Page 1 of Savage Valentine

Prologue

Sydney

Age 10…

Standing on the stage in front of what seems like hundreds of people, my hands bound behind my back, my feet are cuffed and chained together. I feel gross and the lights are way too bright after being locked in a cell for God knows how long. The door only being opened to give me food, water and for these men to do the disgusting things they have to me. I haven’t seen daylight in so long. I’m here to be sold to the highest bidder. My mom owed some bad people money and when she couldn’t pay them, they killed her and took me.

“Smile, you have a lot of people wanting to bid on you! You are our biggest prize. So act the part. If you don’t leave here with me getting paid, you will regret it.” Mr. Williams says, his rancid breath making my stomach roll. He always smells like cigarettes and alcohol.

Feeling a sting in the back of my arm causes me to jerk. Within the next few minutes, my vision becomes blurry and my head feels fuzzy. I hear someone calling out numbers and saying prices but everything starts to fade into the background. Like I’m here, but also not here. I barely register hearing the word “Sold” before I’m grabbed roughly and walked backstage, stumbling along the way. I’m placed back in my chair and tied down while they grab the next girl. There’s only three of us and I don’t know any of their names.I just wish someone would save us. I don’t want to be here anymore. I just want to be loved and live a normal kid's life.

Hearing a commotion behind me, someone comes up to me and cuts my ropes loose, moving to the girl next to me. A woman with long black hair crouches down in front of me. Her bluish–grey eyes meet mine.

“Come on, we’re going to get you all out of here and taken somewhere safe. I promise, you will be safe. No one will hurt you again.” She says with a promise before standing and helping me out of my chair. I lean on her while trying to get my legs to move, whatever the injection was making me feel groggy.

After stumbling around, she finally just picks me up and carries me. The girls that were there with me, not far behind, each one being carried by some man. I’m put inside a vehicle, when all of a sudden you hear ‘BOOM’, the building we just left explodes, pieces flying everywhere.Hopefully with all the bad people still in there.

Laying my head back, I drift off to sleep. The drug that was given to me, finally taking over.Sleep. I’ll just sleep.

Chapter 1

Sydney

Present Day…

Sitting in the cafeteria with my headphones on, I begin to close my eyes as I listen to the music, when the sudden feeling of someone pushing my headphones off causes me to jump. Turning quickly, I look to see Liv and Zova behind me.

“Hey babes, sorry about that. I never saw you guys walk up.” I say with a small laugh.

“Yeah no shit, you were zoned out with those on your ears and your music probably on full blast.” She points to my headphones and rolls her eyes while Zova just laughs. Pullingout my phone, I pause my music and look back at them before shoving my headphones into my bag.

“Obviously, something has to drown out the noise in here.” I shoot back. Looking specifically at the hockey table, all the guys are always loud and rambunctious. My eyes catch Parker meeting my stare and I quickly turn away.This fucking guy.

“I don’t think they know the meaning of the word quiet.” Liv replies, rolling her eyes. Zova is just giving fucking heart eyes to Ezran, but they are pretty cute together so whatever makes her happy.

The sorority girls normally always sit at the same table for lunch. We try and keep each other filled in on the latest bullshit happening around the school. There are ghost stories I’ve heard about since day one of being here. You’ll catch the light flickering or some weird shit like that, they say it’s the spirits of a bunch of murdered wives haunting the grounds. It’s intriguing, really. Spooky too.

Finishing up my food, I tell the girls bye as I get up and walk to dump my trash. Before I can walk out of the cafeteria doors, a strong hand grabs my arm and spins me around. Looking up and seeing Parker standing in front of me, I let out a frustrated sigh and try to pull out of his grip. By the shit eating grin he’s wearing, I can see it does no good. It only eggs him on as his tattooed hand just tightens around my arm.

“Can I help you?” I roll my eyes and look up at him, hoping the look on my face shows how uninterested I am.

“Actually yeah. Ever since the maze party last night, you’ve done everything in your power to avoid me. You're done ignoring me Sydney!” He says, his face all serious now with those deep emerald eyes boring into mine.

“I’m not sure what you want me to say. I was drunk. We hooked up. End of story. Fun times. Now let me go, Mr. Vega doesn’t like when we’re late.” I rip free from his grip and turnmy back to him. He laughs, but not a casual laugh, it was one of those crazy laughs, you know? Looking over my shoulder at him, a sinister smile plays on his lips. The kind of smile that sent a shiver down my spine.

“I’ll see you in class, Syd.” He says, almost in a taunting way. Then just turns and walks back towards his table and teammates.

Walking into the classroom, I sit in my normal seat in the middle of the room. After a few minutes, the rest of the class starts piling in. Parker walks into the room and comes up to the seat next to mine. He sits on top of the desk and looks over at me.Did he not get the hint?

“Like I said, I’m not going anywhere.” He says, that same sinister grin playing at his lips right as Mr. Vega walks in and pins him with a glare.

“Get off my desk. There’s a chair there for a reason, Vance. Use it.” Mr. Vega spits out.

Holding in my laughter, I look down at the desk while Mr. Vega goes on about the class. As I sit here trying to listen to everything he’s saying, Parker won’t stop clearing his throat next to me, trying to get my attention. Pinning him with a stare, he raises a brow at me and I turn back to the front.I am not getting infractions because of him.

Once class is finally over, I walk out of the room and on to my next class. Walking through the halls, I cringe as they’re lined with all the Valentine's Day crap. Red, pink and white hearts cover the walls, streamers hanging from the ceiling. They go all out.I literally cannot with all this lovey shit.They celebrate Valentines all month long here and something always goes down at this school during the month of February. I just mind my business and do what my adopted parents want me to do. Mom always says the same shit when I ask her about what goes on at the school on a deeper level.

“Just keep your head down Sydney and don’t worry about what happens in the halls or other places at that school. You won’t like anything you find.”

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