Be Warned: this is a dark book with many triggers !!!
The chains were not moving. His strength wasn’t what it was
Skye and Noah have been taken. They’re trapped and at the mercy of strangers. To survive they must count on each other—only, they’re not friends. They are worlds apart, but they must do whatever it takes to survive their new, brutal world.
Noah is not used to being at anyone’s mercy. He’s always been strong. Something is wrong, though, and he can’t fight his way out of the shithole he’s been forced into. The men who have him know he’s weak, and when they make him hurt Skye, he has no choice but to do their bidding, or she will face even worse at their hands.
They have only one chance at escape, but the instant they taste freedom, both know their lives will never be the same again. They were chained up, abused, humiliated, and they know people paid for the privilege to see them. How can they move on from this?
Is there any way for them to have a normal life? They’re twisted. They’re fucked up.
And there’s no one else they can turn to but each other.
Excerpt:
“What happened?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I … something hit me hard, I think. Ugh, I can’t think right now. It’s too much.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“No, I don’t feel fine. What is going on?” She pressed her hands to her face, and still nothing became clear.
“Do you know your name?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Why are you asking me so many questions?” She didn’t want to think right now, or focus, or do anything.
Kidnapped.
This was what happened in movies to really popular girls that were nothing like her.
“I need to know you’re okay.”
She licked her dry lips, staring at him. “Skye. My name’s Skye Carver.”
“How old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
“Who am I?” he asked.
“No, I know who you are. You tell me.”
“Noah King. I’m eighteen years old, star of the football team, and you’re my tutor. I’ve been flunking in English and science, all of them. You’ve been helping me. What is the last thing you remember?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please, Skye. We need to keep our heads right now. I need to know everything, and so do you. We were both hit pretty bad.”
“Okay, fine. I remember the day at school. Derek stole my soda and ran around the cafeteria. You asked me to meet you out by the brook.” She paused. “Why did I have to meet you out by the brook?”
“I wanted to talk to you about the studying.”
“Yeah, you wanted to quit and have me do all of your assignments. We got into an argument—”
“And woke up here,” Noah said.
“That’s it. That’s all I remember.”
“Me too. I woke up a few minutes before you.” He held up his cuffed wrist. “You’re on the bed, no cuffs, nothing. I’ve been nominated to be chained to a wall.”
She crawled off the bed and headed toward him, determined to get to him.
Her body wouldn’t work the way she wanted it to, and she had no choice but to grit her teeth to keep on going, to keep on trying.
“Drugs,” Noah said. “Clearly to keep us sedated as long as possible.”
She got to where he sat and touched the cuffs, following the link to the wall. There were bolts on the wall. She gripped the metal chain, putting her feet to the wall and starting to pull.
As she let out a cry, the metal dug into her hands, and she released a sob.
“It’s fine. Don’t hurt yourself.” Noah captured her hands, holding them in his. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Stupid? Noah, look around. We’ve been kidnapped. We’re somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I’m trying not to freak out right now and totally failing.” She sniffled. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” He gripped the back of her neck, pulling her in close. The small movement made pain explode behind her eyes, but she didn’t tell him to stop. “We’ll get out of here. I promise.”
“We don’t even know where here is.” She lifted her head up and glanced around the room. A single light lay in the high ceiling. No window in sight and only one door. The room had one bed, a toilet, and that was all. Not even a sink.
“It’s got to be out in the sticks somewhere.”
“Noah, we don’t even know how long we were out. For all we know we could be in a foreign country or something.” She rubbed at her temples. Getting to her feet, she touched the wall.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t know.” She moved to the door and tried the handle. “Hey! This isn’t funny. We’re just kids. Let us out.” She slammed her hand against the door, wanting to leave, to be free.
“I don’t know.” She moved to the door and tried the handle. “Hey! This isn’t funny. We’re just kids. Let us out.” She slammed her hand against the door, wanting to leave, to be free.
“Don’t do that, Skye. I mean it. Don’t.”
