Ruin Me (Wreck & Ruin, #1)

TWO

TWO

“We wouldn’t have to do this if we could trust you with the money on your own,” Rowdy said when Wreck stopped at the apartment door.

“Leave her,” Wreck said.

Once again Tulsi found his glare glued to Kieran.

“When she’s your girl, then you can make decisions for her. ‘Til then, that’s my job,” Kieran said. The declaration was so shocking that she had to replay it in her mind. “I’m not leaving her standing out here alone when anyone could walk by and hurt her.”

Rowdy knocked on the numberless door. The three men gathered around her in a gesture of protection, which only served to reignite her unease.

After a second round of knocking, the door was pulled open so suddenly that she once again bumped against Wreck, who didn’t push her away or object. Tulsi guessed that her second assumption was correct; that she was just so unimportant, he didn’t even notice her.

“What?” The broad black man who’d answered the door glared at them. He must have decided that she deserved his focus because he took a long time perusing her figure. Though it was Kieran he eventually settled on. “You’ve got balls showing up here. You brought muscle too. That mean you’re not ready to pay up?”

“I’ve got his money, Delray,” Kieran said, though she knew that wasn’t entirely true if Rowdy was the one paying the debt. “Let us in.”

“Empty your pockets,” the guy said. At first, no one moved. “You don’t turn ‘em out, you don’t get in.”

Delray bent to pick up an empty shoe box from by the door and shook it at them. Kieran was the first one to exhale and do as he was told. Tossing his wallet, phone, and keys into the box, he gestured for Rowdy to do the same. Wreck turned out his jeans and his jacket pockets, showing nothing in either.

The guy must have been satisfied. He backed off and gestured inside leaving her no choice but to walk into the apartment with her party. The scent of c******s hung in the air. It didn’t take long to see why. They were ushered into a living room. Three couches were angled around a central television that stood on a wooden crate. Four men and two women lay around on the couches and on the floor. From the paraphernalia she noticed scattered round the room, c******s wasn’t the only d**g on offer.

“You got my money, weasel?” the guy in the center of the furthest couch asked.

Tulsi was still nestled in the triangle of men around her. She hadn’t known two of them for more than five minutes. With so many other strangers in the room, the ones around her were the least of her worries. Any intimidation she may have felt in the past was nothing compared to what she experienced in that moment.

She’d never bestowed trust on anyone so quickly. All she knew were the names of the three men surrounding her, but it was more than she knew about the others dotted around.

Rowdy handed a bundle of cash to Kieran, who tossed it across to the man who’d spoken.

The guy who’d answered the door loitered close, giving her the creeps.

The one on the couch flicked through the bills. “You’re a dead man,” he said, something of a smirk on his face.

“No. No,” Kieran said.

“You’re not going to get away with f*****g around,” the guy said.

“Teal, man, I—”

“What happened to Merchant’s shipment?” The guy on the couch slid to the edge of his seat and tossed the money over his shoulder like it was nothing. “You come here with a crappy ten grand when you know you walked out the door with Merchant’s hundred Gs.”

“A hu… hundred?” Kieran stuttered. “No, man! No, that wasn’t me.”

“That’s not what Merchant says.”

A bone-chilling scream interrupted their discussion. A doorway at the side of the room burst open and a n***d woman was thrown into the living room. When Tulsi was grabbed from behind, impulse made her panic. She inhaled to scream, but glanced over her shoulder to see Wreck’s hands were the ones on her upper arms. The sight of his fierce vehemence, his unerring focus, filled her with relief. Her panic dwindled to nothing and her breathing evened out. She couldn’t explain it, but being in his grip gave her security.

The woman on the floor tried to scramble onto her knees. Her body was bruised and b****y. She cowered, focusing on the blackness of the shadowy room she’d been thrown from. Nothing inside was visible. There was no light inside. After half a beat, a broad figure emerged from the abyss wearing only a pair of jeans.

The pasty white guy had definition, but it was the g*n held loose in his hand that woke Tulsi’s panic again. She was still focused on the weapon when Wreck moved around from behind her to put himself between her and the danger. He blocked her body from whatever was about to happen with his own.

The guy with the g*n kicked the crying woman, sending her onto her back on the floor. When she wailed again, he aimed his weapon at her head.

“Whoa now, wait a minute,” Rowdy said, stepping forward. “What’s the—”

“f**k you!” the guy shouted, raising the g*n higher to put Rowdy in its sight.

Rowdy lifted his hands in surrender. “What’s the problem? You can’t shoot her. She’s already a f*****g mess, man. You did your job. You f****d her up. Well done.”

The bully kicked the woman again and widened his own stance like maybe he was preparing to shoot.

Instinct made Tulsi’s hand move. Her eyes were wide, focusing past Wreck’s arm to the man threatening Rowdy. She wasn’t really aware of where her hand was going until her fingers laced between Wreck’s. He didn’t flinch. Not his head, not his shoulders, no part of him she could see. Yet, his fingers curled to lock around hers. Maybe it was just instinct for him too. Maybe he wanted to offer her comfort.

“Rowdy,” Kieran whispered. “Let it go.”

The bully’s gaze moved a fraction, just enough to land on her. The barrel of the g*n descended a couple of inches when he leaned to the side. “You’re a pretty thing. Come around here, Pretty Thing,” he said to her.

