“Fuccckkkk, he stabbed me!” one of them screamed.
Everything happened so fast after that. The knife was still in my hand. It didn’t go deep enough that I couldn’t withdraw it. When I tried again, somehow one of them managed to take it from me. He brought the blade right to my face. “Stop struggling,” he ordered.
Heart racing, I felt like a caged animal. My breathing constricted and I was having difficulty drawing air as I fought to free myself.
The one with the knife got real close, trying to scare me. I was lost in my own rage—fear wasn’t even under my radar. I just knew I had to get Kayla out of there. I didn’t know who these guys were, but I knew what they wanted wasn’t anything good. The scuffle continued, and then he managed to slice the blade across my face, just under my eye.
Pain singed my every nerve.
Yet Kayla’s screams had me fighting even harder.
“She’s next if you don’t stop!” the dick yelled.
That’s when I ceased my struggling.
Three guys held me in place and the fourth restrained Kayla with her hands behind her back. Once they had us where they wanted us, one of them announced, “All set.”
Stumbling through the door with glassy eyes, just as I’d remembered him, came Tommy Flannigan. He grinned like a sick motherfucker at Kayla and then pointed his finger at me. “Are you a fucking moron?”
He was coked up.
Fear finally made its way up my throat and I could feel sweat beading on my forehead. I once again struggled to get free.
Tommy closed the door and took a step toward Kayla. When she started screaming again, Tommy grabbed a kitchen towel and shoved it in her mouth.
“Leave her alone,” I spat.
Tommy nodded his head to the guy holding her and turned around. He swiped the bloody knife from one of the guys holding me and strode back over to her.
“Leave her alone!” I yelled again.
He ignored me and sliced open her blouse in one fluid movement.
Jerking forward, I felt my anger burning like fire as it flowed through my veins. “Fucker, look at me!” I screamed.
Tommy slowly turned around, that sadistic grin still on his face. “You must be fucking stupid to risk being seen around here with a chick.”
“Leave her alone,” I said again.
“You should have thought about that before you decided to stick your dick in her.”
“Tommy, this is between you and me. Let her go.”
His laugh was vile. “That’s where you’re wrong. It’s between you and my sister, but she’s not around anymore to handle the problem. Now is she, Logan?”
“Tommy,” I seethed.
He shook his head. “I can’t have you disgracing my sister’s memory by being seen around town with skanks.”
I kicked, I shoved, I fought against the three guys holding me but couldn’t loosen their hold. Finally, I stopped and looked at him. “Tommy, I’m sorry. You’re right. Emily didn’t deserve that.” I tried to reason with him even as the bile rose up my throat.
He glared at me.
“Tommy—”
He held his hand up, then found another kitchen towel and tossed it to one of the guys. “Plug his hole.”
Blood was dripping down my face as I fought against being gagged. I needed Tommy to think of Emily if I was going to have a shot at stopping what he was about to do. But I was completely powerless once I couldn’t speak.
Tommy stripped the rest of Kayla’s clothes off and my heart banged in my chest when I saw the terror in her eyes. Time seemed to move slowly as her muffled noises tore at me. My anger flamed and I became a wild animal, kicking, clawing, struggling to get free.
This only seemed to spur Tommy further. I watched as he twitched and his face grew more and more excited. I knew I needed to become a blank canvas, but I just couldn’t. Then Tommy licked his tongue up Kayla’s throat and something inside me went ballistic. At the sight, I stopped, letting my eyes go vacant; I tried to mentally remove myself from the situation.
Tommy’s entire focus was on me. Good. That was good. He was trying to figure me out. Let him try. I withdrew further and further. He narrowed his eyes, watching me. Bewildered, he approached me as if I might attack him. Ironic. But then he snapped and stepped close to Kayla and held up the knife. “Watch this, McPherson.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Open your fucking eyes or I’ll slice her open.”
My eyes slammed open.
With the knife, he carved the letter E in her stomach.
She was screaming and I was fucking helpless.
I was going to fucking kill him.
When he finished, he took her purse and pulled out her wallet, then her license. “Kayla Williams of 1115 Park Avenue, if you so much as breathe a word of what happened here tonight, we’ll find you and your family and kill you before you can even dial nine.”
Her eyes were round with fear. She was terrified.
Tommy then turned back to me. “You see, Logan, all of your skank whores need to be marked. To know what a vile creature they let inside them. Do you understand that, Logan?”