Lost Girls(72)

Pink Lightning sparked through my veins, every muscle in my arms and legs was alive like never before, and her eyes—Lauren’s eyes—they didn’t look like her anymore. That fear, that sense of helplessness, I’d seen it before.

It was how Nicole had looked, right before those two men had carried her away into the night, right before they beat her to death.

I froze, my fist in midair, and the moment seemed to last forever. To everyone else it was probably just a millisecond, but in that amount of time I saw everything—

I could escape, but that would mean Lauren would be left behind. And not just her, but Komodo and Agent Bennet and Madison, too—all of them would be left here while I ran away. I knew how this group of kidnappers worked. As soon as they realized I was gone, they’d pack up and scatter. They’d be dust in the wind by the time I got back here with help.

Lauren would be sold, she’d be gone, she’d be another Lost Girl.

As much as I hated her right now, I didn’t want that.

I finally followed through with my punch, but it wasn’t as clean as it should have been. I’d paused too long and she had time to block me. It took a few more moves before I had enough momentum to do what I needed, before I could pin her in a headlock, my arm wrapped around her throat, her right ear positioned beside my lips. That was the first move where I was able to whisper my new plan to her, the one where I began to explain how she could escape. It took five holds, all of them different so we wouldn’t arouse suspicion, before I was able to convince her it would work. Maybe she was just glad to hear that I didn’t plan on killing her, since there were no rules, none at all tonight, but in the end she agreed to do exactly what I told her.

And that was good, because we both knew her only other option was to win the fight and go home with the highest bidder.

...

One final body slam and Lauren fell on the mat, a grimace on her face, her eyes closed. The fight was over. For a long, shuddering moment, I worried that I had actually knocked her out and that all our scheming would amount to nothing. Then she gave me a brief, almost unnoticeable wink.

Game on, you dirty, effing mothers.

I flashed a grin at Madison, then nodded at the spotlights. She punched the power switch and all the lights in the universe poured down on me. No more beams sweeping the crowd or the stage, nothing to illuminate Lauren when she rolled off the platform or when she crawled toward that door.

All eyes were on me, as they should be. It was time for my second act.

I spun, a sweet pirouette, left leg bent at the knee, all my weight on the toes of my right foot, arms over my head. I spun around and around while the audience chanted my name and then when I stopped, they realized the show was only beginning.

“Who’s put up a bid for me? Anyone?” I called out. Cheers followed. I grinned, as if I couldn’t wait to go home with my new owners. “Well, don’t stop the bidding yet.” I leaped across the stage, then pointed toward one of the meatheads in the audience. “Are you a brave man?” I asked. He nodded. “Do you think you can beat a seventeen-year-old girl?”

“Hell, yeah!” he shouted back.

“Come on,” I taunted. “Let’s see if you can go a full round up here.”

While he was scrambling toward the stage and my handlers back in the dressing room were freaking out, I cast a quick look toward that door.

It was slamming shut.

Lauren was getting away.

My muscles relaxed for an instant, a bad move on my part for that goon from the audience was already looming toward me, beer on his breath, sweat pooling in the pits of his T-shirt. He swiped at me, fingers open, and I danced away, two short hops that made the audience laugh. Shadows were moving closer, two beefy guards and the Man Who Had Murdered Nicole all racing down the aisle. They had been watching the crowd, hadn’t even realized I might be the threat.

I knew I could take this meathead opponent down with a snap of the neck. Problem was, if I did that he’d be dead.

So, instead, I spun around, kicking him in the crotch, in the gut, and in the chin. He fell with the first kick, and my foot was red with his blood by the time he hit the mat. I was pretty sure I broke his nose, there was so much blood.

Now other members of the audience began clamoring for a go at me. They all wanted their moment in the spotlight, they wanted a chance to take me down.

Come and get me, boys.

Guards were slamming fists in faces, Nicole’s Murderer was grabbing the microphone, two new audience members had made it onto the stage, and I was fighting both of them at the same time. Meanwhile, I gave a quick nod to Madison and she ran toward the door that led to freedom, following Lauren.

Joy radiated from my chest. Pure joy like I hadn’t felt in ages.

We were beating the brutes who had wanted to take us captive.

Kick to the face of Audience Member Number One, kidney punch to Audience Member Number Two, knee to the groin, elbow to the nose, and they were both down, one of them almost in tears with his right hand trying to stop the flow of blood that gushed from his nose.

I grinned and laughed and taunted. I could fight like this all night long, defeating one overweight, out-of-shape, wannabe wrestler at a time. I could have, but I didn’t. Because Nicole’s Murderer clambered his way onto the stage, then grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder, an act that proved four shots of Blue Thunder trumped three shots of Pink Lightning. I’d known all along that this was how my escape scenario would end—someone would lasso me like a runaway colt, then either drag me back to the dressing room or drag me out to a car that rumbled in the parking lot.