Strike ( Book 4: Stronger Series )

53. Déjà Vu

"Jaden. Jaden wake up," a familiar feminine voice called to me. I groaned, wanting to tell it to fuck off, but my mouth felt like it was made of rubber. "Come on, Jaden, wake your bitch ass up!"

Excuse me, bitch?

That had my attention.

My senses slowly started coming back to me, my entire body aching as I came to realize I was lying on a concrete floor. Reality mixed with déjà vu slapped me right in the face.

Hadn't I literally just done this?

"What. The. Fuck," I managed to slur as I lifted my heavy arms to my face, wincing with every move as my face burned from the touch.

"Finally. I've been trying to wake you forever," came Kayla's rattled voice to my right.

Cracking open my eyes, my vision blurred to focus as I looked her over, a feeling of icy dread shooting through my veins as I took in her current state. She was covered in dirt, scrapes and bruises, her hair a complete mess, her dress torn and filthy and her shoes were missing. There were specs of dried blood on her arms and a massive cut around her hairline, and her bottom lip was busted open and swollen.

What the fuck happened???

Forcing myself to sit up, I was grateful there was a wall directly behind me as I rested my stiff spine against it. Looking around, we were in some kind of concrete room with a metal security gate being the only thing locking us in. It was almost as if we were in some kind of storage unit.

"Goddammit."

Assessing myself, I looked down at my bare legs to find them mirroring Kayla's, dirty and covered in scrapes, blood, and a shit ton of bruises. Thankfully, my boots were still on. My arms matched my legs, but I was glad to see my knuckles on both hands were bloody and bruised.

At least I'd given someone some shit in the process.

I turned my gaze to Kayla who was looking at me with concern and terror. "Are you okay?" I asked as I got my mouth to work.

"I'm fine, but I fucking told you I had a bad feeling," she said with a scowl. "Are you okay? You're really bruised up."

"I bruise easily," I replied as I took a deep breath, finding relief that nothing felt tight or sharp as I inhaled. "Comes with the territory," I added, tugging at my red hair.

"Right." She nodded, but as she did, the dim light from the singular bulb above us caught the shine from her collar. She was still wearing it, and a quick assessment told me I was still wearing mine as well – another conclusion of one of two things: really smart kidnappers or really dumb ones.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked her.

"Maybe twenty minutes."

"Have you seen anyone?"

She shook her head. "It's been quiet. But I haven't screamed for anyone yet either. I figured that camera over there would have alerted someone that we were awake."

I looked in the direction she was pointing, noticing the black lens with the little red light on it. I hated playing the waiting game.

"What do you remember?" I asked her.

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled as she leaned back against the wall next to me, her eyes glazing over as she tried to focus.

"I remember the sound of metal crunching," she said, and the moment she said it a flood of memories hit me. "I remember a sharp jerk."

"We were in a car accident," I stated, the flashbacks becoming clearer.

She nodded. "Yeah, I think we rolled completely over."