Page 45 of Rescued By the Convicts
“Not leaving you, Melina.”
Damn right.
“You won’t have a choice, Ivan. I know Namir better than anyone. He’ll kill you both to hurt me.”
“He can try.”
Muffled crying tore through Jayce. He’d heard one shipment of women crying once. His job had been to deal with clients, handle the business over the grid so The Company couldn’t trace their activities. He wasn’t supposed to be near the port, where the product got moved. He’d been prying, looking for a way to blow up Danning’s operation without getting himself killed.
“Promise me, Ivan!” Melina shouted, mad. She rarely raised her voice. Usually, she was calm, much like Reece.
Jayce should have told her to go with Reece, to find a part of Veenith away from the prison population. Reece had mad hunting and survival skills. He would have kept her safe.
“You wanted me to trust you, then trust me too, Melina. I may have fucked up, but that doesn’t mean we give up on each other. Either help me come up with a plan or sleep while you can, because one way or another, we’re getting out of here.”
Inside, a part of Jayce smiled. That was the Ivan he knew. The one that never gave up on anyone he cared about.
“Rise and shine, kuvak meat,” a guard said.
Jayce knew that voice from years ago. Boxer. Jayce maintained his stare, regardless of where the four guards moved throughout the passenger cabin. They unchained him first.
Big mistake.
“He’s not moving,” Boxer said. “Yo, Jayce? Asshole? You in there?” A hand waved in front of his eyes.
That does nothing. Ask the doctor in the cage, moron.
“Well, this will be easy,” Boxer said. “Not that Jayce can fight. He always had Ivan to protect him, but Ivan can’t protect you now, can he?”
Fuck you, Boxer.
Guard #2 hauled Jayce to his feet. Jayce stood there. Didn’t take a step. That would be counterproductive, after all.
Boxer unchained Ivan next.
Predictably, fists and curses flew.
Look at that. Boxer has more colorful curses than Ivan. Who knew?
Jayce maintained his stance and waited. More curses, fists, threats to shoot. Pleas from Melina not to hurt Ivan.
Jayce waited longer than he expected. Finally, Ivan and Boxer knocked into him. Jayce took an extra step, controlling his fall against Guard #2, who cursed when they both hit the floor.
Ivan crashed into both of them again.Have to love Ivan’s persistence.
The guards separated Ivan from Jayce, cuffed their hands behind them, and marched them off the ship and into a private part of the station. Perfect. He let a smile slip from his face.
Ivan eyed him curiously.
Jayce shook his head. Would the man never learn? Jayce might be stuck in his head, but that didn’t mean he was blind to what was happening or what needed to be done.
A moment later, Namir exited the ship, holding a leash attached to a diamond-encrusted dog collar around Melina’s neck. Except for the red essence stone around her neck, she remained as naked as could be, and her hair had been pulled into a high ponytail, showing off the tattoo at the back of her neck, the one mark from Namir she hated more than anything, even more than the scars on her back.
The dead-man-walking, a.k.a. Namir, yanked the dog collar, causing her to stumble and fall at his knees.
As she rose, her eyes drifted to Ivan and then Jayce. That earned her another violent yank on the chain from Namir. The man grabbed her bare crotch and her eyes went wide as the man violated her with his fingers.
Ooh, Jayce needed time to think of a slow, excruciatingly humiliating and painful death for the man.
