Nearly Broken (28 page)

I peeked inside the
locker. “Not unless your man digs purple locker accessories.”

She slammed the
locker shut and I tried not to laugh. “So, girl whose name I
don’t know, who are you taking to the dance then?”

“Nobody.”

“Nobody-nobody?
Or nobody you’re going to tell me about?” She licked her
lips and offered me nothing but a pressed smile. “Are you
always this stubborn?”

“Incredibly,”
she snarked.

“Alright,
then. I accept your challenge.”

She actually looked
taken aback. “What?”

“You won’t
tell me your name, so clearly, you want to make me work for it.”

“That’s
not what I–”

“Tell you
what,” I interrupted, pulling my phone from my back pocket. “If
I can find out your name by the end of the school day, you have to
come have a drink with me.” She was a little hesitant, so I
quickly added, “Come on. There’s only three hours left so
the odds are in your favor.”

She grabbed her
backpack and slung it over her shoulder. “Fine. But what do I
get when you fail?”

When
I
failed. Cute.

I shrugged. “The
satisfaction of one-upping me?”

“No,”
she said slowly, thinking it over. “That comes without saying.”
A larger than life smile appeared, and for a second there, I actually
began to worry. “No. When you fail, you have to tell each of
those girls you’re not going with them.”

Well…that
sucked. Good thing I wasn’t going to lose this round. I fiddled
with my phone, activating the camera. “Deal. Say cheese.”
I snapped the picture before she could even change her expression.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, but I
can’t exactly take the time to draw you, now can I?”

Eyes narrowed
playfully, she turned and walked away. For once a girl didn’t
clack, but I was too busy admiring the tight curves that filled out
her jeans to notice the specifics of her shoes. Immediately, I sent
her picture to everyone in my contact list for school, along with the
text:
Ten bucks to the first person who can give me a name.

I slowly walked the
long hallway behind her, the voices in the cafeteria growing as I
neared. Nameless girl turned and walked in long before I got there,
but I was too busy smiling at the text message from Brad to follow
just yet:
Claire Whitaker. Friends with my sis.
I asked him if
he could get her number and he got it to me in less than five
minutes.

I turned the corner
into the cafeteria and leaned against the column. I spotted her
taking a lunch tray to a table packed with a mixture of younger girls
and guys. I wore a huge smile as I activated the call, hoping she
didn’t keep it completely off at school. On the third ring, she
realized something was happening inside her bag and reached in for
it. Putting the phone to her ear, she curiously asked, “Hello?”

“Hey Claire.
It’s Nick.” She stood and scanned the cafeteria with
three quick passes before she spotted me, her mouth hung wide. I
offered her a teasing wave and asked, “Today good for you? I’ll
meet you out front at two-thirty.”

“So did I
actually show up?” I asked as we pulled through the garage gate
at our building.

“Of course you
did. You can deny, deny, deny, but you wanted that date.”

“Like you
didn’t,” I argued.

“Hell, yeah I
did. There was a feistiness about you I couldn’t resist. I knew
I was in trouble the moment you put your hands to those curvy hips
and told me off.”

“Please tell me
you at least gave those girls an answer,” I asked as he pulled
the car into our spot and cut the engine.

Rolling his eyes, he
moaned, “You. Made. Me. Said you wouldn’t go on a second
date until I did. And by the way, it was just high school! It’s
not like I did anything to make those girls want to ask me out.”

“Oh, God,”
I playfully teased. “Were you one of those social butterflies
that the girls all swarmed after in high school? Some hottie sports
guy they drooled over?”

“Shut up,”
he muttered, failing miserably at suppressing that grin.

I was still laughing
when he made his way over to open my door to let me out, and I gave a
quick scan to confirm we were alone in the garage. “Well, tell
me this.” I let my fingertips trace up his abdomen and chest
until I wrapped my arms around his neck, as his locked securely
around my hips. “Did you kiss me on that first date?”

A half smile stretched
so far I actually saw dimple. Wickedly, he teased, “Sorry, but
I’m going to hold on to that secret a little longer.”

“What? Why? It’s
not supposed to be kept a secret from me!”

Fingers dug in deep
around my hips. “Megan, all you need to know is that the day I
met you, I knew right then and there that you were the girl for me,
and that I was going to do everything possible to spend the rest of
my life with you.”

Still a little
perturbed over him not sharing the details of our first kiss, I
couldn’t resist pulling on his neck to bring his mouth down to
mine, and I softly caressed my lips against his, feeling the
butterflies come to life in my belly. I could kiss those warm lips
forever, as I could never get enough. Content to just stay in that
position all night, I reluctantly allowed him to lead me on, but
whined my disapproval.

I don’t know
what happened next. Before we could even get out from between the
cars, there was a quick sound, like an engine backfiring somewhere in
the garage. I understood why Nick startled, but for the life of me, I
couldn’t figure out why he stopped dead in his tracks right in
front of me.

“Nick?”

His grip on my hand
loosened. I screamed once I realized he wasn’t just bending,
but keeling over as he hit the car on his way down. Now slumped on
the ground, he no longer obstructed my view and I inhaled so sharply,
my lungs strained in pain.

Him!

How did I miss
that? The garage was empty, but here he stood, not fifteen feet away
with a gun pointed straight at my chest.

But I didn’t
care. All I could see was Nick crumpled up on the pavement. I fell to
my knees gasping, completely losing it when I couldn’t turn him
around to assess the damage. Was he even breathing anymore? I
screamed, heaved and cried all at once like a fucking tsunami hit my
chest, but I managed to feel the slightest rise when I placed my
hands on his back. For a split second, relief rushed my senses.

