Break Me (23 page)

Hopping off the bed, I stood and then fell to the floor as my wobbly legs gave out. I rose to all fours and crawled to the door, ignoring the pain on my inner thigh. I placed a hand on the doorknob, lifting myself off of the floor. I strained to hear any noises, but it sounded like no one was around. I peeked my head out the door and looked into a dim hall. There was a closed door across from me and then another closed door to my right at the end of the hall.

I opened the door completely and stood on shaky legs. Walking out into the hall, I followed it to a living room that looked vaguely familiar. I looked around but didn’t see my sweater or my bag anywhere, so I headed to the entrance.

My head turned back at the place I was held captive in for who knows how long, and then my eyes widened. This was the apartment Jose told me to come to earlier. It still had the same dingy smell from before and had the same trash littering the tabletop.

Before I left the room, I saw a cell phone sitting on the table. Not wanting to spend any more time here than I had to; I quickly grabbed it and walked back to the door. Opening it, I braced myself for an attack. I frowned when no one caught me. An unsettling feeling rose in my stomach as I left the apartment. This was too easy.

Where were the guys from before? Where was Jose? He wouldn’t leave me here by myself, would he? Maybe he underestimated me and thought I wouldn’t have the balls to get myself out. I wasn’t sure, but I sure as hell wasn’t sticking around to find out.

As I headed down the hall, I flipped the phone open and dialed 911. The dispatcher picked up instantly, and I told her that I was being held captive, but I didn’t know where I was, not being able to remember the address. “Please, help me,” I cried.

“Ma’am, who am I speaking to?”

“Tori McLeod.”

“How old are you, Tori?”

“Twenty-four.” I quickly ran down the hallway. As I was barefoot, the carpet was rough on the soles of my feet, and my body ached from being in the same position for so long.

“Who’s holding you against your will?”

“His name is Jose Alvarez.”

“How do you know him?”

“Um…he’s my boyfriend’s boss.” I didn’t know what to call our relationship, so I said the first thing that came to my head. I rubbed my arms when a cool draft enveloped me and shivered when a cold sweat broke out on my skin.

“Describe your surroundings.”

I told her that I was in a three-story walk-up and in an unsafe part of town. My heart pounded against my chest, making my ears ring as I headed down the stairs. When I got to the main floor, tears of happiness and excitement clouded my vision. When I approached the exit, I stopped. “He’s here.”

“Ma’am? Who’s there?”

“Jose. He’s back.” Jose was standing behind the door with his hand paused at the lock. My eyes widened. “I have to go now.”

“Don’t hang up the phone. Stay with me.”

“I need to go.”

“Ma’am!”

I turned and ran down the main hallway.

“Fuck.”

I heard him yell as I made my way through to the other side. I didn’t turn back to see if he was chasing me, but I had a good guess that he was. I left the apartment building and ended up in front of a parking lot. It was getting dark out, so it would be easier for me to hide. I praised God for that.

Running into the parking lot, I looked left and right but saw no signs of Jose. He must not have followed me down the hall because he wasn’t behind me either. The parking lot didn’t have very many vehicles, but it had enough that I could hide behind if I needed to. I ran towards a van when a bang erupted beside me and a car window exploded. I screamed and turned around. Jose was walking towards me with a gun in his hand and a malicious smile on his face.

Chapter 25

I felt dizzy and light-headed as he approached me. The gun wasn’t aimed at me, but he was holding it, stalking me, his black eyes following my every move. “I wouldn’t run if I were you.” His voice came out deep, almost like a growl.

“Ma’am.”

Turning, I ran behind a van just as another window exploded, this time from the van I was leaning against. “He has a gun,” I told the dispatcher and then hung up, hoping they’d still be able to find me.

He was shooting at the windows.
Oh God. He could hit me.

The parking lot was in between apartments. I saw another lot full of cars and a street. Gunshots in this neighborhood wouldn’t strike up much attention, but with me calling the police, I prayed they would get here soon.

My heart pounded, and my lungs were on fire. My feet were sore from the rough gravel biting into my skin. I took a deep breath and pushed off the van I was leaning against and ran.

Running in front of the vehicles, I headed for the other apartment building.

