Chapter 3

Bethany tried another key. She gave me a brief glance. “We’ll find it.” Turning she looked at Leone on the other side of the room. “I don’t suppose the men you found her with had the key?”

Leone shook his head. “It wouldn’t have ported with him, and I’m not going to try to find that spot in the field.”

Bethany sighed, “I’ll just keep trying.”

The one with the long black hair came back in and stood beside Michael. His eyes were on me when he spoke. “The one with the busted nose is doing okay. The other one,” he turned to look at Michael, “his nose is broken, or should I say broken again, and the bones around his eye are cracked in three places.”

Both men turned and looked at me. I shrugged. “He grabbed me.” Beth glanced up at me, a smirk on her face. “It’s not my fault they don’t know how to keep their weight balanced and hold a proper stance when they fight.”

There were a few quiet chuckles from the men.

I looked down to see Bethany going through the keys. “Anyone here pick locks?” I looked around. “It’s not in my skill set.”

Rafael nodded. “I think I know someone who probably has every lock mechanism on memory.” He pulled out his phone and started typing on it.

“Victor won’t be happy bringing her here when we’re not sure about…”

Rafael looked at Leone. “I’m messaging him to bring her.” He grinned. “I know how big brother works.”

I looked from him to Rafael then to Michael, “another brother?”

Bethany laughed, “so many brothers.” She turned and motioned to the one with the dark hair. “Arius,” then she waved her hand, “you met Leone and Michael,” she smirked, “and Rafael.” She pointed to the one leaning in the corner. “That’s Quinton and I’m sure you’ll meet Victor, Troy and Chase shortly. Probably Emil if you stick around.”

I looked at her then back to the men. “There’s nine of them?”

She nodded. “Do you have family we can call to let them know you’re safe?”

I dragged my eyes from the men and shook my head. “No.” Looking back at the brothers I tried to find a family resemblance. I didn’t see it. Rafael was blond with a player vibe and blue eyes. Not the same blue as Michael’s, but the shape was similar. He had black hair like Arius, but his eyes were grey. I’d never seen grey eyes before. Leone had red hair, but his eyes were the same brown as Quinton—who was still looking at me with more of a scowl on his face than anything else. The one thing I did notice was all of these men were very good looking, with that sculpted, Greek god-like iron jaw. Michael was the only one that had any imperfection on his face. There was a large scar on the right side of his face. To me it made him the most appealing out of the good-looking males, scars held stories and more importantly, survival. I had my share of battle wounds…

The door opened, and a large redheaded man stepped in. The vibe coming off him made me tense.

Bethany jumped up and spun around her hands up.

I was on my feet.

She huffed out a breath, her posture relaxed. “Victor.”

He looked nowhere but at me. “Cristy will be here momentarily.” He didn’t move anything but his head. “I was just at the cells.”

Arius nodded, “she messed them up good.”

He looked back to me again. “Using what?”

I looked from Beth, who was chill with him being here, to the scariest man I’d ever seen. “Feet, hands, elbows, knees,” I shrugged, “my face. Whatever they were dumb enough to get closest to.”

His eyebrow went up. “Kickboxing?”

I shrugged, “more Muay Thai than straight kickboxing.”

He inclined his head to me in a formal way. Stepping back, he opened the door and a small brunette came in.

“I don’t know why I had to stand out there, Victor.” She looked up at him.

His entire demeanor changed as he looked down at her. “I wanted to be certain you’d be safe.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“Hey, little sis, can you pick locks?” Rafael asked.

Turning, she looked at him and smiled. “It depends on the style of locking mechanism, some of them are really complicated and I don’t know how to see inside them to move the tumblers to get them to open.”

He motioned to me.

She turned, and I held up my hands. With a serious expression on her face she came over and looked at the cuff locked around my wrist, then stared off into space. “I think I can do those.” Dropping her backpack to the floor, she squatted down and opened it and started digging around in it.

I sat down, keeping my eye on Victor, yet his eyes never left her.

She pulled something out of the pack, it looked like wire with a paperclip. Moving closer to my foot, she looked up at me. “I was told not to touch you, but I can’t do this and not touch you.”

I turned my foot and motioned to it. “Go for it.” There was something familiar about her. “You ever hang on the southside?”

She glanced up and me and nodded. “They have lots of trees there.” She nodded.

I didn’t know what that had to do with anything. “I go there once a week and teach the kids how to defend themselves and deal with bullying.”

She was quiet for a moment, then I felt the cuff fall off my leg. Smiling she looked up at me. “I used to watch you. It’s very nice what you do to help kids.” She reached down to my other foot.

“You two know each other?” Rafael asked.

I shrugged. “Not really. I just remember faces.” The cuff came off my other leg. “You’re awesome.”

She grinned and took my wrist when I held it out to her. “You asked me if I wanted to learn how to get away from a bully once…”

“And you said you’d just climb high, so they couldn’t reach you. Strangest answer I’ve ever gotten.” I grinned, then winced when my mouth stung. “I remember you. What’s your name?”

She didn’t look up from my wrist. “Crissy.”

“You teach defense classes?” Michael asked, his blue eyes going from my swollen mouth to my eyes and back again.

“Not formal classes. I just help the kids on the street hold their own.” I looked down when the cuff came off my wrist. “Glad to see you’re doing all right, Crissy.”

She paused before moving to my other hand. “I am very happy here. I have a home and a tower.”

I didn’t know what that was about. Before I could reply, the door opened and two tall twins with blond hair walked in. The only way to tell them apart was one had a goatee. “Let me guess, you must be Troy and Chase.”

