Savior (An Impossible Novel) (26 page)

The man’s fingers delved under the hem of my shirt, his hand gliding slowly up over my abdomen.  My eyes flew wide as I began to tremble in his grasp.

No. 
I had been ready for pain, but not violation.  I bit my lip hard to hold in my terrified whimper.  But then his calloused palm was slipping under my bra, and I could feel him harden against my hip.

“Don’t,” I whispered desperately, losing some ground.  Memories of being touched by strangers’ hands, of being violated against my will as I was unable to fight, danced across my mind. 

Not again, not again. 
“Please, don’t…”

His soft laugh was cold and pitiless at my ear as his fingers closed hard on my nipple.  I sucked in a ragged breath, clinging to my determination not to scream
.  I had endured worse pain than this.  I had experienced worse pain than this and enjoyed it.

But no matter what I told myself, this was infinitely, inconceivably, more agonizing.  I was being hurt against my will, and that made this horribly different from Clayton’s carnal torment.

The man wasn’t satisfied.  He had told me he was going to make me scream, and he wasn’t going to relent until I did.  The realization made my blood freeze in my veins.

No, Rose,
I ordered myself. 
Don’t give in.  Don’t scream, don’t scream, don’t scream...

His fingernails dug viciously into my tender flesh, but I gulped back the sound of my pain.  The loud, strangled sound that did manage to escape me seemed to goad my tormenter on.

“You can do better than that.”  The way his hot breath played across my neck in a perverse, twisted echo of what Clayton did to me made my stomach turn.  I felt traitorous tears stinging at the corners of my eyes.

He dug in his fingernails harder, breaking the skin as he twisted ruthlessly.  My agonized scream was ripped from my throat, brutal and unstoppable.  My knees gave out as the force of the pain made bright lights pop behind my eyes.  I sagged against the man, and I hated the sound of my wracking sobs.

“I’m coming back for you, Rosie.  I promise.”  Greg’s voice wavered with his own tears.

“No,” I managed to gasp out.  “Don’t
come ba -”

Pain exploded across my cheek again, cutting off my
words.  I could have sworn I felt my brain rattle against my skull, and my abused face throbbed.  My captor released me, and I hit the ground hard, unable to catch myself.  Through my watering eyes, I saw Jorje slip the camera phone into Greg’s pocket before he pulled a black cloth sack over his head.  “So you can’t lead the FBI back here,” he growled.

The horrible, bleak reality of my situation came crashing down on me: Clayton had no idea where I was, and Greg wasn’t going to get a chance to figure it out.  No one was coming to save me.  No matter how desperately they might want to.  My life and Greg’s hung in the balance.  And I was going to have to endure far worse abuse before it was all over.
  I prayed Clayton wouldn’t give in to their demands.  After these men were finished with me, I was as good as dead anyway.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to come back from that.

Jorje gripped Greg’s upper arm and dragged him away.  Blindly, my brother tripped up the stairs as he was led up out of what I could now tell was a basement.  The concrete block walls were thick.  No one would be able to hear me scream for help.

Once my brother was out of my sight, the man’s attention turned back on me.  The twisted lust in his eyes made me cringe, but I couldn’t so much as scoot away from him with my hands bound as they were.  I hated the terrified whimper that escaped me as he roughly turned me onto my back.  He crouched beside me and lowered his face to mine, his fingers gripping my jaw hard.  I hissed in pain as they dug into my rapidly-bruising flesh.  But the horror of that was nothing compared to the disgust that tore through me when his hot, wet tongue licked its way up my cheek.

“It’s just you and me now,
chica
,” he said softly.  “And Jorje.  And we have you for as long as it takes for your Clayton to give us what we want.”  His grin was twisted, rictus.  “I hope he takes a while.”

Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes to stream down my temples, mingling with the sheen of terror-induced sweat that had broken out on my body.

The door at the top of the stairs banged open.  “What the fuck are you doing, Ramirez?”  An accented, angry voice demanded as the unfamiliar man descended the stairs.

My molester – Ramirez – jerked away from me to face the intruder.  “Get out of here, Santiago, this is
Furiosos
territory,” he snarled.  “Go back to your
Muertos. 
This is none of your fucking business.”

Santiago’s eyes narrowed and he folded his arms across his chest, his stance hard.  “It is our business if you’re going to fuck the rest of us over.  We might be allies, but if you bring the fury of the FBI down on us, we will gut
every one of you.  I know you found a narc and are trying to manipulate the FBI into turning over the rest of them.”

“How do you know that?”  Ramirez asked suspiciously.

“We might be allies, but that doesn’t mean we’re not watching you,
muchacho.
”  He imbued the word with as much venom as he could, clearly communicating the tenuousness of their alliance.  I prayed they would tear each other apart before Ramirez could hurt me any more.

“What does she have to do with it?”  Santiago jerked his chin in my direction.

Ramirez scowled, clearly pissed at his interference, but he decided to talk.  “She’s fucking one of the FBI agents.  We sent him a little message with her brother, and he’s going to give us the names of the snitches.”  He leered at me.  “I’m just having a little fun before I have to give her back to him.  That’ll teach them not to fuck with the Latin Kings.”

“
Maldito idiota,
” Santiago cursed.  “If you damage her any more than you already have, it will only teach them that they have to eradicate us.  We’re gaining ground and getting rich.  They don’t have the resources to stop us.  But if you mutilate this girl, this city is going to be crawling with so many FBI agents that we won’t be able to hide.”

Ramirez frowned, mulling over this information.

Please,
I prayed, a spark of hope daring to flicker to life in my chest. 
Please, listen to him.

“What the fuck is this
Muerto
doing here?”  Jorje demanded as he returned.

