“Must not be keeping her satisfied, Alan,” a voice says from somewhere else in the room. “Not if she has time to listen.”
“Should’ve let me have her,” another says. “My cock in her mouth would keep her busy.”
“I’ll kill you where you fucking stand, Bricker,” Alan snarls. “Prospect, go get the new girl.” His body thrums with evil energy, trembling from his place beside Big Dick. He has a plan. Another shiver ripples down my spine, settling in my stomach.
The prospect disappears down the hall. The thud of a door being kicked follows, and then the blood-curdling sound of several feminine screams. Heavy footfalls approach as the screams grow louder, and then he returns, dragging a girl I don’t recognize by her long black hair. She’s young. Barely legal, if I were to guess. Maybe not even that.
“What do you want me to do with this one?” he asks, stopping just inches away.
The girl's fearful eyes meet mine, growing wide when she takes in the state of me. Her sobs grow louder.
“Tie her up and put her outside the hallway. Let’s give Boo’s friend a better seat for the show.”
The prospect complies, moving to the chair by the door. The woman scans the room, pleading with anyone that will listen. “Help me. Please, help!”
The men ignore her pleas, all of them watching as the prospect ties her to the chair. They don’t care what happens now. Girls like her—like me—we’re like livestock to them, and they’re about to put her down.
“Wait!” I beg. “Why her? Why not me? I’m the one you’re mad at. Hurt me. Kill me!”
Big Dick releases his knife at my throat and leans down to whisper in my ear. “I can’t kill you, sweetheart.” He points his knife at the girl in the chair. “But I can kill her.”
“No, please,” I continue to beg, choking on the sobs in my throat, barely able to breathe. “She’s just a child. She’s innocent.”
“No one who comes through these doors is innocent, Boo. You, of all people, should know that.”
“Just kill me!” I cry. “I’m the one you want.”
“Oh, little Boo. We have other plans for you. You’re going to make me one rich son of a bitch, baby. I’m not letting that slip through my fingers by getting careless now. Not when I’m so close to my payday.”
My uncle sent me here years ago. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of him having the money to pay them back for whatever debt that’s owed, plus thirteen years of interest on top of it. They’ll never get paid for me. We’d lived in a single wide trailer that should’ve been condemned before I was even born. My uncle has nothing, let alone the amount they’re hoping to get from him.
“Do it,” he orders, turning his gaze to me. Bricker and Alan stalk toward the girl who watches them through wide eyes, her entire body trembling with fear. “Watch her bleed for you, Boo,” Big Dick sneers, his lips brushing against my ear. “Her death is on your hands.”
He shifts away as the girl’s screams fill the room, piercing my ears and my already broken heart. Alan steps forward, his fist flying toward her, landing against her face with a sickening thud of bone on flesh. Blood instantly fills her mouth and trickles down her chin.
The poor girl sobs, her pleas muffled around her tattered lips. Alan brandishes a knife and grins back at me, his face twisted with some sort of sick pride as he plunges the blade into the soft flesh of her belly.
“No!” I cry. “No, please! Stop!”
Alan laughs. “Scream for me, Boo. Show your friend in there how we treat women who break the fucking rules.”
And I do. My voice joins the girl’s, both of us screaming at the top of our lungs, pleading for them to stop. Our cries mingle together, bouncing off the walls and landing on the ears of the men in the room, none of which will ever lift a finger to save us.
“You hear that, motherfucker?” Alan calls down the hallway toward Priest. I can hear the clanging and banging from here. Priest is going crazy down there. “This is because of you, asshole. She’ll die because of you.”
Alan pulls his gun from his belt holster and presses the barrel against her forehead. The girl sobs, her eyes focused on mine. We cry together, locked in the knowledge that her end is coming soon.
“Too bad you have to die,” he says, glowering down at the crying girl. “You look like you would’ve been fun to break.”
“No!” I scream, my heart hammering against my chest as I try to free myself from the ropes.
Down the hall, Priest is screaming my name, the sound of his assault on the bars echoing down the hall. He screams my name over and over again, promising death to Alan and the others.
Alan grins and locks his eyes on me as he cocks back the hammer and presses the barrel deeper into the girl’s forehead.
Just then, the door from outside slams open, and the prospect that had always shown me some kindness comes barreling inside. Prez,” he gasps, hauling in air like he’d just run a marathon. “We have company.”
Big Dick frowns. “The fuck—”