“We’re not done yet,” Blondie said. “In case you failed to notice earlier, we came here for you. And we’re not leaving till we get what we came for.”
My heart pounded, loud and booming in my ears, but I refused to show them how terrified I was. “I’m not interested. Go home.”
“We don’t care if you’re interested.” Blondie closed the distance between us, fisted my hair, and yanked me off balance. I swung for him again, but he slapped me hard before I could connect. Again. “Oh, she’s got claws. I love it when they fight back.”
“Go to hell,” I snarled. He’d busted my lip even more. “And take them with you.”
And then I spit a mouthful of blood in his face.
He swiped his forearm across his jaw, spun me, and slammed my body face-first into the brick wall even harder than the last time, his fist still tight on my hair. “Bitch, you’re gonna pay for that. You stand behind that bar all night, teasing all of us with that tight little body of yours, but you never let us touch. Well, tonight? You will.”
Stars swam in front of my eyes and pain exploded across my skull, but I bit back the cry that almost escaped. “Over my dead body.”
Star Tattoo came up to my left as Blondie held my hands behind my back and shoved me even harder into the wall. Dark Eyes came up on the right, unclasping his belt. “That can be arranged.” Any second, they would all jump on me like vultures. I swallowed down the vomit that threatened to spill forward. No matter what, I would go down fighting.
Pleas nearly bubbled from my mouth, but I bit them back. I wouldn’t beg for mercy when they clearly had none. I’d fight, and I’d die before begging. I turned my head and forced myself to laugh. It sounded manic. Strained. “What’s the matter? Can’t get a girl to go home with you without raping her? How sad for you. How pathetic.”
“We’ll show you who’s the pathetic one.” Star Tattoo closed his hand on my breast and squeezed cruelly. I slammed my head back, trying to break free by head-butting the jerk, but Blondie held me too damn tight. “Nice.”
Nice. That’s what this snake said while feeling me up.
My stomach rolled even more, seconds from expelling its contents. I swallowed it back because I refused to show them how much they’d gotten to me.
Gritting my teeth, I threw my head back again, this time successfully connecting with Blondie’s nose. He cried out and let go of me, and I quickly spun away from him, swinging as I did so. I connected with Dark Eyes, but before I could do any real damage, Star Tattoo captured me again.
I kicked back but missed.
“Damn it.” He adjusted his grip and my arms were pinned to my sides. “You little bitch.”
“Let me go,” I snarled, “or you’re dead.”
He laughed and bit down hard on my shoulder. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t make a sound. Then he shoved me to the ground and was on me, the weight of his body so heavy that I couldn’t breathe. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he pressed a hand against my throat, cutting off any hope of oxygen. I struggled beneath him, arching my back and kicking my legs, but he didn’t budge. Just grinned down at me.
Black crept into the corners of my vision, painfully taking over, and I fought more frantically. Unfortunately, he didn’t budge, and as I ran out of air, my movements slowed. I hit him again, but my arm felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds, and instead of hitting him, my hand just kind of fell on him and stayed. I stopped struggling. It became clear that he was going to suffocate me before he ever got around to raping me.
That might actually be a merciful thing.
Just as the black was about to take over my world, Dark Eyes flew backward, landing almost directly next to me on the dirty ground with a sick, bone-crunching sound. The hands that had been cutting off my air supply eased a bit, and I gasped in a deep breath. It hurt more than the actual strangling had, and I coughed so hard my lungs almost came out of my chest.
I turned my head to the side and took in a deep breath, but I choked on it.
Dark Eyes wasn’t moving.
Blood gushed out of his nose, and his eyes stared sightlessly into the night sky. You could still see the color in his eyes, but the rest of him was empty. He looked . . . dead. I couldn’t see who, or what, had done this, but I could only assume it was Marco. And if it was Marco, then he’d go to jail. After he’d worked so hard to start a life. A real life. One he could actually be proud of.
Pins and needles filled my veins instead of blood, and I gasped in a deep breath, coughing and choking on the thing that was supposed to save me. Air.
Star Tattoo still pinned me down, but his head was turned toward the man attacking his buddies. Rearing up, I bit down hard on whatever I could reach. He yelled in pain as Blondie came crashing to the ground in a heap. Star Tattoo’s attention was squarely on me, but before he could retaliate, he was gone. Just gone.