“Leave her out of this,” Kieran asserted.

The last thing Tulsi wanted him to do was play the hero. Especially when there was such obvious apprehension in his voice. He couldn’t take on a shooter alone.

“Who does she belong to?” the bully asked. “One of you or all of you? We’ll pay for the pleasure. Come on out, Pretty Thing.” He smirked at her. “Come on, girl. I’ve got something to show you.”

The woman on the floor wept, though she had to be feeling relief that the bully was losing interest in her. Seeing few options, Tulsi began to move, but she didn’t get far. Wreck’s grip on her hand became crushing. He twisted his arm to his back, forcing her to return to her previous place, shielded by him. She tried to let go, but he wouldn’t release her.

“Don’t f*****g speak to her,” Wreck said, his voice vibrating with a sinister edge.

“Yeah,” Kieran asserted. “Leave Tulsi out of this.”

“Tulsi?” the bully said. “Tulsi. Tulsi. I like it. You don’t have to hide from me, pretty, little Tulsi. I know how to play nice.”

This man had to be more important than the one on the couch or maybe he was just scarier. Whatever the reason, no one else stood up to him. The woman on the floor kept sobbing. If the state of her was any accurate measure, this man didn’t play nice. He played rough. The sadist played to win.

In this stalemate, she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to go to the bully, but they couldn’t stay there all night. Tulsi tried to move again. Wreck still wouldn’t let her go.

“Let me go,” she murmured.

“Yeah, let her go,” the bully said, adjusting his aim to land it on Wreck. “I’m not selfish, I know how to share. Let her go and I’ll stretch out her a*s for you… She looks like the type who needs it. Come show us that neat body of yours, Pretty Tulsi.”

“What?” she asked, forgetting the pain in her hand where Wreck was holding her tight.

“Sure, we’ve got nine men in here, four women. Women work for the men around here.”

“She’s not a w**********l,” Rowdy said.

The bully tightened his grip on the g*n. “She is whatever I damn well say she is. If I say she f***s every man in this room then she f***s every man in this room.”

As a chill went through her, another wail came from the n***d woman sprawled on the floor. Tulsi couldn’t help herself. If this man got his way, that could be her future. The hapless woman may have started out just like her; dragged along against her will, oblivious to the danger and forced into her current position.

“I’m fair,” the bully said. “I’ll let her start with her boyfriend. I bet he knows how to f**k her good.”

“No way,” Kieran said.

“Either one of you three f**k her or I’ll do it for you,” the bully snarled.

Cowardice made her move closer to Wreck’s back. She didn’t want to see any more. Didn’t want to hear it. Tulsi closed her eyes and rested her head against the cool, soft leather, wishing her imagination would save her from this moment.

“No one touches her,” Wreck said without letting go of her hand.

“Are you getting in my way, boy?”

“Wreck,” she said from behind him, tightening her hold on his knuckles.

Giving her to the bully may be the only way they’d get out of the apartment alive. Tulsi couldn’t imagine such horror.

“Anyone who stands in Baines’ way has a death wish,” the guy from the couch said.

The bully, who she guessed was Baines, laughed. “I’ll wipe the floor with you all—stop with the f*****g noise! Jesus!”

Tulsi was still cowering when the blast of a gunshot made her jump. She tensed and grabbed for Wreck’s other arm. Her shield didn’t drop. She didn’t see or hear anyone fall to the floor. It took her a minute to realize that the sobbing had stopped.

Controlling her breathing took effort. She had to concentrate to prevent herself from hyperventilating. She wanted to look and yet, she didn’t want to know.

It was possible he’d shot the floor or the ceiling and missed his target completely. Except that didn’t explain why the woman who hadn’t shut up for a moment was suddenly mute.

“Round ‘em up,” the guy from the couch shouted.

“Wait, Teal,” Kieran said.

From left to right, the men were on their feet and closing in around their group.

“Merchant’s had a bounty out for you since the shipment went missing,” Teal said. “I’ll have to find out what he wants me to do with you. But no matter what, I’ll be collecting.”

“You can’t take us all,” Rowdy said.

“Baines can put a bullet in you, in your buddy and his girl, or all of you can go quietly.”

That didn’t give them much choice. Teal wanted the bounty and wouldn’t let Rowdy or Wreck or her go, probably fearing they’d bring reinforcements or try to rescue Kieran from whatever fate awaited him.

Everything slowed down as she tried to come to terms with what had happened. Her night had changed so suddenly; everything felt surreal. She was still trying to figure out how she’d ended up in this nightmare when her purse was snatched from her hand. There wasn’t even time to argue or seek it out because they began to move. Surrounded by Teal’s men, Tulsi had no choice except to go too.

As she moved from behind Wreck, she noticed the woman on the floor, prone with a circle of blood on her forehead. Her eyes were wide and unblinking though her still damp tears trickled toward the floor, pulled by gravity.

She immediately turned away, grabbing for Wreck’s arm to bury her face against it. Their fingers were still locked together. He wasn’t letting go and neither was she. They were taken from the living room, down a narrow hallway and bundled into a dark space. The door was closed behind them with shuddering finality. The sound of more than one key turning on the other side signaled their fate. They were prisoners.