She says, “Ma’am, may I—”
I’m shocked the woman has regarded me first, but Kieran quickly cuts her off with, “No.”
“She’s clan?” The woman’s zeal stutters to a stop.
“So, you’ve heard it through the grapevine already, aye? Go cook something. This one has a penchant for gawking atandwasting food.”
“I don’t waste . . .” My retort falls away. Saying I don’t know the value of a meal insults me on a personal level. But I can’t say that. In the past, a symphony of grumbles played from my stomach many times. I’d trade in those moments for this. “Why aren’t I in cuffs?”
A devilish smile, sharper than a butcher knife, flashes on Kieran’s face. “Cuffs while you take your swats? You’re a frisky one, Ava.”
My gander flutters away. I appear indifferent, but the second he comes near me, I strike. Kieran catches my fist. Tiny laugh lines feather around his eyes as he brushes his lips across my knuckles.
“What sort of unluckybawbagdo you take me for? Ava, you’ve secured the title as the first lassie to strike me. I gave you that one.I don’tallow seconds.”
“Oh, yeah?” I wrench my wrist from his grasp. Shoulders back, my knee juts up.
Kieran’s deflection supersedes any of the self-defense training I’ve ever had, even what I learned on the streets. He’s too fast, too powerful, and his physical prowess is miraculous.
Kieran’s slow smile fills me with dread. “Oh, well, that just pisses me off.”
His arms swoop around me, pulling me into a firm, steady hug I would’ve been desperate for while living on the streets. I edge to the right then tentatively contemplate slipping under his other arm. Kieran tightens the hold.
A sudden intake of oxygen slams through my lungs as Kieran’s erection pierces my stomach. This isn’t real. Nobody kidnaps women andjusttakes them to beautiful North-Atlantic islands.
This. Is. Not. Real.
6
Ava
The parking structure where I laid my head every night was a heaping block of cement. The place I called my own was a hidden alcove. I had a sleeping bag, which was everything I needed.
As a kid, the soccer team was an effective way to stay quick. Also, I made use of the locker room showers in the evening and every morning. But on this particular evening, there’d been a pizza party. No way in hell was I gonna miss it, so that presented the issue: Fighting the last remnants of sunlight to the structure.
Hesitation rocketed through my nerves. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my soccer uniform and started into the alley. Fucking rats. I was so hypersensitized that I could hear the cockroaches scurry in a restaurant dumpster. A cook with a stained white t-shirt stretched across his belly was placing trash into the dumpster. He whistled while clenching a cigarette through his teeth.
“Hey,mami. . .”
My eyes rolled toward him. I’m nobody’smami.“Hello,” I gritted out, trying to discern if he was the rip-your-head-off type if slighted by a lack of response.
The alley stretched another half a football field at the very least. I started to turn around because the whistling had stopped, but I hadn’t heard a door open.
White blinding pain reverberated through my body as he pushed me against the wall. Pebbles from the brick embedded in my cheek. A hand with a line of dirt beneath the nail pressed across the side of my face. It’s crazy how you remember the most minute detail when your world is rocked.
“Nooooo,” I screeched.
“Shut the fuck up.” His hand dug into the back of my shorts. An indescribable feeling of filth filled me as his fingers gripped my ass.
I tossed an elbow, and my face lifted only to be shoved against the wall even harder.
“Learn your lesson, bitch!” I felt my shorts slide down.
His fingers clawed at my ass while cool evening air hit my skin. Just as I thought he would penetrate me, a loudthunkresounded, and he dropped with athud.
Screaming, I yanked my shorts up and turned around.The manbecame my savior that day. But it wasn’t until I’d graduated high school that I began to wonder if the sick game was part of his plans all along.
* * *