All the commotion brings over the one standing by his friend.
He kneels in front of me and pulls a blade out to trace the tip over the swells of my barely covered breasts.
I shake him away but he only seems to think of it as encouragement because he traces the tip around a covered nipple. When my nipple puckers with fear he gives a demonic laugh that has my heart clenching.
“Good to see your pretty eyes, cupcake. I was hoping you would be awake for my favorite part.”
Fuck men and their pet names. The lawyer in me is clawing to ask what his favorite part is. My brain screams don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask.
Do I listen?
“Yeah, what’s that you freak?” Most days I wish I listened to my head more instead of my heart. It always wants to know the stupidest things.
Perfectly shaped lips peel back into an amazing grin revealing straight white teeth and killer sex appeal. You know, it’s never like the movies where the monsters have sharp, jagged rotting teeth and blood-coated claws. I’ve come to learn in most instances the monsters hide their vileness behind a beautiful veneer.
The boat slows and Psycho One taps the end of my nose like I’m being a good girl by staying tied up for him.
“Seeing how fast you drop.”
I fight against my bindings again but you can imagine how far that gets me. For once I would love to have the upper hand in life.
I can hear the blood passing through the veins in my head. Suddenly I’m hot all over and it’s more than just the sun beating down on me. My heart finally decides it’s time to freak out and starts pounding wildly against my chest.
Air. I need air. It won’t enter my lungs as the boat comes to a complete stop and when I need it the most.
My arms and legs start to tingle. I know what comes next.
“Stop this!” My words fall on deaf ears as they move around the boat before securing my rope. “Stop, please. Name what you want and I’ll do it.” Maybe. But I would leave those maybes for after they untie me.
“Come on, you gotta want something,” I try again but it’s like they are dead inside.
Psycho Two grabs me by the shoulders and I’m propped up on the side of the boat like a doll.
“Please, you don’t need to do this. I can get anything you want. What do you want? You haven’t even told me.”
I wiggle, squirm and fight some more because it’s all I can do, and damn it, I’m not just going to sit here and let this happen to me.
I licked my wind-dried lips. God, this is not happening!
“It’s too late. The boss has grown tired of the money your father owes. He says collect and close the account. So that is what we are doing.”
Close the account as in kill off the only surviving March? What the fuck?
My eyes go big and I scream, “Money? This is for fucking money?” My voice cracks with panic. “My father is dead, or did your boss miss the memo? Dead men don’t pay, but I can. Untie me and take me back to land. I’ll get what is owed to your boss.”
Miles of water on all sides erases all hope of someone seeing me about to take the big plunge.
I hear the thunk of something big hit the water.
“We have company. Push her in and let’s go!” Psycho Two’s voice is the last thing I hear before the burn of salt water fills my nostrils.
I was right. The heat on my skin is gone and in its place is the chilled embrace of cool water dragging me deeper and deeper.
I struggle against the chords but someone did a long stint in the Boy Scouts and I’m not getting anywhere. Fire consumes my lungs and the dots in front of my eyes are not glittering diamonds.
I gulp for air but all I get is a lungful of water.
Above me the crystal-clear waters of the Florida Keys churn and I know the last thing I will see is my killers speeding off as I sink to the bottom of the ocean.