My Cammie.
If he does as much as touch her, I swear I’ll kill him myself.
CHAPTER 23
Cameron
The first thing I felt as I slowly regained my consciousness was cold air whipping my nipples. What the hell?
My eyes snapped open, and I realized I was stripped out of my clothes and tied to a pole with rope, arms above my head, the sound of male laughter synching behind my ears.
“She’s up already.”
Even though I was dizzy, and my head hurt like hell, I couldn’t mistake Roar’s voice. My body squirmed, struggling with the rope. My wrists and ankles burned. How long had I been out? It was still dark. A few hours tops? Shit. Was that how Dusty felt all this time? How he continued to feel?
My jaws hurt as I tried to scream. A gag had filled my mouth, leaving a nasty taste of rubber and dirt. The continuous supply of drool down my chin stung in the cold. I didn’t need to feel my neck to know there was a collar there, too. Roar must have found Dusty’s photo on my phone.
I’m screwed.
Please, let it be quick. For Dusty’s sake. For Annie’s.
Roar stood before me with his ugly smirk and the same hate for me in his eyes. Heels clicked behind me. Dusty’s mother, I assumed.
With every step, I became more aware of the surroundings. I was out in the open. The pole was a tree trunk. There was a fire pit, already blazing, with empty beach chairs around it. What? Were they going to barbeque me and feast on me later?
The heels stopped. A woman in her forties, leather clad, stood next to Roar. She was definitely Dusty’s mother. I saw where he got his looks. The dark hair and perfect cheekbones. The awesome lips. Mix the body of the grizzly blond with the face of that brunette and you get a heart-melting hotness named Dusty.
She stepped closer to me, smelling of cigarettes, weed and bourbon. “You’ve got a nice package here. The guys would be psyched to take turns on you. Hope you like gangbangs, sweetheart.”
I wanted to swallow, and I wanted to spit on her face. I couldn’t do either.
She came even closer, her hands suddenly on my nipples, twisting them ninety degrees. My eyes bulged as I shrieked in pain. “Fuck off, you crazy bitch.”
She didn’t seem to understand a word I said with that rubber ball in my mouth. Her fingers twisted around my stinging nipples again. My body jerked in place. She slapped me, and I swore again. So Dusty’s mother was a psychopath, too? No wonder he left. There was no room for his warmth with these two.
Her hand squeezed the leather around my neck. “Shut up, bitch. The only thing you’re allowed to say is where you’re hiding my son.”
Desperate for air, my nostrils flared, the pressing on my throat suffocating. I apologized to Dusty in my head.
When she let go of me, I wheezed. The freezing air lashed at my face and inside my chest. My gaze rolled up toward Roar. He was just standing there, giving me the same fucking look, his hands on his hips.
He wasn’t looking at my naked body, which eased my trepidation. I wasn’t afraid, though. Nervous, yes, but not afraid. Perhaps it was the adrenaline. Perhaps it was the power I had over this son of a bitch who took my sister. He was hurting over Dusty, and it felt so fucking good.
I wondered what their plan was. Good gangster, bad gangster. Was he supposed to be the good one or the bad one? I’d find out now.
“I take it you didn’t find him on your own?” My lips moved around the gag.
He looked at the mother. “What’s the bitch saying?”
Her fingers went behind my head, unbuckling the gag. I closed my eyes and jaws in relief. These things really hurt and gave terrible headaches.
“What the fuck you said? Where’s Dusty?” she barked.
I ignored her and looked daringly at Roar. “I said I take it you couldn’t find him on your own.”
He looked like he was about to explode, but he remained still. His bitch blew up in my face. “I swear if you don’t tell us where Dusty is right now—”
“You’ll what?” I interrupted her. “If you lay another hand on me, your son will never see the light of another day. The only thing that will get him back to you is Annie. So why don’t you be a doll and bring her out here already?” I glanced at Roar again. “Clock is ticking. You all saw how I left him.”