Ride or Die (Rejects Paradise 4)

Torture.

And I just became Nic’s newest victim.

I don’t need to see his face to know that this is Nic. He’d never let any of his men touch me. You know, apart from dragging me off the street and stuffing me into a van for two hours.

I can sense him, the sound of his footsteps as he transfers his weight from one foot to the other, the gruff sound of his leather jacket as his arms swing past his body, and that smell. It’s the smell of my teen years, the smell of home. That familiar smell was once a comfort to me. It told me that Nic was near and that everything was going to be okay. Now, it means something much, much worse, something sinister and devastating.

I try to prepare myself. The echoes bouncing off each wall are making it impossible to pinpoint just how far away he is, which makes any form of preparation useless. What am I going to do? Wait until he rips this thing off my head and then run? Where? I have no idea where the door is, and my hands are still bound behind my back, probably somehow tied to this stiff, wooden chair.

I’m screwed. I just have to hope that Nic won’t take it too far. Maybe he’s just trying to scare me or use me as bait to lure in the Wolves.

Either way, I’m fucked.

With every step he takes, my heart breaks just a little bit more. How did it come down to this?

I feel that same flutter in my stomach, and I find myself holding my breath. Why does the little rape reminder have to come up and give me all sorts of feels right now? There’s no time for this. Though one thing is for sure, now that I can feel it, it seems so much more real, and with that comes a whole new level of momma bear protective bullshit. I don’t know if I want to keep this baby, but I sure know that nobody is about to hurt it, and if they do, they’ll be more than fucked.

The footsteps grow closer, and when I feel a soft breeze brush over my skin, I know that I’m out of time. Nic walks around me, not saying a damn word and only making this so much worse.

My hands clench into fists, and I tug against my binds, a loud grunt of frustration pulling from deep within me. I spent two hours in that damn van with my ribs aching, and who the hell knows how many hours I’ve spent in this ridiculous chair. My ass is aching, my stomach growling, and I need to fucking pee. I’m not the bitch anyone wants to be dealing with right now.

I squirm in my chair, desperately pulling and trying to free myself despite knowing damn well that I’m not going anywhere. This isn’t Nic’s first rodeo. He knows every last trick in the book by now and being my first time in this situation, I'm sure that dealing with me will be as easy as taking candy from a baby. You know, one of those babies that don’t know any better, not the ones who hold onto shit for dear life.

Despite having Nic at my back, I sense him lean into me, although he doesn’t touch an inch of my skin. Call it female intuition, or maybe I just know Nic well enough to know what he’s going to do before even he knows. Let’s hope it’s the second option. At least that way, I might have the slightest hope of getting out of here.

“Stop fighting it,” Nic murmurs, his breath rushing past my ear, his voice low and deadly. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Give it up, Nic,” I growl, slamming my head back and cracking him in the face, getting the slightest satisfaction out of his grunt of pain. “This shit isn’t funny. Untie me and let me walk out of here. Otherwise, you’re going to have every single Wolf on your doorstep, tearing this place to shreds.”

“I highly doubt that,” Nic laughs, though I hear the pain in his voice. “Is this how you want to play this?” he questions. “You’re down for petty threats and pain because baby, you know damn well that I’d love to play along.”

“I’m not your baby,” I snap, always hating how he’s never been able to stop calling me that, even now. “Take this fucking bag off my head. If you’re going to try and hurt me, then at least have the balls to do it while looking into my eyes.”

“You don’t think I will?” he questions, his hand dropping to the top of my head and peeling the bag off.

I blink into the room as I adjust to the brightness, but in reality, it’s not actually that bright. The room is dark except for one low hanging light bulb gently swinging above my head. Nic moves around me and steps right in front of my face, letting me see him. “Really?” I laugh. “You want to use the light bulb bullshit to try and intimidate me? You think that this is going to work because you know everything about me, but maybe you’ve forgotten that the door swings both ways. I know all your dirty little tricks, Nic. It’s not going to work.”