Concealed Force

Chapter 3

It was lucky she didn't have a fear of confined spaces. Or the dark. Or scary car-stealing ex-convicts. Ha ha ha. Laura was fairly sure she was hysterical, but who wouldn't be in this situation? And she'd thought she'd been on edge around her passive-aggressive father. What a joke. She laughed again, a mad giggle that she couldn't quite suppress.

She wondered what her dad was doing now. Had he even left the restaurant yet? Had he found out the car was gone? He'd likely blame her before he worked out what had happened. If he worked it out. She tried to imagine him talking to the police, his arrogance annoying them, his sarcastic responses slowing everything down. Maybe they wouldn't even send out a report, just to spite him. He had that effect on people sometimes.

After the little speech about fate bringing you pussy, the criminals had set fire to her dad's hire car, and dragged her to the edge of a mall car park (parking lot, they'd called it).

The big guy had held her, one hand on her throat, his words full of menace, reminding her they had a gun, drawing her attention to the fact that there was no one nearby so she'd better be good, while the skinny one had hot-wired a new car. They'd thrown her in the boot (trunk, Laura thought, this is America) and after an initial panic she'd been reassured (reassured!) by the starting of the engine. At least they weren't burning her alive. Yet.

Who knew where they were heading now, but as long as she could keep calm she might be able to get free before they arrived. She just had to kick the trunk open and jump out, or...as getting the lid open was turning out to be harder than she expected, alert someone to her situation.

She was on her fourth scream when the car stopped and Big Guy was suddenly there, lit by the moon.

"Do you want to fucking die?"

She shook her head.

"Then shut the fuck up."

"Come on, bro, get rid of her," Skinny called. "She's a fucking liability. If I'd known we were going to let someone tag along I wouldn't have bothered switching cars three times. I promise you, you'll get better pussy when you get there."

"I like this one," he called back, then he leaned down, his face in hers. "And you need me to carry on liking it, so keep your mouth shut, stop screaming and stop kicking the car. Just lie still. Can you do that?"

His breath smelled of mint gum and earthy, cinnamon scent, and this close, forced to stare him in the face, she realized he was handsome. Chiseled jaw and strong mouth. The kind of man she would have daydreamed about in another life. Not now though. Now, his male beauty made him even more frightening. It made him seem invulnerable, almost supernatural.

"I promise," she said, nearly apologizing and then stopping herself. If she was going to die she was at least going to do it without the word sorry ever crossing her lips again.

He slammed the trunk and the noise of it made her scream in reaction.

It popped up again. "You fucking serious?"

"Sor... You made me jump."

"Am I gonna have to get in there with you?"

His eyes trailed over her body and she felt them, burning her through her t-shirt and leggings. She curled up tighter. Five years since I had pussy. Then he looked at the passenger seat. "Amigocho. You drive. I'm gonna make sure this bitch understands what's happening here."

There was a dirty wheezing laugh from Skinny and then Big Guy was climbing in, his heavy boots kicking Laura's legs to move up, his hand resting next to her head as he reached up to press the automatic close button on the lid. Laura had to force herself to keep breathing as he quickly settled in behind her and the dark closed in.