“I just want to go home. I want to go back to where everything was normal.”
She heard movement behind the door, and she jumped back in time before the metal door hit her in the face.
With the sudden rush avoiding the door, she caught herself off balance and fell on her ass.
Scrambling back from whoever it was, she went to Noah. Looking up, she saw three men.
“Check her over,” the man said, speaking in a strange accent, not one she recognized.
Two men advanced in the room and grabbed her. She tried to hit one, but they caught her arms against her body, holding her immobile.
“What is this about?” Noah asked. “If you need money or anything, call our parents. We’ve done nothing wrong. This is a mistake.”
The man laughed, and Skye screamed as one of the men started to grab at her body, touching her breasts, lifting her shirt, tugging her back and forth.
“She’s fine, boss.”
Just as quickly as she was held, she was tossed to the floor. She caught herself against the bed, but not before hurting her hand on the cement floor.
“Good. Good. We don’t want to ruin the merchandise, at least not yet.”
She rested her head against the bed, ignoring the horrible scent of decay and whatever else the bed had seen.
Noah got to his feet. He was a little unsteady.
Being the star football player, he commanded attention. Most of the girls in high school wanted to be his girlfriend or at least be a notch on his bedpost. For Skye, she never had any time for high school guys.
Noah had to beg her to tutor him, as she didn’t want to waste her time with someone who was only giving a half-assed attempt. He’d proven he meant business though and studied hard, until hours or days before. She didn’t know how long it had been.
“You need to let us go,” Noah said.
“Oh, I do, do I?” the man with the accent asked. There was a smirk on his face as if he was sharing some kind of inside joke with himself.
“Yes.”
Accent man stepped forward, right up into Noah’s space.
Considering he wasn’t his normal self and drugged up on whatever they’d given him, Skye was impressed that he didn’t cower away. He stood his ground, holding his own against the much older, and to Skye, far fiercer and more terrifying, man.
She got to her feet, crying out as accent man wrapped his fingers around Noah’s neck, squeezing tightly.
“You’ll do exactly as I say. Otherwise, you’re going to be digging your own grave in my back yard. I’ve got a lot of dough riding on this. Play nice, kiddies, and you might leave with your lives attached.”
Skye tried to stop him, but his men held her back, stopping her. She cried out as they kicked Noah in the stomach.
“Let’s not do anything too crazy now.”
She caught herself as they threw her against the wall.
The door slammed closed with the sound of the lock clicking into place. Skye rushed toward it, trying to pull it open, but nothing would give.
They were both locked in.
Noah’s pants drew her attention back to him, and she went to his side, kneeling on the cold floor. She put a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m fine,” he said. His voice sounded hoarse from being choked.
“You don’t sound it.”
“It’s fine.”
“You can’t talk to them like that again,” she said.
Noah chuckled. “You think they give a shit about what I say?”
“They could kill you.” She touched his cheek and quickly withdrew her hand. They were not friends, not out there, and right now, they were nothing. She wrapped her arms around herself and leaned against the wall. The last thing she wanted to do was to go and sit back on the bed. “This is bad.”
“I know,” he said.
The silence said so much.
Their situation wasn’t a prank, or a mistake of identity. They’d been taken, and whatever it was the men had planned, it would end badly for them.
Maybe even in death.
Resting her head against the wall, she stared across their small room, a sense of foreboding filling her, and tears flooded her eyes.
Gritting her teeth, she tried not to think about those men, the ones beyond that door, and instead tried to think about what she could do to get out of here.
“They don’t want ransom money,” he said.
“No. They didn’t seem interested in money.”
“Skye?”
“Yeah?”
“I won’t let them hurt you.”
“Newsflash, Noah,” she said, turning her head to look at him. “You’re tied to a wall, and you couldn’t even touch them. You shouldn’t be making promises that you’re not going to be able to keep.”
****
Noah had no way of knowing how much time had passed. Sitting in silence, listening to Skye breathe in and out and occasionally sigh, didn’t exactly help matters.
His throat hurt.
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