Delivered (The Monster Trilogy Book 3) (2 page)

Two

I’ve had too
many chances.

At some point her luck—as much as Lily could call her experiences over the last few weeks at all lucky—would run out, and when it did, the result would be her rape, probably by a number of different men, and subsequent murder.

How long would it take to reach their destination, wherever that might be?

They spent the next couple of hours in the back of the Range Rover. A heavy rock had settled in her stomach at the loss of Monster. At least when she’d known he was in the following vehicle, she’d still had some kind of connection to him, but now he was gone, the reality of what was happening finally sank in.

Jess had completely zoned out. She stared at something Lily couldn’t see, as though asleep with her eyes open. The tears had ended a long time ago, but Lily felt like she’d prefer the other woman to be crying. At least then she’d be showing some kind of emotion, and not this far scarier detachment.

Lily didn’t plan on zoning out herself. She wanted to stay alert enough to be able to find her way back from wherever the hell they were going.

Lily lifted her head slightly, looking toward the front of the vehicle, taking in the sight of the backs of the men’s equally dark hair. Rodriguez and Marco remained focused on the road ahead and weren’t paying any attention to the two women they had abducted in the back. She needed to know where they were going, and even just the glimpse of a sign would help.

With her breath caught in her chest, her heart thrumming like hummingbird wings, Lily moved as quietly as she could, arching her back. The move was awkward with her hands tied behind her, but she extended her neck to see out of the window again.

The scenery extended, flat and dry as far as the eye could see. Dusty orange and brown dirt, interspersed by low lying green shrubs. The blue sky reached to the horizon before blurring in a meeting of white haze, and wisps of cloud feathered the sky. There was nothing around to give her an idea of where they were or where they were heading.

Lily ducked back down again, her heart hammering.

The desert? Fuck. The desert.

In Lily’s mind, there were only two good reasons to head into the desert. One was to gamble, which she doubted was on the minds of these men, and the second was that it was a good place to dump a body or two if you wanted them to never be found.

She didn’t want to die, especially not at the hands of these men. She needed to live long enough to find out if Monster was all right. If he was safe, perhaps she could make peace with the idea of her own mortality, but until she knew he was alive and free, she would fight with her very last breath if she had to.

Lily stayed where she was, hoping the vehicle would travel enough miles for the scenery to change slightly, or for a road sign to pop up, though she wasn’t holding much hope. When she felt enough time had passed, she cautiously pushed herself back up again. It looked like they were still on the same road. She peered around. Damn, they’d just passed a building—whitewashed with a neon sign attached to the roof. A small parking lot with a couple of cars was out front. Lily quickly read the sign before they were too far away for it to be legible.

Porter’s Cafe.

Should she try and open up the back of the vehicle and throw herself from it? Assuming she didn’t break her legs or back when she hit the road, she’d be able to run for the cafe and scream for help.

But she hesitated and it wasn’t just the idea of throwing herself from a moving vehicle traveling at about fifty miles per hour that stopped her. She knew the men were armed, and so they’d probably shoot her rather than allow her to go for help. But also, if she did try to run, she’d be leaving Jess behind. The state the girl was in didn’t give Lily any hope she might be able to convince her to join in on the crazy plan, and anyway, if she tried to say anything out loud, the men would hear her.

The longer she thought on it, the farther away the cafe became, now a mere spot of white in the distance. That opportunity had been lost to her, and now the option was gone, she couldn’t help but kick herself. What if it had been her only chance?

“Hey!”

The shout came from the front and she instantly shrank back down, hoping the yell wasn’t about her, but then she heard Marco say, “Merrick’s little whore has been peering out of the window.”

Her heart sank. She had been spotted. Every muscle tensed as she waited for the Range Rover’s brakes to slam on and for them to open up the back and deal out a punishment of some kind, but nothing happened.

Rodriguez tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Not much to see anyway.”

“Yeah, but she needs to learn to behave herself.” Marco sounded disappointed. “She should take some tips from the other one. We’ve not heard a peep out of her since we took her. I reckon Merrick’s bitch is going to give you problems if you don’t beat it out of her early on, boss.”

“That won’t be a problem. I enjoy breaking the more resilient ones.” His words were cold and sent ice freezing through her veins.

“Fine,” said Marco, but she could hear the petulance in his voice. “You’re the boss.”

“We’re nearly there,” he replied. “We can deal with her then.”

Nearly there? Nearly where? As far as she could tell, they were in the middle of nowhere.

Lily remained motionless in the back of the SUV, not wanting to risk a beating from Marco, who seemed more than happy to do the job for Rodriguez. She tried to make eye contact with Jess, but the other woman was still zoned out, not even seeming aware of what was going on around her. Lily wished there was something she could do to bring her out of her stupor. She understood this was probably a coping mechanism, especially after what Jess had been through at the hands of Cigarette Hands, and then watching Lily blow his brains out. Her mind must have taken her somewhere it could be at peace. Perhaps the girl had the right idea—imagining herself on a beach in the Maldives was certainly preferable to her current situation, but Lily couldn’t do it. She needed to stay alert and focused if she was ever going to get them out of this situation.