More explosions sounded behind me. He was taunting me. Not wanting to shoot me intentionally. He was playing with me.

I forced my legs faster. Just as I was about to reach the safety of the big brick building in front of me, my hair was pulled from behind me. I stumbled as the cell phone flew out of my hand. Having been yanked from behind, I fell backwards onto my ass. Sharp pain shot up my tailbone, and I grabbed the hands pulling at my hair. I screamed as I was dragged from behind, and I clawed at the hands ripping at my hair.

“Ow, fuck.” The hands loosened their hold, and I pushed forward, rising to my feet when they got pulled out from under me.

I kicked and screamed at my attacker, struggling under the weight above me. My arms gave out as I tried pushing him off me, but my muscles had no fight left in them.

Jose loosened his hold on me and spun me onto my back. His black eyes looked down at me, but I didn’t see the gun anywhere. He grabbed my chin, and I tried moving my head out of his strong grip. “You will regret escaping,
cochina
.” He wrapped his hand around my neck and tilted my head back. He leaned down, and I slapped him. The sound echoed in the air as his dark eyes went glacial, but a smile formed on his face. He leaned down again, and I slapped him a second time. “You can hit me all you want, but it won’t fucking do anything. I like it rough, remember?”

I went to slap him a third time, but he caught my wrist, forcing it above my head. I moved my legs and wiggled under him, trying to get out of his strong hold.

“You keep moving like that, I’m going to fuck you into the ground.”

I stopped, my chest rising and falling, my breath coming in short gasps. This was it. I was going to die. There was no way I could get out of this.

“That’s my girl. We don’t want our first time to be in public now, do we?” His hand caressed my cheek and moved between my breasts.

I closed my eyes as I swallowed past the lump in my throat.

“Open your eyes.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see the way he looked at me. The lust in his eyes that I had seen before sent ripples of fear through me.

His grip on my neck tightened. “I said, fucking open your fucking eyes. I want you to look at me when I touch you.”

The rough grip on my neck left me no choice but to open my eyes. My breathing was labored as I gasped for air.

His hand moved to my stomach, and his fingers grazed the waistband of my pants. He paused as ringing came from the phone a couple feet away from us.

I struggled against him, twisting my body as I tried to reach for the phone.

He slapped me, momentarily dazing me as spots shot in front of my eyes and a bitter taste formed in my mouth when I licked my lip.

Pushing at him with everything in me, I hesitated as something black and metallic danced in front of my vision.

Jose moved it down to my stomach and ran it up under my shirt, the cold metal smoothing over my skin.

I shivered, my heart pounded in my ears, and a sob escaped my lips. “Please stop,” I begged.

He moaned. “God, I love it when you beg.” He ran the gun up and down my stomach.

Curling his hand in mine, he lowered the weapon into the waistband of my pants. “Move and I’ll fucking shoot you.”

I closed my eyes, tiny sobs escaping my lips. “Please, stop. I’ll do anything you want me to, just please don’t shoot me.”

He licked up the side of my neck. “Anything?”

I swallowed, taking deep breaths. “Yes, anything,” I whispered.

“Oh,
cochina
, we are going to have so much fucking fun togeth— What the fuck is that?”

I opened my eyes as he turned his head. I frowned in confusion as he got off me, and then I heard it too. Sirens sounded in the distance, and hope flared in my chest. He looked down at me, rage darkening his features. “Did you call the fucking police?”

“No,” I lied. The sirens came and went, leaving us in silence. I moved to stand, but he kicked me in the stomach, almost making me throw up instantly.

He kicked me again, and I fell back on the ground, gasping for air.

“No,” I wheezed. “I didn’t call anyone.”

“Liar!” he screamed and kicked me again.

I coughed and rolled over, grabbing my stomach.

“I won’t let them take you. You’re mine. You hear me? You’re fucking mine!”

I rolled to my side just as he kicked me again, and I fell back, pain exploding from my middle. My lungs were on fire as I breathed through the pain.

Jose paced in front of me, his eyes moving about, and I heard the sirens getting closer to us. A maniacal expression filled his face when he stopped. Looking down at me, he pointed the gun in my direction. “If I can’t have you, no one can.”

