Page 85 of Volatile

Fuck.

I try to lift my hands, but the tremor travels up my arm and it only pushes my face closer to the hood over my head. My nose is flattened against it and stretches the material out. I can make out blobs, no features, a figure laid on their side in the middle of the room.

My girl looks so small and vulnerable. I can’t reach her as black-clad legs break up the blurred image. The drugs in my system, or lack of the ones I need, disorient me and I can’t make out what the blobs are doing as the black bars of legs move.

One person stops between Stasi and me. Two lines become one and then she slides across the floor. It’s not until they place their foot back on the floor that I realize they’re kicking her. Both of them boot her across the room and she doesn’t move.

My breathing echoes in the hood and shadows creep at the edge of my vision. Pain erupts from my knee as I force myself to fucking move. To stop them. I stumble as I manage to get on all fours and my head spins. I’m going to throw the fuck up.

They don’t pay attention to me, and I can’t call them with the assault taking over inside my body. They’re too busy excitedly kicking the shit out of my woman.

Len’s voice echoes around my skull, breaking up the taunts in the room.

“Weak. Useless. Pathetic.”

My arms quake no matter how much I tense, and he doesn’t shut the fuck up. He’s dead, but he’s there. Always fucking there to hinder me.

Metal claps together and I still at the distinctive sound of a belt buckle. It’s followed by a zipper being lowered and those shadows fully take over.

THIRTY-ONE

Anastasia

Aharsh whisper pulls me from the dark abyss.

“Stas, wake the fuck up or I’ll slap the shit out of you.”

Asshole.

I’m tired and aching, but Vitali’s fingers are wrapped around my shoulders. My entire body aches, pain radiating from my stomach and a weak murmur leaves my lips as he begs, “Open your eyes, sweetness.”

Lips touch my cheeks, my forehead, and every inch of my face. There’s something sticky on his skin pressing into mine.

His irritability is filled with panic, and he pulls my eyelids open. I flinch, not due to the movement but the sight in front of me. Half of his face is covered in blood, crimson runs down his neck staining his shirt as my vision blurs. The walls behind him are the same color and he has the same wildness in his eyes as he did when he blacked out in the warehouse.

It all comes back in fragments — being chased and the van.

But the pain doesn’t allow me to move as I curl my knees up and hug my middle.

There are no cuts on his skin apart from his knuckles and his smile is fear inducing with the murder written all over his skin.

“You can eye fuck me later, we have five minutes to get out.”

He’s still the same idiot and I try to move, but the pain slows me down.I can’t stand, each movement has a scream building inside me, and he straightens with one leg bent as he pockets two phones that don’t belong to him. He grits his teeth as he pulls me to stand, and I fold in half instantly.

A sob lodges itself in my throat at the wet feeling between my thighs. He moves to my side and strokes my back, bringing into view what he’s done. There are four dead bodies around the space, one of them has their trousers undone with a belt wrapped around their neck. I don’t remember anything, but the pain and slickness are forming a picture. I can’t look down and swipe at my inner thighs as I straighten as much as I’m able to.

“I need it off, get it off.”

I’m talking to myself or some higher power.

Hands cup my face and Vitali stands in front of me blocking the sight of anything else. His head lowers and his knee is still bent as he looks between my eyes.

“No one touched you,” he says. “I promise, sweetness, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

He’s not lying but that feeling is still there and my head moves down. My eyes close when I reach his chin that lowers as he copies me. Whatever the fuck is on my hand has him removing his shirt to clean it away. His belt buckle clacks followed by a choked, soft order. “Don’t look, I’ve got you.”

Tali blocks me from seeing anything else as he pulls me into his chest, and tears line his lashes.He doesn’t move back as he steps out of his slacks and his chin touches my chest when he squats down ignoring the pain in his knee. “Step in for me.”

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