Page 59 of Pucking Obsessed

There’s an arm around me pinning me in place. There’s something sharp pressed against my neck, and I sputter a cough in my panic. I can’t see who’s holding me, and I can’t get any words out. I want to scream, but I can’t make a sound.

“It was always going to end this way, you know,” an angry voice growls in my ear. “The more you struggle, the more I’m going to enjoy this.”

Panic claws at my insides, but I force it down, biting hard on the inside of my cheek. My pulse thunders in my ears as my eyes dart around, trying to make sense of anything. We’re in the woods, but there’s cliffs nearby. It’s dark and raining. The wind is starting to pick up, and I don’t know how far away from campus I’ve been taken, but it feels like we’re in another world.

I try to twist my head slightly, just enough to glance up at the face above me. Coach Jacobs.

He breathes in roughly like he’s getting off on the fear and disgust that must be visible in my expression. Bile rises in my throat and I start coughing again. I’m more in control than he thinks, because I glare at him and spit in his face.

“You stupid bitch.” His grip is still so tight that his nails are biting into my skin, but he holds me away from him.

“What do you want?” I manage to get out, but I already know. Deep down, I know he’s connected to my father.

The demented man smirks, the corners of his mouth twisting up like he’s never been so happy in his life. Just feeling his hands on me makes my skin crawl. “You sure are dumb for such a bright girl, aren’t you? I know you’re smart. Capable. That’s why I chose you. It was tough, convincing your father, but a few lost bets dug him deeper and deeper and suddenly you were on the table and up for grabs.”

“He’s dead, the deal died with him. Why did you bring me here?” I blurt out, because none of this makes sense. He could have taken me before my father died. Why would he have been targeting my friends? They had nothing to do with the deal he made.

Coach Jacobs lets out a cruel laugh, and he sounds bitter. “I didn’t kill him myself, if that’s what you’re thinking. It was a nice little arrangement I made. There was no one to keep you from me anymore. Except when I came to collect my prize, Lockwood was playing guard dog. Every fucking night I came by the truck stop, or your damn house even, he was there preventing anyone from getting close to you.”

My eyes prick with emotion when he mentions Hayden. He has been protecting me since the moment he met me, and I hope he knows that I realize that and appreciate it in a way I didn’t early on. The fact that this asshole has known who I am the entire time and I had no idea he was watching me makes my stomach twist. I don’t want to dignify him with the satisfactionthat he’s scaring the fuck out of me, but I need to know one thing.

“Where is Hayden? What did you do to him?” I don’t remember anything except the smoke and then waking up here.

“Your little friends are probably waking up right about now. Groggy and disoriented, with no idea where to come look for you.” He laughs and I’m shivering, but I’m leaning as far away from him as I possibly can. “I would have killed them, but I’m kind of on a time crunch and I don’t have time to make it look like an accident.”

I breathe in, relieved, but then the angry hits me like a fucking baseball bat. I scream at him, “Why are we here? What is your fucking plan?” I kick my foot at him, but his arms are long, and I can’t reach him.

“I knew you’d be a spitfire. You won’t lay there limp staring over my shoulder, will you? You’ll make me work for it.” I fucking hate him.

“I didn’t take into account that Lockwood would latch onto you like a dog with a bone. If it weren’t for him, none of this would have ever happened. You’d already be tied to my bed.” He spits, and he shakes me hard, and even in my panicked state, I realize he doesn’t want to hurt me right now. I suspect it’s because he wants me in good condition for whatever he has planned for me. This gives me hope that I can somehow get away from him. My eyes dart around looking for anything I can do, but he’s still prattling on. “You two never would’ve met if she just waited a few hours for him to finish fucking the whore and killed her another night.”

She?

Possibilities of his accomplice flash in my mind, but then I see something move over by the base of one of the bigger trees. Winter. She’s slumped over, and despite the small movementI just saw, her body is now unnervingly still. The lump in my throat grows so big I think I might choke on it.

“No,” I breathe, my voice cracking. “Winter! Are you okay? Move your hand if you can hear me.”

Nothing.

Coach Jacobs laughs, and his eyes have taken on a look that can only be described as feral.

“She needs help. It’s raining and she can’t move. What did you do to her?” I try to jerk away from him, and my skin is slick so my forearm rips out of his grip. I topple over, falling to the ground. I manage to run even though I’m disoriented, but just as I reach Winter, he grabs me by the hair, yanking me back into his chest. The knife is back at my throat, and I’m not so sure he won’t use it this time.

Coach jerks his head toward Winter, then drags my attention back to him. “She’s insurance that you do exactly what I want,” he says, his tone calculated. “If you’re a good girl, I’ll leave her here. She’ll wake up from the shot I gave her, wander back home, and live to see another day.” He leers at me when he says, “I opted not to give you anything. I want you awake and feeling everything I’m going to do to you when I finally get you back to my house.”

“And if I’m not a good girl?” I manage to ask, cutting my eyes at him. My whole body is shaking from the cold and my cheerleading uniform is soaked through.

His arm tightens around me, and I can’t imagine a world where a woman would willingly let this demonic man touch her. “If you’re not the sweet little girl I know you can be, you’ll spend the rest of your life knowing that I threw your only friend over that cliff because of you.”

I bite down hard on my lip, tasting blood as I force myself to stay silent. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to fight, torun, to do something. But I can’t risk it until I know I can escape and help Winter. She doesn’t deserve this.

I don’t know how, but Hayden will come for me. He always does. I just have to keep Coach Jacobs occupied until Hayden gets here.

“Nothing to say?” Coach sneers, his tone mocking me. When the knife nicks my skin, the sting is sharp. I flinch, a small gasp escaping my lips before I can stop it. He lifts his finger to catch the few drops of blood that form on my skin and lifts it to his mouth in a grotesque gesture. “Oh, you’re going to be a good fuck, aren’t you Madi? Did you let Lockwood taste that sweet pussy?” He makes a grunting noise and I don’t know if he’s disturbed or intrigued at the thought of Hayden and me together.

I ignore him, and decide that my only chance of survival is to talk. I need to talk until I can’t anymore. “I don’t understand why you’d taunt us like this. Why didn’t you just…” My voice wavers, but I pull it together. He thrives on vulnerability so I need to calm down.

“Why didn’t I just come to you and say I had your father killed and now I want to fuck you?” His words are so brash, spitting from his mouth like they disgust him even as he says them. He shoves me back, every step pulling me closer to the edge of the cliff. He gets off on fear, I remind myself. He’s not going to throw me over, he has too much he wants to do to me to kill me.

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