Chapter 6

I'm lying down on the opposite end of the mattress to Eden, staring off into space, when my ears prick up at the sound of multiple footsteps fast approaching. My arms are tightly wrapped around Eden's muscular calves, I almost don't want to let go, but I don't want these fuck faces to know I care about him in any capacity, so I reluctantly release my hold. As the door unlocks, the muscles in my stomach tense.

"Rise and shine, mutts," a hoarse voice bellows.

We shuffle into sitting positions in our half-lucid states. Rubbing my eyes, black eyeliner smudges across my fingertips. Great, I probably look like Marilyn Manson. It's not exactly how I wanted to wake up to Eden for the first time, but here we are.

A white man who looks around his mid-forties with a receding hairline strolls into the room with his chest puffed out. He's average height and medium build. Everything about him is mediocre. You wouldn't even blink twice if you met him in the frozen aisle of Lidl. Yet here he is, drugging and keeping us captive. It's always the unsuspecting ones that want to chop you up into tiny pieces.

Another guy trails in after him, holding a Tesco carrier bag. Oh, I hope we're getting a meal deal. A BLT would be fantastic right about now.

Tesco boy looks much younger. He has a slight tan and a horrendous moustache, or maybe it's bum fluff. Either way, it needs to go.

He meekly distributes what's inside his magic bag, but to my dismay, it's a dry ham sandwich and a bottle of lukewarm water. He didn't even grab a cheeky Starbucks iced coffee or packet of crisps. Such a Scrooge. If I don't get my caffeine fix, I'll have a headache in a few hours. You'd think what I'm eating and drinking would be the least of my worries, but I guess I like to hyper-fixate on trivial things when facing potential death.

"Merci," Emiliya whispers when he drops the stuff on their bed. He gives her a minute smile, which she returns, revealing that maybe this one isn't such a tyrant.

"Why are you speaking French now?" Devlin asks, glowering at the poor girl.

Not this shit again.

"Not only French people say merci, you buffoon," I snap.

Eden eyeballs me as if to silently tell me to shut the hell up. This is not the time to argue about linguistics. I roll my eyes at him and cross my arms, letting out a dramatic huff.

"Quiet," the older man snarls.

I don't miss Tesco boy flinching at the sudden outburst.

Dr Evil's eyes dart between us before landing on Eden with a look of contempt. That's what I'm calling him from now on because he never brought me any snacks, and he likes to yell so he's clearly evil. Anxiety swarms me as he continues to stare at my man. He better keep his grubby mitts off my beefcake.

"Why the fuck did you kidnap the Hulk?" he yells at Tesco boy.

I can't help but nervously chuckle at that because Eden is kind of like the Hulk, with those big-ass shoulders, strong jaw and olive eyes.

"It wasn't me, boss. Apparently, he was lurking outside, and P brought him in."

"Get him in here now," Dr Evil scorns.

Tesco boy scurries out of the room like a good little minion and goes to collect P, whoever the fuck that is. Dr Evil glares at us, annoyingly tapping his foot as we wait.

My jaw hits the floor when the lanky prick Pete from my shift on Thursday saunters into the room like he's on a Sunday stroll. Devlin gasps, and Emiliya's eyes protrude. While Eden's face scrunches up like he's trying to figure out a complicated maths equation.

"Fucking Pete, I knew you were a weirdo," I mutter.

Eden pierces me with his eyes and hisses, "What the fuck, Kai? You know this guy?"

"Yeah, sorry mate, you shouldn't go around telling people your life story. There are some nasty bastards out there," Pete says with a self-satisfied smirk.

I scoff and give him the middle finger because that is not what happened.

"You fucking bastard!" Devlin screams, trying to launch herself at him but staggering backwards because of the chain. Emiliya stares at him in disbelief as tears glide down her smooth cheeks. I'm going to assume Pricky Pete had something to do with how we all ended up here.

"Easy now, tiger. I thought you'd be happy to see me," Pete says with a wink, then wiggles his long tongue at her. I shudder at his grotesqueness.

I knew Pete was an oddball, but had no idea he was a full-on psychopath who abducted people on his days off. I'm kicking myself for even engaging with him.

The mattress dips as Eden tries to ease closer to me, but I widen my eyes at him as a subtle warning. I really don't want them to use us against each other. His lip trembles, but I stay strong and inch further away.

"Who the fuck is this and why is he here? I thought we only needed three for now," Dr Evil's deep voice echoes off the walls.

Pete shuffles and his cheeks darken at his apparent mishap.

"The fucker followed us here. We had no choice. He saw what we had going on. Plus, it's always good to have a spare in case the others don't work out."

I try to digest everything he's saying to give me some inkling about why we're here. My first thought is they're probably going to make us do sex things. But then again, they've not tried anything sexual with the girls yet, so that doesn't seem likely. Maybe they're going to let cultish rich folk torture us for fun. That would be the worst-case scenario. The thought makes my empty stomach reflux, but I force it down. I refuse to show any sign of weakness, and to be quite frank, I'd prefer it if Eden didn't see me vom. Gotta keep some mystery when you start dating.

"Fine, find out everything you can about this oaf. I don't want any loose ends," he grumbles.

The way they're talking about us as if we're not even in the room makes my blood boil. I clutch my thighs, digging my blunt fingernails into the delicate skin to distract myself from telling everyone to go fuck themselves.

