Page 4 of Iced Out

Tae trembled, trying to stop the tears, struggling to be as brave as his dad, but he wasn’t like his dad. Everyone feared the Egyptian—even some who knew him personally. He was everything Tae wasn’t: big, strong, fearless, intimidating. Tae had never frightened anyone… though plenty had frightened him.

“What’s wrong, little buddy?” The passenger was looking back at him again, still grinning.

Tae shrank away from the man, his back pressing against the seat. He ducked his head, shaking, bloody snot dripping from his nostrils.

“Watcha so worried about?” the man snorted. “A cute boy like you… you’ll get all kinds of love at the detention center.” He looked him over in a way that made Tae sick to his stomach; he knew that look. He’d seen it plenty at the Blue Grotto, where he’d been forced to fuck grown men—before Cochise rescued him. They hadn’t cared that he was a kid—or that they were hurting him. Most of them liked hurting him.

Tae wouldn’t look at him and just stared down at the seat, tears dripping from his face. His heart beat frantically, terrified that his dad wouldn’t find him in time.

“You’re kind of pretty, like a girl,” the man smirked. “Maybe I won’t send you to the detention center. Maybe I’ll take you home with me instead.”

The driver glanced at Tae in the rearview mirror and smiled. “He is pretty like a girl, ain’t he? Bet his hole is soft and tight like a little virgin girl’s.”

Tae’s pulse stalled when, from the corner of his eye, he saw the driver drop one hand to his crotch, squeeze, and groan.

“Hey,” the passenger said in a low voice to the driver. “Why don’t we take a little detour and, uh…” He cast a predatory look at Tae. “… test him out?”

His pulse kicking back to life, Tae pressed harder against the back seat, head tucked tightly to his chest as his breathing began to shudder and hitch. Once he was out of that nasty club and safe with his new family, he hadn’t thought this would ever happen to him again. But it was. These men were going to rape him, and he couldn’t stop them.

The driver shot him another look in the mirror, cold lust in his eyes. “I like that idea. My dick’s already hard.”

“I get first dibs,” the passenger said. “Since it was my idea, and I was the one who clocked him at the park.”

“Whatever,” the driver drawled. “Just don’t wear him out. I want a tight hole to fuck.”

“I’ll try not to.” The passenger craned his head around, sneering at Tae. “We’re about to get to know each other a whole lot better, gook boy. And go ahead and scream and cry. No one’s gonna hear you or come to help.” His face twitched. “Your ass is ours now. And maybe we’ll just leave your corpse in the ditch, ‘cause I’m not sure you’re even worth taking back.” He snickered. “After we’re done with you, there may not be anything left to take back.”

Tae cowered, heart pounding until he could hardly get a breath.

Please, Dad, help… please help me…

Cochise wasn’t sure he should be the one behind the wheel as the road before him blurred into a red haze of fury. Rather than ease off the gas, he pressed his foot down hard on the pedal, hurling the SUV down the highway, its tires hissing across the dry pavement.

The cowboy sat in the passenger seat, eyes narrowed, searching and inspecting side roads as well as what lay ahead—no less vigilant than if it were his own son who had been abducted.

“We’ll catch them,” Clint said, his voice quiet, as if speaking to himself. “They don’t have much of a head start. If we don’t catch up to them first, Cruz and his boys will cut them off at the other end.” He drew his handgun, checked the magazine, then put it away again. “These are arrogant fuckers. They won’t expect anyone to come after them.” He fell silent for a moment before adding in a harsh whisper, “They have no idea who they just fucked with.”

The Egyptian couldn’t respond as his jaw remained locked tight, clamping everything down. If he unclenched, even a little, all fucking hell would break loose. He needed to keep his head. Once Tae was safe, then… then he would let it go.

His eyes darted to Clint without turning his head. The fuckers had hit his thirteen-year-old son. Luke’s bloodied face was etched in the cowboy’s mind—just as Ash’s bruised face hovered in Cochise’s. They had crossed the Egyptian twice, first by assaulting Ash and then kidnapping Tae.

These motherfuckers might get away with abduction, abuse, and even murder because of the fucked up laws and lawmakers. But Cochise didn’t give a fuck who they were or who “protected” them—no one touched his kids without paying the fucking price.

No exceptions.

Tae leaned against the rear driver’s side door, head pressed to the cold window. Blood and snot smeared the glass as he watched the scenery outside speed by in a blur. He knew this road by heart. They were still a little way from the city.

The men had stopped talking to him and were speaking in hushed tones to each other. Maybe the mention of a detour was just meant to scare him. It had. He craned his head around, trying to look behind them, praying to see his dad’s SUV or Clint’s car. But he couldn’t see anything.

His shoulders and arms ached badly from being cuffed, and his wrists burned as the steel restraints bit into his flesh. He felt a stickiness around the handcuffs and was certain it was blood.

Tae tried to stay as quiet as possible, afraid of drawing the men’s attention. He sniffed, wanting to wipe his nose, but had no way to do so. That faint sound made the man in the passenger seat glance back at him. Tae pressed his cheek against the window and squeezed his eyes shut, causing more tears to leak down his face.

“You look lonely back there all alone,” the passenger drawled. “I bet you’d like some company, huh?”

Tae’s eyes snapped open. He shook his head, his throat working faster, pushing thicker tears to the brim of his eyes.

“You’re just shy,” the man smirked. “Sure you do. I bet you’re the kind of boy who likes a man to hold and comfort you.”