Hot Pink Heels (The Street Series) (26 page)

“It was my idea to come and offer an exchange for you, but Clarissa, I don’t know what to say, I mean, she showed me what it means to give everything for someone,” Amanda said. She was near tears as she thought of her new friend in Billy’s hands.

Just that very day she’d been worried that Clarissa was going to lay into her about Jackson again, but things had turned out so much differently and it was hard to believe she already felt like she’d known Clarissa for ages.

“We have to go back,” Amanda said. “We have to go get her, there’s no telling what Billy is doing to her right now.” She turned toward Jackson, who put his hands gently on her shoulders.

“
We
aren’t going anywhere,” Jackson said with Jason nodding in agreement behind him. You and Whitney are staying here where it’s safe.”

“What?” Amanda pushed back from Jackson in surprise. “No way. Whitney and I know the situation better than any of you and we are most definitely
not
staying behind while you men go off to save the damsel in distress without us!”

Jackson looked at Harry, who nodded, and Jason stepped out from behind Jackson with the roll of tape in his hands.

“What are you doing?” Amanda squeaked, afraid she might know the plan. Jackson put his hands on her arms as Jason came up beside Whitney.

“I’m sorry, ladies,” Jackson said. He enclosed Amanda in a hug, but she didn’t return it, wary now. Jason grabbed Whitney and before she knew it, she was back in the chair and he’d wrapped her arms in tape, but she hadn’t even felt him include the
chair in the wrapping job.

“What the freak?” Whitney struggled and shrieked while Amanda started bucking in Jackson’s arms. “You’re really going to tie me up?” Whitney was in disbelief as she looked toward Amanda. “These are your
friends
, Mandy? Nice choice!”

Amanda couldn’t believ
e they were doing this. “Jack, please, don’t do this,” she said as she struggled, already out of breath.

“Amanda, I’m sorry, but the most important thing in the world to me is to keep you safe,” Jackson said, his lips near her ear. “I can’t live without you, you already know that. But Clarissa and I go way back, and I need to be able to concentrate completely
to save her, and that means I can’t be worried about you.”

She tried to struggle, but his words were an arrow straight to her hear
t, filling her with the warmth of being loved. However, no matter how good his words made her feel, she was not going to sit idly by while he rode off to be a hero.

She rammed her elbow into his stomach, apologizing as she did so, but she followed it with a crushing stomp to his instep. Suddenly, she was free, but Jason’s arms came around her like bands of steel
. She looked down at Whitney, and her expression was full of anger.

Harry had grabbed another chair, but they wisely kept the girls across the large room from each other. It was all over within a few minutes, but to Amanda, it seemed like forever. Jackson left his cell phone on Amanda’s lap on speakerphone, already connected to Harry’s phone in case there was a problem.

Jackson put his forehead to Amanda’s. “Jack, please don’t do this,” she begged again.

Their breath mingled, and Jackson knew they had to get going. “I’m sorry, Amanda,” he whispered and then he was gone.
Harry locked the doors as the men left, and Amanda and Whitney were left alone in the large, dark room.

As Clarissa watched Jason pull away with Whitney, her fear doubled
. Billy continued to drag her toward the alley. She was screaming, but she knew it was useless. No one responded to screams in this area of the city.

Steeling herself, Clarissa tried to block out her fear so she could think.
Should I struggle or should I go along with him?
This was one deal Clarissa had never had to close, and she was at a loss.
God help me,
she thought.
I can’t help myself
.

She cried out in pain as Billy twisted her arm and pushed her roughly against the brick wall in the alley. Her throat was on fire where he’d been choking her, but at least she was still conscious. Billy’s hand came up under her chin, pushing on her windpipe again.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here,” Billy chuckled. The sound made Clarissa feel sick, but it was nothing compared to the sound of her arm snapping when he twisted harder.

She heard someone screaming, but she
didn’t recognize her own voice. Her vision dimmed as the pain radiated up her arm. She tried to bend over so she could throw up, but Billy refused to let her move. “Now, maybe you’re going to start by telling me what’s really going on here,” he said through clenched teeth.

She focused on the mole on his forehead, trying to stay alert enough to
find a way out of this mess. Billy grabbed her by her upper arms, her right arm hanging limply against the brick. “Start talking, bitch,” he hissed, shaking her hard enough to smack her head against the brick.

“Okay, okay,” Clarissa cried. Her mind was fuzzy and she tried to work out details that would keep Amanda and Whitney safe, but she couldn’t remember exactly what they were. “I’m not a hooker.” Her throat was sore and raspy.

“News flash! I guessed that the second you stepped out of that car,” Billy laughed derisively. “You were too classy for this part of town. But maybe you’ve got some money, huh? Your boyfriend with the Ferrari, maybe he’s got some money?”

The flash of metal drew her eyes downward and she saw the blade flick out of Billy’s pocketknife. She wasn’t
going to handle this well. She was more of a coward than she’d thought she was, and she just hoped that both Amanda and Whitney were finally safe, because this didn’t look good for her.

Billy trailed the tip of the knife from the sweaty hollow at the base of her throat to her navel before looking at her face. She knew she
was pale and it must have been just what Billy wanted, because he laughed and pressed the blade closer to her skin. She gasped, and a fleeting thought crossed her mind as she realized Amanda must’ve lived with this fear every single day.

“I don’t have any money, and he’s not my boyfriend,” she insisted, closing her eyes and turning her head to the side when he brought the knife up close for her to see.
“I swear!” Clarissa yelled it out, squeezing her eyes shut in fear.

“Well, something has to be done, because you’ve cost me one of my best girls,” Billy said, almost amiably. “I was already down a girl because Carla’s no replacement for Mandy.” He saw Clarissa’s eyes change at the mention of Amanda’s nickname.

