The HUSH Series: (HUSH, HUSHED and JANE.)

by Sandra Raine

  "Why do you give a fuck about her anyways, man? I mean, the girl's got nothin' but what? A pretty face? A nice ass? Hell, maybe even a tight snatch 'cause she sure in the hells don't have tits!"

  "Fucking pervs don't give a shit about tits. It's not about fucking grown ass women here, cuz! It's about girls. Young girls. Little girls - "

  "Can we get out of the "perv-o-phobia" zone and back to reality here?"

  "You know. . .let's just fucking forget this!"

  "No we can't forget about this, Dom - "

  "And why the fuck not?"

  "'Cause you're the one who's flyin' off the fuckin' handle here about that video clip! Now I understand the point you're tryin' to make here, too, cuz, about what them bastards did, and I know this is gonna sound fucked up, but it was good clean fun. I mean, it could've been worse, they could've stuck broken beer bottles all up in her cunt instead."

  "Well, cuz, just because they were "nice" about it in your eyes doesn't mean the next man is goin' to be. I mean, you and I both know how fucking disgusting those pigs can get. And you and I are no stranger to those casualties."

  "You worry too much, Dom. You worry too much about her." Justin retorted in a tone that both angered and disgusted him. "I mean, why is she so fucking special to you? I mean, why didn't you feel this way about the others. . .Jenna, Nicole, Chloe, Cassie, Bai, Tia? I mean, some of them girls would have broom handles and strange shit shoved up their cunts and shit holes, and never once have you given two shits about them being in fucking danger. So my question is why do you give a shit now with Jane. . .'cause I hate to break it to you, cuz, she ain't nothin' but another piece of jailbait pussy." Dominic chuckled, and from what I heard it was nowhere within the vicinity of agreeing which left him to counter.

  "Seriously, man, and think about it 'cause you know and I know and they know exactly who she is and exactly where she comes from. And as much as you wish to stand there and argue otherwise, you and I both know that's impossible. It is our job to make sure she stands out from the rest, now meaning, the way she's handled and presented."

  "Well it that's the case, cuz, and if you want my honest opinion, too, you sure do treat her like a cheap fucking piece of ass."

  "Like you don't fucking influence me!"

  I heard Justin sigh out, and it was long and hard, and frustrated and discontented leaving him to say. "Regardless of what it is, Dom, Jane is beginning to pose more than just a conflict of interest to you. And your feelings for her are posing a hazard, and not just to the integrity of the organization but to the business and to those who depend on it."

  "Hmm," Dominic then droned. 'More than just a conflict of interest, huh, cuz'?" he then retorted questionably. "Maybe?" A long sigh. "But we do have to face one truth - "

  "And that is?"

  "That it's our job to not take this situation lightly. 'Cause if you do, then you'll be fucked."

  "Are you threatening me, cuz?" Justin fumed.

  "After the shit I just said all you can think about is threats?" Dominic mused. "Man." he then laughed. "If you ain't careful, bro, that paranoia shit is going to be the death of you!"

  "You know, cuz, we've been doin' this shit for far too long for you to make idle threats when I'm the one who's been getting the fucking job done!"

  "Believe what the fuck you want, Justin! I'm done talking to you." Dominic spat. "And I no longer want Diamond left alone when she's working."

  "What? What?" Both Justin and Josh contended simultaneously. They're voices were high, and shockingly appalled, particularly Justin's.

  "We need to protect our investment." Dominic reminded.

  "You mean your investment." Justin derided as he was obviously unmoved by Dominic's request.

  "I resent that implication, cuz, because as far as I can see, I don't see either of us profiting more than the other here. Do you? And as far as I'm concerned, Justin, she's as much as your investment as she is of mine. And as far as I'm concerned, Josh and me, we don't have loan sharks, either."

  "Hey wait a fucking minute!" Justin erupted slamming his beer bottle down onto the counter.

  "No, you wait a fucking minute!" Dominic challenged. "What was the agreement?"

  "The what?"

  "The rules, Justin, the fucking rules! What were they? No fucking business of any kind during the day, remember? And why is that?. . .'Cause of the fucking heat. The fucking pigs!"

  "Yeah, man, I know the fucking rules! So what's your point? And it better be damned good 'cause whatever you're about to say you'll be as much to blame as I am."

  "My point is that you needed a favor and this favor couldn't be done during the night, it had to be done during the day to avoid what?. . .To avoid them. . .To avoid giving them any kind of profit because you needed the money for what. . .to pay that loan shark Benny, right?"

  "Now you're blackmailing me, cuz? 'Cause if you are - "

  "And as my partner, and because you needed the money, I went against those fucking rules knowing good goddamn well what they could do to me if they found out. And not only did "my" investment bail you out of a ten grand screwing, Justin, it also gave you another opportunity to run up another fucking tab with another fucking loan shark!"

  "If you're going to make an attempt to fuckin' insult me, Dom, you shouldn't bring your little debutant whore into your analogies if you expect for me to get offended at all!"