The vehicle continued down the same road for another fifteen minutes, and then took a sharp left hand turn. Immediately, she knew the terrain they were on had changed. The previously smooth ride now sent them bumping and jolting around the back of the vehicle, and red dust burst up from the wheels and settled on the windows. That they were heading away from the main road didn’t bode well. She kept in her mind the café she’d seen, and the approximate distance they were from it now—ten miles or more? She couldn’t be certain. If they traveled much more of a distance, she wouldn’t be able to make it back on foot and would need to think about an opportunity to steal a vehicle. That made the possibility of escape even more complicated, and things were already complicated enough.

Rodriguez kept driving, another ten minutes or so, the bumpiness of the ride not lessening at all. Lily’s certainty they were being driven into the desert to be raped and buried in a shallow grave deepened. There was no way this road—if it could even be called a road—led to another town. She would fight with every bit of strength she had left—she’d kick and bite, and if they ever untied her hands, she’d claw their eyes out, too. Even if they killed her, she was determined to cause them some form of pain before they did.

The Range Rover jolted to a halt, and she heard the beep of some kind of electronics, and then a low hum.

What the hell is that?

“Welcome to your new home, ladies,” Rodriguez called over his shoulder.

Home? At least it meant they weren’t about to be buried in the desert. Not yet, anyway.

The vehicle got moving again and Lily risked lifting her head enough to peer out of the window. They passed through a set of massive, solid metal gates which were still rolling back even as they drove through.
That’s what the hum is,
she realized. Electric gates. Beyond the gates were tall, stone walls, the same color as the desert sand. The gates were also painted the same orangey color. If the property was viewed from a distance, it would blend into the background. Perhaps that was exactly the point—Rodriguez didn’t want anyone spotting the place, from the road or sky. She’d bet any money the roof of the building was the same color again.

Lily tried to get Jess’s attention again. “We’re here,” she whispered. “They’re going to get us out of the vehicle now.”

She didn’t respond, but when Jess blinked, a tear slipped down her cheek. Lily wished her hands weren’t tied. Even though she normally hated to touch people, right at that moment all she wanted to do was reach out and pull the other woman into a hug.

Monster (Present Day)

He’d lost a
lot of blood. Perhaps too much.

Monster thought he was still in the vehicle driven by one of Rodriguez’s men, but he couldn’t be sure. He didn’t know if it was the same Range Rover he’d first been put into, or if he’d been moved while unconscious. He also had no idea how long he’d been in it, or where they were going.

His grip on the outside world was coming to him in fits and starts. He felt like he was dreaming, or had a fever, and he wasn’t quite sure which parts of what he was hearing and seeing were real, and which came from a dream. At one point, Lily’s face appeared above him, and she smiled down at him, her fingers resting lightly on his cheek. He reached for her, sheer relief flooding through him. She’d managed to get away from Rodriguez and find him, but then his eyes slipped shut and she vanished from view. When he opened them again—an undeterminable amount of time later—she was gone. With a heart crushing certainty, he knew she’d never been there in the first place.

His shoulder throbbed and burned, a pulsing wave that encapsulated his whole body. The bullet must still be lodged inside his body somewhere, and from the heat spreading from the area, he assumed it would end up infected—if he didn’t die from blood loss first. Before now, he’d never realized it was possible to have one part of your body searing hot, while the rest felt ice cold.

He couldn’t afford to die, if only for Lily’s sake. If he died, no one would ever save her from Rodriguez. That she was already in the hands of the other man killed him inside. The thought of Rodriguez touching her, of him tearing off her clothes, and forcing his cock inside her while she screamed and fought him caused a fire inside Monster which made him forget his equally burning shoulder. He tortured himself with the thought of the other man’s mouth on her skin, his tongue leaving trails of saliva across her. Would Rodriguez go down on her, and taste her? Would he love eating her as much as Monster did? Then the worst thought of all occurred to him, the one that teased and tortured his frazzled brain …

Would Lily enjoy it?

He couldn’t think like that. Just because Rodriguez had the looks of an Arabian prince, and was rich, and powerful, not to mention had the type of charisma that could make anyone do as he asked, didn’t mean Lily would fall for him. He’d taken her hostage, after all.

That voice came again …

Just like you did, and she fell for you.

What if, by some miracle, he managed to survive this and went to reclaim his Flower, only for her to tell him she didn’t want to leave?

Once more, he forced the thought from his head.

Lily was smart—she’d see straight through Rodriguez’s seductive ways—and she was a fighter. She wouldn’t just give in to him, though at the same time that worried him. He didn’t want her to end up hurt or dead by fighting back. No, he needed to have some faith in her. Lily wasn’t some helpless little female—she was clever and fearless. She’d proven that to him every single day he’d known her.

