Page 33 of Convict's Game

He let me move it away, revealing a red mark but no blood. Gingerly, I traced over the skin.

“Doesn’t hurt,” he muttered.

“Because you don’t feel pain or because the hit wasn’t a bad one?” It had downed him. It had to have been hard.

Convict sat up, shook his head, then lurched to standing. He was so much taller than me, and his broad body filled my view. Something strange happened. It was the effects of the night,surely, but attraction slid over me in a warm rush. There was something in his shape and in the way he focused solely on me that woke a part of my brain. It tuned me in to him. It made me want to move in closer.

A yell came from behind us. The men in the cage were still brawling, but a pack had formed down the corridor, five or six strong. They’d spotted me.

My heart slammed into my chest.

“Don’t run, Mila,” Convict warned.

“Are you crazy?”

But his expression said something else. That I needed to stay. That he’d protect me. How could I trust that? My fear rushed back, and I turned and sprinted away across the width of the basement.

In the centre of the floor, the first couple was having frantic sex, their noises getting louder and louder. At least two unconscious men lay nearby. Above them, on the walkway, a second pair had just finished and were still entangled, the man speaking lovingly in the woman’s ear while they panted.

A fully naked woman bolted past me with two men in hot pursuit. She spotted my pack and pointed at one of them. “You. You’re who I want. Take me.”

I spared a frantic glance to see her choice. If it was Convict…

But no, the leader of the group was in her sights, the musclebound gym bunny from earlier. He shoved away from the others and made a break for her, catching her as she circled to him. Others battled to separate them in a chaotic mess of limbs.

None were fast enough by the cries that followed, adding to the rhythmic sounds of sex. Then the fourth woman appeared, carried in the arms of her man, with her naked body pressed to his. They must’ve already paired off as no one troubled them.

It was almost over. Horrifyingly fast. I was the last woman standing.

On shaking limbs, I backed to the metal steps and climbed, but my breathing was coming hard, and panic had me quaking. The swarm of men followed, a mass of predators set on their prey. One laughed. I didn’t share his fun.

Fucking Jacobs hadn’t even made it out of the cage. I didn’t want him in any way, but his failure meant I couldn’t stop Salter from carrying out his threat. I’d failed. Emotion clogged my throat.

Laughing Man overtook me and snatched me up. I cried out, and he threw me over his shoulder then carried me up to the gantry. High above the warehouse floor, I hit out with my fists and thrashed to escape. If he dropped me and I fell, I’d die.

A bigger man crashed into him, and we all tumbled onto the hard grate. It couldn’t end like this. If I didn’t fight, I’d end up as the property of one of them.

I scuttled away, but Laughing Man grabbed for me and caught the remains of my skirt. The dress fell away with the cheap material disintegrating.

I was naked. Almost completely. Cameras were on me, and everyone watching would get an eyeful of my body. Humiliation crowded me.

But I couldn’t wait around and cry. Footsteps rang out, and six or more men battled each other to ascend the stairs. I had to get up.

Turning on my knees, I faced down the gantry.

There was a second staircase. Evading the fighting men who temporarily blocked the way for the others, I lurched for it, only to pull up short. Another group gathered at the bottom and started climbing. All remaining men had targeted me. All of them were centred on one prey, pinned down with nowhere to run.

That was it. I was trapped. It was over.

Except I’d forgotten one.

With a yell of rage, Convict emerged from the shadows and grabbed the guy with the blond ponytail at the back of the line. He threw him to the concrete floor then punched the next in the face, downing him so the man cringed and dropped to his knees, blood dripping from a broken nose.

I whimpered, my strength low, beaten down by my absolute defeat, but also hooked on Convict’s battle to reach me. He was beautiful and frightening. The kiss we’d shared had been more of a turn-on than any romantic encounter in the past. There was no way he could get to me in time.

Convict climbed the steps and wrenched a third man out of his way. A fourth, a thuggish, tattooed male, snarled and reared back to headbutt him, but he dodged and the asshole followed his own momentum and crashed to the bottom of the steps.

It left only one. The last man standing between us swung for him but missed, earning his fate in being tipped off the edge. Convict breathed hard and sprinted up to me, his bootsteps ringing out.