Playing Dirty (Risky Business, #2)(86)

I was screaming at them, yelling obscenities and telling them to get off me. The guy on top swung his fist at my face, connecting near my temple. Pain exploded in my eye and head. Dizziness was a cloudy fog and my screaming was cut off as I struggled to stay awake.

Maybe you don’t want to be awake for this, I thought. It would probably be better to be unconscious. It would be easy. My brain felt weird, my limbs heavy. Oblivion beckoned.

I felt him tugging at the fastening to my jeans and I moaned, trying to move away. Then he was pulling them down over my hips—

Suddenly I was free, the pressure on my chest, hips, and wrist gone. I opened my eyes with effort. Everything was blurry, but I saw a man standing over me. He bent down toward me and I cringed away with a sharp cry of fear.

“Shh, it’s okay. It’s me. You’re okay.”

“Parker?” I stared at him in disbelief, blinking to clear my vision. “How—Where’s Ryker?”

“I’m here.”

I swung my gaze to my left and sure enough, Ryker was crouching next to me.

“Hold on to me, babe,” he said, putting his arms underneath mine and lifting me. I clung to him, resting my head against his chest.

I felt Parker pull my clothes back up, his hands sliding around my waist to fasten my jeans.

“Here, let me take her,” Parker said. “You can barely stand yourself.”

That made me sit up. “You’re not okay,” I said to Ryker. “He hurt you.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, but made no further comment as he handed me over to Parker, who stood, lifting me in his arms.

My head was spinning and aching and my hand hurt so badly, but I was able to see the men who’d been about to rape me. They were on the ground and neither was moving. I didn’t know how Parker and Ryker had gotten free or what they’d done to those men; I was just glad they had.

When we reached the warehouse, Parker sat me down in the chair I’d occupied earlier, and I saw cops had begun pouring into the building. Parker stood right behind me, his hands on my shoulders. Then my gaze fell on something else and I froze.

It was Viktor, lying flat on his back on the floor, the tire iron protruding from his chest.

“I see you found her.”

Tearing my eyes from the sight of Viktor, I saw Branna standing next to Ryker. She was looking at me, but her attention refocused on him.

“You need to get to the hospital,” she said. “They need to look at that burn.”

“I will. Just gimme a minute,” he said to her, his eyes on me.

My head had cleared but I felt numb, like I was in shock or something. I’d always heard about it, but hadn’t experienced it. Now I understood what people meant. I didn’t know what to say or how to react to anything. The entire horrifying experience was too awful to contemplate, so I didn’t.

Ryker crouched in front of me.

“Babe, you okay?” he asked.

I looked at him and gave a tiny nod. “I think so. My hand …”

“Let me see.”

He took my hand gently in his, turning it palm up. The mark was as livid as the one against his side. It hurt too much to flatten my hand and I felt self-conscious with both Parker and Branna watching, so I pulled away, cradling it back against my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out. “I didn’t know what he would do to either of you, no matter what name I said.” Tears dripped, but I ignored them.

“Let’s not talk about it right now,” he said.

I nodded. “Okay.”

EMTs came flooding in, surrounding the three of us, and I was separated from them. I looked around, trying to spot either of them in the crowd, but couldn’t.

“Where are they?” I asked the woman working on me. “I need them. I can’t—I can’t—” Breathing became impossible, catching in my chest, and my lungs wouldn’t inflate properly.

“Calm down, you’re all right,” she tried to assure me.

“C-can’t,” I gasped. “P-Parker and Ry-Ryker. Need them, please …”

“We have a situation here,” she told a partner. “Who are the other victims? Either of them Parker or Ryker?”

I had to find them. Were they safe? Did Viktor have them again? Was he hurting them?

I struggled to my feet, pushing away the woman when she tried to stop me.

“I have to find them!”

“Ma’am, please, sit down.” A man wrapped his arms around me, imprisoning my arms at my sides.

Panic flooded me. “No! Get off!”

“Sage! It’s okay, listen to me.”

Parker was suddenly in front of me, his face filling my vision.

“Let her go; you’re scaring her,” he demanded. The arms holding me dropped away and I fell into Parker’s embrace, sobbing.

“Don’t leave me,” I begged. “Please don’t.”

“I won’t. I swear. I’m right here.”

“Ryker?”

“He’s right behind you, not ten feet. You’ve gotta let him go, though,” he said gently. “He needs to go to the hospital, okay? He’ll be okay. I promise.”

I believed him. Parker wouldn’t lie to me.

I settled, tuning out everyone and everything but Parker. He held me while they messed with my hand and I barely paid attention to what they were doing.