“You’re not grabbing anything,” I said, but Eddie still had a grip on me, and no matter how hard I punched or pulled, I couldn’t break it. Without being able to get clearance, both arms were grabbed and I was soon being turned and shoved face down over the ice cream fridge.
I struggled, pulling at my arms and seeing what leverage I had. The two holding me down weren’t as strong as the dick I’d saved but they had an arm each and they weren’t holding back. It felt like both limbs had the entire weight of each man bearing down on them. I yanked at my arms again and again, refusing to give up easily.
And where the hell was Fate? Was he taking a nap in the car?
A thought hit me like a kick to the teeth. Maybe he would let this happen to maintain the truce and limit the damage. Maybe he was out there right now, watching everything happen but wasn’t going to get involved. The idea made me sick but he’d already said as much just the other night. I was in this alone.
I never thought I’d be this vulnerable again. I was Karma, for fuck’s sake. How did this stuff keep happening? But there I was, stuck like an insect in sticky tape, and I’d been just as oblivious to the trap as the damn fly. Helpless, that was me. Again.
It was strange how my mind went to the oddest thoughts as I was about to be raped, like the way I couldn’t stop surveying the ice cream in the case below me. I was going to be violated as I stared down at my favorite Toll House ice cream sandwich. Even if they didn’t kill me, I’d never be able to eat one again.
The fact that I was even thinking about an ice cream sandwiches probably meant I was already mentally screwed up from this. Shouldn’t I be crying? Screaming? Was I really this tough or was I just in some sort of shock? I’d like to think I was strong but time would tell, if I lived past this, how many pieces of who I was would still be intact, how human I would be.
My leggings and underwear were roughly yanked down together and I heard fabric ripping. Bastard. Those were new leggings.
“I bet that made you feel really tough, ripping that flimsy fabric like that. Gotta give it to you, Eddie, you’re the man.”
“You’ll know exactly what kind of man I am.” His hand reached forward, at least I thought it was his, and slammed my head back the several inches I’d lifted it off the cooler. I was lucky I’d had it turned to the side or it would’ve been my nose absorbing the blow.
“Look at that ass.” I felt two hands on my back before his friend chimed in, “I get her next.”
“Fuck you. I do,” the other said.
“You can flip for it. Now shut it, you’re fucking up my hard on.”
Such a diplomat. Now I knew what was causing the delay. “Poor Eddie, can’t you get it up?”
My head slammed into the cooler again and my vision wobbled in and out, taking with it my bravado. This was definitely happening and nothing I said would goad him into a fight instead. I could handle a beat down. Nothing about that was new. I didn’t know if I could handle the three of them taking turns on me.
Finally, the dread I’d expected—the sheer horror of the situation—was hitting home and seemingly all at once. It started an avalanche of other thoughts, all the way back to when I’d first signed that contract with Harold.
Greed. It had been my time to die and I’d refused to accept it. I should’ve moved on but I’d taken any opportunity I could. I’d cheated death and for what? To end up like this? What good had come from it? I’d lost everything that I’d been trying to hold on to—my family, my career.
The new situation hadn’t turned out well. I was falling for someone out of reach while the world was falling apart and I couldn’t do a thing about it. Every time I thought I was getting my bearings, I went spinning again. Hell, I spent more time spinning than standing still, until lately it felt like the entire world was shifting with me.
It was too late to dwell. I needed to get past this first, and then I could have the luxury of picking apart my choices. I closed my eyes, trying to put myself somewhere else mentally. This didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. I’d get out of this and forget it ever happened.
Okay, forget might have been an overly optimistic prognosis. I would get over it though. And if they let me live, I’d kill them. One by one, in the most painful way I could devise.
My cheek was cool against the freezer and I imagined myself lying in a field far away. It was a pristine snowy evening, with flakes gently drifting down, coating the ground around me. And there were fireworks above.
Wait, that wasn’t imaginary fireworks, that was gunfire.
“Let her go.” I opened my eyes to see Fate standing in the door with a shotgun, looking like a demented demon. When his eyes glanced my way, I was glad he was on my team. The way he stood, feet braced apart with the butt of the gun against his shoulder, eyes blazing…forget a demon, he looked like the very devil waiting to escort us all to hell.
“We aren’t killing her. There’s nothing you can do about this.” Eddie was speaking but it didn’t sound like he truly believed his own words.
I felt a little slack in my arms but not enough to break free; just enough to be less bruising. I guess his friends heard the same hesitation I did.
“You really believe that?” The words were succinct, crisp and layered with something else that made the hair on my body stand up and pay attention.
If I didn’t know better, it sounded like he was goading them for a fight. But I did know better. Sacrifice one for the greater good. We’d just talked about this the other day. Now that I was the sacrifice, I didn’t expect him to think differently, protective instinct or not. He would’ve let Kitty die and he’d known her for centuries. Letting some girl he’d only known for months get raped wasn’t going to change a philosophy that seemed pretty ingrained in his nature.
He was bluffing and I’d prefer that he just left rather than witness the act.
My current position was humiliating but I forced myself to meet his eyes anyway, and I found the strength to take control, if not of the situation, of at least myself. “It’s okay,” I said but broke eye contact quickly before I followed those two words with something more desperate and truer to how I was feeling.
It would have to be okay. I wouldn’t grovel for help simply to be denied. I had too much pride. I wouldn’t cry for these men to stop. They wouldn’t. I could only control myself and that would have to be enough, because Fate wasn’t going to break a truce for me—one person.
The gun rang out and the hold on my wrists released. I was frozen for less than a second before I stood and yanked my pants up quickly, covering myself. I looked around. It was a good thing I’d developed a stronger stomach because there was blood and little fleshy bits everywhere. He’d shot all three of them quicker than I thought was possible. I’d expected a mess from the warm spray that had hit my exposed skin and there it was. All three of my assailants no longer had faces.
I heard Fate approach as I was tying off the ripped corners of my pants to keep them up. I was still staring at the dead bodies around me. Who knew we’d break the truce first?
I tore my gaze away from the bodies lying there to look at Fate. He looked worse than he had a minute ago and I saw his eyes move from my torso to my wrists. I looked down at myself, not realizing that the guy had torn my shirt as well. There was blood spattered all over me and marks on my arms. “Wow. I’m a wreck.” My voice was flat, in distinct contrast to the chaos I felt ricocheting within.
His hands reached behind him and pulled his shirt up and over his head. Standing there naked from the waist up and completely at ease, he held it out to me. I took it and quickly swapped out shirts with my back turned, self-conscious now.
I turned back, resting my hands on my hips to keep them from wrapping around myself. Some loser had almost gotten the best of me, raped me a foot away from my Ho Hos. I was not going to compound matters and look even weaker by having a mental breakdown over it.
“The truce is definitely broken.” I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Do you regr—”