  "Damn, cuz." Dominic then scoffed ruffling with a pack of cigarettes. "You really do fucking hate her, don't you?" A plume of smoke must've escaped Dominic's mouth 'cause the hard stench breezed past my nostrils causing my stomach to tense. There was too long of a gap between Dominic and Justin's heated conversation as I figured they were probably done arguing. I immediately maneuvered to the other side of the game room doors to avoid being bumped into. And I knew that if Dominic found out I was eavesdropping on their conversation he would more than likely give me a severe beating.

  I cowered up against the wall as soon as one of the game room doors swung open with Justin storming out, then seconds later, Dominic and Josh. Once Dominic was half-way down the hall, I dashed into the bathroom. Luckily for me the bathroom door had been closed when he walked past it.

  I closed the bathroom door quickly and quietly and flicked on the light. I then shoved the buds from my IPod into my ears, hiked up my dress, and sat on the toilet and waited for either Dominic or Tanya to come barging into the bathroom any second but minutes had passed instead. It wasn't until I reached for the toilet paper dispenser when the bathroom door unexpectedly opened. I quickly froze then unfroze when my obligatory reflexes pulled the buds from my ears to give Dominic my undivided attention.

  "Tanya wasn't around. I needed to go." I complained idly in regards to Dominic's questionable look 'cause his eyes had been glaring at me for the last minute. Dominic said nothing. I quickly dabbed myself with a sheet of paper, flushed the toilet, and tugged my dress back down over my hips. Dominic then stepped aside to allow me access to the sink where I quickly washed my hands. But just as I was reaching around him for the towel to dry my hands, he spoke. And it wasn't good.

  "I'm not fucking stupid, Diamond." Dominic retorted in a tone that literally made my spine tinge. I stopped short from grabbing the towel and looked at Dominic in a state of bewilderment even though I already knew what he was referring to just by that remark - he caught me eavesdropping. I meant to explain my sudden indiscretion but Dominic's hand instead caught me completely off guard. All I remember was spinning around in my stance and falling to the floor.

  Chapter 24

  I must've blacked out but it couldn't have been for long 'cause I found myself suddenly screaming from the top of my lungs; Dominic was literally picking me up off the floor by my hair. Once I was back on my feet, he then shoved me against the sink, hiking up my dress, ripping off my panties, and forcefully prying my thighs apart. A few of his fingers then stabbed into my vagina coercing me to whimper from the unbearableness of his probing fingers that tended
to slip further and further in me until I felt this sharp, immense and antagonizing pain fire through me, subjecting the vocals of my soft spoken chords to wail from the very peak of their pitch. My irises pinched red, and my eyes felt like they were literally bulging out from their sockets. Shameful, heavy tears then began to streak down my face, razing both my cheeks like a whip to my back. . .Dominic's entire fist was inside me.

  "Look at me, Diamond," he said calmly, softly. "Shh," he then whispered gently when he saw no end to those tears of torment streaming continuously down my face. "Look at me, Diamond." He repeated again, still keeping calm, speaking softly. But I, in all honesty, could not bring myself to look at Dominic. "Breathe, Diamond, breathe," Dominic coached sweetly when he also saw I was having difficulty trying to.

  But in all honesty I couldn't breathe. And I wouldn't make an attempt to breathe. My lungs felt constricted, forcing both my hands to grasp desperately beneath the counter's rim for some kind of leverage. I mean, my heart was racing so fast that my fingernails began to split 'cause they'd been digging profusely into the marble. My entire body felt like it was in some alternate universe fighting to stay alive 'cause the pain Dominic was inflicting in me was so inconceivable, especially when he pulled his fist back and then shoved it back in. I screamed. And I had screamed so loud Dominic abruptly grabbed onto my face, yelling, "Shut the fuck up!"

  This time I was forced to open my eyes and look at him. And as beautiful and haunting as Dominic was to my fear I couldn't help not to hate him. What I did was bad. I had no right. He trusted me alone with Tanya and I violated that trust. And to admit the punishment he was rendering was not only fucked up but it was well deserved on my part. As sure as I was about Dominic setting my soul free from his sick and sadistic torture since I was being a good girl and listening the scenario instead altered with his fist burrowing deeper into me thus intensifying the pain.

  "The next time, and even if there is 'a next time'," Dominic calmly, yet ill remorsefully surmised, "if there's more than a dick, fingers, or even a fist," and he twisted his fist inside of me forcing my insides to tense and leaving my soul to cleave onto it. "Being shoved up this fucking cunt of yours you don't tell me about, I swear, Diamond. . .I swear I will fucking cut out your snatch and mail it to your father! Because the way I see it, babe, there's no way I'm goin' to allow some sick fuck to steal my fucking glory simply because you refuse to say anything. You're job, Diamond, is to do what?"

  "Fu. . .fuck." I sobbed.

