Slate took the handcuffs away from Hock, throwing them at his feet. “Put them on.”
It really wasn’t much of a choice. He would rather have his mind and body under his own control with a chance of escape versus him being at Slate’s mercy.
Bending down, he picked up the handcuffs, clicking one around his wrist. Then he put both hands behind his back, maneuvering the other cuff around his free wrist.
“Turn around.”
Gavin turned, showing he had the cuffs on. Hearing footsteps behind him, he then felt hands checking that they were on tight before Ink took his arm and shoved him toward the stairs.
“Hock, get that shit bucket changed out. It smells like a sewer down here.”
Slate went up first, then him with Hock and Ink following behind. Gavin was tempted to push them down the steps, but his chances of escaping weren’t high enough to risk, since Slate had taken the gun from Ink. He needed to know the layout of the house, and to do that, he needed his mind clear to remember the details.
Entering through the bedroom closet, they led him to the side and into a bathroom. Slate and Ink stood in the doorway, allowing him to use the bathroom and shower. It wasn’t easy to manage with his hands behind his back. They’d refused to even turn the shower knob on, so it took a lot of twisting and turning, setting off spikes of pain in his still injured ribs.
Getting out of the shower, dripping water, he stopped being compliant, knowing there was no way he could dry off with his hands cuffed.
“You want to let me dry off?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Slate stepped away from the doorway to let him out. “You’re just going to get wet again.”
Gavin exited the bathroom, not liking the way Slate and Ink were looking at him.
“Get moving. Everyone’s waiting.” Slate used the gun to motion toward a closed door.
Gavin went to the door, and as he approached, Hock opened it, then hastily stepped away, letting him go in first.
Walking down a hallway, Slate directed him through another hallway, then through another door, bringing him to a backyard surrounded by trees. Gavin went down the small flight of steps, when he felt the nudge of the gun on his back. He shut his eyes at the glare from the sun, realizing it wasn’t as late in the day as he’d thought.
There were at least twenty people standing around with drinks in their hands as if they were having a party. When they turned and stared at him, his stomach clenched in dread. Unconcerned that he could see their faces, coupled with the fact they weren’t horrified that a naked man was being led into the yard with his hands cuffed behind his back and were excitedly talking amongst themselves, made him want to take off running. It became very clear he wasn’t the first victim to be paraded in front of them.
Catching one man’s gaze, he somehow knew it was the one that Slate called Butcher. His cloudy-green gaze held a vicious quality, like someone who got joy out of torturing the weak.
“Everyone, let me introduce Reaper. If anyone wants to increase their bet, go ahead. Just raise your hand and Chain will be by to get your money.”
The talking increased in volume as several hands went up in the air. Gavin stared at the faces, memorizing them and adding more names to his mental list of people who would die.
“One of you should really be smart and call the cops, because when I get away from these sick fuckers, I’m going to kill every fucking one of you.” Gavin stared pointedly at every person in the yard.
It didn’t bode well that Slate didn’t stop him from threatening his audience, and having more hands go up in the air made it even worse.
“If that’s it, the betting is now closed. Let’s get the first part of the show over so we can move on to the best part of the night.” Slate took his arm and led him to a plastic blowup pool that reached his waist.
Gavin cocked an eyebrow at Slate when he stopped him. “You want me to swim?”
Slate burst out laughing, and so did the others who were watching. “Nothing as mundane as that. You see, Reaper, I told my friends what you did in the service. We want to see how long you can stay under water.”
“You can all go fuck yourselves.”
The feeling of dread came back when laughter erupted again.
“Reaper, we didn’t expect to have your cooperation.”
Before he could move, Gavin was tackled. Ink took one arm and Raff the other, throwing him to the ground while the one named Butcher grabbed one of his legs and Chain secured his other one in a tight grip.