The cold steel of the barrel pressed against my temple as Jack sneered, "Say 'sir'."
"Sir." I swallowed my pride, mind racing for an escape.
He yanked me by the hair toward the women, running his fingers along their cheeks. "Ladies, you belong to me now. I'll make sure you're... taken care of."
Their shivers pleased him.
When the gun slid into my mouth, Daisy finally spoke up. "D-don't kill him."
Jack's laugh was obscene. "Give me one good reason."
"He saved my life."
"Not my problem."
"But I saved yours."
Jack's grin widened. "A life for a life? Fine." He pointed at her shirt. "Take it off."
Even in the tropical heat, stripping to her bra was a violation. The gun twisted against my teeth as he counted down: "Three... two..."
Daisy ripped her tee off before he finished.
Her toned, sun-kissed skin made Jack howl with laughter. "Now the rest, or I paint the sand with his brains."
As her hands moved behind her back, something in me snapped.
I jerked my head sideways, slamming his wrist away. The gun fired—
Click.
"Jammed!" Emma screamed. "Get it!"
What followed was primal. Four against one, fueled by terror and rage. When the pistol finally came free in my hands, I racked the slide—
Click. Click.
Jack sobbed as I pistol-whipped him bloody. "Hold his arms!" The women pinned him without hesitation.
Only when my own heart threatened to explode did I stop.
Later, as Jack fled into the jungle, Emma examined the malfunctioning Glock with surprising expertise.
"You know guns?" I panted.
She ejected the magazine with practiced ease. "Texas pageant queen, remember? Daddy took me hunting every Thanksgiving."
Kate, washing blood from her hands in the surf, muttered what we all knew: "Should've killed him."
The unspoken truth hung heavier than the humidity.