Quintessentially Q (Monsters in the Dark #2)(33)

I knew he had black desires, but I didn’t believe he would drown me just for kicks. I didn’t believe he’d be that cruel. Not the man who raged when he thought he couldn’t protect me from my panic attack. Not the man who smiled so sweetly when we finished f*cking in the helicopter.

All the rage and anger that I embraced when I was kidnapped raced into being. I lost the softness, the dependency Q gave me and revved with survival energy.

I scratched at the wrist holding me down, digging deep with sharp nails.

My assailant jerked, trying to un-pry my fingers with his other hand, but I didn’t let go until blood grew slippery under my fingernails.

A moment later the hand on my head loosened, and I shot upright.

Water erupted from my mouth as I choked and heaved, gasping for breath. Twisting in the water, I snarled. My heart pumped once and died.

I wished I’d stayed under water.

No. No, no, no. It can’t be true.

Leather Jacket sneered, his black eyes filled with the same atrocious evil they’d held in Mexico. His body leered toward me as he wriggled his dirty fingers. “Hello, slut.”

The panic attack.

Shit, Tess. It wasn’t a panic attack—it was real! My instincts knew. They knew all along, and I ignored them.

Hot furious tears threatened to fall as I bared my teeth. “Get the f*ck away from me.” My eyes darted around the bath, looking for a weapon. Nothing but fluffy pillows and bars of moisturising soap.

Leather Jacket laughed, running a hand through his greasy hair. “That’s no way to be nice. I’ve missed you and your nice tits.” He cocked his head, tutting under his breath. His eyebrow raised taking in the red lashes on my stomach. “I hear you’re proving to be a bad investment, and my boss hates bad investments.” His Spanish accent thickened as his eyes slithered down my body. “Looks as though someone else decided you needed punishing too, huh?”

Wrapping my arms around my nakedness, I shouted, “I’m no longer yours to torture. I belong to another. Someone who will be extremely pissed if you lay one finger on me.” My teeth started to rattle, despite the humid air and hot bath.

I can’t let him take me. I can’t.

“If you leave now, I’ll forget you were here. I won’t tell my owner to hunt you down and rip you apart.” All I wanted was for Q to appear and blow Leather Jacket’s brains all over the bathroom walls. Killing him had been my intention ever since I left Brax.

Leather Jacket threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about me, slut. Your so-called owner won’t be a problem for much longer.” He inched closer, leering down at me. “He did a very bad thing. Time for him to pay.”

I pushed off to the other side of the bath, but Leather Jacket moved like a demon. He jumped into the tub, clothes and all, and grabbed a chunk of my hair. His metallic stench filled my nose as he forced my head under the water again.

I thrashed, I wriggled, I tried not to scream, but the sheer terror erupted my lungful of air into hot water.

The heavy thud, thud of my heart went wild as I inched closer to drowning.

The agony lasted forever while my lungs screamed and died a painful death, but at the last second, he hoisted me up, dragging me to the edge of the tub.

Clinging to the side, I sucked in hungry gasps, choking on droplets running over my face.

“Now that you’re clean. Get the f*ck out. We have somewhere to be,” Leather Jacket ordered.

“What—?” I couldn’t finish, heaving for breath. “I’m not going anywh—”

With a savage jerk, he pulled me upright. I screamed, trying to free my hair from his claws. He tugged so hard chunks tore from my scalp. “Let me go!”

I twisted, trying to get his wrist to bend enough to get free. He was too strong. My weak body wobbled and weaved after nearly drowning. I cursed my body for failing. I couldn’t fight.

He hauled me from the tub and against his horrible body. The cold zipper of his jacket dug into my naked breasts as he breathed rancid breath over me. “Not gonna happen. Time to take a little ride.”

I lashed out and kneed him square in the balls. He dropped me, clutching at the towel rail in agony. I didn’t wait another second. With my head pounding and strands of hair falling to the floor, I bolted.

Straight into another man.

His arms whipped around me and his unnatural broken smile crushed all my hope of freedom.

Jagged Scar.

The man who held me down while the bitch tattooed and inspected me. The same bitch who inserted a tracking device into my neck.

Fuck.

The tracker! I wanted to kill myself for being so stupid. The moment I arrived in Australia I went on the waiting list for a day surgery to remove. But they kept pushing me back—emergencies bumping me down the line. There was nothing I could do, and then I went back to Q.

For four days I romanced and teased the man I’d returned to. I didn’t even stop to think about such a life-threatening device tracking my every move.

Shit, Tess! I should’ve told him. I should’ve made sure it was removed straight away. I should’ve butchered my own body to remove it.

This was all my fault.

Jagged Scar clicked his tongue. “Just realized, didn’t you? I have to admit, people tend to forget about that part.” He sighed, sounding almost apologetic. “It really is a shame to do this, but your circumstances have changed.”