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Opening Excerpt
Chapter One
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
Flick knew she shouldn’t have bothered getting out of bed today. The alarm hadn’t gone off so she’d been late to get up. Then the shower went on the fritz and she had to wash herself with the trickle of cold water that greeted her.
When she got into work her colleague Tamara Clark delighted in telling her that she had a run in her pantyhose. So that meant a quick trip to the washroom to take them off. Her boss had been waiting for her when she returned to the front desk, clearly perturbed that she wasn’t at her post – except he didn’t hesitate in removing her from it again to huckle her into his office.
Geoffrey loved the sound of his own voice, so what should have been a quick chat took up almost an hour of Flick’s day. The fact that he was berating her for not completing a previously farmed out piece of work he’d delegated to her took up more of her day than completing said task actually did.
From there the day had gone from bad to worse. But this had to be the cherry on her cake. On her way to a date she hadn’t wanted to go on in the first place, the cab had broken down. Her phone battery was dead because she had forgotten – for maybe the first time ever – to plug it into its charger at bed time.
The taxi ride to her date seemed to go on forever, and she wasn’t sure if the driver was lost, or if he thought he’d take her on an expensive detour. Whatever the reason, when the vehicle sputtered and stopped all Flick could do was roll her eyes to the heavens.
The driver shouted in a language Flick didn’t understand and got out to pop the hood, though it was clear he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. After five minutes of him babbling in her face like it was her fault, she’d turned on her heels and started to walk.
This wasn’t a part of town that she knew; miles had passed in the cab since she’d seen anything familiar. So here she was traipsing through a crappy area in the dark, looking for salvation.
No cabs had passed in the mile she’d walked along this deserted street. Her four-inch spikes were nipping at her toes, and if it hadn’t been raining she’d have taken them off. Though her feet screamed, Flick was glad she’d elected to wear this particular pair. Topping out at five three she needed the height boost.
All of her shoes were heels – even those she wore to work, though they tended to be wider heels – but most of them were four or five inches to compensate for the height differential between her and seemingly everyone else on the planet.
The first sign of life she’d seen for six blocks was the lights in this corner bar. Oddly, there were no windows on the property. But a sign hung above the door calling the place “Dell’s” and with the picture of a beer bottle, Flick knew it was a bar.
Hoping that they would have a phone, or be able to refer her to a taxi company, she reached for the long brass handle. But she didn’t get a chance to push it before a deep masculine voice came from seemingly nowhere.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’
Flick hadn’t been aware of anyone, but she peered into the black of the alleyway to her left. ‘Excuse me?’ she asked, though she still didn’t see anyone.
‘Keep walking Red,’ he grumbled.
His casual impatience grated on her. ‘Last time I checked this was a free country.’
‘Check again.’
‘Do you own this establishment?’
‘No,’ he said.
‘Then what right do you have to prohibit my entry?’
‘Trust me,’ he said. ‘You want to keep walking.’
‘I don’t actually,’ Flick said. ‘Who are you?’
‘A good Samaritan.’
‘Somehow I doubt that,’ she said. ‘Excuse me.’
‘No—’ His impatience was gone in that exclamation, but she ignored him and swung open the door to stride inside.
Immediately she regretted it. Six men sat around one table in the centre of the space. Two more stood at the bar, while there were two more behind it. A group of eight loitered around the pool table. The space was small, dim, and reeked of cigarette smoke. With bare floorboards, no decoration, and a single lazy ceiling fan, this wasn’t her usual locale. The unexpected entrance drew the attention of every man in the room.
Flick’s parched throat wouldn’t allow words to pass. While three of the men at the centre table were wearing suits, the others might not have bathed for weeks by the look of them.
‘What the hell is this?’ one of the suited men at the centre table exclaimed. ‘I thought you had a guy on look out.’
‘Don’t look like a cop to me,’ one of the men from the pool table said. He discarded his cue and began to move toward her with half a dozen others in his wake. ‘We’ll take care of her.’
