Nothing Left to Lose (2 page)

“Please! Why
are you doing this?” I cried, tears falling down my face.

He ran his
tongue up my face, licking my tears away. “Mmm,” he breathed; it
was almost a moan of appreciation. He slipped his hand under my
dress and rubbed his fingers against my panties.

Immediately I
clamped my legs together to try and stop his touch. “No! Please let
me go. Jack!” I screamed, thrashing, trying desperately to get out
of his hold. No one even batted an eyelid at us.

“Fine, let’s go
find your precious Jack,” he sneered, pushing me roughly towards
the stairs. I stumbled up the stairs as fast as my legs would carry
me. My heart was in my throat the whole time. When I got to the
top, my eyes settled on Jack; he was still being held against the
wall by the same blond guy. As soon as he saw me, he started to
struggle against the restraining hands.

“Let him go,
please,” I begged, trying to get to him. I saw Carter nod his head
and instantly the other guy let go. As soon as he was free, Jack
grabbed me and pushed me behind him protectively.

“Whoa, easy
there boy, no harm done,” Carter mused, sneering distastefully.
“Although your girlfriend there is sexy as hell.” He looked me over
slowly, licking his lips.

I cringed into
Jack’s back, my skin crawling because of the way he was looking at
me. Suddenly Jack launched himself at him, his fist connecting with
Carter’s stomach. Carter doubled over with a groan and the two men
he was with grabbed Jack again as he fought and struggled against
their hands. I looked around for help, but no one was coming. Why
was no one helping us? People weren’t paying even the slightest bit
of attention to us as they drank, laughed and danced around us, not
even looking in our direction as the music thumped and vibrated off
the walls. My hands were shaking; my heart was beating way too
fast. I already knew they were going to hurt him. All I could think
was that he’d said we could leave, Carter had said we could go, so
why did Jack have to do that?

“Please,
please!” I screamed as one man held him and the other punched him
over and over in the stomach. I grabbed at the one hitting him,
trying to pull him away but Carter’s arms wrapped around me,
lifting me off my feet and pulling me back a couple of paces.

“Door,” Carter
barked angrily.

The blond guy
nodded, and suddenly they were dragging Jack away. I jerked out of
Carter’s grasp and ran after them, still crying and screaming
hysterically. They dragged him through a fire door. As I reached to
try and help him again, Carter grabbed hold of my arm roughly and
slammed the door behind him so we were outside on some sort of fire
escape. He threw me backwards, making me lose my footing and
stumble into the wall. The side of my head connected with the rough
bricks; the pain and shock of it made my vision cloudy. I could
feel the slight trickle of blood down the side of my face. I
squeezed my eyes closed, fighting against the pain that was making
my legs weak.

I could hear
Jack grunting and groaning, so I forced my eyes open against the
blackness that was trying to engulf me. He was on the floor and
they were taking turns kicking him; his face was covered in blood,
his eyes desperate and scared.

I couldn’t
breathe. This was like something out of a nightmare, a nightmare
that I couldn’t escape from.

I needed to
stop this – now. “What do you want? I’ve got money, I can get you
money! Please?” I screamed. One of the guys pulled out a
metal-looking thing like the police have; he snapped it out and
started beating my already broken boyfriend with it. I heard the
bones crack in his arm. “PLEASE STOP! I’ll do anything. PLEASE?” I
screamed, gasping for breath. I crawled over to Jack and wrapped my
arms around his broken body.

“Run,” he
croaked, his voice barely above a whisper. He squeezed his eyes
shut, his jaw clenching tightly as he groaned.

“Jack, please.
You’re okay, it’s okay. I love you. Please,” I begged, sobbing
against his bleeding face.

He winced and
put his arm around me, digging his fingers into my back. “Run,
Anna. Get away, please!”

Carter’s hands
clamped around my upper arms, pulling me to my feet and away from
Jack. The other two guys both bent and gripped Jack’s arms, pulling
him up too. He screamed as they touched him. The sound of his pain
made my legs feel weak. Carter wrapped his arms around me from
behind and kissed my neck while Jack watched with a horrified
expression on his face as he gasped for breath. Carter’s hand
snaked up my side coming to rest on my breast, squeezing roughly.
Before I knew it was going to happen, I bent over and was violently
sick.

