Stolen (3 page)

Hours we drive, I feel us going across a dirt road for a few miles until finally we stop. The man sitting next to me drags me out and across the gravel. He swings open a door and flicks on a light. We are in a small shack that is made from wood. It is basically a
huge open space with a small room off to the side. A small kitchen, lounge and toilet/bathroom is in the main area for all to see. The small room off to the side has two beds in it.

“Get her over against that wall.” The driver demands.

The man holding me pushes me against the wall. Then, both rip their masks off. I glance at the first man. He is short, with pale blue eyes and dark black hair. He isn't ugly, but he isn't attractive. He is trying extremely hard to look scary, but something in his eyes tells me there is so much more to this and that he is not a bad person.

The second man I can see is tall and broad; the kind of broad that should be illegal. The next thing I notice is the thick mane of brown hair that drops just above his shoulders. Good lord. He has deep, deep brown eyes. They remind me of milk chocolate. His face is glorious; he looks determined, powerful. Square jaw, full lips, olive skin. I just stand there blinking at the beauty before me. What the hell is a man so gorgeous, doing this for?

“Right, get her clothes off. I want to make sure she isn’t hiding anything.” The short man demands and my eyes bulge.

“No. Don’t you touch me.” I hiss.

“Is that necessary?” The handsome bloke says with his drawl. It sends shivers up my spine.

“Leave her bloody clothes on then. Just feel her, make sure she has no phone or anything like that. Hurry up.”

The handsome man puts his hands on my shoulders and runs them down my body, around my hips and across my bum. I begin panting, memories flash through my mind. The only hands ever on me, were that of evil.

“She has nothing.” He says, stepping back.

“Get her downstairs.” The man snaps. I glance at the pair of brown eyes that meet mine.

“Downstairs?” I whisper.

The short man grins and grabs my arm, dragging me down to a door. When he opens it, I look down; it goes underground. He pushes me down and turns on a light; it is a little
room underneath the house. Jesus. Nobody would ever find me here. My pulse quickens. There is a small bed, a chair and a toilet.

“Jock, is this really good for a young girl?” The handsome man asks.

“She will live Blade, it’s about time the princess knew what I was like in the real world.”

Blade, the handsome
man’s
name is Blade?

“You know nothing about me.” I snap.

“Shut up.”

“Or what?” I scream reefing my arm out of his hands and backing up against the wall.

“Don’t mess with me girl.”

“Get away from me, let me go home!” I roar, stamping my foot angrily.

He starts towards me, and I dodge him; but Blade catches me. He reefs me back and tosses me onto the floor like some sort of rag doll.

“Don’t start.” He snarls.

“Just let me go.”

“You aren’t
going anywhere, now just sit down.”

I sit on the only chair in the room, glaring at him. The short man walks over, and he slaps me hard across the face. A loud crack fills the room. I leap up, kicking out and trying a lame attempt at escape. He shoves me back down and pulls a gun from his jeans, aiming it towards my head.

“Sit down NOW.” He yells, I quickly drop back down.

“Jock, why did you hit her? This was not part of it.” Blade says, pulling the short man away. Jock, that is his name? It suited him. Jock strap.

“I don’t care what the plan was, you follow along with me Blade, or by
God
you will come crashing down with me.”

“Just don’t hit her.”

“Tie her to that bloody chair and then come upstairs, it is time to talk.” Jock snaps and leaves.

Blade walks over and grips my arms, dragging them around behind the chair and securing them with a tight rope. I squirm.

“You can’t leave me like this, it hurts. Please.” I whisper, don’t cry Emerson. It’s not worth it.

“Just shut up and go along with this or you will be hurt. He will not hesitate, do you understand?”

“No. Why are you doing this?”

“Because we have nothing and you have everything. It’s the least you can do for us.”

“I didn’t ask to have everything.” I protest.

“And I didn’t ask to have nothing.”

“Let me go…”

“No, now shut up or I will shut you up!” He snarls.

“You will not.” I challenge.

He grabs my face hard in his hands; he is strong. His fingers dig into my chin.

“Don’t test me.”

“Just get out and leave me alone.”

He lets go of my face and storms out, slamming the door. I am alone and stuck on a chair, not knowing if I will ever see my family again. The worst feeling though, the one that tugs deep down in my soul, is the feeling and fear that my family may not come for me.

CHAPTER 2

I sit on that chair for hours; I can hear them arguing up above. I get a strong feeling they don’t do this often, is life actually that hard that they have to result to kidnapping? I feel sick; my stomach turns. Am I in shock? It is possible; I try to breathe in and out, but I feel awful. I can’t stop the vomit that rises up; I throw up all over myself. I wail loudly,
the reality of my situation finally kicking in. The two men come
barreling
down the stairs, but stop when they see the mess.

“Oh for
God
’s sake you stupid girl. Why did you do that?” Jock yells.

“Like I meant to.” I hiss.

“Bloody hell, get her upstairs and throw her in the shower.”

Blade unties my arms and drags me upstairs, walking me into the shower.

“Get your clothes off!” Jock demands, coming up behind us.

“You’re not serious?”

“Well you can’t exactly get clean like that. Now move, you can leave your underwear on.”

My hands tremble. If they see me half naked, will they rape me? The though
t
brings bile up my throat and I begin panting.

“Please, I…can’t.”

“Just get in!” Jock snarls.

“I…please. I…”

“She is scared Jock. Leave her go.”

“Fine, get the fuck in with clothes then. It’s your health.”

“Can you leave me alone?” I whisper.

