Page 44 of Sweet Torture (Torture Games #1)

His cheek explodes from the impact, and the other bullet rips through his throat. Jenny would never believe I made this shot .

I swing the gun at my other attacker, who stares at his bleeding friend in shock.

The sudden hit from behind is unexpected, and dazed, with one hand, I reach to the back of my head to find a trickle of blood flowing. My red fingertips feel sticky, and my grasp on the gun is weakening.

I see the jumble of black slipping away from me, and I know I should follow. But my reflexes are not communicating with the rest of my body.

All the air from my body is extinguished when I take another hit, and my face collides with the floor. Hard.

My brain is screaming at me to keep hold of the gun. I grapple with my hands in the air but feel nothing. Everything becomes fuzzy at the edges, and I bite my tongue. Pain helps to clear your vision. Somebody told me that. I forgot who right now, but it works.

Sweat drips on my face from the man hovering over my body.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just put her out,” Riley screams from the side where the door is supposed to be.

He must be the one who hit me.

Coward sneaking up on a woman.

“I don’t beat on women,” the man on top of me seethes. He is clearly losing his patience, but he is not the only one.

Two shots ring out.

Shocked, I wait for the pain to spread through my body, and when I feel nothing, I close my eyes in relief .

A drop of warmth drips on my cheek, and I force myself to open my eyes.

As if in slow motion, the man on top of me topples over while blood runs freely from the hole in his forehead.

An involuntary silent scream escapes my lips as I push him off me and scamper away from the pool of red that is forming around him.

The gun is still trapped beneath his body, and I have no other option than to lift my hands in surrender when Riley comes into view.

“You always have to make it so fucking difficult. How do I explain this to him now? Hopefully, Denise does her part, and all this can be chalked up to incompetence. Won’t that be great, sweets?”

I always hated it when he called me that. “I am not your sweets. I am not your anything. Why don’t you just leave me alone?” The words struggle to form in my mouth.

He goes down on his haunches before me, the gun hanging idly between his legs.

“How could you say that, sweets? You mean everything to me. Sure, I have gotten married; don’t get me wrong, my wife is a peach.

But there is just something in knowing that you have the life of another human in your hands. ”

He uses the gun to swipe my purple streak behind my ear; I pull my face away from the hot barrel.

“You don’t control me anymore. Why don’t you return to your wife? We can forget this happened. I won’t tell anyone about you,” I plead again .

His evil chuckle crushes something deep inside. “Not even that boyfriend of yours? I heard my friend is not pleased with the way he botched this operation. But do you want to know what I did?”

The sour stench of his breath takes me back to a time I would rather forget. Close to losing it and reverting back to the girl I left behind, I gather all the courage I can muster and look him dead in the eye. "What did you do?”

“I arranged a welcome home present for him. I sharpened the shiv myself before I gave it to my man on the inside. Yes, the possibility of you ever seeing that man again is infinitesimal at best. Unless…”

He wants the power to control my actions, and I would gladly give it to keep Griffin safe.

“Unless what?” My voice is bordering on a scream.

“Unless you are a good girl and turn around so I can tie you up. We need to leave soon if we want to avoid traffic.”

He can see the defeat in my eyes without me saying a word. He pulls me up by the arm, and I wince when I find a throbbing pain in my side. I must have a broken rib.

As heartless as ever, he pulls my arms to the back, and the handcuffs snap around my wrists. He always likes the hardware more than the rest. He loved the marks left behind when I struggled.

“I don’t understand why you want to get to me so badly. Nothing came from the charges I pressed against you. And you have a wife now. You don’t need me. ”

“That is what you think? That I need you? Oh no, my sweets, you’ve got it all wrong. I don’t need you. You belong to me. You signed a contract and are my property to do with as I please. And it pleases me greatly to see you destroyed in every sense of the matter,” he gushes.

He swings me around and gets close. “First, I am going to remind you of all the fun we used to have. I can still recall the taste of your blood on my tongue.” He used to literally lick my wounds and growl in delight when I moaned in pain.

“Then, I am going to watch your heart shatter when the news broadcasts the ‘unfortunate event of Griffin Maxwell’s murder while in incarceration.’”

Tears threaten to fall from my eyes, but I am focused on the evil before me. “Why not just kill me? He would have to live with the guilt for life, and that would be a punishment in itself. You never even have to tell him where you hid the body. It would drive his controlling ass crazy.”

“If only you could have been this loyal to me. No. Sorry, after the savage beating he gave me, there was no way I was going to let him live. Time to go. I have so much fun planned for us. You are going to love it.”

I start struggling out of his hold, “You lied to me. Let me go right now, or I will scream. There are security guards everywhere.”

I don’t see the blow until it is too late. My face feels like it explodes. My lip burst open, and from prior experience, I know it is blood trickling down my chin.

“Oh, sweets, you know how I used to love your screams, but it is a little too early for foreplay.

Unsteady on my feet, he leads me out the door and to the back of a white windowless van.

Pain radiates from my face to my side, and when he sees me struggle to get in, he pushes me from behind.

I fall face-first into the dank darkness, my face hitting the metal of the floor with enough force to leave a mark behind.

The doors slam shut, and he whistles as he gets into the driver’s seat.

“Time to go on an adventure. Hope you are buckled up.” His chuckle confirms the opposite.

This time, I don’t stop the tears from coming.