In that moment, I enjoyed the freedom of the open road. I didn’t allow myself to worry what my parents would think about me being with some blue-collar stranger or how appalled they would be by my reckless behavior. Inwardly, I chuckled at what Preston’s face would look like when he realized I had ditched him. Would he even acknowledge he had been thoughtless? I wondered if he would buy some lame excuse that I’d had a friend take me home.
When the bike started to slow down, I raised my head from Johnny’s back. My brows furrowed in confusion as we pulled into the parking lot of a run-down motel. I had given him directions to my house, so I wasn’t sure what we were doing in this part of town. After Johnny eased up to the curb, he killed the engine and put the kickstand down.
I slipped off my helmet. “What are we doing here?”
Johnny glanced at me over his shoulder. “Thought we’d go inside and get to know each other a little better.”
Instantly, my stomach twisted into apprehensive knots. The reality of the repercussions of my decision crashed down on me. While I might have been extremely attracted to Johnny, I certainly wasn’t ready to sleep with him. Deep down, I should have known he would have expected more for taking me for a ride. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” Johnny asked, his brows shooting up in surprise.
“Because I barely know you.”
“Then give me a chance to get to know you.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t understand. You see, I don’t have sex with a guy I just met.”
Giving me his most seductive smile, Johnny countered, “Maybe I can change your mind.”
I swallowed the rising fear in my throat and willed myself not to panic. “Look, I’m sorry if I led you on, but you were just supposed to take me for a motorcycle ride and then take me home.” My eyes scanned the desolate parking lot, and more than anything, I wished that there were people around. “So I would really appreciate it if you would take me home now.”
Johnny’s dark eyes narrowed at me. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, darlin’.”
“W-Why not?” I asked as a chill ran down my spine.
At that moment, the door to the room in front of us swung open. Three hulking men loomed in the doorway. They all wore motorcycle cuts like Johnny’s. “Whatcha score tonight?” one guy with waist-length dark hair called.
I glanced from them back to Johnny. “What’s going on?” I questioned lamely. In the back of my mind, I had already come up with the frightening answer. More than anything, I knew I needed to get away from Johnny. I needed to get my phone and call 911.
“Sorry, darlin’. But you’re going to make me an awful lot of money.”
Without further thought, I scrambled off the motorcycle and started sprinting away from Johnny and his friends as fast as I could. Although I could barely run in my heels, my fear pushed me harder and harder. I’d almost reached the motel office when strong arms grabbed my waist. As I was jerked back against Johnny’s body, his breath burned in my ear. “Don’t you even think about running again, bitch!”
I opened my mouth to scream, but the bite of a needle pierced the skin on my neck, silencing me. The raging fight I’d had within me succumbed to the drugs pumping through my system. As my eyelids drooped, I felt my feet leave the pavement, and I began to float.
My body felt like a buoy bobbing along the ocean waves. One minute I was outside gazing up at the darkened sky and the next I was in a hotel room. As I was lowered down onto something hard, my eyelids fluttered, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wake myself up.
Conversation floated above me. I began to feel like I was in a coma—that level of consciousness where you are aware of your surroundings, but you can do nothing about it.
“I did good tonight, right, boys?” Johnny asked. Just the sound of his voice now caused my skin to crawl. Gone was any attraction I had once felt for him. Instead, I loathed him for the monster he was—a true wolf in sheep’s clothing.
A hand gripped my jaw and roughly turned my head from side to side. “She’s a little older than the usual pick,” a different man said.
Johnny grunted. “Yeah, well, she was at Pacey’s like all the other girls. I don’t take the fucking time to ask if they’re eighteen. I go on looks and personality, and she’s the best looker I’ve picked in months.”
A cruel laugh came from my left side. “I’ll agree with you on that one. Mendoza’s gonna cream his pants when he sees her. Just his type. Probably keep her all for himself.”
“Then I suggest we take some now while we still have the chance,” I heard Johnny say.
In that moment, I floated outside of myself. Self-preservation? It felt as if I were standing on train tracks, staring down a charging locomotive. With one foot stuck in the tracks and the other scrambling to find freedom, I could do nothing but watch my impending demise.
Then rough hands were all over me—stripping me of my clothes, touching me in intimate places that brought stinging tears of humiliation to my eyes. Excruciating pain soon replaced the humiliation as I was physically torn and battered. There seemed to be no end—I was trapped in a strange alternate universe of degradation and assault.
And there, in a seedy hotel room while I was gang-raped repeatedly by four strange men, the old Annabel died in a nightmare she never could have fathomed. Her broken spirit slipped away while her ravaged body was forced to go on in a horrific world, alone and hopeless.