...
HANDS GRIPPED HER TIGHT, a cloth covering her face and muffling her voice. Someone was carrying her, her hands having been tied down just seconds ago. Although she could only see black, her vision was covered by a haze of red. Anger coursed through her veins, but she clutched her fists, bit her lip and refrained from doing anything.
Just three more days.
From the voice just now, she had guessed it was Trevor and his cronies who were kidnapping her. Probably to get back at the guys, but she didn't really care. If they had wanted to cause trouble with them, they should have just left her out of it. She wanted to curse, but the cloth in front of her mouth made it hard to breathe, let alone talk. The only thing that made her thoughts rational was the fact they couldn't do much to her. Not until the guys arrived.
A hostage doesn't have much use when it's hurt.
Because that's what she assumed she was. And if so, she just had to bite her tongue and wait until it was over. A few hits wasn't anything to cry about. Being sent to a nunnery a hundred percent was. Moments later she was dropped roughly on the ground. She had to grit her teeth, pain shooting through her at places where branches had cut her. When the cloth was finally ripped from her face, she squinted at the bright sunlight.
They had brought her to a small clearing, her back against a tree, a group of around eight guys surrounding her. Trevor was one of them, smiling with that empty smirk of his as he crouched down in front of her.
"Not so cocky now, are you?" he taunted.
She had to resist the urge to spit in his face.
"What are you doing?" she said instead.
"Can't you see?" he said," I'm going to use you to hurt Levi. The fucker broke my nose."
She rolled her eyes. He was too predictable.
"I'm sure Ava will appreciate this," she said, mainly because she was sure the jab would have the intended impact.
And sure enough, his face contorted as pain flashed over it. Before she could say anything more, he had already smacked her in the face. Her cheek was stinging, but she didn't pay the pain any mind.
"You bitch," he hissed," she's the other reason I'm doing this. One of you probably convinced her to break up with me. She won't even talk to me anymore."
"Are you dumb?" Ella exclaimed," you were fighting with her childhood friends, of course she was mad."
Another slap.
"Keep quiet," he sneered.
He gestured for one of his friends to put the cloth back in front of her face, rising to his feet as he did so. Desperate not to have to see and breathe through the dirty fabric again, she opened her mouth.
Time for the finest acting job she ever had done in her life.
She let herself go limp, meek, big eyes staring up at Trevor as her words came out in a rush, the words of someone who was panicked, who was powerless. The kind of person they wouldn't mind leaving unsupervised.
"P-Please," she stammered, blinking quickly to let it seem like she was barely holding her tears back," I'm sorry. Don't hurt me."
Trevor stopped dead in his tracks, slowly turning around. He motioned for his friend to stop, a smirk spreading on his face. It was the nearest thing to happiness she had seen on him.
"I was wondering when your cocky attitude was going to stop," he drawled," pretending doesn't suit you."
Being an asshole doesn't suit you, she thought.
But instead she sniffled, lowering her head to hide the fact that she wasn't overwhelmed by emotions at all.
"Please," she repeated," I don't have anything to do with this."
Come on, she thought. Release me and we'll all just go on with our day.
"Just curse the fact you were grouped with them," Trevor said," and curse your own damn smart mouth."
She wondered if pretending to sob would be over the top now. Honestly, it'd probably make him grin though. The itch under her knuckles was becoming harder to ignore now, the need to punch him in the face stronger than ever. Feeling powerless was something she absolutely wasn't used to and she tried to think how she could act to make it more believable.
As she was buying time, her hands were silently fumbling with the rope. The knot in it was loose now. Just one hard tug and she would be free, in case she needed to run. Clarkson may have been useless in every other regard, but finding him now would really help people from getting hurt.
Them especially.
Loud voices and the sound of people running through the trees interrupted her train of thoughts. Trevor seemed to be really pleased with himself, turning around and leaving her forgotten by the tree.
Soon after, Levi appeared out of the trees, closely followed by Alex and Will. She looked up in surprise, her eyes locking with theirs. If she thought she had seen them angry before, they were plain livid now. One look at her flushed face, the bruises of Trevor's slaps already coloring a bright red, her watery eyes and trembling body was enough, all of their fists clenched already.
She wanted to tell them it was all fake, that she was just fine, but a low snarl already escaped Levi's lips.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he hissed.
"You're not in a position to be asking questions," Trevor jeered.
As if to prove his point, a jerk of his head caused his friend to pull her head up by her hair, forcing her to look at Trevor. The pain didn't bother her, a sensation she had already become too familiar with over the years.
Just three more days, she told herself, three more days and then I'm done.
Don't ruin it for something like this.
Them daring to mess with her made her angry, but it wasn't worth it. Not at all. What use would her interfering have, especially when it came with such a large sacrifice attached to it? She didn't want to disappoint her mother again. Besides, she was sure the guys could survive just fine. So she kept quiet, her gaze locked on the trampled grass to keep her temper in check.
"Okay fine," Alex said hurriedly," what do you want?"
"Don't hurt her," Will pleaded.
"Let her go," Levi said simply.
Trevor chuckled, sauntering forward as his friends circled them. "On your knees," he said.
Levi's eyes were ablaze, his mouth open to sneer at him, but Ella was backhanded before he could even react. The words immediately died in his throat. He looked at her one more time and then sunk to his knees. Alex and Will followed suit, a mixture of anger and worry flashing across their faces.
She peeked up, just catching the look on Levi's face through the dull haze of pain. To be honest, it surprised her the guys around him didn't take more steps back. The look on his face could only be described as absolutely lethal after all, the ice in his eyes chilling the air around them.
"You're just going to stay like that," Trevor said," or else the precious new addition to your group is going to suffer for it, understood?"
No one reacted, their gazes focused on her. It made her want to reassure them she was going to be fine, but she knew better than to attract attention to herself now.
It was then Trevor nodded.
The next thing she knew his friends were hitting them, none of the three guys showing any hint of pain or resistance as they were being punched, thrown on the ground and kicked in the gut.
"How does it feel?" Trevor sneered.
Will's face contorted just for a second when he was hit in the head, Alex already roughed up by two guys. Levi was the one they all were ganged up on, his face the picture of apathy as they smashed him to the ground.
Just three more -
White hot fury burned in her veins. Before she knew it, ration flew out of the window, her mother's threats vanished.
And then she pulled against her rope and jumped towards them.