Make You Beg
“Wanna go back in there and fuck?” Law asks.
“No,” I snap, shoving Scout away from me, but he grabs the chain of the handcuffs and yanks me back to him. I hiss in a breath, the pain almost buckling my already weak knees.
Sliding his hand into his pocket, he produces the key and undoes the cuffs. I cry out when the metal is removed from the indentions they’ve carved in my small wrists in such little time. “Come on. Let’s head back,” he says but doesn’t apologize or explain what in the fuck just happened. Did Law make up that story about the boys that went here? If not, what significance does it have? Why tell me anything?
“You get shotgun,” Law says to me.
“Why?” I eye him skeptically.
“Because I don’t trust you to sit in the back and not try to strangle me from behind.” He winks at me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
HENLEY
OVER THE THIRTY-minute drive back to Law’s mother’s house, my strength began to come back. My vision didn’t get blurry once, but my headache is still in full force. I need some Advil and twelve hours of sleep. Whatever they gave me may be leaving my system, but my body is shutting down. It needs rest. And a drink.
Scout pulls up into the driveway, and we get out. Making our way into the house, I hear the guys playing video games in the living room. Were they here the entire time? Why did they choose to stay behind?
We enter, and Dax looks at me, dropping his controller.
“BOOM!” Rellik shouts, throwing his hands up in the air, and I cringe at the sound ringing in my ears. “Bitches …” His celebration fades as he sees me. “That was fast,” he announces.
“Fuck, man. She wasn’t even in there ten minutes.” Law sounds disappointed that my fear of being restrained to a bed didn’t take long.
“Should have given her more,” Dax states, tilting his head, running his eyes over my dirty clothes and tangled hair. What little makeup I had left is now running down my face from the earlier tears, snot, and drool.
He just proved my theory. “What did you give me?” I demand, my voice still rough from being choked.
Of course, no one answers. “Is there another test tonight?” I decide to ask, breaking the silence. “Or may I go to bed now?” I’m fading and fast. I need sleep. And I’m not sure what else I could handle at the moment.
“Give us a minute,” Dax tells the room in a clipped voice.
I square my shoulders, although I just want to fall flat on my face in the middle of the living room. Maybe I should ask Rellik to choke me out again. Then they would let me rest.
The guys leave without saying a word, heading toward the kitchen, leaving us alone once again. Silence fills the room. “You have something to say?” I sigh.
He smirks. “All of a sudden getting a backbone, Henley?” He nods to himself. “Good for you, but it’s too late.”
“I don’t know …”
“This ends tonight!” he shouts, making me jump unexpectedly. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me? You could have ruined my life!”
“Because you did something you shouldn’t have done,” I snap back.
The next thing I know, he’s in my face. “Rellik doesn’t give a shit about you, Henley. Law and Scout only keep you around to fuck their little whore.” He pulls his lip back with disgust. “It’s shameful that you enjoy it. But me?” He shakes his head and takes a step back. “I want to wrap my hands around your throat and watch the life drain out of your eyes. Law and Scout came up with that plan tonight. Know what I wanted to do to you?”
“What?” I ask, wanting to know. I want to know just how sick his mind can get. It will help me better understand why he killed Brenda.
“I wanted to bury you alive in a box in the woods. And I wanted to sit beside it and listen to you cry and beg. I wanted to hear the true panic in your voice. I wanted to know that when I walked away, you were dead.” He turns his back on me.
“Is that what you did with Brenda?” I demand. “Buried her in the woods for no one to ever find?”
He spins back around and backhands me across the face.
It’s so hard; it has me falling onto the couch, making me cry out. I hold my throbbing face as he glares down at me. Bending over, he places both hands on either side of me on the couch. “You think you’re scared of the others? Keep pushing me, and you will see just what kind of monster I can be. They can’t protect you forever.”
“Monroe.”
I look over to see Scout now standing in the living room. My scream apparently alerted him. He crosses his arms over his chest.