My chest constricted
when a pair of black sneakers stepped before me. I fearfully looked
up, noting the sleek gun held at his side. It was a long look up, and
a blurry one at that due to gushing tears. My head shook endlessly,
completely disbelieving the sight before me. I had been checking
everywhere I went, always looking over my shoulder, thinking that if
I just remained vigilant about my surroundings, then he’d never
get the jump on me. But here that lunatic stood over me with a gun.
And that fucking bastard shot Nick instead of me! In total disbelief,
I somehow managed a strained, “Why?”

My eyes were drowning
and the world blurred around me. I couldn’t really see him, but
I recalled his most distinctive features from memory: dirty blond
hair, hazel eyes, sharp cheekbones, dimple in the chin. When his gun
angled towards me again, a short squeak of terror burst from my
throat. My heart flat-out quit on me and I froze in fear.
This is
it. I’m going to die.

Snatching my ponytail
and yanking my neck backwards, he leaned closer, the blurriness
beginning to sharpen, those facial features finally taking shape.
Darkly, he sniped, “You killed my brother and you still ask
why
?”

My eyes bulged.
Oh,
fucking shit!
I had no idea they were related!

He pointed the gun
towards the ground where Nick was lying, and I startled in his grasp.
“Now either you walk willingly to my car or I give your
boyfriend one final shot to the head.”

My chest panicked,
thrusting uncontrollably.
Go with him?
And be forced back into
a basement so he could cut me up and rape me without mercy?
Fuck
no!

Something on his gun
clicked and I wailed without thinking, throwing my hands in the air
as if they could stop all this from happening. “No, wait! Stop!
I’ll go.” I couldn’t believe those words ever left
my lips, but I couldn’t let him shoot Nick again either. “Just
please,” I begged, “don’t hurt him anymore.”

His head cocked in a
twisted manner and I was yanked abruptly to my feet by the roots of
my hair, a stinging sensation coursing across my scalp. His hand
jerked down to my bicep, where he gripped so hard that I shrieked. I
tried to look back at Nick as we hurried downward to the previous
level, to see if he was stirring, but every attempt earned me a jerk
forward that snapped my neck painfully.

A car was winding its
way up the garage. My captor released my arm and shoved me deep
between two large cars that were parked, his larger, dark clothed
body hiding mine from view. “One wrong move and I won’t
hesitate to go back and finish him off,” he threatened.

I believed him,
without a doubt. I was terrified to be taken again; it was what
always frightened me since I broke free from his brother’s
grasp. I wanted to scream for help, to run for as long as my legs
could physically take me, but I’d never do that with Nick’s
life hanging in the balance. And the man before me knew that. I swear
there was a smugness in his eyes that he hid from the rest of his
face, some sort of personal pleasure from being able to force me into
submission while not even holding me down or aiming that gun at me.

And it was beginning
to anger me, because I didn’t want to be
that girl
; the
one that was forced to just go along with what
he
wanted. I
wasn’t the same girl they stole years ago. Sure, the thought of
this guy chasing me down terrified me to the point that I hid myself
away, but obviously, I was right to be fearful, because here he was
standing before me with a loaded gun. I may not have had my memory
back yet, but I was fairly certain captivity changed me. I didn’t
stand over his brother’s body as he died, but I
killed
to get myself out of that life, and somewhere in the back of this
man’s head, it had to be floating around that I had the will
and courage to fight my way out.

I felt the terror
leave and the anger take over, my eyes tapering sharply during the
transition. Since his pair was already watching mine, he picked up on
the difference as it happened, and the corner of his mouth slightly
lifted, like he found me amusing. Because seriously, I was half his
size and had no hope of maneuvering my way past him. At least not
without the element of surprise. He tucked the gun into the back of
his jeans underneath his jacket, then spread his hands outward,
splaying each against their respective vehicles, a wicked smile
growing deeper, daring me to try it anyway.

As much as I wanted to
fight my way free, I wouldn’t right now. Not with Nick lying on
the ground unable to defend himself. Not when
he
had the upper
hand, and a gun within reach. But I swore to God right then and there
that this guy wouldn’t get me for long. I wasn’t
brainwashed. I
knew
I had something to fight for and I wasn’t
going give that up just because some psycho wanted to steal me away
and finish what his brother started.

“No?” he
taunted, his eyes still beckoning me to have a go at him.

It was at that moment
I knew, that if I could find a way to knock him on his ass like I did
his brother, I could find the strength to leave him for dead, too.
And the moment I got him far enough away from Nick, I was going to
give him the fight he just urged me to give.

He gave the car enough
time to turn the corner and disappear from sight. Satisfied I
wouldn’t try anything
right now
, he snatched my arm and
pulled me down another level, my damn heels making it difficult.
Please help Nick,
I repeated over and over again in my head,
praying the occupants of that car would see him sprawled out on the
ground and find him help.

Where the hell was
this so-called security? Were they even watching the camera’s
screen images, or were there so many it was easy to miss what was
going on unless they were directly looking for it?

It didn’t take
long enough to force me to his car, which was a large, silver SUV
with heavily tinted windows. The rear door of the vehicle was lifting
as we approached, the shade pulled across to hide any personal items.
But there were no items in the back of this vehicle. And before I
could even react to that realization, I was shoved forward and a
sharp pain made my world go black.