Page 19 of Sinners’ Appetite

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I holler out as a man walks up to me, tracing his fingers along my jawline.

“Shh…I promise I’ll be gentle, little one,” he groans.

I gather a wad of saliva in my mouth and when he steps closer to me, I spit in his face. He steps back and raises his hand up in the air, slapping me in the face so hard that I collapse to the concrete floor.

“We’ll have to work on your manners,” he growls, reaching down to grab the collar around my neck to drag me towards the woman still sitting in her chair.“I think you’ll like this one, Rachel. She’s feisty.”

The woman reaches under my chin, lifting my head up. “Are you worth the two-million we’re spending?” she asks.

I shake my head. “You’re fucking sick!” I manage to say.

She starts to laugh out loud, almost in a cackle as she looks down at me. “Oh—you have no idea.”

“Let’s pay and get going, shall we?” The man says as he pulls up on the chains attached to my collar. “We have a long drive ahead of us.”

The woman then reaches for a briefcase beside her and stands to hand it over to Nolan. “You can count it, if you want,”

I watch as Nolan opens the case and pulls out a wad of bills, followed by at least seven more. “Fuck yeah, look at all this cash.”

I look all around me, hopeful that I’ll still be able to escape somehow before they drag me out of here. All I can see is pure darkness, until I spot a broken window to my right. As I focus in, I swear I can see a set of eyes peeking through the lower half of the still intact glass.

“Looks like it’s all here,” Nolan says. “I guess that’s it then.” He walks up to me and grabs under my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Have a safe drive, pretty girl.”

“Fuck. You.” I hiss through my clenched teeth.

“That’s not very nice, Nikki.” He smirks, looking toward the man. “You’ve got your hands full with this one.”

“Let’s hope she’s easy to train.” The man chuckles.

As soon as the woman stands to her feet, I hear a loud gunshot go off suddenly, and both the man and woman fall to the floor in front of me. My ears start to ring as I turn toward the window.

“Motherfucker!” Nolan hollers out as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gun. When he points it in the direction of the window, he pauses.

Since he’s preoccupied, I take off running. As soon as I push the heavy door open, someone grabs me and drags me around the corner of the building, holding their hand over my mouth as I begin to scream.

“Shhhh…I got you, baby girl.”

Malachi .

I wrap my arms around his neck, sobbing so heavily that I can barely breathe.

“Where is Sammi?” he asks quietly.

“She’s still inside. There’s more people coming,” I whimper. Just then, I hear someone scream from inside the building.

“Where the fuck is she?!” I hear Jeremy holler.

Moments later, another gunshot goes off and I squeeze around Malachi’s neck even harder.

“Jessica!” Malachi calls out. “Get over here!”

A few seconds later, Nolan’s sister comes running around the side of the building. “You’re okay!”

“Stay with her until I get back out,” Malachi demands, helping me sit down.

“No! Don’t leave me!” I plead as he takes off running away from us.

“I’ll be right back, baby girl. I promise!”

I bow my head into my hands and let the tears fall as Jessica wraps her arms around me. “You’re okay now, Nikki. Take a deep breath. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Paul…” I manage to say.

“Who’s Paul?” She asks.

“The other guy. He hurt Sammi.”

“Where is he now?”

Before I can reply, Jeremy comes around the corner, cradling Sammi in his arms with Malachi following closely behind him.

“We need to get her to the hospital. Now!” Jeremy cries.

“I grabbed their keys. We can take their vehicle. Let’s get her into the backseat before she looses any more blood,” Malachi insists.

Jessica helps me to my feet and we all take off toward the car.

She leads me to the front seat and then hops into the back with Jeremy and Sammi.

Malachi starts the engine and speeds off toward the entrance.

As we make it further down the road, we spot a vehicle driving towards us in the opposite direction.

“Sammi, baby, wake up,” Jeremy pleads from the back seat.

“Is Nolan—dead?” I manage to ask Malachi.

Malachi looks over at me, nodding his head. “Well—if he isn’t already—he will be soon enough.”

I breathe a sigh of relief and close my eyes.

I thought I’d never get to see Malachi again.

“Where is the nearest emergency room?” Malachi asks.

“Take a left when you get to the end of this road. It’s not far from here,” I reply, my body still trembling. I can’t bring myself to look back at Sammi. It kills me that she’s in this condition because of me.

Malachi reaches over and gently places his hand on my leg. “She’ll be okay,” he assures me.

“I did this.”

Jeremy then speaks up from the back seat. “No, you didn’t, Nikki. You can’t blame yourself for any of this.”

After a moment of silence, Jessica speaks up. “Nikki—you mentioned someone named Paul…where is he?” she asks.

I take a deep breath before finally answering. “He left to pick someone up.”

“I wonder if that’s them.” Malachi says, pointing toward the car up ahead.

As it gets closer, Malachi moves over a bit and dims the headlights, allowing the car to pass by us. I glance behind us in the mirror, watching as the tail lights disappear over the hill.

“I think it was…” I reply.

“We have to ditch this car somewhere,” Jeremy says.

“I’d rather keep going. Sammi doesn’t have time for us to wait.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” I ask.

“Well let the hospital staff deal with that,” Malachi says. “Right now, we just need to get you to treated.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not, Nikki. You need to be checked out.”

“I said, I’m fine!” I holler, startling Malachi enough to make him veer off to the right.

“Nikki, he’s just trying to help,” Jeremy whispers.

Just then, I hear Sammi whimper.

“Nikki! Where’s Nikki?!” she cries out, seemingly disoriented as she tries to sit up.

“I’m right here. I’m okay.” I turn, reaching behind me so that I can run my fingers through her tangled hair.

Suddenly, she starts to scream so loud that all of us have to cover our ears.

“Pull over!” Jeremy hollers.

As soon as Malachi stops the car, I hop into the back seat and wrap my arms around Sammi while Jessica and Jeremy get out. I look out the window and see Jeremy in tears, holding his forehead against the car.

“Tell me what to do…” Malachi pleads from the front seat.

I keep my arms around her, holding her head to my chest. After a few minutes, her breathing finally regulates and she lifts her head to look up at me.

“You…” she says, reaching her hand up to my face, tracing her fingers along the dried blood and tears.

“Shhh…” I whisper, looking to Malachi with a faint smile.

“We need to go…” he says.

“Tell Jeremy to sit up front. Jessica and I can squeeze back here with Sammi.”

Malachi exits the car and makes his way around to Jeremy. Moments later, Jessica joins me in the back seat and Jeremy hops up front. He turns around and it breaks my heart instantly to see the distressed look in his eyes.

We finally get to the end of the road and Malachi turns left, heading in the direction of the nearest town. As soon as we get to the hospital, Jeremy rushes out of the car and grabs Sammi a wheelchair, opening the back door to assist in getting her out.

She can walk, but judging by the distant look in her eyes—she’s in shock. She hasn’t spoken a word since we stopped on the side of the road. She just keeps staring straight ahead, at nothing.