Page 146 of Only With Me
But all I can think about is my dad. I should be at his bedside, not here. I didn’t even get all the details on what happened and have no idea how he’s doing.
“Do you think she’s gonna wake up?”
“Just give her a little kick and she will.”
I recognize Emery’s voice and then he bellows out the evilest laugh I’ve ever heard.
The other sounds familiar, but I can’t place him. Both sound terrifying.
Boots step closer and then a kick to my ribs has me groaning out loud.
“See, told ya. She’s fine,” Emery says.
“Now what?”
“Now…we do what we came here to do.” Emery chuckles darkly.
The other one cackles. “Karma’s a bitch.”
My eyes flutter open to a recognizable face leaning down in front of me.
“Kenny?” I snarl.
“Hello, Harlow.” He grins, then slides his tongue across his top lip.
“Don’t touch me,” I hiss.
“Aw, c’mon. Don’t be like that.”
Jake’s younger brother is five years older than me but everyone knows everyone in our small town, even if I never went to school with him, I’ve seen him at rodeo events with Jake.
But I have no idea what him and Emery want with me.
“Lemme go,” I demand. “I haveta get to the hospital to see my dad.”
“That’s not gonna happen…” Emery grabs a metal baseball bat and spins it around in his hand. “Not until you pay.”
“For not wantin’ to go on a second date with you?” I hardly get out the words because the blood rushing through my skull makes me dizzy with stars.
“Oh you wish, sweetheart.”
Emery smacks the bat into my thigh, and I release a blood-curdling scream that makes the throbbing in my head even worse.
“Every second lookin’ at you was torture.”
He presses the bottom of his boot against the spot on my leg he just bruised. And then another hit lands on my hip.
“Aaahhh…” I groan, reaching down where the pain settles. “Please, stop.”
“Should we tell her why she’s here?” Kenny taunts, crouching down to make eye contact with me. “Are you feelin’ a little deja vu?”
Emery lifts the bat again, but this time, he slams it into my ribcage.
All the air gets sucked out of my lungs, and I gasp, struggling to breathe.
“It’s a shame Henry couldn’t be here for our little reunion. He was my brother, you littlerat,” Emery says.
I swallow hard at the name of my previous attacker—Henry Gibbons.
