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He seemed to buy that story, but he was still eyeing Lucifer through his rearview mirror as he turned down Schaefer Road. “That thing looks vicious.”
I rested my hand on the dog’s head, giving him a scratch behind his ear. Lucifer’s mouth popped open, his tongue rolling out. “He’s a teddy bear. Can you go any faster please?”
The guy upped his speed by two miles an hour, and I clenched my jaw, not believing for a second that he had an issue with casual speeding, so that little increment was a fucking joke.
He asked, “You in a hurry?”
“Yes.”
We were quiet for a little while longer before he spoke again. “So, you’re going to your boyfriend’s place?”
“I don’t see what business it is of yours,” I snapped, the anxiety of knowing Bliss was in the company of Maddox and Reaver leaving my nerves frayed. I blew out a breath. “Sorry. I don’t mean to snap at you, but I’ve got a lot happening right now. I just need you to get to my apartment as fast as possible. Can you do that?”
The guy didn’t say anything more as he drove me to the garage, and when Lucifer and I got out of his car, he didn’t even acknowledge me when I thanked him. Pushing the asshole’s behavior to the side, I needed to focus on what was important and that was getting Bliss out of there safely. The car took off with a squeal of tires, and as I looked up at the building, I absently wondered where that sort of energy was when he was driving me here.
“Took you long enough,” Maddox drawled casually from the doorway into the garage, drawing my attention to him. Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “I almost let Reaver have a little fun with her.”
I came marching forward—all my fear leaving me and being replaced by bravado at his insinuation. “You better not have harmed her, you bastard.”
Maddox laughed. “There’s that fire I know and love.” His eyes narrowed on Lucifer. “The mutt stays down here.”
Lucifer started to growl.
Clutching at the lead a little more tightly, I shook my head. “No.”
Maddox practically rolled his eyes at my defiance, took out his gun, and aimed it at Lucifer.
Time seemed to slow. I screamed for him to stop, but the sound of the gun left my ears ringing. Lucifer made the most pitiful yelping sound before slumping to the ground. I dropped to my knees in front of him, pressing my hands over the wound to his rump. There was so much blood it was hard to see howbad the wound was, but it had to have been bad because Lucifer didn’t make so much as a peep when I applied pressure.
Maddox wrenched me up from the ground by my upper arm and dragged me inside.
“No! You can’t leave him there like that,” I yelled, struggling to free myself. Maddox’s grip was too tight, though, and he yanked me backward, the door slamming shut between me and the only ally I had. With a grunt of annoyance, Maddox threw me onto the stairs, shoving me forward with a hand between my shoulder blades, the force of his actions making me trip up the treads.
The farther we climbed, the louder Bliss’s sobs became until they were spilling out on the landing like blood. Maddox shoved me down outside my apartment door. Sprawled on the carpet, I peered through the curtain of my hair to the doorway beyond. Bliss was on the couch, which had been turned to face the door. She was shaking with silent tears, the t-shirt she was wearing torn at the sleeve, but otherwise intact. Behind her, Reaver held a knife pressed to her throat.
“Bliss, are you okay?” I asked, shoving myself back to my feet and rushing into the room. I fell to my knees in front of her, clutching her hands in mine. My attention was drawn to Reaver, though, when he pulled out a gun and aimed it at me.
“I’m okay,” Bliss told me with a tight voice. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay…”
Her repetition made me think that she was not okay and possibly going into shock. The trauma that would follow her around after this would be immense, and my guilt stabbed at me again.
“I must say,” Maddox began, still standing behind me. “I was very surprised to find Bliss here tonight in your bed instead of you.”
I shot him a scathing look over my shoulder. “Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”
Maddox shook his head, a sinister laugh bubbling out of him. “No, I think I might just keep her. She’ll fetch a pretty price”—the savage look in Maddox’s eyes left my entire body cold—“when we sell her to the Bratva. Or the Yakuza. Actually, the Yakuza would pay top dollar for a white girl. If we get a good enough price for her, I might sling you a couple of bucks as a finder’s fee, Alex. It might even pay off some of your debt to me.”
Tears glistened in Bliss’s eyes as she let out a quiet, “No.”
“You can’t,” I told him, almost choking on the bile that bubbled up my throat. Bliss thought her sister had been taken by the Savage Hunt, but was Maddox involved somehow instead?
Staring in Bliss’s eyes, I felt the stabbing guilt transforming into the crawl of a thousand spiders all over my body. All of this was my fault. Bliss wouldn’t have even been on Maddox’s radar if it wasn’t for me.
“Take me,” I said, eyes still fixed on Bliss. When I turned to Maddox, his expression was pensive, his head cocked to the side as he waited for me to speak. “Take me instead. Let Bliss go. That way, you’ll get your money back when you…” I hesitated over the words, feeling my throat tighten. “Sell me. I’ll come with you willingly if you promise to leave Bliss alone forever.”
“Alex, no,” Bliss whispered behind me.
“The younger girls bag us more money,” Maddox replied, walking to where Bliss was sitting and running his index finger along the neck of her shirt. “Virgins get us even more. Why would I take you in her place? Believe me, Alex,nobodywould believe you were a virgin.”
