Page 96 of Grave Beginnings

I got to the back of my car. He shoved me into the hatch door. I grunted, but stopped my face from hitting the glass with my hands.

“No,” I said.

“Any needles on you?”

“No.”

He grabbed one of my wrists, pulling it back to be cuffed.

“No,” I said, and tugged my hand away. He gripped it hard, twisting my arm until I feared it would break. “You have no reason to cuff me.”

“Are you resisting arrest?”

“You have nothing to arrest me for and haven’t read me my rights,” I said.

He snapped a cuff around one wrist and shoved me hard into the back of the car, yanking my other around to cuff it too. He pressed his hand on the back of my neck, pinning me to the hatchback.

“Rough foreplay, Cassidy. Didn’t realize you were into this sort of thing. We should negotiate safewords before attempting this again,” I complained, my face pressed against the cold glass. I sucked in air and tried to calm my racing heart as I heard another set of footsteps approach from behind. Not the first time this had happened to me. Probably not the last, at this rate. I swallowed hard, keeping still as the second man approached.

The first man handed his grip on me over to the second, this one larger. The second man slammed me into the back with his erection digging into my ass. I swallowed hard. It had to be Cassidy.

“Let me go, Cassidy.”

He huffed a breath near my ear and I smelled alcohol. Was he on duty and drinking? He ground his hips into my ass.

“Get off me, you fucking pervert.”

“Who’s the pervert, Holt?” Cassidy whispered. “Fraternizing with animals. I offered you an out.”

“What? Yourdateon Friday? I don’t think being fucked in the nasty bathroom of a bar is much of a date.”

“We have stuff to talk about. You could be useful. I could have gotten you transferred back.”

“I’m not a warm hole for your convenience.”

“You are, actually,” he said as he grabbed me by the collar, yanked me back, and then slammed me into the car hard enough to shake it. I gasped for air, lungs stinging, and my chest ached. He turned me around and slammed a fist into my gut, doubling me over as I fought the need to hurl, and I gagged, falling to my knees. My body warred between the need to breathe and the need to vomit. “Maybe it’s time to remind you of your place?”

“Fuck you,” I gasped.

He grabbed a fistful of my hair and threw me backward, off the road and into the field. With my hands cuffed behind me, I landed at an awkward angle and rolled onto my side, my shoulder taking the brunt of the impact and screaming instantly with pain as it jolted out of place. I curled up into a ball, determined to protect my core and head as much as possible.

Cassidy was there a moment later, boot aimed for my gut. His blow glanced off my knees, making him curse. With my hands cuffed behind me, there wasn’t much else I could do. His next two kicks aimed for my back, landing hard enough to crack something that made me cry out even as I tried to use my cuffed arms to block the worst of it.

I swallowed back my cries, fearing they’d draw Ivan from the car.Please let him be safe.

“He locked the keys in the car,” the first cop said as Cassidy kicked me in the thighs, back, and ass a few more times. I tasted blood, metallic and sharp, and refused to comment. “Window isn’t cracked enough for me to get my hand in. I could throw something through it to plant, but it would look suspicious if it’s just on the seat.”

“We can break the windows and make it look like vandals,” Cassidy said.

“Either put him in the back of your cruiser, or let’s go. It’s still rush hour.”

Cassidy grabbed the back of my neck and shoved me into the dirt, his hips grinding against my thigh. “You say anything and this will be a fond memory instead of a warning.”

“Sorry, my fond memories usually involve less dirt and more consent. Not something you seem all that familiar with. Should I spell it for you? C-O-N-S-E-N-T,” I spat, my vision narrowing, tilting heavily to the left as I tried to see beyond the lights in the distance and Cassidy’s shadowed face.

He slammed my face into the ground and my nose burst. Pain exploded like a firework behind my eyes, but beneath it, something else stirred—something cold and sharp, like a blade of ice sliding through my veins, alive, and hungry.

It leapt free before I could stop it, digging into the ground beneath me like roots seeking water. The earth shuddered, and a fierce chill rose, wrapping around me like a second skin. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of decay. Shadows pooled around us, deeper and darker than they should have been, and the ground churned.