The vehicle drew to a stop. Rough hands pulled at him, and he cried out in agony as pain gripped his entire body. He would die—surely he would die. No person could survive such pain. And yet the pain gradually faded to the intense throbbing he’d grown used to, and Monster found he was still alive.

“You’re not going to die,” a male voice said. “As much as I’d like to see you dead for what you did to our cousins, Rodriguez says you’re too important. Apparently, we need your contacts, so you’d better god-damned live or I’m the one who’s going to be in the shit.”

“Where are we?” he managed to croak. He was horribly thirsty. His tongue thick and his teeth sticking to his lips.

“A safe house. I’ll get you inside and someone will treat your wound.”

The man reached for him again. “No! Don’t touch me!” The memory of the pain was still so fresh, the terror of experiencing it again filled him.

The man gave an exasperated sigh. “I have to. I can’t leave you lying on the ground.”

“Please, just leave me.”
Let me die.

No, he didn’t mean it. He needed to live.

Flower. Flower. Flower.

He brought to mind her beautiful face, the feel of her soft skin against his lips.

Resolve solidified inside him and he raised his hand. “Okay, do it.”

The man grabbed his hand and hauled him back up, wedging a shoulder under his armpit to give him support. Pain blasted through him, causing every muscle in his body to turn to stone and agony so bright it was like he experienced the pain through every sense—a bright white flash of pain.

Lily. Lily. Lily.

He wanted to be able to fight the man who was helping him now, knowing he was one of Rodriguez’s men and had been a part of taking Lily from him, but Monster knew he had to be smart. Rodriguez didn’t want him dead—in fact, it wasn’t as though Rodriguez had even been the one to shoot him. That pleasure had been taken by the man Lily had been involved with. If he was smart about this whole thing, and recovered enough to be able to think and act clearly again, he might even get this man to take him to wherever Rodriguez was holed up. He just needed to hope Lily would be in the same place, and she’d still be alive, and hopefully untouched, when he got there.

Monster wasn’t a fool. He knew the untouched part would be unlikely. Men like Rodriguez, and hell, even himself, took women when they wanted them. It wasn’t something he was proud of, but he’d never known any differently. They were a luxury—like a fast car, or good wine—to be enjoyed.

Only since he’d met Lily had he started to think differently.

Monster took a moment to try to figure out where he was. He was being helped toward the front door of a small townhouse. Kids were hanging out on the street, but no one paid attention to the injured man and the other man supporting him. This looked like the kind of neighborhood where people knew to mind their own business.

They reached the door, and it opened before either of them had been able to knock.

A woman stood in the doorway, a blonde of about his age, peering out at them with concern in her blue eyes.

He knew this woman!

Seeing her was like a punch in the chest, stealing air from his already struggling lungs. A memory poured over him of a young girl with honey-blonde hair, trying to scoop up hot lamb and rice up with her bare hands, while terrified she would be beaten for making a mess of the rug. Surely this couldn’t be the same girl. So many years had passed.

But if his father had wanted to rid his house of the girl after perhaps sensing a connection between her and Monster, wasn’t it entirely possible he’d passed her off to Rodriguez’s family?

Unaware of his recognition, the woman ran forward to put her arm around his waist and support his other side. “What happened?” she asked, as she helped them into the house.

“G.S.W. to the shoulder,” the other man said. “Happened a few hours ago. Think the bullet’s still in there.”

“Get him into the back. There’s a gurney he can lie down on. I’ll grab my bag and be right there.”

Was this woman a doctor? Or a nurse?

The idea she was the same girl his father had owned was crazy, wasn’t it? He’d lost a lot of blood, and had been losing consciousness. It was probably his delirious brain trying to feed him lies. Perhaps the loss of Lily had recalled the time when he’d felt he’d lost this nameless girl as well, and he’d conjured up an image and attached it to the face of this stranger.

She hadn’t looked at him with any recognition; why would she? He was a stranger to her as well.

Rodriguez’s man helped Monster through the house and into a large kitchen-dining area out the back. As she’d said, a hospital gurney was pushed up against one wall, and a silver tray was on wheels beside it. Bringing back people with injuries they couldn’t take to the hospital was obviously a matter of routine here.

“You need to get onto the bed,” the man said.

He was so weak he felt like he could barely lift his own feet up. “I can’t.”

“You’re going to have to help me. I can’t get you up there by myself. You’re not exactly a lightweight guy.”

Monster found the backs of his thighs bumping against the bed. He just needed to get his ass onto the bed and then he could lie down. If he could lie down, then he could sleep. And right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. Even though he knew there were important things to do, his body was a dead weight. He’d never needed to rest more in his life.

With a boost, he managed to get onto the bed. His shoulder screamed in fresh pain, and the edges of his vision started to gray out. The room appeared like it was at the end of a tunnel. A hand helped him lie back, and the moment he was flat, his eyes slipped shut.

He needed to sleep. He just hoped no one died while he did.