“Ah…” Billy grinned wickedly. “So this
is
all about Mandy. Sweet Mandy, boy she was a fine piece of ass. I bet you’ll give her a run for her money, but we’ll see about that in a little bit.” He sneered as Clarissa began to buck and fight.

Her eyes widened as she saw two huge men appear on Billy’s right and left. “You see, Mandy screwed me over, just like her roommate did, and now I’m gonna use the same knife on you that I used to gut the other bitch. It’s a shame I can’t have
one more go at Mandy for old time’s sake, but you’ll have to do.”

Her arm was on fire but she kept fighting, realizing it didn’t matter to her what the right move was at this point. She wasn’t goi
ng down without a fight.

Amanda had managed to move the chair an amazing six inches so far. Disgusted, she looked at Whitney across the room. She was doing the same thing, but she’d made more progress, probably because Amanda was trying not to dislodge the phone from her lap.

“Those guys are a real piece of work,” Whitney hollered across the room. “I’m not even getting paid to be tied up and that really pisses me off.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but they really do have good intentions,” Amanda said. She believed her own words, but she still intended to give Jackson a piece of her mind about those intentions as soon as she could plow her fist into his stomach again.

“Whit?” Amanda waited for her friend to answer.

Sighing, Whitney responded. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I let you think I’d run off on you, or that I was dead or something,” Amanda said. “I just had to get out—it was time.”

Whitney didn’t answer her right away, but finally she said something so quiet Amanda could barely hear her. “I don’t blame you. I would've done the same thing,” she almost whispered.

Amanda resumed her slow trek across the room while Whitney continued her jerky method as they worked together in relative silence.

Minutes later, Whitney spoke again. “So, tell me about that guy,” she said. “Grey eyes? Things look pretty serious between the two of you. What did he do, set you up somewhere posh to be at his beck and call?”

Amanda couldn’t tell if Whitney sounded jealous or angry, or maybe a little of both. “No, we’re worlds apart,” Amanda sighed. “He says he’s in love with me, but I think it’s just a healthy case of lust.” She laughed to prove her point, but inside she knew the truth.

Jackson would never want to be with someone as messed up as she was, with the abortion he’d disapproved of and the parade of men she had to compare to him for the rest of their lives. No, there was no place in his world for her, and she was already committed to leaving her old world. Maybe she’d even go back home.

She almost giggled as she thought about her life back in
Podunk City. She’d been so desperate to get out and make something of herself; to live a life of adventure. Well, here it was, and Amanda realized she’d give anything to be able to sit at home on the front porch with her mom, just enjoying coffee and conversation.

The two big brutes stood there laughing as Billy terrorized her with the knife, watching as she gasped and screamed. He was enjoying this all too much and he leaned forward to whisper the ugly things he would do to her before he killed her, followed by a detailed explanation of how he’d disposed of
Charity’s body.

Clarissa shivered, which had Billy laughing and waving the knife in front of her face. His hands had already violated her in several places, but she knew the worst was yet to come.
When I am afraid, I will trust in you
. Her childhood favorite, the verse she’d memorized so long ago came back to her in her fear.

Although she was still terrified, thoughts of the verse and God’s protection helped Clarissa relax in the face of evil, for that’s surely who this man was. Four pairs of eyes whipped to the opening of the alley as they heard tires squealing. The two huge men stepped in front of Billy as three shadows blocked the light from the street, sealing off the alley.

Squinting, Clarissa could barely make out their faces.
Jackson. And Harry! And Jason too!
She was so afraid for them, but she was also wise enough to know they were her only chance out of this situation. Amanda and Whitney must still be in the cars or back at the warehouse.

Her struggles renewed, but Billy stopped her with the sharp point of his knife at her throat. It pierced her skin and a small trickle of blood
oozed from the cut. Jackson leaped forward at her whimper, but Jason was faster. Once again, his skills in combat gave him a leg up in the situation.

Jason moved almost silently as Harry and Jackson rushed straight at the three men and Clarissa. Jackson and Harry didn’t know it, but they were providing the distraction
Jason needed to slip past the other men’s guards. He heard rather than saw the crack of fist meeting face, but didn’t stop to see who was going down.

He was on the two larger men almost before they saw him coming, and he slid to the ground, taking one out with a leg sweep while hitting one as hard as he could below the belt. The first man landed on his back and struggled to get up, but the second man bent over and promptly threw up.

Billy had the knife pressing closer to Clarissa’s throat. “One more step, guys, that’s all it will take for my hand to slip and her jugular to open,” Billy said calmly. Jason had already moved nimbly behind Billy, positioning himself just out of sight.

Jackson reacted just as Jason expected, his eyes darting away from Clarissa to land on him. The look caused Billy to look away from the other two men for a split second, but he never knew what hit him.

Jason yelled, “Drop, Rissa!” before ramming his shoulder into Billy’s back with all his strength. Clarissa obeyed without thought, and she noticed suddenly that Billy was on the ground, his mouth gasping for air.

Jason was on top of him, but it wasn’t necessary. Jackson had already returned one of the other two men to the ground and Harry was just dealing with the third man. Clarissa shrieked when she saw the knife embedded just under Billy’s ribcage.

When Jason had hit him, Billy’s arm had doubled up in front of him. It caused him to drop the knife, but Jason had moved so quickly the knife had been trapped between the wall and Billy’s stomach.

Clarissa was in shock, her teeth chattering and her arm hanging at her side. Jackson was already helping her to the mouth of the alley. Harry was on his phone, telling Amanda they’d gotten Clarissa while Jason called in an anonymous 911. The two hulking giants were moaning and coming to, but Clarissa and the three men were already in the cars.