Golden Binds

“Let me fucking go!”

She slammed her fists down on Wild Man’s back. She kicked her legs, wiggling. An arm was placed over the back of her thighs and then a hand landed firmly on her ass.

“Settle down,” Wild Man growled.

What? Was he fucking kidding her? She whacked her fists down on his back, letting out a scream of epic proportions. He smacked her ass again. And again. He was relentless, showing her no mercy. Soon her ass was burning. The sting morphing to a deep heat.

Her cheeks burned with humiliation. Even worse, she caught sight of Mr. Hottie out of the corner of her eye where he lay slumped on the sofa, an ice pack held to the back of his head. And he was smiling.

Jerk. Bastard.

She was going to kill them all.

Gradually, the fight went out of her, exhaustion flooding her. The hand landed against her ass several more times, and she felt tears drip down her face.

“Are you done?” A deep voice asked her.

She sniffled.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.” He started walking, but she kept her head down, her hair flowed around her, giving her the illusion of privacy.

Yeah, she was done. For now.

* * *

She glared around the small, barren cell she’d been shoved inside a few hours ago. At the time, she’d been so humiliated she hadn’t taken much notice of her surroundings. She couldn’t believe that asshole had spanked her. Carlin, for all his violent tendencies towards other people, had never once laid a hand on her. And neither had her parents.

What gave that jerkwad the right to spank her? She couldn’t even sit because her ass was too sore. Not that there was anywhere to sit. The only things in the room were a bucket and a disgusting, stained mattress that she wouldn’t touch for all the gold in the castle.

It was fucking cold down there. Her teeth chattered. She rubbed her hands along her arms as she paced up and down the tiny cell. There was no window. The only light came from one crackling florescent bulb on the ceiling, which barely lit the room. The door was made of thick steel and locked.

She paused in her pacing to stare down at the bucket in disgust. Seriously. This was inhumane. Even Carlin treated his prisoners better. Not that he kept many, unless they were being used for ransom. Mainly he just shot them.

Yeah, she knew she sounded callous about the whole thing. But he didn’t go after innocents. Oldstown was a rough place to live. It was basically divided into two areas. There was Carlin’s territory and the piece of the city the Gio family ran. They had an uneasy truce. Still, if any of Gio’s men were caught on Carlin’s territory, they were fair game. And vice versa.

Just because she’d lived with this all her life didn’t mean she liked it. Hence the reason she needed funds. To get out. And, yes, the irony of committing a crime in order to get away from a life of crime wasn’t lost on her. But theft was a small crime. It wasn’t like she was taking from someone worse off than herself. At least she hadn’t thought so until she’d found her way into the castle. It was obvious these guys didn’t have a lot. And she’d had no intention of hurting anyone.

She chose to ignore the fact she’d knocked one man unconscious and pushed the other one’s balls up into his throat. Guilt filled her. Then she looked at that damn bucket again. And the rage returned.

“I am not fucking peeing in a bucket!” she yelled at the walls. “Do you hear me? Someone better get me to a toilet soon because that is not fucking happening!”

Nothing.

“You can’t keep me locked up here. People will come searching for me. I have a lot of friends.”

She had exactly one friend. And he was a rat.

But they didn’t know that. She figured they were just trying to scare her. They wanted her to crack and tell them who she was. That had to be it.

Shit. She was so screwed. When her brother found out she was gone he was going to go insane. Thankfully, he probably wouldn’t notice until tomorrow. She didn’t usually eat with him, and no one kept tabs on her.

And she’d be out of here by tomorrow, right?

She’d better be, or she was going to make those jerks pay. Somehow.

* * *

“I cannot believe you took her clothes.” Joseph scowled at his middle brother.