Page 1 of Ruined

ONE

FRENCHIE

Ican hear muffled voices coming from the other room but can’t make out their words. The two men are arguing again—one kidnapped me, and the other rapes me constantly. Both men torture and torment me. Wilder is the man who took me away from my family. He said he’d been watching me for a long time. He swears he’ll keep me forever, even after Pierre tires of me. He wants to make a new world with me. I don’t understand what he means by that, and I’m terrified I’ll never escape this hell.

I stretch my neck and feel the rough wood against the back of my head. It catches on the short hair they’ve shaved off, tugging painfully at the strands. I bite my lip as tears prick my eyes. My lips are cracked and dry. Neither man has given me water yet today, and I’m afraid they are going to forget me. I’ll rot away in this box. A pine coffin that I barely fit into. There’s a hole big enough for me to look out of and breathe in air, but I’m kept under the bed, making it hard to tell if it’s day or night.

A gunshot rings out, followed by shouting. I stifle a cry as fear claws at my throat. Is this it? Is this how I die? A wave of regrets crashes through my mind. I should have listened to myparents when they warned me not to sneak out at night. I should have stayed home, should have ignored Paula and whatever she wanted to show me. I should have never listened to her.

I was taken right off the street, just a couple houses down from mine. I walked past a van, and Wilder jumped out from behind it. He pressed a cloth against my mouth before I could react. The next thing I knew, I woke up in this box in the back of that van. They only let me out a couple times a day for food, water, supervised bathroom use—and when they torture me.

The box slides, scraping against the wooden floor of the cabin. Panic surges through me as the lid flips open. Bright light floods my space, and I blink until my eyes focus on a dark-haired woman looking down at me. Overcome with fear, I scream.

I fly up out of bed and crash to the floor in a tangle of sheets. My knees slam into the hardwood, and I cry out. The door bursts open, and I scream as I scurry backward into the corner. The back of my head hits the nightstand. The jolt of pain is exactly what I need to knock me out of my head. I come up off the floor, prepared to fight, and lunge for the person standing in my doorway.

Strong hands grip me and twist me around, and I’m still lost in the nightmare. I fight and throw my head back.

“Baby doll, it’s me.” Dylan’s deep voice breaks me from the darkness. He’s the only person who calls me that. He says it fits me better than my first name or my road name.

I blink several times and shake off the memories from my time as a captive. Dylan takes a deep breath, as if he’s inhaling my scent. He places a soft kiss to the back of my head. I start to relax into him, then stop cold when I realize I’m pressed to his naked chest, his erection digging into my lower back. I break free of his hold and step away, instantly missing his arms around me. Part of me wants to find comfort in him, but I can’t.

I can never do that.

I’m ruined for all men. My captors made sure of that. My parents even shouted it at me before they slammed the door in my face. My mother said no one would ever love me. I don’t know why Vixen took me in, or why Riddler and Jinx took me under their wings, but the Handmaidens protected me and finished raising me.

“I’m fine,” I say, barely keeping the quiver from my voice.

I wish I spoke louder, firmer. I’ve always been soft-spoken. It’s why I planned on being an au pair before my life went sideways. My parents thought I would be better suited as a nanny than working in the outside world. They said I was too gentle, too kind. I couldn’t be the dancer my mother had wanted me to be, so she relegated me to raising other people’s children. I love kids, so it wasn’t a challenge for me. They understand me better than most adults do.

If only my family could see me now. Muscles line my body from the hours I spend working out, making sure I’m never a victim again. I can shoot and wield a knife as well as my club president, Riddler. In fact, I’d bet I’m better at knives than she is.

“You screamed.” Dylan’s gruff voice moves through the darkness. He’s standing close to me again but not touching. It’s as if he can’t be far from me. Others have pointed that out to me too.

Dylan transferred from the Alaska State Trooper Detachment in Palmer to the one in Fairbanks. Now, he crashes on the sofas here in the clubhouse on weekends and whenever we throw parties.

I still remember the first time I saw him. It was eight months ago, when my president and best friend, Riddler, was attacked. Thad, her now-husband, asked me to watch his son while he checked on Riddler. I was calming down Skyler, his daughter—though Thad didn’t yet know she was his. She’d just seen her mother, bruised and bleeding.

I climbed into the back seat of the black pickup where Ryder was strapped into his car seat. I introduced myself and Skyler to him. They hit it off right away, of course. They’re half-siblings, after all. I was sitting there, talking about movies and books with them, when the driver’s side door swung open. The most handsome man I’d ever seen climbed in. I was so dumbfounded, I didn’t even care when he and Thad drove off with me in the back to follow the ambulance Riddler was in. Dylan’s long blond hair hung over his forehead, and his blue eyes met mine frequently through the rearview mirror.

“Who are you?” he asked in his deep voice after we pulled into the hospital and Thad jumped out.

“I’m Minuet, and this is Skyler.” My voice cracked, and I bit my lip. I didn’t realize at the time that I’d given him my real name and not my road name.

He reached out and caressed my jaw before breaking eye contact. I stopped biting my lip, but I was completely lost. I’ve never reacted to a man like that before. Since my captivity, I hadn’t had any interest in men, but Dylan was different.

I didn’t think I’d ever see him again after we left the hospital, but a few weeks later, he showed up at the compound, and he’s been here since. He helped when Skyler was kidnapped, and then again when Jinx and Poison were taken.

I moved into the clubhouse permanently last summer, after Thad moved in with Riddler. A couple of months later, Dylan moved here too. I know he has a house, but he prefers staying here at the clubhouse. He’s been trying to get me to go out with him, but I keep pushing him away.

I don’t date.

I haven’t since before I was abducted. I can’t. I’m too broken. I’m afraid that if he touches me the wrong way, I’ll have a flashback and either attack him or freak out.

“I fell out of bed,” I lie.

Guided by the dim light from my bathroom, I move to my nightstand and flip on the lamp.

“Really?” He glances at the rumpled blankets and tossed pillows on my bed.

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