Page 61 of Shattered

I find myself closing in on him, desperate for the warmth of his body, and he meets me halfway. He pulls me into his arms, and his lips consume mine. His kiss lights me on fire like no other kiss has. The way he holds me so possessively, like a willing prisoner, I think he feels it, too.

“Asher…” I whisper against his lips.

He breaks our kiss but keeps his mouth against mine, and I swear my heart might burst out of my chest as I’m consumed with fear. Fear of losing him, or worse…

Loving him.

BANG!

We’re both jolted with fear, and we shoot up in bed. The two men from the other day, Rocco and Rooney, are standing in his bedroom doorway, having slammed the door against the wall. Before I can process what’s happening, both brothers pounce for Asher, and I’m crushed beneath one of them as the other sprays some kind of aerosol right in Asher’s face, which seems to knock him out instantly, wiping the brief panic off his face. The second the weight lifts off me, I’m yanked backward, my arms locked behind my back by two rock-firm hands.

NO! JESUS, FUCK, NO!

I won’t go down without a fight, thrashing within an inch of my life and probably pulling half the muscles in my body in the process. The effortless way the brothers overpower me has my whole body heaving in panic.

“Smart enough to get a security system, stupid enough to leave the back door wide open,” one brother says.

“LET ME THE FUCK GO!”

“Knock the bitch out, too!” one of them growls.

The sound of the aerosol is the last thing I hear.

I wake up with what feels like lead in my lungs. When I attempt to throw my body upright to cough, I’m knocked back down by my neck, my air stolen. I wheeze as I slam back against cold metal.

“Lila?”

After managing a few deep breaths, the heavy ache in my chest is less, and I can open my eyes straight into a nightmare. I’m completelynaked, with a metal collar around my neck attached to a cold metal table. Beside me, attached the same way to another, is Jared. He’s also naked, facedown, and white as a sheet. The fresh dragon tattoo on his back is gone, deformed beyond recognition under a thick layer of raised, dead, burnt skin.

Oh my god, what did they do to him?

“Lila, does Asher know where you are?” he asks, his voice hoarse and afraid.

“I don’t know, they knocked him out…” I whisper, struggling to find my voice. “Where are we?”

Glancing around, I find we’re in some dungeon with stone walls and floors. A single steel door is shut, obviously locked.

“They have this cabin; we’re in the dungeon underneath. This is where they torture people.”

“Torture who!?”

He turns his head to the wall behind me with an insidious look on his face, and I turn, my heart racing to a dead fucking stop.

Skulls.There’s a shelf of skulls extending the whole wall like trophies. There’s got to be two dozen of them.

“Whoever they want,” he says, his voice dead. “I heard about this place but never imagined it was this bad. They livestream these snuff films on the dark web, and people pay for them. It’s sick.”

The door suddenly swings open, and my chest seizes up in sheer terror as both their eyes lock on me.

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

The sinister voice makes my body shudder.

When they shut and secure the door behind them, they separate and come at me from opposite sides. Rooney motions up to theridiculously high ceiling, where a security camera is mounted, a red light blinking at me.

“Say hi to your boyfriend. He’ll be watching live soon.”

I want to be brave, not to give these bastards the satisfaction of begging for my life. But I think the fear ripping through my veins right now might just be what kills me.

---