Page 63 of Allure
“Don’t,” Asli’s hand came down on his shoulder. “We don’t know if that’s connected.”
“What’s connected?” Syra’s whisper made him hold on to her tighter.
Before he could answer, her phone rang and she flinched until she saw it was Kat. He watched her thumb hover over the ignore button, but he encouraged her to answer it. “They probably just want to check in. Let them be there for you.”
She sighed before answering and put the phone on speaker. “Hey, Katrina. I have you on speaker.”
“That’s fine, um, have you heard from Delilah? She was supposed to run to Sirens to grab a delivery for me and maybe a food run, but that was like twenty, thirty minutes ago and the car is still out front.”
There was a heavy silence as all three of them looked at the phone. Worry clawed at Marco’s chest as Syra went stiff in his hold. He didn’t want to think the worst, wanted to think she had run into an old friend or someone to blow off some steam with and that’s why she hadn’t come back yet, but wouldn’t she have given Syra and Katrina the heads up? The three of them checked in often; he saw that when she spent her nights with him.
“There’s nothing in the group chat, and I tried calling her phone. It just keeps ringing.” Katrina sounded worried.
Marco held his breath as he watched Syra’s shaky hands check her text messages icon. “There’s a new notification,” she whispered, sounding afraid. He couldn’t tell whose heart was beating the loudest, but all of them drew closer together, forming one solid wall as if that would be enough to keep whatever was coming from touching them.
“Oh no,” Syra cried as soon as she opened the new message.
Katrina’s panicked voice seemed muffled as Marco stared at the image in front of him. He absently rubbed Syra’s back as more tears sprung from her eyes. “I know where she is, Kat,” her voice broke as she continued to stare at a bloody and bound Delilah tied to a chair.
She looked barely conscious and the report Marco had been discreetly given on Christina Benson’s death flashed in his mind. Her face was bloody and looked swollen. He could see marks on her neck, the same marks that matched the ones found on Christina. The fact that her legs were bare and her shirt had been ripped in places made his blood boil. He didn’t want to think about what she endured—what she was still enduring.
“Call Link.” Marco’s voice sounded foreign to his own ears. “Call him and tell him to sit with Katrina.” Marco wasn’t sure if Colton or Joel would use both her friends as leverage, but the message underneath the photo didn’t bode well for any of them.
“I made her scream for you until her voice died. She’s barely holding on. I’d hurry to your precious Sirens if you want to save her. And don’t bring anyone, no cops, and not your precious boy toys. I’ll know so don’t be slick. Just you Syra. I only want you.”
Asli was up and on his feet, heading to the door before Marco had gently placed Syra on her feet. “Asli!” he called after him, but Asli hadn’t stopped moving. The man was a freight train, and Marco feared he wouldn’t stop until he reached his path, and that was putting both Joel and Colton down like the rabid animals they were.
“Wait, Asli.” He caught up with him just as he opened the door, and Marco slammed it shut.
“Move.” Asli’s voice was thunderous, but Marco stood his ground. The tension in the air grew as they stood toe to toe. Marco wouldn’t be surprised if Asli took a swing at him just to get him to move out of his way, but it would take more than that to let him go. He wouldn’t lose his best friend on account that he wasn’t thinking clearly. He wanted to go in guns blazing too, wanted to save Delilah and keep Syra safe while they put away the threats against them, but they needed to be smart, all of them.
“Asli?” Syra’s voice broke through the tension. Marco watched as her hands wrapped around his waist, and he could see some of the fight seep out of Asli’s body. He turned her so she was sandwiched in between them—their own way of protecting her.
“Yes, little star,” he whispered, dropping his head against hers.
Syra reached behind her to grab Marco’s shirt and tugged him closer. He went willing, wrapping his hand around her waist over Asli’s. They stood there a moment, each leaning on and comforting the other. Their breaths synced up, and if he listened closely, he thought he could hear their heartbeats sync as well.
They were in a boat on the ocean in the middle of a storm, and no matter how wild the sea knocked them around, he never felt steadier than he did right now. His best friend and his estrellita being an anchor for each other. He felt it in his bones that they could weather anything once they got over this hurdle.
“Alright,” Marco cleared his throat, “let’s get a game plan going before we walk blindly into something. Call Jamie back. I’m sure she can help us.”
Delilah gasped as she came to. She winced, her body had never hurt like this before. She felt weak and shut her eyes again because it hurt her head to have them open. She tried to remember where she was—tried to remember what happened—and nausea filled her stomach when she felt someone’s hands against her bare legs. Everything came at her at once. The guy who attacked her in her car, the way she had woken up to him on top of her, and how they fought until he knocked her out again.
“You’re even prettier than your friend. So this wasn’t a complete loss for me.” The voice whispered, and she flinched when his hand cupped her breast. “These are magnificent, by the way.” He pinched her nipples roughly as he settled in between her legs. She squeezed her eyes tighter, feeling his length against her. She tried to push him off, tried to get her voice to work to tell him no but she couldn’t move. She was pinned down.
Delilah felt tears sting her eyes. She couldn’t do anything but lay there and take the assault. She hated herself for it. How many times had he touched her while she’d been asleep? She wanted to crawl out of her skin, wanted to be anywhere but laying on a cold floor being stripped of what felt like the rights to her body.
“And she finally sheds some tears for me.” He chuckled. “It was the one thing you wouldn’t do. You did scream so beautifully for me though.”
The sound of a door opening had her foolishly hoping someone had come in to Sirens, until she realized it could have been Kat or Syra coming in to look for her, and that would put them in danger. She didn’t want her friends suffering the way she was.
“Interesting.” The man had gotten off of her. “It felt like you were gearing up to fight me and then stopped.” He hauled her up his body, and she couldn’t hold back the sob that tore through her and made her hurt more.
“No one is coming to save you.” He dropped her into what felt like a chair and tied her arms behind her. “I mean, they are coming, obviously. You are, after all, a pawn, but it’s not going to matter much in the grand scheme of things.” He moved her hair out of her face, and she had an insane urge to cut it when she was free of this man—of this place.
If she ever got free.
“If it makes you feel better, I would have kept you for a long time. These sweet tits of yours are too good to just give up.”
