God … no! I manage to roll, flipping onto my stomach and try to get my knees underneath me for leverage to yank on my hands, trying to break the belt. He’s tied the loose end to the bed. I ignore the twist in my arms it causes at this angle.
“Oh no.” My hips are grabbed, and I’m spun back onto my back. Law has crawled onto me this time. His hips pin mine down, and his fingers curl around my forearms, holding them onto the bed above my head.
I scream at the top of my lungs and kick, trying to buck my hips. But nothing stops them. I feel the belt being removed, and I’m shoved farther up the bed, placing my arms through the tight bars, and cold metal instantly replaces it. “Better,” Scout praises.
It all happened too fast for me to even try to fight it.
Law jumps up off me. I close my eyes and begin to sob. He grips my chin and yanks my head, forcing me to look up into his pretty blues eyes. They’re such a contradiction to his evil soul. “Don’t let us down, doll. We’re counting on you to survive.” He smiles.
“Ple … ase.”
“Now is not the time to beg, doll. But if I was you, I would try to keep it down. Right now, it’s Wednesday night. By Friday evening, this place will be crawling with people. And guys …” He runs his free hand down the center of my shirt, and I hold my breath. “They might find you here and take advantage of the situation.” Then they both walk out of the room, and I hear their laughter carry as they make their way down the stairs. Until nothing.
Only silence and darkness cover me, and that terrifies me more than anything. I’ve been to Death Valley more times than I can count and never been in this building or this room. But Law was right. This place will be crawling with kids by the weekend, and I can’t be a sitting duck.
The coldness that surrounds this room feels like it falls on me, like a weighted blanket. So heavy, it makes it hard to breathe.
“Calm down, Henley,” I say to myself, trying to catch my breath and lick my wet lips, tasting my salty tears. “There has to be a way out.”
I jerk on my hands and instantly regret it. The cuffs are much more unforgiving than the belt was. The metal cuts into my already sensitive skin. I arch my back to try to get a look at them, but it’s too dark.
There’s a little light over where the large stone door is open, but I’m too far away. But I … I stop everything and try to think.
This has to be the smallest bed I’ve ever seen. And they didn’t tie each wrist to a separate metal bar. So, it’s not like I have to get them both loose. Just one. And my legs, they didn’t tie them down. Is it because they think I have less strength than I actually do? They drugged me and think all I can do is lie here waiting until they come back.
I let out a sob of joy that I actually have a plan that may work. I just have to will my body to fucking move. I roll off the side of the bed and whimper when my hip hits the concrete floor. Thankful the bed sits low. My arms are stretched out, crossed over the other, and my skin is ripping, but I manage to get up to my wobbly feet. I wrap my hands around the thin bar and drag it while walking backward to the opening of the room.
The sound of the metal scraping against the concrete doesn’t even bother me. My body is in flight mode to get the fuck out of here. I ignore the fact that it’s hard for me to breathe and that the room sways.
Yanking one last time, I get it through the opening and almost cry that I can see better. My wrists are rubbed raw from the belt, but the cuffs have them bleeding. I’ve got bruises on my forearms from Law holding them down. I don’t even want to know what my neck looks like.
I crawl back onto the bed and get on my knees, facing the headboard, looking it over. Five bars run vertically and then two horizontally—one at the top and the bottom—which prevents me from just sliding upward and out.
I throw my head back and scream out in frustration. “I’m going to kill them,” I say through gritted teeth, shaking the bars with my fists.
Closing my eyes, I bow my head and take in a deep breath, trying to calm down. I’m closer to getting free than I was two minutes ago.