I tried my hardest to not let my mind drift towards my Kings as I lay in the dark, and I tried not to think of Kingston in particular.
But it was impossible once I was lying on a bed and wasn’t fighting the discomfort of the bare floor, the image of him being shot and dragged down under those guards replayed over and over in my mind. The constant, nagging feeling that I lost him to me just wouldn’t go away.
How could I carry on in the world without Kingston fucking Taylor in it?
How could I keep living if he died trying to save me?
Ryker’s face popped into my head, followed by Valen and Archer, and I realized then that I couldn’t give up.
Even if Kingston died, he’d died for me. I owed it to him to keep fighting until I took my last breath or won my freedom.
I owed it to Ryker and the Kings to make it home to them. So I took one long breath, centered myself inside my head, and began to imagine myself walking out of here, Penny’s hand in mine.
If I couldn’t do it in real life, I would manifest the fuck out of it until it happened.
And then I would do whatever it took to avenge Kingston and make them pay. All of them, for everything they’d done.
Until they all fucking left me alone or until the Organization let me go forever.
CHAPTER2
It turnedout I desperately needed sleep. When I woke, there was sunlight streaming through the window at the top of the wall and lighting up the entire room, and I felt as if I had a chance to survive all of this. As if I was going to make it.
I rolled off the bed and stood up, stretched, and my bladder groaned at being interrupted from slumber. I looked around for cameras, hoping there wasn’t anybody watching me, but my body was at the point where I didn’t have a choice.
There was no door on the bathroom, and the wall wasn’t even to the ceiling, so I sat down, hunched over and tried to hide myself. I finished up, washed my hands and paced to the door to listen for Penny. I heard a door open at the end of the corridor and a waft of cooking food scent rolled along the air towards me.
My stomach lurched when I smelled it, and it clenched like a fist as I caught another whiff of food and coffee. I thought about it and tried to remember the last time I ate. It would have been at Penny’s house for dinner, but I didn’t have any idea when that was. I didn’t know what day it was or how long I’d been here.
What I would give for a slice of cinnamon bread right now, toasted with melted butter and maybe some hot chocolate.
My stomach clenched again and the pang of hunger turned to a shard of glass stabbing me in the center of my body.
The door opened further, and I heard voices.
“Hey!” I yelled. “I’m over here! Where the fuck am I?”
They didn’t respond, but I heard their footsteps on the concrete floor as they approached.
Finally they appeared, one in front carrying a ring of keys and a gun, the other behind pushing a metal cart holding food and water. They were wearing black sweatpants and matching black hoodies, and their faces were covered with white, smooth Halloween masks. I couldn’t tell if they were male or female, but they had similar body shapes and weren’t too huge or muscled.
“Hey, who are you? Where am I?” I asked, and my words all came tumbling out. I was just so excited to see anybody else. “How long have I been here? Do you know what’s happening?”
Neither one of them responded, neither one of them spoke at all. Not even to each other.
The first one opened the lock and pointed the gun at my face. I jumped back and put my hands up. They motioned for me to step off to the side, and I obeyed. I wasn’t going to start fighting back until I had a better understanding of who I was fighting.
The first one kept their gun trained on me, while the second one brought a tray of food, a mug of coffee, and a large plastic bottle of water into my cell. They left it on the floor and backed out slowly. The one with the gun stepped through and locked the door again with expert ease.
They’d obviously done this routine before, they were well practiced.
“Everly, are you there?”
I heard Penny from down the hall, so I gave her the head’s up that food was coming. I watched them stop at a door across the hall from me and three down, open it and step inside. Penny’s room. At least I knew where my friend was, as if that meant anything.
I waited until the two figures finished with her food, locked up, and walked back past me to the exit before I moved away from my door.
“Bon appetite!” I called down to Penny and heard her laughter.