I click my tongue impatiently. August is full of questions. He needs to learn to listen more.
“I told you! I keep my pets here,” I say. I drop his hand and skip ahead. My face lights up as I come to another door. “In here!”
I turn the handle to the dungeon. Here is where Daddy dumps people who don’t behave. People who deserve to be punished. Daddy and I have a deal. I go to his parties, and he brings me live bodies. People who can help me live outmyfantasies.
August pales as he looks at my pet. “What the…”
CHAPTER11
August
A sackof shit cowers before me. He’s an older man. Older than our father, in his sixties maybe. Chains attached to the wall are shackled to his ankles and wrists to secure him. He yelps when he sees us, and his bloodshot eyes widen in fear.
“What’s wrong?” Clemmie taunts, cocking her head to the side. All of her timidness vanishes. “Are you not happy to see me, little pet?”
His cheeks are sallow, and his ghostly, gray skin looks like it hasn’t seen the sun in weeks.
“Please!” he gasps. Tears fall down his filthy cheeks, leaving grimy lines behind. I wrinkle my nose as I discover the source of the foul smell. A hole in the floor in the corner of the room looks to feed directly into the sewage line. The chains tying him are long enough for him to make it that far, but no further. He ignores Clemmie and looks at me. He starts pleading, “You have to help me! I have kids and a wife! They’ll want to see me again.”
Clemmie giggles like a guy begging for his life is as funny as a comedy show.
“Blah, blah, blah!” She mocks him and rolls her eyes. “You’re lucky to still be here at all. Not like the others.”
The man trembles in fear at the tiny girl threatening him. I don’t recognize him from Dad’s parties or from around town. After everything she’s been through, I know Clemmie has issues, but there is an unhinged look on her face that I’ve never seen before. For so long, I thought our father was the one who fucked her up, but now I’m not so sure.
I don’t know what to say or ask as I spot scraps of stale bread. “Who is he?”
How long has he been here? And, more importantly, what has she been doing to him?
“I told you, August,” she drawls, “he’s my pet. Daddy got him for me. If he’s not careful, he’ll end up like my last one.” Her tone is venomous as she shoots a look of disdain in his direction, and the man omits a pathetic howl from his chapped lips. “Bad pets get put down.”
I grab her arm and steer her out of the room, slamming the door behind us. I wish I could forget the scene that lay beyond it.
Who is she? I’ve always wanted to protect her from harm. I killed someone for her, but it doesn’t seem like she needs my protection.
Clemmie pouts like we’re back in the pool house, and even though we’re in this rat-infested dungeon, my cock betrays me. Her lips are so fucking kissable.
“What is it?” Clemmie asks. She trails her finger up my forearm across my tense muscles, then eyes the bulge in my pants and smiles. “You said you loved me, August. I wanted to show you all of me. You wanted to understand why I don’t want to leave here, so I’m showing you.”
I gulp. I’m unsure whether I want to hear the answer, but I have to ask, “What are you going to do with him?”
“The same as everyone else does with their pets,” she says like it’s obvious. “I’ll play with him until I get bored.”
My fists clench in anger and disbelief. “You’ll fuck that?!”
Dad gets her to fuck random strangers, but they don’t look like they’ve been sleeping in their shit for weeks.
“Is that what you think of me, August?” Her face falls. “Do you really think I’m Daddy’s little whore who will fuck anything? No, of course I don’t fuck him! He’s my science experiment, just like those who came before him.”
“How many pets have you had?”
“I’m not sure you really want to know,” she says, turning away from me, “or if you can handle it.”
I think back to how I killed the cop. Despite my concussion, I drove to the junkyard and watched as the crusher decimated the car with the body still inside. No one would ever find him in a block of metal.
My voice is low and gravelly, “You have no idea what I can handle.”
“We’ll see about that,” she replies. “Follow me.”