Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
“I gotcha,” says the guy behind me, wrapping an arm around me to keep me steady, then pulling a blindfold over my eyes.
I can no longer see, but I can feel the guy lift me from behind, supporting my weight easily as he lifts me to a standing position. The third guy, a bigger guy, comes over and picks me up, draping me over his shoulder.
The clear dome moves on my face, nudging the blindfold so the right side lifts enough for me to see.
I can’t see who’s carrying me, but I recognize his scent.
It’s Shane.
His voice sounds a little muffled, but he tells one of the other guys, “Make sure the mask is still on her right.”
One of them crouches down to check the fit and make sure I’m still getting assistance breathing. I try to look at him, but I can’t turn my head and he’s not at the right angle for me to get a good look. I feel leather gloves on my face as he adjusts the dome, then stands. “Yep. All good.”
I feel like a ragdoll as Shane carries me out of my bedroom, then out of my apartment. The tall, cold one must have walked out first, because the one who put the blindfold on me is the last to leave, and I watch him reach back inside to turn the lock before he closes the door, apparently making sure the place is secure so no one else comes in uninvited.
How considerate, I think sourly.
I’ve gleaned that I’m being abducted by Blue Bloods, but I don’t know why. I’m alarmed that they went to the trouble of using a paralytic, because I would think they’d know I’d just come willingly with a little mild threatening.
But I don’t know two of these men. Shane is the only one I recognized. The tall, cold one isn’t Hex, and the one who blindfolded me… I don’t know who the hell that is.
I don’t know what time it is, but it must be late. Thankfully, we don’t pass anyone in the halls on the way downstairs. A chill passes over me when we get outside. I’m wearing thin night clothes, and it’s cold as hell. Jerks could have at least grabbed my coat.
I’m not outside for long. A white Escalade is parked on the curb, and the tall guy opens the door like Hugh did for me earlier tonight. I’m jostled unpleasantly as Shane tightens his grip on me and hauls me into the car, careful not to bump my head as he does. I get a brief glimpse of white leather interior seats, then Shane shifts my weight and cradles me like a child, carefully putting me down across it.
Unfortunately, he also notices my blindfold has moved.
“No peeking,” he tells me, then he adjusts the blindfold so it’s covering both eyes again.
Robbed of my ability to watch, I listen as the guys load into the car and close the door. The cabin lights dim, and seconds later, the car starts moving.
“How you doing over there, Brynn?” asks the guy who blindfolded me.
I’ve been better.
“She can’t answer you, asshole,” mutters Shane, who I realize by the nearness of his rumbling voice is not sitting on a seat across from me. He’s sitting on the floor right in front of me.
It’s instinct to try to push against the seat, to get myself upright, but I’m frustrated all over again when my arms lie uselessly against the buttery leather seat.
“That will wear off in a minute or two,” the guy says, as if reading my mind. “We’ll let you come out of it if you can be a good girl, but then we’ll have to administer a second dose when we’re taking you out of the car.”
Since I can’t speak, I try to shake my head.
Please no.
But of course, nothing happens.
As many times as I’ve been rendered helpless in my life, I have never been as helpless as this.
The guy was right, though. The drug does wear off.
I’m reluctant to let them know it at first, so I stay where I am, making only the smallest movements of my fingers and toes to test it out. I briefly consider smacking Shane in the back of the head for doing this to me to announce my renewed ability to move, but that certainly won’t earn me any brownie points, so I ignore the impulse.
I don’t know if I should remove the mask or not since they said they’re going to do that to me again, but honestly, I will do just about anything to convince them not to. That felt terrifying, like suffocation for several seconds, then the helplessness of it afterward…
That was absolutely terrible.
And exactly what Kyle experienced, except he had the added terror of knowing the house was on fire and he was absolutely going to die.