Equal Parts Read Online Free PDF Page B

a stray, sir. She’s involved with Finn Cole. You know, romantically. Sir,” the other voice added quickly.
    Crap, crap, crap, this wasn’t good. Whoever I was dealing with was obviously someone of power, if he had thugs working for him. And judging by the hatred of Finn Cole, I’d have to guess they were superhuman – one of the criminal bosses, maybe? Another villain? Or, God forbid, Achilles himself?
    I almost laughed at the idea of that. How ironic – him catching me, not for me saving his life, but for being publicly seen with Finn Cole.
    “Just throw her in a cell, I’ll deal with her later,” came the order.
    “Yes, sir,” replied the thug, grabbing me roughly by the collar and dragging my forced-limp body out of the room. I felt the warmth of blood trickle into my torn stockings at the knees, the skin scraping with every inch he tugged me.
    Finally, blissfully, he tossed me on the ground once more, and I heard a lock resound behind me.
    “Nice legs,” commented someone from a distance.
    “Too bad about the rest of her,” snickered another voice. “There won’t be much left once the boss has a turn.”
    A turn? A turn at what ? Once more, the panic threatened to overload my senses and have me screaming out for help. But I forced myself to remain calm, no matter what the cost.
    It wasn’t until footsteps faded into the background, and yet another door was closed, somewhere far away, that I stretched out my legs to test the environment surrounding me. I had to stretch my entire body out before my feet met a wall, meaning the cell was about six-foot in width. I did the same for its length, only to find I had to scoot forwards about three or four feet to touch the end. Well, at least I knew dimensions.
    A source of light was at the very top of the wall behind me, which I had to assume was either a window or a light bulb . Something hard and metal sat in the corner of the room – a toilet? – and the floor was cold concrete. It wasn’t long before that very cold seeped through my clothes, through my skin, into my bones. Shivering, I curled up in what I hoped was a corner of the cell, and tried to will warmth back into myself.
    They couldn’t torture me – I literally had nothing to tell them about Finn Cole. They could kill me, I supposed, but it wouldn’t do much good. I wasn’t worth anything to society. In theory, they really had no use for me. My relationship with Finn was nonexistent. The sooner they realized I was a nobody, the better.
    What felt like hours later, after I’d simply accepted the frigid cold running through me, the door scraped open. Instinctively, I leaned further into the corner, as though the wall would swallow me whole and hide me.
    “She doesn’t look like much,” commented the voice at the door. The same eerie voice as before.
    “That’s what I thought, boss, but Tony says he saw her with Cole the other night. Then I heard her talk about him in the café, so I guess she must be hiding something, right?”
    “Leave,” said the first guy, in a voice so cool, it made the cement beneath me seem warm.
    “But I thought I could maybe have a go at her, you know, after you’re –”
    The sound of a struggle, and something was scraped against the wall. A horrible gagging noise filled the tiny room. “No, I don’t think there will be a go , Joshua. And the sooner you learn the rules, the less likely it becomes that I’ll try and mine your insides with my screwdriver. So when I say ‘leave’, you…?”
    “I leave,” choked the thug. “I leave! I leave!”
    “Gold star,” chirped the other, and the door blew open and slammed shut.
    Seconds ticked by in complete silence. I was balled up so tightly, every muscle screamed at me in pain. But it was a good thing – the pain was the only thing keeping me from freaking out entirely.
    “Now, let’s see what’s fallen into my…” The black bag was lifted, and light flooded my vision. “…lap.”
    The voice sounded