He laughed
wickedly and pulled me back to him roughly, his chest pressing
against my back. “I’m going to enjoy fucking your girlfriend and
hearing her scream for you,” he said to Jack. Jack’s head snapped
up, his eyes filled with hate and rage as he started struggling
again even though he was probably in indescribable amounts of pain.
The three guys laughed at him as he continued his futile struggle,
shouting a string of expletives. “You have anything you want to say
to your boyfriend?” Carter whispered in my ear.

Anything I want
to say…
Please let this be over, please just leave us so I can
get some help.
“I love you,” I croaked through my sobs.

“I love you
too,” Jack whispered.

Carter nodded
at his guys, and they lifted Jack off of his feet as if he weighed
nothing at all. I tried to jerk forward but Carter had me pinned in
place against him. I didn’t even get time to think about what was
about to happen next, it all happened so fast that I could barely
even comprehend it. The two guys carried Jack back a couple of feet
and then threw him off the fire escape.

My heart
stopped.
Did they just throw him off the… No. No way.
This
had to be a dream; the worst dream I’d ever had in my life. I
needed to wake up, I couldn’t take this. My ears registered his
scream as it sounded for a couple of seconds during his fall. I
heard a muffled thump and then all that was left was the echo of
the music coming from the club behind me.

I couldn’t
breathe. My heart was breaking into a million pieces as I replayed
the last couple of seconds in my head. In my mind’s eye, I saw
Jack’s face as the two guys’ hands left his body and he started
falling. I’d never seen anyone look more terrified or helpless.

I threw off
Carter’s hold and ran towards the railing, praying that he was
somehow okay, praying that this was some kind of joke or dream and
that I wasn’t going to see the love of my life when I looked down.
I wasn’t that lucky though. As I leant over the railing and
squinted through my tears, I saw the worst image I had ever seen in
my life. Jack was sprawled out on the floor with a pool of blood
seeping out underneath him. His arms and legs were at impossible
angles; he wasn’t moving.

The pain in my
heart doubled as my whole body seemed to go cold. We were three
flights up; he wouldn’t have survived that after the beating he’d
just sustained. The way he was lying there, motionless, I could
tell there was no hope. He was gone.

I turned away
quickly and was sick again. I was hyperventilating, struggling to
draw breath as the image refused to leave my mind. My legs wouldn’t
support me anymore, so I slumped into the pool of my own vomit.
Silent tears fell down my face as my heart shattered into a million
pieces.

The love of my
life was dead. All our plans that we’d made would never happen.
He'd died because of me. I’d wanted to come to this stupid club,
and now he was dead. I hadn’t even had the chance to make love to
him.

Black spots
started to appear in my vision as I heard the rush of my blood
pounding through my ears. I was going to pass out; I could feel the
nothingness building inside me as my fingers and face started to
tingle.

Jack was dead.
He’d left me. I didn’t want to live – not without him. I couldn’t.
The grief was crushing me.

I grabbed the
railing and used the last of my strength to pull myself up onto my
feet. I didn’t look down; I couldn’t see him like that again. I
kept my eyes straight ahead as I swung my leg over the railing.
Please let this kill me,
I begged silently. Closing my eyes,
I prepared to jump. My ears were ringing. I was numb. I let go of
the railing and smiled because I wouldn’t have to feel this
heartache any longer.

Just as the air
stirred around me and I stepped into the nothingness, I felt
something grab my waist.

“Whoa there,
Princess. Now that’s just a waste.” I heard just before I passed
out.

Sweat was
running down my back as I stood there, straight as a poker, eyes
front, hands down by my sides like I’d been taught. The blistering
midday sun was beating down on me while I was decked out in full
S.W.A.T uniform, including black, army style pants that have over a
dozen pockets, black T-shirt, black tactical vest and jacket. They
liked us to look good for these things.

“How long are
they gonna make us stand here? I’m fucking dying!” Nate, my
partner, hissed at me through his teeth.