“Not likely, there is a window in there. Now get in.” Blade says, pushing me into the shower.

“Don’t push me, you prick.”

“Just shower.” He sighs, running his hands through his thick mane of hair.

I hesitantly step towards the shower and get in. I let the water wash all the remnants of sick off my dress. I am going to catch a damn severe cold in this. I look at Blade.

“I…can I have something else to wear?”

“Here.” Blade mumbles pulling off his shirt.

I die a thousand deaths. The man has the body of a
God
. His chest is smooth, bronze and muscled. His shoulders are broad; a tribal tattoo goes over one shoulder. His waist is lean and trim; his jeans sit perfectly around his hips, defining that amazing V. I look away quickly and slip on his shirt.

“Can I have some water?”

“Yeah, fine.”

He walks out, and I gape. Did he seriously just leave me here alone? Jock had disappeared
God
knows where leaving Blade to watch me. My mind clicks quickly; I can see the front door, I make my way towards it extremely quickly. Once I am out, I start running. It is still dark, and I can’t see where I am going, tree branches scratch my arms. I thought I had gotten away with it until I hear them behind me. Dammit.

“Stop, or I’ll shoot you.”

I keep running, they won’t shoot me; surely. I am wrong. It feels like a hot iron being driven though my leg. I drop to the ground screaming. I am thrown over Blade’s shoulder and carried inside. I am screaming bloody mu
rder; the pain is too much. My m
ind is
phasing
in and out; I can’t
breathe
.

“You shot her.” Blade roars.

“What choice did I have, she wouldn’t have stopped.”

“We would have caught her, what are we going to do? She needs medical attention.”

“I will sort it out.”

“GET AWAY FROM ME.” I scream, gripping my leg and panting.

“Is the bullet in there still?” Jock says, looking at Blade.

“I don’t bloody know.” Blade snaps.

“WELL LOOK!”

He leans down grabbing my leg; he turns it from side to side.

“Nope,
it’s
gone straight through. Shit mate.”

“Get me the first aid kit, I’ll stitch her up.”

“Bloody hell…” Blade mutters and rushes off.

“Don’t you try a stunt like that again girl, I will bloody kill you.”

“You’re a monster, I hope you rot in prison for this.”

Blade comes back with the first aid kit. I am numb now; my mind is close to blacking out. The pain is far too much.

“Hold her down while I stitch this.” Jock orders.

“You’re not serious?” Blade gapes.

“Deadly, hold her down.”

“Geez.”

Blade leans his enormous body over mine, and I kick and squirm. I can’t move. Memories flood into my mind like a disease. Being trapped, it’s the one thing I can’t deal with. I scream frantically. My mind is soon turned from Blade holding me down, when the searing pain of a needle in my leg, shoots through my body.

“Stop, please stop. Kill me. I beg of you.” I scream, the pain is too much.

I scream the entire time he stitches my leg. When he is done, I feel a burning liquid being poured over my skin. I scream again. My voice is hoarse; there is no sound left.

“Get her downstairs, lock the door. There is no way she will get out of there.”

“Come on.” Blade murmurs, lifting me into his arms.

When we get downstairs, he throws me on the bed, I roll over towards the wall, but the pain is unbearable. I roll back as he is just turning to leave.

“Please, do you have something for the pain?” I plead. He stares at me for a long moment, brown eyes searching brown.

“Yeah.” He finally says and walks back upstairs.

Within minutes he is back down, a glass of water in hand. He sits on the bed and hands me three pills and water. I swallow them quickly. He leaves without another word, and I roll back over into the position I had taken up before, then I cry for hours. I am terrified, how long will I be here? What will they do to me if my parents don’t give them money? Will they actually kill me?

How could my mother and father just let them take me; they didn’t even try to go after them. Not even in their car, they could have saved me, and they didn’t. I know my family is selfish, but this is beyond a joke, this is just downright horrible. I wonder what they are doing now? Are they thinking of me? Do they have police looking for me? I finally drift off to sleep, whatever Blade had given me works. It knocks me out; I am grateful to go without the pain for a little while.

I have horrible dreams that night; I toss and turn. I feel sick and then I just feel nothing. The emotions that run through my body are ranging from hate to fear. I am so afraid; I want some loving arms to wrap around me but at the same time I am so angry that right now I couldn’t care if I saw my family again or not. I thought I meant so much more to them. As for Caleb, he could just go to hell. Most men would lay their lives on the line for the person they loved, but not him.

There is no pain worse in the world, then when you realize the people you thought loved you, don’t. Not knowing if you will see another day doesn’t exactly fall far behind that. I wake up in the night screaming, my body shaking. Blade groggily stumbles down. I stand and hobble towards him; I want to go home. I want to get out. He shoves me back down.

“Stop screaming will you? For
God
s sakes.”

“Let me go. I want to go home.”

“Well tough, if you don’t shut up, I will shoot you again.”

“Oh you will not. You are both as bad as each other; you are not going to do anything to me.”

His hand lashes out and slaps me hard across the face. I kick out at him with my good leg, connecting with his shins. He roars and stumbles backwards. I leap towards him, driving a punch into his stomach. He shoves me backwards with a curse. Jock comes bounding downstairs and holds a gun out towards me. I freeze.

“Just sit down!” He yells and I back up.

“Let me go.”

Jock walks over and grabs my arm, dragging me towards the bed. His fingers dig harshly into my skin.

“You listen here, if you don’t stop your shit I am going to kill you. You may think I am joking, but believe me I’m not. The choice is yours. I will leave you down here to rot if you don’t stop, no one will EVER find you.”