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I zip my pants and return to the cabinet above the bed. After digging around inside, I find the choke collar and metal leash, and I drop them on the counter beside the sink. The girl is too unruly. If she wants to act like a dog and run away at every opportunity, I’ll treat her like one. The next time we leave this truck, I plan to keep her on a very short leash.
Chapter Thirteen
Aurora
I blink back my confusion. The hum of tires on asphalt vibrates the truck. We’re moving, then. Swimming up from the blackness, I’m left with a headache and a lot of questions. My eyes rise to the small, dirty window. A pale orange glow filters through, telling me the sun has just begun to rise.
I’ve survived my first night with Kane. Or Jax. Or Tobin. Whoever he’s pretending to be today. I’m still not sure I believe him.
When I try to sit up, metal rattles. A handcuff winds around my wrist, securing me to the bed. Memories rush back to me. I remember sleeping with Jax, and then he let me go. I guess Kane didn’t agree with that. I growl as I try to free my hand from the shining metal bracelet, but there’s no give.
Fucking fuck.
Pup stirs beside me. Her fluffy paws push forward as she stretches, and she opens her mouth in a yawn. I reach out and give her a soothing pat with my free hand. Her brown eyes close again.
I collapse on the bed. My bladder aches, and I can smell myself. I need a shower and a bathroom break.
“Kane!” I yell, but he doesn’t answer.
I have to find a way out of this shitty situation I’m in, and escape is my only option. Even though every attempt has failed thus far, I can’t give up. I won’t die in this fucking truck.
It feels like forever before the truck stops moving. The curtain whips open and his menacing face glares at me. He looks like he’s still sick and tired of my shit. Well, I’m sick and tired of his shit, too.
“What, dropout?”
“I have to pee.”
He turns to leave.
“And shower!”
Metal rattles, and he shows up again...with a chain in his hand. It looks like a collar and leash. Pup raises her head and wags her tail. How she looks at him with such adoration in her big brown eyes is beyond me.
“Really?” I say.
“If you want to act like a dog that’s hell-bent on escaping its yard, you’ll be treated like one.” He moves closer and clasps the collar around my neck, then rips the leash backward. The metal comes together and pinches my skin between the links, and I whimper. “Are you going to behave yourself?”
It’s not as if he’s given me a choice. “Yes.”
He unlocks the handcuff, and I rub the red indentations on my wrist. My entire body aches from all the running and fucking I’ve done in the past twenty-four hours, but I can only focus on the relief my hand feels at being free again.
“I need to wash my clothes,” I say. “I have a few outfits in my backpack, but they’re all dirty. And I don’t know what you did with my bag.”
Instead of responding, he drops the leash and goes toward a row of cabinets. They open and close as he pulls women’s clothes from inside. He tucks some under his arm, grips the leash once again, and drags me forward. Do I even want to know why he has women’s clothes in here? How many girls came before me?
He catches me staring. “They’re from women who didn’t need them anymore.”
“Did you kill them?”
“What did I say about asking questions? Best you don’t.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
Instead of answering, he just turns around and pulls the leash. I take a quick step forward, not wanting to feel the collar’s bite again.
We get off the truck and I blink against the growing sunlight. We’re at a different rest stop, but this one isn’t nearly as clean as the last one. Kane drags me toward the building. There’s no one else around, and I’m partly grateful no one else can witness this humiliation. Another part of me wouldn’t mind if someone saw because it would mean I could yell for help.
But would I yell for help if given the chance?
