Page 44 of Under Your Care

“Fucking whore. Better not be a waste of time,” he angrily muttered.

A drop of spit hit my cheek before he left and locked the stall behind him. My body had given up, but my mind was clinging onto the hope thatthere was some way out of this. Tate had taken my phone before we’d left the zoo, so I had no way to contact Greyson or call 911. I had stabbed a guy to death, seduced him to his demise. That wasn’t even that long ago! Surely, my life didn’t end like this, right?

Right?

Another wave of unwanted tears streamed down my cheeks.

???

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed while I laid in the dirt and dust of the horse stall. I was jerked out of a trance-like state by the sound of the stall’s lock rattling. Tate threw open the stall door. I stared back at him from my spot on the ground. He grimaced like he’d smelled something disgusting when he looked at me. Closing the door behind him, he sauntered over and stood above my body.

“We have a few more hours before the buyer arrives, so I thought we could have some fun together.”

I managed to whisper, “The buyer?”

A maniacal smile spread across his face at my question. “I’m pissed I didn’t think of this when you were still underage, because you get paid a hell of a lot more for kids. But, they gave me an estimate based on your pictures and it’ll work. Can’t be too choosy, can we?”

“You–”

Tate interrupted me, “I’m selling you. They’ll probably sell your organs once your hole is too worn out, but who knows. Won’t be my problem.”

No.

“I’d rather kill myself than be raped again,” I spit at him, surprising myself with being able to get out a full sentence. Tate scoffed as he rolled hiseyes at my statement.

“I’m sure you’ll love being a real whore, whore,” Tate laughed. “Anyways, since we have a few hours to ourselves, I’m going to work all of my anger out on you.”

“Shouldn’t I be in good condition if you want to get paid?”

“Yeah, I’m leaving your money making areas untouched. That’s all that’ll matter,” Tate smirked.

The air was suddenly pushed out of me as he landed a hard kick to my side. I coughed while instinctively trying to curl in on myself. His stomp on my abdomen made that an impossible task. My lunch forced itself up from my stomach and landed on the dirt next to me. Tate laughed as he continued to kick and stomp. He spent extra time stomping on one of my ankles until he heard it snap. My resulting scream of agony seemed to delight him.

“Shit, I wish I could break your dick,” he chattered. “If I wasn’t going to get a fuck-ton of money selling you, I would totally keep you as a punching bag. This is fucking awesome. I’m so fucking hard, man. I wish I could just demolish that ass, but I don't want to damage the merchandise.” I recoiled when he began unzipping his jeans. “Gotta just make do with this.”

Tate pulled out his dick and began violently jacking it while standing directly above me. I rolled my head to the side so that I didn’t have to watch. Still, I could hear it. If I hadn’t already thrown up, I would have while listening to his grunts and the sounds of slapping skin. I braced myself - as much as my broken body would allow - when Tate’s grunts became urgent. As I felt the hot splatters of cum land on my chest, my mind finally gave up. There was no way out of this. Hopefully, I could get access to a razor or some pills or something once in the hands of my traffickers. As soon as I had the opportunity, I’d remove myself from the equation. It felt almost comforting that even though there was no way to run away or fight, I had an out. It was just…

Permanent.

After masturbating, Tate left the stall. I brushed a fingertip againstthe dirt, thinking about Greyson, my parents, Chloe, and Oliver. I wondered what my parents would be told about my disappearance. Hopefully, they would find my body quickly. I worried about them never finding out whether I was dead or alive. The years of waiting, hoping, searching. I would never wish that upon anyone.

I hoped Greyson would take care of Chloe. She had come to adore him, and I could tell she was growing on him. I wasn’t sure how Oliver’s future would turn out, but I hoped he wouldn’t find a way to blame himself for this. He was always too hard on himself. Soon, my eyes drifted shut; the pain fading away as I slipped into unconsciousness.

Chapter 20

Greyson

It was approximately an hour and a half after our text conversation when I checked his location. The tracking chip I’d previously put in him allowed me to feel comfortable enough to let Lane go out of the apartment on his own. I frowned when I saw on the GPS map that Lane was out of the city limits. I tried to stay calm, coming up with various reasons that my boy would be in the middle of nowhere without mentioning anything to me. They weren’t sound reasons, but I didn’t want to lose my temper with him if he had gone on a spontaneous nature hike. Still, it was unlike him to not update me on his plans. I called his phone after double-checking that I hadn't received another text from him. No answer. I continued calling as I left the office, shouting to Amelia that I had an emergency. She’d need to reschedule my next client.

I ground my teeth as I hurried across the parking lot to my car. As I sped out of the parking lot - heading towards Lane’s location - I called my brothers for backup. Luckily, they were available and nearby. I could hardly focus on the road ahead of me. I felt in my gut that something had gone wrong. Lane had been doing so well lately - he was the perfect boy. Oliver had gotten in his head last time, but there was zero possibility that hewas involved in whatever was going on now. From what I knew about my brothers, he was being kept under lock and key.

My knuckles turned stark white from the grip I had on the steering wheel. I didn’t feel good about the fact that Lane’s dot on the map hadn’t moved at all during the last thirty minutes. If he was on a hike - which I highly doubted - his location would have been steadily moving as he walked through the woods.

I parked a fair distance away from Lane’s location, wanting to have the element of surprise on our side if necessary. My skin felt tight as I waited for my brothers to pull up. I pushed up from where I was leaning against the door of my car, making the decision to go in alone. They’d catch up.

I followed the coordinates deeper into the underbrush until I spotted a decrepit structure about fifteen yards away from where I stood. Glancing down at my watch, I confirmed that Lane was in there. As I stepped closer, I recognized that the building was an old, dilapidated barn. Yeah, there was no waymyprincess willingly was hanging out in this tetanus trap.

I paused as I heard a stressed voice leaking out of the barn.

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