Ryan (Mallick Brothers 2)

"Shut the fuck up and get out of my goddamn way," Albert snapped, making a couple of the others chuckle. "You want me to tell Dom you're the reason we're standing out in broad mother fucking daylight with a prisoner when we should be inside and out of sight from prying eyes?"

At that, the man actually paled and I felt my stomach clench so hard I doubled forward as much as Albert's hold would allow. If that scumbag paled at the mention of Dom's name, he must have been a whole new world of bad.

And my fate was in his hands.

Albert moved to push me forward and I couldn't, I just couldn't think of anything else to do but plant my feet. So that was what I did. Albert's arm on my stomach did a little squeeze, almost reassuring, before it tightened and lifted me up off my feet and carried me awkwardly toward the doorway, the men moving out of the way to allow us to pass.

The inside was as dark as one would think from the outside. It didn't help that the walls were painted a gray so dark that it was almost black. The walls themselves were cinderblock, narrow, leading in a long hallway back that seemed to fork off in three different directions.

I was vaguely aware of the shuffle of footsteps behind us as Albert took the hall to the right and halfway down moved into the doorway of a room. It was massive. In its former life, it might have been used as some kind of rec center or gym or conference hall. The walls were still cinderblock, dark, and windowless. But the ceiling had long strips of overhead fluorescent lighting that made me wince at the unnaturalness of it. Toward the left side of the room against the wall, as if confirming my suspicions about the space, was a small stage maybe only three feet off the ground.

On that stage was three chairs.

In the center chair was Dom.

There was no mistaking him.

He and Albert could have been twins.

Everything about him seemed dark and cruel from his eyes to his all black jeans and tee to the scar down one side of his face. And he was sitting there like he was some freaking king holding court.

"Well, finally," he said, his voice a little more nasal than his brother's, a trait I found almost amusing even given the situation. "Take the goddamn scenic route?"

"The cunt got..." the driver started.

"I was talking to my brother," Dom cut him off. "The stupid cunt did what, Al?" he asked and against Albert's hand, I could feel my lip curl up at that. You could tell a lot about a man with how freely they used the 'c-word'.

Given the state of little bloody claw marks all up and down his arms and face, he wasn't exactly in a position to lie. "Put up a bit of a fight," Al said, doing the belly-squeeze thing again and everything in me wanted to turn around and hit him as hard as my admittedly much smaller frame would allow. How dare he try to reassure me, call me sweetheart when he was bringing me home like a rat to his owner?

"I see that," Dom said, looking over his brother before his eyes moved to me. And they did an inspection- over my face, my chest, my stomach, my legs. Every inch of my body felt greasy and I had a strange, almost overwhelming urge to claw my skin off, like there were bugs under it, like they were squirming. "Oh, well," he said, giving me a smile. "How come you guys always leave out the best parts? She's a pretty little hellion, huh? Think she's got a pretty cunt to go with that pretty face?"

Oh, God.

I closed my eyes, trying to force myself to take a breath, trying to not get sick, while also simultaneously wishing there was a way to hold my breath until I died without survival instinct kicking in... or maybe choking on my own sick. Anything, literally anything other than living through his and his mens' hands on me.

"Why don't you bring her a little closer, Al? I need to have a little chat with her. Albert lifted me up again, putting me back down on my feet with my toes actually touching the stage. "I think you can let her go now," Dom said, waving a dismissive hand toward the seat next to him, inviting his brother up. "She can't get anywhere with Ray standing guard, right Ray?" he asked and, despite myself, I turned my head ever so slightly to see the driver. Ray.

"Right. She's not going anywhere until I get all up in that tight ass of hers."

"They'll be a time for that later," Dom said, making my belly slosh around ominously. "First things first, we have another guest to wait for."