Page 46 of Broken

I close my eyes and pray that someone will drive by and scare him away from me.

“Answer me, bitch!”

I shake from the force of his voice. “I-I haven’t found anything out yet.”

His eyes bore into me. One of his hands releases me, but it’s back a minute later. Even in the dim light, I can see his switchblade. With one quick swipe, he slashes a cut into my palm. I scream, but his other hand quickly covers my mouth.

Keeping his eyes focused on me, he lowers his head to my wounded hand. His tongue darts out, licking the lines of blood streaming. His mouth opens and closes over the cut as he sucks the blood from my body. “For a dirty skank, you taste pretty sweet. I might need to check and see if every other part of you is so good. The blade traces over the skin on my neck. Forty-eight hours. I want information by then or you’ll fucking regret it.”

He presses his lips against mine before turning away from me. I hear his maniacal laugh as he climbs back onto his bike. As soon as he drives away I start to run. Once the lot comes into focus, I see a prospect at the gate now.

“Open the gate!” I scream. I’m sure panic is evident in my voice.

He does, and I run through the entrance. I double over, completely out of breath and scared. The boys come racing out, and I hear Twisted yell my name.

“Shit, what happened to your hand?” He braces his hand on my back. “Let’s get you inside.”

They bring me over to one of the tables, and Torch runs over with a first aid kit. He cleans my hand, and I wince as the alcohol stings. Next, my hand is wrapped and secured.

“What happened?” m brother asks.

“I went out to grab something to drink—” My voice is starting to slur.

“You went out alone?” He interrupts me.

“Yea, no one was at the gate.” I shrug.

Twisted turns to Whip. “Find me whoever was supposed to be guarding that shit.” He turns back to me. “What happened next?”

Lie. “Some asshole teenagers on bikes almost ran me over. I dropped the bottles and cut my hand on the ground when I fell.”

He studies me, and I can’t read if he believes me or not.

I tell everyone I’m tired and need to head to bed.

I just need to be alone.

I need to hide.