A Dangerous Gift

Chapter 43

I was drenched from head to toe.

Gasping awake, my initial reaction was to leap away from the water that was being thrown on me, but found myself unable to get away. Taking a deep breath I made sure to check my limbs as the fog cleared from my mind. Hands chained behind my back was slightly uncomfortable, but nothing broken or fractured

"Good, you're awake," a man chuckled darkly, as he stood a few feet away with a bucket in his hand.

Looking around at my surroundings all I could think was Not again,as I fought the urge to roll my eyes at being in another cement room. I'm starting to think there was no originality with these people and quite frankly I was tired of waking up in cold dark places.

Seeing a pair of nude Louboutins with bows in my peripheral broke me from my thoughts. Dahlia was laying on the table in the middle of the room, strapped down with two of the assholes standing over her. One was holding a towel over her face while the other poured a larger amount of water over it.

"What the hell are you doing?" I jerked in the chair "Stop it"

The bucket boy turned his ugly face and smirked at me, pouring the water slower. I thrashed against the chains trying to get to my best friend, but I should have known that Dahlia didn't need saving. As soon as the bucket was empty, the other goon removed the to form her face only for Dahlia to spit the water right in his face as she coughed up the water. Taking in a gasp of air she began to laugh maniacally.

"Is that all you've got? You've really got to work on your foreplay baby, honestly, with the way you all have been chasing us I expected more, but what can you expect from second rate thugs." She laughs again. "Oh Jay, you're awake." She was completely at ease as if she weren't in danger. "Are you gonna watch the show, because I can tell you that it's going to get a little graphic?" She said darkly, staring at the guy before she laughed again.

Throwing down his bucket, he was about to attack, when the towel boy stopped him. Gripping him by the shoulder, he pushed him out of the room, as Dahlia continued to laugh and taunt them.

Her laughter fell into a slight hum as she closed her eyes and relaxed against the table. I took a good look at her, assessing the damage. Left eye black and swollen, lip busted, and a couple of scratches on her jaw. There was a rather large gash on her leg and her wrist were bleeding from the incessant rubbing of her bindings.

"Aww, why do you look so glum, babe?" Her voice was filled with sympathy. It was like none of this was affecting her at all.

"I should be asking you that." I say forlornly, throwing my head back. The last 24-hours had been a nightmare I was ready to wake up from. Kimmie was missing, Ricky was dead, and Alice had betrayed us. Worst of all, the love of my life was dead. "Dahl, how long have you been here? And have you seen River?"

"I don't know how long I've been here, they usually try to put you in a room like this so you don't know how much time is passing, something about it messing with your psyche, too bad it doesn't already work on the mentally unstable," she sighs "I remember going somewhere with Kieran and then nothing. I swear if he's not dead, he's going to pray to whatever god he worships, that he was.''

"He is alive and well." I gave a dry chuckle. "I guess your little lover boy is Frank's top lacky. And your mother..." my voice broke as I tried to hold back the tears. "He killed Ryder," I croaked, my throat felt tight.

Dahlia didn't say anything. After a few moments of silence her quiet words broke through the stale silence."River is with Frank," Dahlia said quietly. "I saw him carry her out of here when they brought you in."

Our conversation was cut short with the door being thrown open, the bucket boy was back with a cart covered by a sheet. "Oh look my dates back, and he brought some friends. If you couldn't get the job done by yourself baby all you had to do was say so." she taunted yet again as Frank and Don Leo walked in behind him. Frank had River in his arms and she was dressed in what looked a lot like old boy clothes.