"Sure, boss. I'm on it, sorry." Pete leaves the room with his tail between his legs.

Clearly, Dr Evil has a tight hold on all his minions. Note to self: don't piss him off.

Tesco boy stands by the door staring directly out the window like it pains him to really look at any of us for too long. I note his every move because if we want to survive this, we'll need someone on our side.

"Right, listen up, mutts." We all turn to face Dr Evil. His wicked grin exposes several gold teeth. How ridiculous.

"I don't want any funny business. Don't even think about trying to escape because this place is heavily guarded."

He flicks his jacket to the side, flashing an onyx gun for all of us to see. Shivers erupt all over me. I've never actually seen a gun in real life. It's not a thing in the UK.

Eden's hand lands beside mine, but he doesn't grab it. Keeping an eye on Dr Evil, I slowly inch my hand closer until it's a hair's breadth away from his. I flinch when Eden hooks his pinky around mine, then release a pent-up breath as it settles something deep inside of me. It may only be an innocent touch, but it unties the intricate knots that had formed in my stomach.

"If you follow my rules and do exactly as I say, you might actually see the light of day again, but if not, I'm sure you can guess what will happen."

Dr Evil's hideous cackle booms around the empty space. I'm glad someone's having a good time. He's hitting all those evil villain stereotypes with his poorly timed-menacing laughs.

"You're mine now, mutts. You work for me, ok?" He glares at us all until we nod or mumble our agreement.

Devlin doesn't acknowledge him, which isn't a surprise. She doesn't seem like the type to bow down. He slowly walks towards her like a predator stalking its prey.

"Problem, sweetheart?" he says in a cheery tone with his hands clasped.

Devlin spits at his shoes, and my breath hitches. She has some goddamn nerve. The monster has a gun. Like a lightning flash, he uncurls his fingers and backhands her, making her head ricochet off the wall. Emiliya's hand slams over her mouth to silence her scream, and Eden grabs my hand, squeezing it so hard I feel it in my bones. I should pull away, but I can't. His touch is the only thing grounding me in this chaos. I don't like Devlin, but the last thing I want to see is her being abused. She clenches her fists and bares her teeth at him.

"Fu—" she attempts to speak, but he pretends to swing for her again, making her flinch. It silences her. The back of his hand hovers an inch from her already glowing cheek, taunting her.

We hold our breath as we watch the nightmare unfold. Tesco boy grimaces and stares down at his dirty trainers. Dr Evil leans back and lets out a demonic laugh before casually retreating.

"Glad that's settled. Now bring the Bulgarian girl. We have work to do, Jeremy."

He strides out of the room, slapping Tesco boy/Jeremy on the back with a look of pure delight. Bastard.

Jeremy slips out a key from his back pocket, crouches down and tries to unlock the chain around Emiliya's neck with clumsy hands. She sobs and protests in Bulgarian as he tries to make her stand, "Molya, ne, molya, pomognete, ne, molya, ne, ne, spri."

What are they going to do with her? It's almost too horrific to watch as she wails and struggles in his grasp. We watch on helplessly, dread weighing my stomach down.

"Wait, stop. Where are you taking her?" Eden climbs to his knees, stretching as far as he can towards them, but it's a wasted effort. If they want to take her, there's nothing we can do while locked up.

"She'll be alright, don't worry. Just calm down. Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be," Jeremy's voice wavers.

As he yanks Emiliya up and tries to force her out of the room, I stand up as far as I can with my shoulders hunched over. Reaching out, my fingertips brush hers before she's hauled away. It's the only comfort I could give her and it's not nearly enough.

"It's ok, you're gonna be ok, I promise," I shout after her, knowing she can't understand and it's a promise I can't keep, but I say it anyway because what else can I do?

"Kai," she bawls.

The door slams shut, and her whimpers grow quieter. I slump back onto the mattress on my haunches, tears clouding my tired eyes.

Devlin clutches her cheek, and I can't tell if she vibrates with uncontrollable anger or fear.

"Devlin, are you ok?" I ask softly.

"Don't fucking talk to me!" she screams, making me wince.

I'd like to be mad at her, but what she's endured was cruel, so I let it slide.

My nose tickles right before unshed tears are unleashed. Eden tugs at the bottom of my kilt, so I crawl over and lay my head on his warm lap. His fingers tangle in my thick curls as he tries to soothe me.

"Kai, how do you know Pete?" he gently asks.

"He was on my shift on Thursday night. He stuck up for me against the homophobic guy but totally gave me the creeps. He asked too many questions and offered me a lift home, but my gut told me not to. Great fucking use that was. He still managed to find me."

"Yeah, but we never would've met if he'd taken you on Thursday."

Eden looks at me with a weak smile.

My heart tightens in my chest. He can't possibly be glad we met after all this. That seems a wee bit psycho if you ask me.

"Don't be so silly. Meeting me isn't worth getting killed for."

"Hmm, yep, you're probably right, but I'm still glad we met," he mumbles, fiddling with my earlobe like he did when we first kissed.

I make an amused huff, wishing I knew what to say back. It's a bit intense risking your life for someone after one date, but I can't help feeling a little thrill at his words. He might be crazier than the guys keeping us captive, but he's my kind of crazy.