Page 45 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“Keep screaming. Scream all you fucking want,” Max said, his excitement clear as he pushed her legs apart with his knee and reached under her dress.
“Get away from me!” she yelled as he yanked her panties down.
The moment he reached for his pants, Hannah gouged him in his left eye with her thumb.
“You bitch!” he shouted as he stumbled back a few steps.
Instinct kicked in as she drove her fist into his nose. Pain shot up her arm, and her hand felt bruised, maybe even broken from the impact, but she didn’t dare stop to examine it.
She raced to the door as Max rose, clutching his bloody nose. He barreled toward her and she gipped the bar, ready to kick as hard as she could.
The railcar screeched to a stop, and the doors slid open mountainside. Hannah jumped out and raced past the buildings into the cover of the jungle, determined to stay ahead of Max. All she had to do was make it to the gate at the house and then she’d be inside the barrier.
Her feet pounded against the soft soil, and twice she tripped over roots, but she never went down.
“Hannah!” a man shouted behind her.
Her breath and the pounding of blood in her ears made it impossible to estimate how close he was. She kept running, too panicked to do anything but run.
Thick with vegetation, the path narrowed and soon disappeared completely. She should have run into the middle of West Side where Sersie’s lab was located.
Hannah poured every last ounce of strength into her legs. Already, muscles protested and lungs strained to get enough air.
She didn’t recognize anything. Nothing but trees, thick foliage, and vines surrounded her. She’d let herself get turned around and couldn’t even find the narrow path she’d been on. Heart racing, sweat drenching her top and nearly out of breath, Hannah stood in the middle of the jungle, completely lost.
A heavy hand gripped her shoulder. Hannah swung as she turned. Her fist struck bone. More pain added to an already abused hand.
“Hannah!” Vaughn shouted at her as his hands went up to protect his face.
She’d struck Vaughn!
“Vaughn!” she cried out as she threw herself against him.
The moment he wrapped his arms around her, breathing became easier. She drew in his scent, that masculine musk with a touch of anti-septic from work. It was so Vaughn, clean with a strong, overpowering smell that masked the man beneath.
A hand slowly smoothed out her hair only to lightly caress circles on her back. She felt safe again.
“I saw you running across the complex,” he said in a low, deep voice that made her melt into him just a tad more. “I called out to you, but you didn’t answer. I thought maybe you were still mad at me, from earlier.”
Earlier? Oh, when she had offered to ‘pay’ for Ky’Li’s treatment.
She released a deep breath, allowing her body to calm. “Not mad.” In Vaughn’s arms, nothing and no one could hurt her.
“Are you okay, Hannah?”
Concern from Vaughn. . . Wow, she hadn’t expected that. He reserved his compassion for his patients and them alone.
“I’m fine. Sorry about hitting you. The jungle’s rather scary.”
He raised a brow as if he doubted her.
“Don’t be mad, Vaughn, please. I want this to work, between us, for the sake of our unit, for everyone in it.”
“I don’t care about the unit.”
She laughed, though she wanted to cry. “No one does, it seems. God, I’m so out of my league.”
“What does that mean?”