The one with the goatee grinned, “I love it when our reputation precedes us.” Then he frowned and really looked at me.

I glanced at the other one, he was scowling.

With long strides he went over to a fridge on the other side of the room and opened it. Pulling something out of the freezer, he turned and came back toward me. He stopped far enough away not to crowd me and held out an ice pack.

Michael had done a good job relaying that I didn’t like to be touched. I took it. “Awesome, thank you. My face feels like a tribal drum right now.” I held it against my cheek and hissed out a breath when it burned.

“You should drink some blood.” Crissy said, her head still down getting the last cuff off.

I looked at her briefly, shocked, Not even knowing where she could be going with that. “Thanks, but I’ve drank enough of my own the last few days.” I touched my tongue against my lip. “I’m going to have one of those permanent pouty mouths if this opens again.”

One of the men made a sound that was almost a growl.

Another one cleared his throat. “Did either of you go to the cells and check out Autumn’s handywork?” Arius asked the twins.

The one that had handed me the pack stood back, crossing his arms over his chest. “We just came from there. One has been transferred to the medical wing.”

“He won’t be winning any beauty pageants for a while.” The other twin said while smiling at me.

Crissy got up and went back over to stand with Victor. He put his arm around her. It was an odd match, but she wasn’t on the streets and seemed healthy and happy. Compared to the hollowed-out cheeks she used to have, she looked great.

Bethany turned and picked up something, then came toward me. “I wasn’t sure about your size, so it’s just a track suit.” She motioned to a door. “You can change in there.”

I looked down at the grey coveralls I had on as I took the clothes. “Thanks. These are a little too prison-like for my taste.”

Leone straightened up. “I’ll get the doctor…”

I shook my head, “I don’t need a doctor. I’ve had worse injuries.” I touched my ribs from when blondie tried to check me through the wall. “I’ve had busted ribs before; this is just bruising.”

He frowned and looked at Michael, who gave a quick shake of his head.

Leone gave him an odd look and motioned to the door. “Get changed and we’ll be outside.”

Stepping into the room, I looked around. It was a bathroom with not a window in sight. Sighing, I went over and looked in the mirror. It had been a few years since my face had looked like this. My entire bottom lip was inflamed and red, my jaw, up to my cheekbone, was a dark purple and twice the size as normal. Across my forehead was another bruise. No wonder they all looked at me that way. I looked like a badly abused punching bag. Usually I kept people from hitting my face, then again, the guys I was used to fighting weren’t the size of those guards with arms that were longer than my legs.

Flipping on the water, I leaned down and splashed water on my face. It stung but felt good at the same time. Standing up, I leaned over the sink, just dripping. These people seemed decent, maybe I could get bus fare out of them and catch a lift back to the city.

Unzipping the coveralls, I pulled them off my shoulders and looked down. Was it bad when you didn’t feel the bruises on your own body? I looked in the mirror, from my collar bone to shoulder was dark purple. I lifted my arm slowly, yeah, I was a little tender. Looking down, I checked my ribs, they were about the same along my right side. I knew my legs would be beat up a bit too, that was normal with my style of fighting, I used the lower femur and side of the tibia to block shots.

Kicking off the cheap canvas shoes, I climbed out of the ugly jumpsuit, kicked it across the floor and picked up the clothes Beth had handed me. The pants were loose at the bottom, good for easy movement. I pulled them on before I started cataloguing the marks on my legs. My right hip was a bit roughed up, and I couldn’t remember how that happened. Picking up the top, I turned it around, then pulled it over my head. Pulling the shoes back on, I grabbed the coveralls and opened the door.

Michael stood a few feet away, but the rest had all cleared out.

I held up the coveralls, then spotted the cuffs sitting on the desk. Going over I put them on top of the pile of chains, then remembered the watch thing on my arm. Taking it off quickly, I tossed it on top. I didn’t know what it was, but I’d woke up with it on and I wanted nothing that reminded me of being shot with a dart.

When I turned, Michael’s eyes were huge.

I looked behind me, “What?”

He blinked, his brows furrowing. “How do you feel?”

I shrugged. “Like I went ten rounds with an ogre or two.”

Straightening, he looked at the watch and then to me. With slow and obvious movements, his gaze traveled the length of me. Then he scowled and started to step toward me and stopped. “That’s a bit high to be called ribs.” He motioned to my neck.

I looked down and realized the neckline on the top hung low enough to see the bruising. “Yeah, I think that was when blondie tackled me, I hit the wall.” He just stood there giving me an odd look. “He deserved what I did to his face, he shot me with a dart.”

His lips quirked, then he sobered. “We were going to go get something to eat. I’d like to ask you some questions and get some information about how they managed to get you here.”

I really wanted to go home, but if I could help them stop this from happening to others, then I had an obligation to the other women to help. “I could eat.” I picked up the ice pack and held it against my face.

He motioned to the door. “Please don’t beat anyone if they accidentally come up to you. No one here intends you harm.”

I licked over my swollen lip for a second and then nodded. “I’ll try. It’s a gut reflex.” Going out the door, I stopped to see just one twin was left. I looked around.

“They’ll meet us at the dining room.” He looked me over, then motioned to my face. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

I nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

He inclined his head. “I’m Troy.” He glanced to Michael. “We just have to stop and get the girls from the practice room.”

Michael nodded and motioned to a door on the other side of the yard.

I watched a small group of men sparring with each other as we went toward it. “The one with the shaggy hair is over-extending to reach his opponent. He’d be so easy to take that way.” I said quietly.

Both men with me turned to look.

“Yes, he would.” Troy stated.

“I’ll talk to Ira about having them go over the basics.” Michael said dryly.