“It’s a small package.”
“I’m sorry. There’s a shipping store up the street about a half mile. They can send it overnight for you,” he suggested.
I got the directions and headed out the front doors. The air was cooling off as the sun started to sink into the ocean. I pulled my jacket tight around my body to protect me from the breeze blasting from the water as I walked toward the shipping store.
The neighborhood was rough, houses unmaintained, yards made mostly of sand and dog shit, and rusted chain-link fences. I could see the lights from several stores just a few blocks up. I continued walking, hoping the shipping store was tucked somewhere in the plaza just ahead. It was already getting dark and the air cooler. I just wanted to go back to the condo.
When a van pulled down the alley, stopping to block me from crossing, terror filled my veins. The side door opened, and a large man exited, grabbing me before I could muster up a scream, and tossed me inside.
The door slammed shut as my screams ripped through the vehicle. A hard smack to the side of my head knocked me over, my head landing in a man’s lap. He smelled like peppermint candies, and as I looked up to see who’d cushioned my fall, I noticed he was much smaller than the man who’d grabbed me.
“What do you want?” I asked, struggling to sit back up.
“Katrina Delaney. You’re all grown up into a nice, fine woman,” the small man spoke. His left eye didn’t move as he eyed me. His tongue slid across his lips as if I were one of the candies he enjoyed so much.
“Who are you? What do you want with me?” I asked, kicking at the man to push myself away.
The large one grabbed me, his hands tightened hard around my arms as he pulled them behind my back. I screamed in agony from the pain as my muscles were stretched in ways not meant for muscles.
“Your daddy owes quite a bit,” the small man said calmly.
These were loan sharks. I scrambled my brain to figure out what to say.
“He’s going to pay you. He said he had a week.” I kicked again, trying to free myself without any luck.
“Well, we just want to make sure he knows we’re serious,” the smaller man said, “a little incentive usually helps people to find cash they might have forgotten.”
I stopped struggling, trying a different tactic — calm. “You broke his fingers. Isn’t that incentive enough?”
He leaned in close, his breath minty with a hint of tobacco as his mouth pressed into my cheek. “Maybe you can pay your daddy’s debt?” he asked, his words slow and calm as he placed a hand on my thigh.
“I don’t have anything,” I said through gritted teeth, twisting away from his hand. He laughed when the larger man tightened his grip, sending more pain through my tired body.
The small man reached up, grabbed my purse, and started rummaging through it. He pulled out the ring, a gleam in his eye as he stared at its beauty. “This will do, for now.”
“Take it,” I snarled. “I was sending it to him to give to you anyway.”
The van stopped and fear nearly paralyzed me as I tried to peer through the painted windows to better understand our location. Then I looked at both men again, memorizing each detail of their faces. Their clothes. Any marks on their person. It wasn’t much, but it helped me to stay calm.
The door slid open and I was yanked outside. This was it. It was my turn to have my fingers broken, or be raped… or worse.
“Your daddy has one week. We’ll be coming back for both of ya.”
The large man pushed me forward and I landed face-first in the grass. My purse landed beside me, the contents spilling out all over the ground. I reached for my phone and scrambled to my feet as I watched the van disappear down the road.
I wasn’t hurt. Scared shitless but otherwise unharmed. I looked around, but had no idea where I was.
I must have been in shock from the ordeal because I just stood there, frozen. It wasn’t until I noticed headlights in the alley I stood in that I regained control over my body. I ran away, jumping behind a row of garbage cans to hide as the small white truck drove by. The area still looked rough, wherever I was. It couldn’t be far from the condo. They hadn’t kept me long, thank God.
I had to get out of here, back to the safety of my room. The thought of calling a cab made me cringe. I wasn’t waiting out here for an hour for one to arrive. I looked at my phone, tears streaming down my face.
There was only one person I needed right now.
Todd.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Todd
“You know that girl is crazy for you,” Kane repeated the same shit I’d heard all week.
I was tired of hearing the same old lines from him, especially him. I could still see her curled up in his arms, crying like a wounded kitten. What did she have to cry about? I was the one lied to, betrayed, used.
“I just wanna have a beer man,” I said politely, but stern enough to shut him down on the topic of Katrina.
I could tell he wasn’t ready to be shut down, but I didn’t give him much choice. I gripped my beer, walked over to the bar, and sat alone at the end. The bartender was cute, friendly enough too. Her tight little ass was nice to watch as she worked, going back and forth to serve up drinks for all the guys. When she leaned in to ask me what I needed, her cleavage filled my eyes.
My dick shifted in my pants, growing without consent. My thoughts weren’t on the bartender but on Kat. Damn, how I missed her smooth skin, her tight ass, and that beautiful smile. Why did I have to go and mess things up by falling for her?
As if she was conjured up in a spell cast by my mind, she appeared on the front of my screen, looking beautiful in the picture I’d saved in my contacts. “You need another?” the bartender asked, leaning in real close to give me another shot of her full breasts.
“Sure.” I smiled.
“Your girlfriend getting antsy?” she asked, looking toward my phone.
I slid my finger to the ignore button. “That’s nobody.”
Her smile widened, and her tongue peeked out of her mouth, licking her top lip slowly and sensually. “Well, I get off in thirty minutes,” she said softly.
My phone lit up again and again, showing Kat’s face on the screen. My dick was beginning to realize it had a chance to get lucky and was pushing me in the bartender’s direction. “And in thirty-five minutes, forty minutes.” I smiled as I spoke.
It wasn’t my style to pick up anyone in the bar, especially the bartender. I just needed to get my mind off Kat.
She winked, grabbed me another beer, and moved to the end of the bar where some of the other players were waving her down. My phone vibrated, this time a text, not a call. I slid my thumb across the screen to see a message from Kat.
Please HELP ME! I won’t ever ask for anything again, PLEASE TODD!