"Who?" R.J. asked.

Sean rolled his eyes. "The dudes we took her from, idiot!"

R.J.'s eyes widened. So Luther wasn't dead after all.

"What did they say to you?" he asked.

"They offered us weed. And a lot of it, too."

"What did Taco say?"

Taco suddenly strolled into the room. "He didn't tell me first..." he said, tsking his tongue. R.J. and Sean both shrunk back at their boss's presence, knowing that they'd fucked up a bit. "But I say that it's not enough."

My heart sunk. Not enough?

"What more do you want from them?" I asked shakily, tears still in my eyes. I straightened out my shirt and sat up. "What did they say to you?"

Sean turned to Taco. "One of them threatened you." Taco raised an eyebrow and cocked his head. "What did he say?"

"He wanted me to tell you that your old friend Gomez was in town and if he didn't get Ava back by sunrise, he was going to bring hell down on us."

Tacos brows furrowed as his eyes widened. "Gomez?" he breathed. "What did he say his first name was?"

Sean shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think he said it."

Taco grabbed his shirt and slammed him up against a wall. Sean gave him an incredulous look of "what the fuck?".

"What was his first name?" Taco demanded. Sean said nothing. Taco released him and turned to me. "Ava Wave! Gomez! What is his full name?" He quickly walked up to me. I shrunk back.

"I-I-I-don't know..." I stuttered.

"What do you mean?" he asked, sarcastically defeated. "You know him!"

I defensively put a hand up. "I know, but he hasn't told me. I only know him by Gomez. Luther has known him a lot longer than I have and even he doesn't know his real name."

Taco furrowed his brows. "Luther?"

"Oh yeah," Sean said. "That must be the creepy, pale dude R.J. shot. Gomez mentioned that he was a 'violent serial killer'."

Taco rolled his eyes and backed away from me. "Ohhhh man. Gomez always was one to manipulate."

I glared daggers at him. "He isn't lying, you know." Taco chuckled.

"About what, Chica?"

"About Luther. He has killed several people. He even tried to kill me once. But what he has done to me is far worse than murder. That's actually why you found me with them in the first place..." I trailed off. The three of them looked at me expectantly. "They had kidnapped me."

"We already know that!" R.J. exclaimed.

"Be quiet," Taco rasped. R.J. immediately shut his face. "I have no doubt that Gomez has gotten himself mixed up into someone like that. A serial killer..." his voice trailed off as he laughed maniacally. "Only he would."

Taco began to exit the room.

"Wait, what do you want me to tell them?" Sean asked him.

He turned his head to the side. "Tell them that someone dumped Ava a few hours ago and have yet to return."

"No!" I screamed. "Let me go!"

Taco tightened his fist, but tamed his temper. "You and R.J. are going to go follow them. Ava will go with you. Once they figure out that you're trailing them, they'll stop. Get out of the car and shoot her right in front of them. I want Gomez to feel the pain that he has caused me."

My eyes widened. "Sh-shoot me...?"

R.J. smirked. "Good, I've been wanting to do that all day."

My heart pounded faster. "I'll go tell them," Sean said. He and Taco left the room, leaving me and R.J. alone.

He gave me an evil sneer as he advanced on top of me once more. "Just once before we go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tears blurring my vision, R.J. shoved me into the back of their car. My wrists were tied and my mouth was gagged with a dirty cloth. He got into the driver's seat next to Sean, riding next to him in shotgun. They were parked in an alleyway. A car drove past.

"That's them," Sean said. "Follow that car."

R.J. rolled his eyes as he pulled out of the alleyway. "That's hardly a car."

We followed them at a safe distance for about 10 minutes. Gomez started to speed up. We did the same. This pattern continued until we were in a full on car chase. Gomez turned into an empty, abandoned lot. We followed right after him and skidded to a halt.

Gomez got out of the car, followed closely by Luther, who was wearing an arm sling. R.J. and Sean got out at the same time. R.J. walked over and yanked me out of the car. He dragged me over to where Sean was standing. Sean grabbed me and held the gun to my head. My eyebrows curled up.

"I knew Taco was trying to pull shit over me," Gomez rasped. "I didn't expect that you'd bring Ava with you."

Sean gave an insane smile. "Surprise."

"Let her go, muchacho," Gomez reasoned.

Sean looked to R.J., who gave him a curt nod. He looked back to Gomez. "Well, that's not Taco's orders."

He cocked the gun and I let out a small yelp. From out of no where, Gomez pulled a gun out from his jacket pocket and shot Sean in the foot.

Shouting profanity and shoving me to the ground, Sean fell over and clutched his wounded foot. Gomez lifted the gun up towards the sky. "I told you I worked for Taco. I know all of his tricks."

R.J. growled. He got up and immediately shielded himself by me. He took out a knife and held it to my throat.

"No!" Luther shouted. A look of sincere concern crossed his face. He actually looked kind of...cute...looking at me with something other than emptiness in his bottomless, green pools.

R.J. laughed. "Oh, yes. We did have quite a fun time earlier, didn't we, Ava baby?" he breathed into my neck, but loud enough for the two of them to hear. Luther furrowed his brows and pursed his lips.

"Just give her back," Gomez reasoned.

"Or what?" R.J. rasped. "You can't shoot me!"

Gomez's expression suddenly changed as if something or someone was lurking behind us. R.J. gave him a look of confusion as he looked behind his shoulder.

Swift as a fox, Luther glided over and pulled me out of R.J.'s arms. But that was not without injury. The knife nicked my neck. I let out a shriek. R.J. finally understood what was happening and lunged for Luther. Luther expertly dodged him and ripped the knife from his hands. In doing so, he pushed R.J.'s back down, forcing him to do an uncomfortable mid-air back flip. I winced.

Lying face up on the ground, R.J. let out a groan. Luther walked up to him and sat on his torso. He rested his head in his hand and toyed with the knife with the other. Suddenly stopping, he plunged the knife into R.J.'s stomach.

I let out a scream. Gomez had untied and un gagged me. I ran over to Luther as he was about to stab him again, and pushed him off of R.J.

"No! That's enough!"

R.J. cried out in agonizing pain as he clutched his stomach. Luther turned his cold gaze onto me. "It's no less than he deserves. You worm," he spat at him. His face softened. "But you're alright."

He dropped the knife at his feet and pulled me into his arms. His grip on me was tight, yet reassuring. He nuzzled his face into the back of my head and tenderly rubbed my back.

"I promise you, Ava. I'm never going to hurt you again."

I furrowed my brows. "What?" I asked. "But you love to torture me."

"Not anymore."

I shrugged. "Um...okay then..."

He released me, looked at me and stroked my face with a blood covered hand before walking back off towards the car. Gomez walked up to me.

"We're going back."

I nodded. "Good. There are some people there that need to be freed."

He returned my nod. "Not only that, but I have unfinished business with Taco..."

The two of us got into his car and began driving back to where I had just come, leaving the two injured boys.

Back into the lion's den.