My eyes went wide as I stared at the barrel of the gun. A moment later, his cell phone went off, and without taking his eyes off of me; he reached into his pocket, bringing the phone to his ear. “Yeah…oh, hello, Sebastian.”

I let out a breath as tears welled in my eyes. I heard yelling coming from the other end of the phone as I moved to get up.

“Tsk, tsk. You won’t get anywhere with language like that.” He turned in the direction of the sirens, and I took this as my chance to escape.

Rolling over and biting back the pain, I crawled to the phone a couple of feet away from me and tried to get to  my feet, crying out when a foot pushed me into the ground.

“You can’t have her, asshole. She’s fucking mine now, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He taunted.

“You wanna fucking bet, asshole?”

My heart skipped a beat at the deep voice coming from in front of me.

“Fuck you.” Jose dug his foot harder into my back.

“Sebastian.” I cried out at the pain spreading through my body.

“Let her go, Jose.”

Jose laughed. “You see, I can’t do that. I know my little
puta
wants me. Her body throbbed for me earlier. Her hot cunt was nice and tight for me too.”

Sebastian growled at Jose’s words. “Let her fucking go. This is between you and me, Jose, not her. Tori has nothing to do with this.”

“She has everything to do with this!” Jose screamed. “If I can’t have her, no one can and that especially includes you, asshole. You fucking hear me?”

I looked up as a weight was lifted off me. Rising to all fours, I turned and saw Sebastian and Jose struggling.

Red- and blue-flashing lights surround the parking lots, and ignoring the pain in my stomach from where he kicked me, I stumbled to my feet. I took a step towards the parking lot just as two shots rang out. A moment later, white-hot pain exploded from my body. I fell, landing on my knees, and gripped my side.

My vision faded in and out as I saw Jose running in the opposite direction of the police cars. My head spun, and I fought for breath. Tears welled in my eyes as I gasped for air.

Feeling something thick and sticky between my fingers, I brought my hand up in front of my eyes. A deep red liquid coated my palm. Groaning, bile rose in my throat.

Swallowing back the sour taste, I pushed forward on all fours when a strangled noise came from behind me. Turning, I saw a large heap lying on the ground. Tears welled in my eyes as I quickly crawled to the big body.

Biting back the pain, I squeezed my eyes shut when my hand reached cool leather. White spots danced in my vision as I landed on my stomach, no longer having energy to move.

I gripped the leather as a hand grabbed me. Opening my eyes, I stared into the deep brown eyes of the man I loved. “Sebastian.”

My breathing was erratic, and my throat felt like sandpaper.

“Little one.” Blood leaked from the side of his mouth, and I quickly wiped it away.

Oh God, he’s dying. Sebastian is dying.
“Sebastian.” I leaned my head against his chest and sobs took over my body.

“Little one.” He coughed. “It’ll be okay.”

I looked at him. “Don’t leave me. You promised. Don’t fucking leave me,” I begged.

“I…I’m so sorry, for everything.” He coughed again, causing more blood to leak from his lips.

“I don’t care about that. Whatever happened…whatever you did, it’s in the past. I forgive you. It’s done. Just please…please don’t leave me.” The sobs racked at my bones.

“I love you,” he whispered.

I cried harder, tears rolling down my cheeks. “I love you. Please, don’t leave me,” I begged. “You promised. You can’t die on me. I need you. Please.”

His hand reached up and stroked my cheek.

I leaned down and kissed his full lips. “Please…God. Stay with me, baby.”

“I’m so sorry, little one. Please forgive me.” His eyes closed, and he let out a deep breath.

“Sebastian?”

He didn’t respond.

“Sebastian!” I checked his pulse. I couldn’t tell if he had one or if my mind was playing tricks on me, but a faint beat moved under my fingers so I had hope that he was still alive. “Wake up!” I started punching his chest. “Sebastian, do not fucking leave me. Please.”

He didn’t open his eyes.

Screams tore through me. He couldn’t be dead. Oh God, no.

“I think they’ve been shot,” I heard someone say from above me.

“Sebastian, I love you. You hear me?” I screamed. “I fucking love you. Don’t you dare leave me!” Hands gripped my shoulders as one last scream left my body. A moment later, darkness took over, leaving me in a sea of black.