Page 1 of Rushed: Christopher

PROLOGUE

CHRISTOPHER

Iknew we were in trouble from the second the beefy-looking bouncer smiled at us and waved us past without asking for ID. If that fact alone hadn’t been enough to assure me that this was a really, really bad idea, the huge man clinched it by settling a knowing grin (and not the good kind) on us and adding, “Have fun, boys. The guys are just going to eat you up.”

Say something, Christopher! Do something!

It was my own voice I was hearing in my head, and it had been screaming those same words into every brain cell since I could remember. But just like all the other times, I kept my mouth shut and followed my best friend and quasi-cousin, Gio, into the club.

The air inside was thick with the stench of sweat, sex, and weed, much like the smell of the house I’d spent the first fourteen years of my life growing up in. Just like back then, it made me sick to my stomach. So did the all-too-familiar sight of people fucking in plain sight. That had been a staple in my childhood home too, just like all the needles and glass pipes that had been lying on every usable surface in every room of the house.

Except my room.

I’d always been safe in my room, lost in a book so I wouldn’t have to hear any of what had been happening on the other side of that door. My uncle Micah had always made sure he was between me and whatever dangers lurked outside my precious stories and that weak, worn wooden door.

No matter what it cost him.

My body jerked when I saw two guys fucking up against the wall. The bigger guy had the smaller one pressed face-first against the rough-looking surface. My vision dimmed as a wave of unbearable heat flashed through me followed by an equally painful, bitter cold that made my veins feel like ice.

I could feel the hot breath on the back of my neck as the stench of cologne wafted all around me.

So sweet, little one. Nice and quiet just like my special boy was. Do you want to be my special boy just like your uncle Micah was?

A bright flash of light thankfully brought me back to the present and saved me from what could have been the panic attack from hell, but the relief was short-lived as I realized we were in the main part of the club and the interior was a brighter, louder, more crowded version of the hallway.

I wanted to turn tail and run. I wanted to beg Gio to forget his mission to confront the man he’d long ago lost his heart to. But my best friend needed closure, and there was no way I could leave him alone in a place like this.

But even as I vowed that this time Iwasn’tgoing to be the pathetic coward that I was, my mind was screaming at me that this was all wrong. I could feel the eyes on me. Even though Gio was drop-dead gorgeous with his pale hair and fair features whereas I wouldn’t stand out in a crowd even if I was on fire, I knew that in this terrible, dangerous place, we were the same in one chilling way.

We were both prey.

“Gio, we should go,” I managed to choke out. My skin itched, and I couldn’t breathe. My body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds instead of the whole hundred pounds soaking wet that it actually did.

“Yeah,” Gio responded unexpectedly. The mere fact that he was agreeing with me was proof that we were way in over our heads. I tried to take in a deep breath, but all I got was lungs full of smoke.

I was practically glued to Gio’s side as we turned and began making our way back the way we’d come, but we didn’t make it more than a couple of steps before three behemoths stepped into our path. Gio stuck his arm toward me, and coward that I was, I took his hand and let him place me at his back so that he alone was facing what I knew in my gut was a very real threat.

I managed to catch a few of the words the biggest of the men said to Gio, but my addled brain couldn’t make sense of them. I could only cling to Gio’s jacket and keep my eyes down in the hopes that the move would somehow miraculously make me invisible.

It didn’t.

Before I knew it, heavy fingers were wrapping around my forearm, a feat I couldn’t make sense of since I’d been using Gio as a shield. But the proof was biting into my skin, and I couldn’t help but let out a little squeak of pain and fear. I could feel my brain shutting down in an effort to protect itself from what was coming. I’d seen all the times my uncle had been grabbed in the same way and even though I’d pretended as hard as I could that everything was okay, I’d known what was happening behind the closed door of the room he’d been taken into.

“Hey, leave him alone,” Gio yelled as he shoved the guy holding me away.

Even though the pain on my forearm was gone, I could still feel the weight of the man’s hand as strongly as if he still had a hold of me.

Run! Get help!

The internal command fell on deaf ears, and I could only stand mutely as one of the guys grabbed Gio from behind and dragged him backward. I allowed myself to drift to that quiet little spot in my head where the scene that was playing out before me was nothing more than words on a page. Reality fell away as I waited for the hero to intercede like he did in all of my books.

It didn’t matter how much the characters despised each other in any one of the hundreds of romance novels I’d read over the years… the rescue always came. The hero would show up just in time…

My safe space fell away as someone grabbed me from behind. I couldn’t tell if it was the same guy from before, but it didn’t really matter. With the way Gio was struggling and the lack of response from any of the dozens of club patrons nearby, I knew what was about to happen.

“Gio?” I heard myself call out. I needed him to tell me what to do. I needed him to tell me because the ugly truth was hitting me like a ton of bricks.

There would be no hero. There would be no rescue.

---