Page 34 of Lorcan

“Yep.”

The bag was lifted off my head and I slammed my eyes shut to block out the harshness of the daylight. I felt my chin being moved to the side as he gazed at my face.

“Why is she bleeding?”

“She was getting mouthy.”

“You hit her?” he asked them, looking from brother to brother. “Who hit her?”

Silence.

“One of you had better answer or I’ll shoot you both.”

I heard the sound of a gun being pulled from a holster, and quickly opened my eyes. The gun was raised and a shot went off. It wasn’t as loud as I was used to and that’s when I saw the silencer on the end. The sound of one of my brothers’ bodies hit the floor of the boat with a thud.

“You’re only alive because I need you to send a message to your father,” the man said. “Tell him the girls he sent last week have sold well. We need more by next week.”

“Sure,” I heard my brother Rhys stammer in fear. Miles was the one who died.

Good.

I knew I should have cared a little more than I did but I couldn’t bring myself to care even a little. That fucker had been the one to hit me. He deserved it.

The man took my arm and pulled me over the edge of the boat and onto his. He sat me down gently, and sped off. We were silent, not one of us talking until we got to a larger boat. There was no land in sight as the man turned the power off on the boat and moved over to me.

“My name is Halen,” he said. “I’m Percy’s brother, and I’m glad the worst that was done was a bloody lip. You don’t have anything to fear here, Bridget. We’re going to help you.”

Relief flooded through me as I felt the motion sickness return and suddenly, I was feeling lightheaded. The last thing I remembered was Halen grabbing onto me and lifting me into his arms as he handed me off to someone else.

I awoke with a start, unsure of my surroundings and feeling like I’d been kidnapped until I remembered the events of the day before. The motion of the boat was messing with me as I got off the bed and headed out of my room and down the narrow hallway. I came to a large room with a table and chairs, a deck of cards and a bar to one side.

Perfect.

Halen had told me to make myself at home here, that no one would hurt me. In a few days, I’d have a better understanding of what was happening. I was eager to talk to Lorcan, to make sure he was okay, but I also needed to know what was going to happen to me on this boat.

I pulled the cards out of the packet and started to shuffle, mostly to do something with my hands and to take my mind off the horrors that I knew awaited me.

I couldn’t simply trust these people, I had no idea who they were. I didn’t know who anyone was and the few people I knew would happily sell me to the highest bidder.

I moved the cards into position to play myself a game of solitaire, one of my favourite things to do when I had too much on my mind.

“Getting used to the dreams is the hardest on a boat,” I heard someone say from behind me. I turned around, on guard, to see a man who resembled Halen but was a little older. He had a scar from his neck to his chest.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to just use your cards.”

“Please,” he said, moving into the room and taking a seat. “How about we play 21 instead.”

I smirked at him, and nodded, re-dealing the cards.

“A drink to go with it, perhaps?” he asked. “What’s your poison?”

“Uh I like whiskey,” I said. “On the rocks, Irish if you have it.”

He chuckled. It was a deep, genuine laugh that made me feel a little safer. It was in no way menacing, which is what I expected when I saw that scar.

“My name’s Percy,” he said. “Do you know anything about me?”

I shook my head. “No, just what Mateo told me which wasn’t a lot.”

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