Page 1 of Just a Bit Captivated

Chapter One

Elephants.

There was a small herd of elephants stomping all over his head.Or at least it felt like it.

He groaned, rubbing at his pounding temples. Had he had too many drinks last night? He felt nauseated and dizzy. It almost seemed like the ground was moving under him.Speaking of the ground, he was lying on something hard and uncomfortable. Why was he on the floor?

“Hey, you, are you finally awake?”

A female voice. One he didn’t recognize. It definitely didn’t belong to his sister or mother—and he currently didn’t have any other woman in his life. Where was he?

He opened his eyes blearily and turned his pounding head.

A windowless room.

There were eight other people in the room. And the ground definitelywasrocking.

Also—his hands were handcuffed together.

Handcuffed.

He stared blankly at the handcuffs.

Unless he’d suddenly developed a penchant for kinky, exhibitionist sex overnight, this was more than a little alarming. He couldn’t remember how he could have possibly ended up handcuffed.

Whatdidhe remember?

Aiden. That was his name. He was Aiden Gates, a twenty-year-old, a junior at Northeastern University, the youngest son of Edward and Veronica Gates.

The last thing he remembered was… He’d been… He’d beenwalking home after hanging out at his friend’s house for a little get-together before Christmas. He remembered footsteps behind him—and then nothing.

“Are you mute or something?” the same voice said.

Aiden shifted his gaze to the person addressing him: a young woman around his age. She was very pretty, with shiny golden hair and wide blue eyes.

She was handcuffed too. Actually, all the other people in the room were, as well.

Aiden really didn’t like the implications.

Fuck, this was too much, even by his standards. He’d always had a history of getting into scrapes. Trouble simply had a way of finding him. His mom never tired of telling the story of how a three-year-old Aiden had toddled out of the house and somehow ended up at the other end of the city. It had gone downhill from there over the years, and Aiden could only laugh at his misfortunes, but this… this was something else.

“I’m not,” Aiden said belatedly, hauling himself into a sitting position, which was unexpectedly difficult without using his hands. “Sorry—it took me a few moments to get over waking up handcuffed in a room full of handcuffed strangers. It doesn’t happen to me every day.”

“Point,” she murmured with a small smile.“I’m Janice.”

“Aiden,” he said, waving his cuffed hands.“I would shake your hand, but…” He took a deep breath and dropped his light tone.“Do you know what’s going on here?”

Janice’s lips pursed.“I’ve been here for two days, so yeah, I’ve overheard some stuff when they brought you guys in. They’re in the human trafficking business.”

Aiden grimaced. He couldn’t say he was surprised. Just his luck, really.

“We’re on a ship, right?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“Do you know where they’re taking us?”

Janice’s expression darkened. “They want to sell us in the Middle East. One of them mentioned the UAE.”

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