“Not long now;
Weston’s started to get hungry. See how he’s shifting in his seat?
He’ll wrap this up soon and head straight for the buffet,” I
whispered back jokingly. Nate grinned and glanced over at our
commanding officer. As if on cue, Officer Weston rose to his feet.
“Buffet table here we come,” I mumbled. Nate laughed next to me,
quickly turning it into a cough when Officer Weston raised one
eyebrow in warning.

“Attention,
graduates. Training teams are going to be announced. For those of
you that graduated top two in the class,” Officer Weston said,
glancing at me and Nate proudly, “you will remain behind because
you’ve already been assigned to departments.”

I smiled at
those words. Nate and I had graduated top two of our year, with me
in first place and it was an honour to be assigned to a department
straight from graduation. It didn’t happen particularly often, and
you were only offered it if your reputation was known of in high
places. The two of us were a wicked partnership, and apparently I
had been headhunted for a special mission of ‘utmost importance’,
or so Weston had informed me this morning.

My insides
squirmed in anticipation. I was hoping for SWAT Front Line; they
were the guys who were always first on site, who always saw action,
but I knew it wouldn’t be that. No one had ever gone into that team
without at least ten years’ field experience. They were the best of
the best, and usually they only had an opening if someone died or
requested a transfer. I knew that neither had happened recently,
but I still couldn’t help but hope.

Officer Weston
finally finished his speech, and the guys all trailed off towards
the hall, where they had laid on a buffet of stale sandwiches and
potato chips. No expense spared. No one minded though because my
entire graduating year was hitting a bar tonight in celebration,
and I was planning on getting wasted.

Nate and I
waited behind as requested. “Taylor, Peters, follow me,” Officer
Weston ordered, walking into his shabby office. He sat down behind
his desk and motioned for us to sit. I couldn’t keep the smile off
my face. “Right, Peters, your presence has been requested at
Division Six,” he said proudly. I grinned happily and slapped Nate
a high-five.

“Oh shit yeah!
That’s what I’m talking about!” Nate shouted, jumping out of his
chair and pumping the air with his fist.

“Sit down,
Nate,” Weston laughed, shaking his head in amusement.

Division Six
was a fantastic opportunity; he would get direct field experience,
and they also had specialised areas which they could train you in.
Nate wanted to be a sharp shooter and was incredible with
long-range shooting.

“Okay, so they
want you from Monday. You’ll report to Officer Tate at 9 a.m.
sharp. Don’t be late. Here’s your file, make sure you read it,”
Weston stated, handing Nate a brown envelope.

“Yes, sir, and
thank you, sir,” Nate answered, saluting respectfully, yet grinning
moronically.

“Okay, Nate,
you go enjoy the food. I need to speak to Ashton in private,”
Weston instructed, nodding for him to leave. I slapped Nate another
high-five on his way past, silently praying that I got something as
good as his. Officer Weston waited until the door closed before he
spoke. “Ashton, you’ve been requested for something important.
You’re not going to like this,” he winced, shaking his head.

My heart sank
at the look on his face. This obviously wasn’t something good.
“Okay, sir, I’m listening,” I said confidently. I was up for any
challenge they could throw at me. I worked hard and it paid off. I
had graduated first in every assessment, apart from long-range
shooting, in which I came a close second to Nate. I held five
different department records, including hand-to-hand combat,
tactical planning, and hostage management. No one had ever
graduated with the honours I had.

He sighed and
held a brown envelope towards me. Frowning, I took it and tore it
open eagerly, finding a police file inside for an Annabelle
Spencer. I flicked it open curiously, not having a clue what this
was about. On the first page, there was a photo of her. She was
incredibly beautiful. According to this, she was nineteen and a
college student.

I glanced up at
Weston. “Who’s this?” I asked, confused as to why he had given me
this girl’s file.

“That is the
daughter of an extremely important man. She’s Annabelle Spencer,
daughter of Senator Tom Spencer,” he said respectfully.

My interest was
instantly piqued. Tom Spencer was a Presidential candidate who was
expected to take over the oval office come the election later this
year; he was highly respected and, from what I’d heard, was
supposed to be a great man.