Flick’s feet took their time to register what that glint in his eye meant. But as soon as they did she turned to flee, except they caught up with her. Circling around, the pack of hungry wolves came in close. Her scream went unheeded as three of them got hold of her, taking her off her feet.
‘No!’ she shouted and tried to wriggle free while they dragged her past the circle of seated men. ‘No! Please! I’m sorry! I’ll leave!’
‘Not all alone you won’t,’ the one who had spoken first said.
The gang wrestled her past the pool table, and two tailed off to open a door in a darkened corner. Three of them who carried her through ignored her kicking and screaming. They all snubbed her attempts to free herself and dragged her through another door into a blackened room.
No lights, no windows, no sense of anything, until she was tossed down onto what felt like a thin mattress. The darkness increased Flick’s disorientation, hindering her need to flee. Someone snatched her arm, yanked her against a metal bar, and with a grating snick she felt a cuff go around her wrist. Attached to this solid structure, which could only be a bed, Flick was locked in place. The men grumbled and laughed with delight at their apparent good fortune.
‘No, please, I’m sorry. There’s been a mistake,’ Flick said. ‘I want to leave. I need to go.’
‘We’ve got uses for a chick like you,’ someone snarled.
‘No, you don’t want to do this.’
When her other arm was grabbed, she tried to wrest free but this arm was stronger than hers, and she was pulled onto her back. Then there was another snick and she realised what they were doing, cuffing her to the bedframe.
‘Who’s first?’ they asked each other.
Tears burned in her eyes, and she tried to pull her arms free, but her struggling and screaming did nothing except make them angry.
‘Shut it! You’ll piss off the boss, and he’ll make us kill you before we get our fun!’
Lying here doing nothing wasn’t an option. But she didn’t want to be dead. Equally, Flick didn’t want these men to have their way with her. The mattress shifted and a hot, moist hand covered her breast and gave her a squeeze.
‘Big melons for such a little thing, you think she’s legal?’
‘You care?’
‘No,’ the one who fondled her breasts said. ‘She’ll do.’
‘Or we’ll do… her!’ one of them exclaimed to the laughter of the others.
The hand left her breast, but Flick’s sigh of relief was premature because the hand then landed on her thigh and went up under her skirt to touch the lace of her underwear. Flick kept her legs closed, forcing her thighs to bar his entry. He snorted a laugh.
‘I think she’s gonna fight it,’ he said, taking hold of her underwear band.
‘I love it when they fight,’ another said.
Her underwear was torn, and she knew it had loosened, but Flick kept her thighs together. The bed shifted again, and a heavy body landed on hers, then a wet tongue lapped at her neck.
‘Oh you’re gonna love what we have in store,’ the slobberer said.
Pulling the skirt of her dress all the way up to her waist, he tried to get his hand between the clamp of her thighs, but Flick kicked and tried to scream again.
‘Open up for me little thing, you’ll love it. I’m gonna take good care of you.’
‘Please,’ she whimpered. ‘Please let me go.’
‘Can’t do that, you’ve seen us,’ he said, trying to wiggle a finger downward.
Licking all the way to her cleavage, he bit her breast and Flick screamed again.
‘It’s not your turn!’ one of the others said. By the way the body on top of her rocked she knew he’d been shoved by his colleague. ‘Yeah! You went first the last time!’
Flick’s body shook, her head swam like she could pass out at any second, but still she cried. The disgusting weight of this lump on top of her made her fight but he was bigger, stronger, and her attempt to free herself was fruitless.
The three men started to snipe at each other, but then a door opened. Though there wasn’t much more light from the outer room it was enough to see that yes, she was cuffed to the bed, and there wasn’t another thing in this room. The space was apparently purpose built to ensure no escape was conceivable. The distraction gave her a chance to battle her bonds, but still to no avail.
‘What the hell you doing in here? You’re meant to be outside.’
‘Your turn on watch,’ the silhouette that filled the doorway said.
‘Hey no! We got fun here man!’
‘Don’t worry,’ the silhouette grumbled. ‘I’ll take over here.’
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