Page 75 of Pretty Broken Things

“Kyle said he needed to talk to her. I don’t see what the big deal is. Sin should be thanking me.”

“Why the fuck would I thank you? Raven could be in danger because of you,” Sin snaps at me.

I shoot a quick glare at Ford. If he hadn’t sold them a line of crap about me being a vindictive whore maybe one of them would see this isn’t me. That something is wrong. They’ll all run straight toward saving Raven, but I’m not worth it.

The guy behind Ford lifts his shirt a little to show me a gun. I want to beg him to do it. Point the gun at me and end this, but I have to try to save Tracy and Lydia. They’ve been holding on to the hope I’d save them. I guess us disposable girls have to stick together.

The speech they forced me to practice comes spilling over my lips. Still, none of them see the force it’s taking for me to say a single word. “A guy like you must be climbing the walls with a clinger like her. Go have fun with Poppy.”Like murder,I think. “I know you have some weird protective big brother thing for Raven, but Poppy’s totally in to you. I’ve seen the news, I know you were forced into marrying her. Go be young and have some fun. I know you like to play.”

I give Poppy the signal that I’d delivered their dumb fucking speech. She has done way too much coke if she thinks any of that shit is going to hit its mark, but she’s got bats in her belfry.

She pushes out her tits and puts on that dumb fucking pouty face she uses to get her way with Jesse. “We could go upstairs and have a private party,” she offers Sin. I think she honestly believes he won’t be able to resist her.

“Tessa told me about you before the party. I’m sure her brother can take care of her. Let me take care of you,” she coos. I did no such fucking thing.

I beg Ford to believe me with my eyes. Ones he once said told him everything he needed to know. He won’t even look at me.

Sin lashes out at Poppy, and I try not to smile at how harsh he is. “Listen you stupid bitch. I’ve already told you I’m married. Which means I’m not interested in easy pussy. The only thing of value you have for me is information. Now tell me, where did they take her?”

Poppy isn’t used to being rejected, and Sin’s words leave her stunned. The last few days have shown me that any kind of inconvenience or disappointment will send her running for her stash to get high and take the sting away.

“You’re absolutely useless.” Sin pushes her away, and like I predicted she scurries off to a bathroom to snort something or shoot up.

They aren’t done though. The meathead who’s been silently threatening me starts to move past, probably to drag me away where I can’t accidentally reveal something. Before he gets to me, Ford grabs him by the neck. This guy has puffed himself up thinking he’s tough, but he’s nothing compared to Ford.

“You’re one of Jesse’s little bitch boys. The girl we came here with, where did they take her?”

Dumbass is a shit liar, but he gives it a shot. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

It’s like a switch flips inside of Sin. He pulls a gun from his waistband and presses it against the bitch boy’s head. “We’re wasting time here.”

I would love to see one of Jesse’s guys bleed out, especially this one, because he likes to hit as much as he likes to get off, but if he doesn’t check in with the guy upstairs with Tracy and Lydia they will be killed. Of course I can’t tell Ford and Sin that. I’m not even sure they’d care if I did.

“What are you doing? Ford, you can’t let him do this,” I shriek.

I’m not sure why I even try. If Sin pulls that trigger every bit of the last few days has been for nothing. I wonder if I can get Sin to turn the gun on me next.

“Then start talking.” His voice is flat and lifeless. He stares the guy in the eyes, hitting him with the full force of his cold midnight eyes. “Don’t think I won’t pull the trigger. I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back. Tell me where she is.”

Like the punk ass bitch I know him to be, the goon folds like a house of cards. “Yeah, okay. This is too much shit for me. They took her to the game room in the basement.”

“I knew we shouldn’t have brought her here,” Sin growls.

“My sister is strong. Don’t count her out yet,” Raven's brother, I think his name is Lucien, reassures him. God, I hope he’s right, because only he knows that I’m not. Just another way I’m inferior to Raven.

Sin puts the gun back in his waistband. “Where’s the basement stairs?”

The goon points to the backdoor. “I’m out of here,” he mutters, and starts heading for the front door.

A fresh wave of panic swells up, because without him checking in with the goon upstairs Tracy and Lydia are running out of time, and I still have no way to get through the rest of Jesse’s men, break down a locked door, and disarm a gym rat before he injects my friends with a deadly cocktail of who knows what.

“If she’s hurt. If they fucking touch her at all, you better leave town,” Sin threatens me.

I can appreciate it, because it’s how I wish Ford had been with me. I swear to myself right here, that if I survive this, if I’m not too broken for him, I’ll commit myself to the future Benji sees for us. I’m going to learn to love what’s good for me.

Still, I do need help. “Ford—” I reach for him. I need him to help me help them. They were his friends first. I thought that meant something to him, but he hasn’t even seemed to notice they’ve been missing for months.

He shakes me off. “Not now, Tessa.” In other words, not ever.

---