Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 49

Somebody rattled the doorknob. I summoned up whatever was left of my strengths and screamed, "Help! Get help! Eve!"

Ian said, and grinned at me with bloody teeth, "Just somebody looking for a place to screw. Don't worry, baby. We won't hurt you. Not that you'll remember, anyway"

I pretended to be worse off than I really was and, mumbling, let my eyes drift half closed.

"That's it" The coffee bar jerk said. "She's out. Get her on the bed"

I'd never really done this before, but I was imagining really hard how Eve would have handled it. I let the bat kind of a wobble and fall to rest in my lap, aligned with my leg, as if it had gotten too heavy to hold up.

And when Ian walked up to grab me, I bought the bat straight up with as much force as I could manage. It smacked him right where it would hurt the most, and Ian crumpled with a high-pitched, breathless scream, huddled in on himself.

I forced my legs to hold me, and slid back up to a standing position. I was leaning for support, and lucky to be in a corner, where two angled walls let me look like I wasn't about to topple over. My arms were shaking, and the guys would have seen that if I did try to raise the bat, so I tapped it casually against my leg. "Who wants some?" I asked. "I won't hurt you. Much"

It was all a show, and they only had to wait. Coffee bar jerk knew that, all too well, and I could feel the drug stealing away my concentration, my strength, making me slow and stupid and all too easy prey.

Justin, I thought, and forced myself to stand up right just a little longer. Justin needs me. I'm not going to let this happen.

"You're bluffing" coffee bar jerk said, I came around the bed. I took a swing at him, missed, and smack the bat into the wood so hard it rattled my teeth.

He grabbed the bat on the backswing and easily twisted it out of my grip. He tossed it to one of the other two guys, who caught it one-handed. "That" he said, " Was really stupid. This could have been real nice and easy, you know that, right?"

"I have Amelie's protection" I said.

He grabbed me by the throat of my sheer black printed shirt, and drag me forward. My legs folded when I tried to pull away.

"I don't care" he said. "i'm not from this stupid town. None of us are. Monica said that was the way to go, to get around the dumb arse rules, whatever they are. Whoever Amelie is, she can kiss my arse. After you're done doing it"

The door to the hall gave a dry, metallic pop, and swung slowly open. I blinked and tried to focus my eyes, because there was someone standing there. No, to someone's. One had red hair. Wasn't there something about red hair? Oh yeah. Sam had red hair. Sam the vampire. Michael's grandpa.

The door no longer had a knob on the outside. The one on the inside fell out with a dull thud to the carpet and rolled under the bed.

"Ana!" Oh, that was Eve. "Oh my god!"

"Excuse me" Sam said, but what did you say about Amelie?"

Coffee bar jerk let go of my top, and I slid back down the wall. I fumbled around for something to use for a weapon, but all I came up with with another set of filthy socks that missed the laundry. For some reason, that seemed funny. I giggled and rested my head against the wall to let my neck relax. My neck was working too hard.

"I said that Amelie can kiss my arse, red. And what are you going to do about it? Stare me to death?"

Sam just stood there. I couldn't see anything about him change, but it was like the room just went cold. "You really don't want to do this" said Sam. "Eve, go get your friend"