Page 16 of Beautifully Wounded

“I really am trying to protect you, Charity. How about you fucking let me?”

Let him? This is all so messed up. I can’t make any sense of why I’m here with him.

“Who wanted you to kidnap me?” I ask, trying to force a level of confidence in my voice that will make me sound strong.

I fail.

“That is for me to know, and you to find out when I get the green light to tell you. Now, are you going to walk back to the van willingly, or do I have to carry you?”

“I’ll walk,” I snap quickly, shoving past him and hi-fiving myself, in my head of course, for being so ballsy.

His deep chuckle rumbles behind me as I head back towards the light of the rest stop, Ringo’s heavy feet snapping twigs as we go.

When we emerge from the thick of trees, the four men and the one woman, Jols, turn to watch us return, and given the way they nod as we approach, I guess Ringo gave them a gesture or silent order from behind me, kicking them into action, all of them climbing into the vehicle.

When Ringo gestures for me to get in through the open door, I reluctantly step up into the van, only to find one seat left.

“You can come snuggle between us.” One of the guys snickers from the very back seat which Ringo and I were on next to one of them earlier.

I stare back at him andthe other big guy, their legs manspread so far apart there’s no way I can fit between the two of them. Not that I want to, and I’m pretty sure the blond guy that just spoke knows that.

“Shut the fuck up, Murf. She’s not sitting with anyone but me.”

Ringo’s words are part welcoming and part terrifying.

I don’t want to sit between those men who resemble the big tatted up biker dudes I’ve only ever seen in movies. But I also don’t want to sit with Ringo, because that would mean I have to sit on his lap again.

The sliding sound of the door closing draws my attention, right before Ringo folds himself into the last seat and reaches out to snatch my wrist, dragging me to him.

I try to snatch it back, but I’m weak against his strong hold, and before I can figure out a way to get myself out of this situation, he has me sideways on his lap, stretching the seatbelt around both of us before clicking it in.

“Relax, Charity. I won’t bite,” he mutters quietly so only I can hear, while Jols starts up the van, and music I don’t know begins playing through the speakers before she drives us back onto the highway.

I’m so rigid on this rough man’s lap, my spine stiff, and my hands tremble.

It could be worse, Abbey. You could be with Daniel.

The thought sends a shiver up my spine, and oddly, Ringo’s arm supporting my back squeezes me a little tighter. He probably thinks my reaction is because of him. I want to tell him it’s not, but why should I? This man kidnapped me. Yeah, he said he’s trying to protect me, but what sort of saviour saves the damsel the way he did?

Oh, my goodness. I really am a damsel.

I hate the thought of that. It makes me feel weak, but as I cast my eyes over the huge men and kick-ass woman, all squeezed into this car, there’s no use lying to myself.

I am weak.

Weak and pathetic, just like Daniel reminds me every time before he…

No. I can’t bear to think about that. The things he’s done to me over the last eighteen months are things I want to forget.

My lower lip wobbles as I fight off the memories. And then it wobbles some more when I think about what my parents had planned for the morning. How everything I’ve been working towards has been ripped away before I had the chance to escape.

But I have escaped.

The thought is jarring. Yes, I have escaped. Not the way I had planned. Being kidnapped by a gang of thugs isn’t anywhere remotely what I had planned, but… I have escaped that fate my mother had planned for me, at least.

There will be no wedding tomorrow between me and Daniel. I bet he’ll be relieved. He never actually wanted me, also forced into this situation by our parents. But he sure liked owning me. Forcing me to behave a certain way. Do what he wanted. He used the wedding as a threat to make me comply, knowing our parents were determined for us to marry, but were happy for us to wait until we finished University, unless Daniel or I misbehaved. Unless one of us went against their wishes or did anything else to shame them.

That was their condition. Comply, or be forced to marry sooner.

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