Chapter 27

When I walked into work this evening, I had the pleasure of meeting the new bartender who would work the nights I'm off.

I'm working the bar when Tia slams her tray on the counter. "What's your problem?" I almost dropped the glass in my hands.

"Ugh. I don't know if I want to cry or laugh." Tia sighs resting her head on the bar.

"It's that kind of night?" I chuckle while wiping the inside of the glass and placing it in the rack.

"You have no idea," she mumbles.

"Just take a deep breath, Tia." I can't stop from laughing at my best friend's misery.

She lifts her head and glares at me. "Are you fucking serous right now? I have blood leaking out of my vajayjay like a broken dam. I've been eating chocolate out the ass, and my stomach hurts so bad it feels like it's going to rip my insides apart." She plops her head back down on the table.

I finish wiping the rest of the glasses while Tia sulks until Joaquin tells her to get off her ass.

She tells him to fuck off.

After Tia and I change out of our uniforms, we leave out the back door after Boston locks up.

Tia bitches and moans as we walk the short distance to the alleyway. I take my phone out to shoot Seb a text letting him know that we're off work early when I hear tires screeching and heavy boot-covered feet charging in our direction.

My heart leaps out of my chest when I hear Tia scream. Before I can react, thick arms wrap around my middle, lifting me off the ground. The masked man throws me over his shoulder. I kick, hit his back with my fists, but nothing works. This guy is built like he's been in the military. I turn to see Tia thrashing against a masked man dressed in all black who is manhandling her.

I try to escape from my captor's grasp, but his gloved fingers dig into my thighs, and I cry out in pain.

"Shut her up!" the second man with a dragon tattoo on his neck growls at his partner.

He slams duct tape over mine and Tia's mouths.

I scream Tia's name though the tape, but it comes out jumbled. Tia goes crazy when she sees me and wiggles out of the guy's arms, landing on her knees. She jumps on her feet and kicks the guys in the nuts. He recovers quickly and grabs her by the neck and bangs her head against the cement wall, knocking her out cold.

I try to scream, but nothing comes out.

The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

He throws a comatose Tia over his shoulder and marches toward a black van without windows. Tia and I are thrown in the back.

"Grab the rope and tie these bitches up," a third man yells from inside the van.

I kick the man when he comes at me with the rope, but he punches me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. He throws me on my stomach and tug my hands behind my back and ties my ankles together. Tia is tied up the same way.

Tears stream down my face when I see blood dripping down my best friend's head from when they slammed it against the wall.

One of the men shuts the doors and the van begins to move. The driver takes a sharp turn, and head slams against the van. I cry out, the noise muffled by the tape.

That must've pissed off the guy riding with us because a punch to my face knocks me out cold.