“Interfering,” Ramirez snapped.  My heart dropped as I watched his expression turn stony.  Now that his friend had rejoined him, he wasn’t going to be seen backing down.  He spat on the floor.  “Just because you can’t get your dick hard enough to
fuck a woman doesn’t mean you can tell us not to,” he flung the insult at Santiago.

The man’s fists clenched angrily.  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Ramirez?”  He demanded.

My tormentor smiled at him cruelly.  “It means you can’t even fuck your own wife.  Everyone knows she whores around to find some satisfaction.”

His face contorted with rage, Santiago launched himself at Ramirez, shoving him back against the wall hard enough that I heard his head crack at the impact.  “That’s a lie,” he hissed, his expression murderous.

Ramirez just laughed.  “I saw her when I went to drag my Ana Lucia home from a club.  She was rubbing up against every man in there like a bitch in heat.  She wants what your limp dick can’t give her.”

Santiago snarled and wrapped his hands around Ramirez’s throat.  But Jorje was there in an instant, pressing the tip of his switchblade against Santiago’s kidney.  “You should leave now,
mi amigo
.  Or you won’t be leaving at all.”

Santiago’s expression was still livid, all of his muscles tense with the effort of reining in his violent
urges, but he backed off, releasing Ramirez.  He turned and headed for the stairs.  The only man who might have protected me was going to leave me here. 

“You should think about what I said,” he called back over his shoulder.  “Hurting her won’t do any of us any favors.  And if the FBI come
s down on us, the alliance between
Los Furiosos
and
Los Muertos
is over.  I’ll be sure to personally be the one who rips your hearts out.”

With that threat hanging in the air, he disappeared.  The shattering of my heart at his absence was all th
e more painful for the hope I had allowed myself to indulge in.

Ramirez was looking down at me again, but his expression was pensive this time.  “You know,” he finally said to his friend, “I hate that
hijo de puta,
but he has a point.  Maybe we should at least give them an hour to send Baker back to us.  If they stall longer than that, we can send Vaughn another little movie.”

I held my breath as I waited for Jorje’s answer. 
Please please please…

After a long moment, he nodded his agreement.  All of the air left my lungs in a rush as I heaved a sigh of relief.  I still had no idea how I was going to get out of this, but at least I had some time to formulate a plan now.

Ramirez clapped his friend on the shoulder.  “Let’s grab a beer,” he said as he turned from me.  I almost wept with joy as they walked away from me and slammed the door behind them at the top of the stairs.  I heard the lock click back, but I refused to allow myself to be disheartened at the sound.  Without their terrifying presence, it would be easier to think.

Unfortunately, my mind turned in circles as I realized again just how hopeless my situation was.  I couldn’t dare to hope that anyone could find me.  How could they possibly?  Clayton had been sitting in the coffee shop when they had
taken me; there was no way he would have been able to get to a vehicle in time to follow them.  And Greg obviously hadn’t been allowed to see where we had been taken.  He wouldn’t be able to find his way back to this hellhole.  I started to cry again.  It was going to be either Greg or me who died today.  And I hoped it would be me.  I wouldn’t be able to live with the weight of my guilt if he traded his life for mine.  Even though Clayton shared almost everything with me, I didn’t have any information on the FBI’s informants.  I didn’t possess any bargaining chips to talk my way out of this.

A horrible thought struck me.  I shied away from it at first, unable to contemplate it.  But the longer I lay there, my muscles growing stiff from lack of movement, the more the idea insistently pressed at my conscious
mind.  I did have something they wanted: my body.

They could take me unwillingly at any time if they chose to,
and there would be nothing I could do to stop them.  But if I offered myself to them, if I could please them enough, maybe they would let Greg go.  Maybe they would decide to keep me, and that would buy Clayton some time to find me.

I had been with lots of strange men before.  This would be no different.  If I accepted them, it might not hurt as badly.  If it was consensual, it might not destroy my soul.

By the time I heard them coming back for me, I had made my decision.  This was my only hope.  That thought made me want to laugh hollowly.  What kind of hope was this?

But this way, I could survive it.  I
would
survive it.  And I would get Greg out alive as well.

I swallowed hard as they approached me, bracing myself.  There was a third man with them this time. 
No, not a man.  More of a boy.  He was probably close to Greg’s age.  The hard, cruel lines of that young face made my heart twist.

“Your hour’s up,” Ramirez informed me coldly.  “Vaughn obviously needs some more motivation.”

I could see that the boy had a camera phone, and I knew both Ramirez and Jorje planned to take me, to torment Clayton with the images of them raping me.

Rape.
 
I shuddered at the word.  I couldn’t let that happen.

As Ramirez crouched beside me, I saw the light of the camera turn on.  They were ready to put on a cruel, brutal show.

“Wait,” I gasped, my voice high and thin.  I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself so I could speak rationally.  “I want to offer you a deal,” I said quickly.

Ramirez’s eyes narrowed.  “Do you know something?  If you’ve been holding back on us, your brother will suffer before he dies.”

“No!”  I said quickly.  “But I can give you something else.  If you’ll take the information from Greg and then let him go, I’ll stay with you willingly.  I’ll…” I almost choked on the words.  “I’ll give myself to you.”

Ramirez was still frowning, but there was an intrigued spark in his eyes.  “And why would I agree to that when I could fuck you at any time without your consent?”

“Because Santiago was right.  If you piss off the FBI by not holding up your end of the deal, they will destroy you.  But if you show my brother mercy, you won’t have to trade me for him.  You…  You can keep me.”

He cocked his head at me.  “And what’s to stop me from do
ing that anyway if I decide I like your cunt?”

“Because I would fight you the whole time.
  If you agree to let Greg walk away unharmed, I’ll make you feel good.”