Page 44 of Loving Lex

“Focus,” I said, rubbing at my eyes, my temples, pushing sweaty hair off my face. I pulled myself into a cross-legged sitting position, making the room swim with the movements. “Who. Ugly man,” I said, tears clogging my throat. “What and when—he took me. This... morning?” I glanced at the window and the light blazing in. “I’m guessing? To wherever—” I flattened my palms on the cold, chipped tile for balance and turned slowly to take in more of the room. Nausea rolled through me again as I tilted my head. “Wherever the fuck this is.”

Why?That was the kicker. I remembered my last thoughts as the ugly man smashed the rag in my face. That I’d be raped or killed or both. I groped at my clothes, relief slamming a new surge of blood pounding into my head. I was still wearing the leggings and ratty pajama t-shirt I’d left Lex’s apartment in. The comfy clothes I’d taken to leaving over there.

If the man who’d taken me had raped me, had he dressed me again? I palmed my crotch. I wasn’t sore—surely, I’d be sore? Clearly, this might be hell, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t dead. So, that left...

Kidnapping?

“Because—”

The door latch clicked open, making me suck in the rest of my thoughts so violently, I coughed madly, choking for air as I pushed to my feet. I made it to a sitting position on the mattress as the door swung open, and one last push backward pressed my back flush against the wall.

I braced myself for whatever he had planned for me, steeling my body and mind, and forcing the dull swirl to settle. Waited for the ugly man’s sneer.

The sneer came, but not on him.

A girl walked around the door as a different beefy man opened it for her. Not a girl, I realized. A woman—maybe my age? Slender, with a low-cut, loose tank top and shorts, tits bouncing enough to draw the man’s lecherous gaze until she turned on him with a glare.

“Shut the door,” she said, contempt lacing her tone.

All the what-the-fucks I thought I had lined up scattered and resettled in a cluster around this chick. Her angel face and shoulder-length blond waves belied sharp, hardened dark eyes as she settled them on me and held out a brown paper bag.

“Time to eat,” she said, setting the rumpled bag on the bed.

I stared at the bag and then back at her. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped. “Where am I? Who are you?”

She leveled her gaze back on me. “You eat to clear your head, princess,” she spat.

Princess?

New tears pricked my eyes. “Ididn’t muddy up my head, bitch,” I countered, trying to wrap my tongue around my words.

Perfectly shaped eyebrows inched up. “Aren’t you just the spunky one.”

“What the fuck am I doing here?” I yelled. “What’s going on?”

Those dark eyes flinched the tiniest bit, and her body language tightened at my volume. But I saw it. She didn’t want someone to hear me.

“Why?” I yelled louder, forcing myself off the bed and willing my shaky legs to hold me as I stood and took a step forward. If she didn’t want it, then that’s exactly what I needed to do. “What do you want with me?”

“Shut the hell up,” she gritted through her teeth, advancing on me. In two steps, she had the backs of my knees hugging the bed frame again. “You want to get out of this, sunshine girl? Then shut your mouth and do what you’re told because the others don’t haveDaddyto come to their rescue.”

All the toughness I’d managed to summon to square off with this woman disintegrated with those words.

“What?” I breathed. “Others? Dadd—”

My knees gave way and I sunk back onto the bed, looking up at her.

“Eat,” she said again, picking up the paper bag and depositing it in my lap before turning to go.

“Who’s doing this?” I asked, my voice sounding odd and tiny to my ears.

“Someone above my pay grade,” she said woodenly, walking toward the door.

“What’s your name?” I asked her retreating back, desperate for anything. Any connection.

“Nicki,” she said automatically.

“I’m Shay.”

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