Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
She hisses. Her toes curl into the sheets. I thrust into her wet, sensitive heat, pressing her thighs open, pounding her hard, showing her exactly how much I pay attention. How much I know what she wants. How desperate I am to give her everything.
I fuck her long, hard, and when we’re done, I flip her over and start again. I scrape my teeth over her breastbone. I suck the vein at her wrist and the one at her neck until purple bruises appear. I spank her ass until it’s red and her pussy is weeping and she’s begging me to take her again, would I fucking listen and take her again. We fuck for hours, until the skin is raw, until the afternoon sun slips under the horizon, until the outside world and all its horrors are shut away.
We fuck until the truth of our lives crystallizes and etches itself on our souls. She loves me. I love her. That is the only thing that matters in this world.
And maybe that’s why I don’t sense the danger at first.
Why I didn’t hear the footsteps in the hall.
Why I didn’t see the masked figures until they were bursting through the door.
Why my gun was halfway across the room when I needed it the most.
39
Leka
“You left without saying goodbye. That’s real rude,” Cesaro says. “And not very loyal. How am I supposed to keep all my other boys in line if you, Priest, are going to flaunt my orders at every turn?”
“I’ve followed all your orders.”
“Except this one. This tiny little thing I ask of you and you’re just ignoring me, which makes no sense because I’m in charge here. I’m king of this territory, which means every single one of you pissant subjects belongs to me. If I say I want to fuck a girl, it doesn’t matter who she belongs to because ultimately, she’s mine just like I own you, isn’t that right, Priest?”
The lie is thick on my tongue, but I force it out. For Bitsy’s sake. “That’s right.”
Cesaro taps his slim fingers against the table. “You’re saying all the correct words, but I don’t get a sense you feel it. Do you feel it, boys?” He turns to the men in the room. All but Sterno shake their heads. “See, no one feels it. If I let this go, everyone will believe that Cesaro lost his edge. I like you, Priest. You’ve done a good job, but you need to prove yourself to me now. It’s real easy. You call your girl down here and give me an hour with her. I promise I’ll deliver her back to you, safe and sound. Beefer knows. You tell him how much Camella liked how I treated her.”
Beefer, who is in the middle of laying out his special tools, pauses, and we both remember what it was like that night. How Camella lay broken and bleeding on the stainless steel counter upstairs. How Beefer puked his guts out in front of me.
“Beefer,” Cesaro warns.
Beefer picks up a massive pair of pliers and wipes a cloth over the sharp steel ends. For some men, just seeing the torture devices would be enough to loosen their tongues. Down here, we’ve had men vow to slit their own mother’s throats just on the threat of pain. My stomach roils.
“Sorry, boss,” Beefer says, “I was thinking about what tool would be best for the job tonight. Camella liked you real good.”
Cesaro claps as if his favorite dog just did a trick for all of us. “There you go. Camella got nothing but pleasure from me, and that’s what I’ll deliver to your girl, too. In fact, you should thank me because there’s not many men in my position who would choose her over all the other ponies in the stable.”
Whatever Beefer opts to do tonight is going to hurt like a motherfucker, but I have to keep it together because Bit’s upstairs and the only way both of us are walking away from this is to endure. This pain is fleeting; the kind that Cesaro would inflict on Bit’s mind would last forever.
“I’ve always been loyal,” I tell Cesaro. “I’ve been part of this crew for more than fifteen years. Everything that’s been asked of me, I’ve done. Isn’t that right, Beefer?” Up until yesterday, I’d have said Beefer would back me on anything. The world’s turned upside down now and I don’t know who I can trust.
The man who I’ve worked for and with for my entire life contemplates me for a long, silent moment—likely weighing the odds of me surviving against whatever gifts Cesaro has promised. I tell him, as best I can with only eye contact, that I’ll repay any punishment that he can deliver.
“Leka’s been my right-hand man for a long time,” Beefer finally says. “He keeps the crew in line. He’s good with logistics, and the other gangs around here are scared shitless of him. It took four guys to bring him in and only because one of them got a shot off in the girl’s direction. He’s a valuable tool.”