of giving up so easily.
Swallowing hard, I say quietly, “I’m sorry, Katie. I just don’t know…”
“You’re a fucking lying bitch!” she yells, hurt dripping like venom from her voice. “Maybe I should leave you two alone for a few hours and see if you remember something then.”
“Katie, please,” I beg. “You know what he’ll do to me.”
“Maybe that’s what you need. Maybe that’s what’s going to get you off your high and mighty horse. Too good to work at the strip club? You think I didn’t see how you looked at all of us girls working there?”
“Katie, that’s not true. I just couldn’t do it. I don’t think I’m better than anyone,” I plead with her, but it falls on deaf ears.
“Lies! You lie! All you do is lie…” She keeps repeating it like she is trying to convince herself. I shake my head, tears falling from the corners of my eyes. “Just do whatever you want to do with her,” Katie says, her voice cracking at the end, giving her emotions away. She might not be okay with this, but she turns around and walks out of the room anyway.
Through my tears, I look at Paul, who is smiling like he just won the lottery. “Now, it’s time for us to have some fun. Don’t you think, Stella?”
Part of me wants to beg, scream, and cry, but I know damn well it won’t do me any good. There weren’t any houses close by, and Katie is not going to help me. Squeezing my eyes shut, I will my mind to go somewhere else because if I don’t, I don’t know if I’ll survive this.
24
Easton
I knew it, I fucking knew it. “I told you she would leave! We shouldn’t have trusted her. It was a fucking mistake, and I told you so!” I yell as I look out the open window of my room.
“Calm down. This is exactly why we uploaded the tracking app to her phone. Plus, she has no money, she can’t have gone far. Pull up the app and find her.” Cam tries to calm me while trying to stay calm himself, but I know him well enough to see that he is struggling.
Getting my phone out, I open the app he is talking about, so I can ping her phone. It only takes a few seconds before the red dot appears on the map, but it might as well have been hours. Every moment I don’t know where she is and that she is safe feels like a fucking eternity.
“Where is she?” Cam asks impatiently. I tilt the phone in his direction so he can see the screen as well.
“I have no clue where that is? But it’s only a twenty-five-minute drive.”
“Let’s go,” Cam says, but we are both already moving. We are out the door and in my car moments later. Cam puts the address into the GPS while I pull out of the driveway and into the road.
The closer we get to the address, the faster my heart is beating, because I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get my hands on her. I’m so fucking mad, so mad that I’m worried about actually hurting her this time.