Page 9 of Jezebel’s Liberation (Hellfire Hackers #1)

“ H ow about we try this one more time?”

A knife slices across the top of my chest. My tongue swells, and the tang of copper fills my mouth from me biting it over and over again to keep from crying out. I refuse to scream and let Ted get any more satisfaction than he’s already getting.

I have to hang on long enough for the cavalry to arrive. It’s been a few days since I left to come here, and I know my brother will be wondering where the hell I’ve been. He’s used to me disappearing for a few days. However, I still communicate through text messages.

I can’t lose hope that the club is coming for me.

“What do you want to know?” I ask sarcastically.

Hands wrap around my throat, cutting off my airway. I can’t claw at the bastard, since my wrists are cuffed behind my back.

“Who else knows about this place?”

Dumb fuck… I can’t answer him when he’s strangling me. Fucker must realize it because he releases me quickly and delivers a right hook to my face. My head whips to the side, and I spit out some blood. One eye is already swollen shut, but now it feels like some of my teeth are loose.

I rotate my neck and glare at him. “Not a good way to get someone to talk to you, Teddy.”

Ted’s face turns crimson, and he screams at me. “How the fuck do you know that name?”

I shrug. “Lucky guess.”

I obviously have no self-preservation instinct as the next hit lands on the other cheek. I won’t talk no matter what he does. Even if I don’t make it out of this alive, I refuse to give up my team. They’ll eventually realize I’m gone and will do anything to find out who’s responsible.

Well, them and the club.

I take stock of my injuries as he storms out of the room.

The first thing Ted did was divest me of my clothing, leaving me only in my bra and panties.

The torture began immediately. I have numerous cuts all over my arms, chest, stomach, and legs.

One of my shoulders feels as if it’s out of the socket, and it feels as though I have a broken rib or two.

With every breath I take, it’s like shards of glass are stabbing my insides.

I flex my fingers, trying to get the circulation flowing.

I woke up as I was being pulled out of a vehicle, and my heart sank when I saw we were at the trailer. Ted dragged me past a room filled with costumes, a bed, and a camcorder before he deposited me in a sparse room with only a filthy twin mattress. I’ve been chained here ever since.

He allowed me to go to the bathroom only once, but he learned his lesson after I got a few good licks in.

I headbutted him in the face and heard a distinct crunch when I caught him square in the nose.

I might be disarmed, but I’m still trying to hold my own.

At least I know ol’ Teddy won’t be walking away unscathed completely.

Pussy knocked me unconscious, and now I have a bucket in the corner of the room and no way out.

I guess I should be grateful that the chain attached to my ankle is long enough for me to walk around the room.

Oh well… My torture means I’m taking his precious time, and he can’t use his evil on another little girl.

I can take whatever he dishes out, but I can’t believe Ted got the better of me. All my research showed he’d be easily overpowered.

Lesson learned for next time, if there’s a next time.

“Maybe this will loosen those lips,” Ted cackles as he approaches me with an iron poker that’s bright red at the tip.

A shiver runs down my spine, and I know I should keep quiet, but my mouth doesn’t get the memo. “Sorry, you’re not my type.”

An evil smile stretches across his face as he lays the hot iron against the flesh of my thigh.

A blood-curdling scream erupts from my throat before I can stop it.

He slowly pulls it back with a gleeful expression.

A wave of nausea rolls in my stomach as the stench of burnt flesh hits my nostrils.

My body is already weak, and this makes it worse, so I have to fight to stay awake.

“You’re not looking so hot there, girl,” he jeers.

I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth to hold back the vomit creeping up my throat.

“Probably not, but I bet I could still get a date willingly and with someone my own age .” I wink. “Can’t say the same for you. Age of consent is eighteen in Arizona, and we both know your little sausage only works on little girls. What do you do, Ted, drug them?”

He rushes forward with the poker, attacking my other thigh. “Fucking cunt!”

“MOTHER FUCKER!” I scream.

Damn it, Jez! Quit provoking him. Who knows what else this sick bastard will do to you if I pass out?

I know Ted won’t rape me. He tried already, but the dickhead couldn’t get it up. I’m too old for him.

I should’ve fucking told Demon or my team I was headed to Phoenix.

I wouldn’t have had to tell them specifically where I was going, but at least they’d have somewhere to start looking. Pride got in my way, and I can stop the internal groan that one of the sins that the club battles will end up being my downfall.

Pride cometh before the fall.

Ted tosses the poker to the side with a huff and marches back out of the room. I take the reprieve and silently beg for my family to hurry. I’m not down and out yet and still have some fight left in me, but I won’t last much longer. A tear escapes, rolling down my cheek, but then Ted reappears.

I jut my chin and lock eyes with the monster in front of me as he brandishes his knife.

“That all you got, dickless?” I say, egging him on.

Shut up, Jez!

Ted’s eyes narrow into tiny slits, his face turning a deep shade of purple. “You’re gonna reg?—”

Bang!

A loud crash reverberates through the trailer. Ted’s head whips around at the sound of the intrusion, and I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face.

“Jez!” Mark—dammit, Demon—hollers.

They found me!

Feeling safe for the first time in days, I let myself slip into sweet oblivion.