Thorns (Sequel to A Dozen Roses)

Chapter 11 Trade

Chapter 11
Seto POV

I escorted Ghost to the restroom where he went into the far stall. Leaning against the wall I waited like I was suppose too. But the stall next to Ghosts opened and my heart exploded into a thousand pieces.

Brice smiled when he saw me but made no move to come close to me. He knew Ghost was in here, and instead proceeded to the sink to wash his hands. Once he dried them he proceeded back to the door stopping in front of me.

He was quick and quiet pecking a small kiss to my lips and mouthing, 'Stay strong.' Before exiting just as quickly. My lips felt numb where he kissed me, it had been so long.

I held my composure as Ghost exited the stall and washed his hands. It seemed he didn't even notice that someone else had been in here.

We made our way back to the table and took our seats. Jordan was enjoying a piece of chocolate lava cake and Venom had been allowed a small sundae.

"Now let's get onto this deal shall we." Ghost said straightforward. Jordan smiled and wiped chocolate cake from the corner of his mouth. "How much will it cost?"

"Six hundred thousand dollars is the bottom price I could muster out of them." My eyes glanced up slightly. What the hell could Ghost be spending that much money on?!

"And it's 100% full proof? Everything will be perfect? He will be like yours?" Ghost grinned eagerly and Jordan nodded, "Then it's worth the money. Can you take him now?"

Right there it occurred to me what they were talking about and it wasn't good. Jordan was one of the many transits in an underground reprogramming system.

Owners, people like Ghost, would send they're bad soldiers to these places and they would never come back the same. It was a pass or fail trial at each place you went too. Passing meant you lived and returned to your owner, failing meant you died.

I had only known of two people who had been through the reprogramming and lived. One of them couldn't take the mental torture and killed themselves a week later.

The other was named Seth and he had been known as the success of the program. He was a brilliant kid no older than Haydz or Owkward but the perfect soldier.

He was trained from birth to be a fighter and ran through the reprogramming at age 9. If he made it out then so can I.

"Of course. My car should be here to pick us up any moment now." Jordan waved down the waiter and paid the bill before standing up.

"I'll have the money transferred into your account by morning." Venom and I stood as they shook hands. "Seto you're going with this man and you are to treat him as your owner understand me?"

"Yes sir."

"When I see you again you better be the soldier I want. Or you'll go through it all again. Understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good." Ghost turned his back on me and walked with Jordan to the door, myself and Venom following closely behind.

Two plain black cars with tinted windows sat outside. One for Ghost and one for us. The two said goodbye once more and Jordan shoved me towards the second car.

Venom opened the front passenger door for Jordan then gently shoved me into the backseat before climbing in next to me. The doors locked and there was no way out.

"Are we all ready to go?" My eyes flickered up at the voice of the driver.
Oh my god no way. I looked to the mirror to be met with the eyes of Robert Woofless. Deadlox really did have all his bases covered on this.

"Yes take us back to the manor." Jordan ordered leaning back in his seat putting on his sunglasses. Rob shifted the car into drive and we took off down the road.

I started to feel nervous the further away we got, but Venom brushed his fingers across the back of my hand reassuring me we would get out of here. It may seem like he was happy being Jordan's soldier but he wasn't. You're never happy being someone's personal soldier against your will.

The longer we drove the more I started to notice that the red jaguar behind us had been following us the entire time. My leg bounced nervously and I kept trying to get a look at them, to see who was driving.

I was getting anxious about how we were getting out of this. I guess it was obvious because Venom touched my arm and gave me a look to calm down before Jordan noticed. Nodding slightly I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes.

"We're almost to your manor sir." Rob exclaimed taking a turn down a side road, "Major pile up on I96 near Exit 37. My apologies for the delay." Jordan sighed and I heard him shift around in his seat.

The car was quiet for a moment, just the sound of everyone breathing and that annoying clicking each time Jordan typed out a text message. I opened my eyes again looking in the rear view mirror.

Rob met my eyes and winked holding my gaze before turning back to the road. He gripped the steering wheel ready to do something. I just didn't know what.

"Ready?" I heard a frail voice whisper. It was Venom, he looked at me with a small smile, "Hold on tight." My fists clenched around the door handle and edge of the seat while Jordan started to turn around to scold Venom.

But he never got the chance. It was like Rob knew to wait for Jordan to take off his seatbelt to turn around and scold Venom. Because the minute he turned around Rob violently ripped the steering wheel to the right causing all of us to slam into the side.

The force of the turn caused all of us to slam Into the right side of the car. I tried to hold on but my grip faltered and I slammed my head against the window causing it to shatter.

Then everything went black.