  "And that's it! Do you understand me? Do I make myself clear?" I bit down hard on my trembling lip and whimpered my understanding but I guess my silent response wasn't good enough for Dominic 'cause he twisted his fist again. And if the pain wasn't already vicious enough he pulled back his fist and rammed it forward, sucker punching my insides. My eyes instantly shot open almost jumping from their sockets.

  "Y-E-S!" I screamed, my cries bordering on a blood curl.

  "Good." Dominic then approved softly as his fist slowly lessened to that of his hand before he abruptly pulled it out, leaving my weakened hands to hold my body up from collapsing beneath me. An unexpected gush of fluid then squirted out from inside me, drenching the countertop while some of it seeped aimlessly onto the bathroom's floor.

  "Now," Dominic said ignoring my mess and switching his tune to a more persuasive one. He turned on the faucet and washed his hands while I was just left there abandoned on the counter, sobbing and trembling from the brutality of his self-righteous torture. "This little video they took of you. . .why were you smiling?" I quickly looked at Dominic in a state of bewilderment, and beyond dense and dazed eyes. I was trying to breathe; trying to compose myself but it was impossible to do with his incessant prying. And he wasn't about to wait for answers either, 'cause his eyes were now literally beating into mine causing my tears to intensify.

  "I mean, were you enjoying having those men stick beer bottles up your snatch?"

  "No!" I affronted directly. "It's just that. . .that - "

  "That what? Fucking spit it out!"

  I quickly recomposed myself, taking somewhat control of the lingering pain. "They said they were going to hurt me if I didn't look. . .look like I. . .I was. . .enjoying it."

  "Those men said they were going to hurt you?" Dominic then repeated mockingly, and in comical disbelief. And all I could do was nod, embarrassed. "Do you honestly believe those men would have hurt you, Jane, with me, Justin and Josh just outside the fucking door?" Right then and there I knew I had set myself back to that horrific and terrifying place called "Trouble" - trouble 'cause of my partaking in something I swore at the time I would pay for if I didn't do what those men had demanded me to do. But, and as bad as this sounded, Dominic was right. . .I mean, were those men really going to hurt me as they claimed they would have with Dominic and the cousins not more than fifteen feet from where I laid? GOD! my mind screamed. God, I wept.

  Dominic grabbed hold of my face again, and again he forced me to look at him. "The only person you have to fear is me, Diamond. I'm the one who calls the shots with you. I'm the one who disciplines you. I'm the one who says when you "work" and when you don't "work". And I'm the one who spends every fucking cent on your ass, not Tanya! That isn't her job. That's my job! And if you love your fucking little sister and your fucking little family the way you claim you fucking do, this will be the first and last time you fear no one else but me. Understand?!" I choked back my tears, whimpered and nodded. Dominic let go of my face running an anxious hand through his hair and along the contours of his face. He then gazed down at the bathroom's floor in deep thought for the longest moment, sighing heavy, sharply right before he cleared his throat and looked back up at me while my fear continued to grip at my insides.

  "Serial criminals don't get to be serial criminals when they're men, Jane, it begins when they're my age and younger. And men like them assholes shovin' beer bottles up your cunt are no match for someone like me, like Justin. . .Josh. We're younger. We're faster. We're not afraid to take men like them and shove beer bottles up their piss holes. Why? Because we don't have a conscience, that's why. We don't have nothing to lose, that's why! Men like that don't belong in a fucking world like ours nor do they stand to fucking compete against immoral guys like us. They'll lose especially if they dare fuck around with someone like you." Dominic paused and took a long and lingering look at me as if he was searching for some kind of approval in regards to his sermon but I, in honesty, was blank on both speech and thought simply because I didn't care to hear it. I was still drenched in pain. And the thought of Dominic shoving his entire fist up my tiny hole played in my head repeatedly; I was starting to feel extremely sick as well as nauseated.

  "Get yourself cleaned up. I'll be waiting for you." Dominic said suddenly swinging the bathroom door open and storming out.

  Once Dominic was out of earshot, I finally summoned up enough strength to slide off the counter, trying desperately hard not to damage myself further, or to lose it mentally. I carefully leaned over the toilet and threw up.

  A few minutes had already longed passed when I finally emerged from the bathroom looking more devastated and humiliated than ever before. Deep down inside I was yearning to go home; home to the comfort of my family, my sister and Doug who just arrived today from Harvard Business School to spend the holidays.

  As I neared the foyer, I noticed Dominic had Tanya shoved up against the railing of the staircase which was of black iron with a paisley overlay thus making up the architect of the Ray's grand staircase. It was definitely a breathtaking sight only now the sight was slightly darker and extremely glum between Dominic and Tanya 'cause Dominic was holding Tanya roughly by her arm.

  "The next time you let Jane out of your fucking sight I'm going to beat the fuck out of you!"

  "Dominic - " Tanya began to say but only yelped when Dominic slapped her hard in the face. I suddenly gasped then flinched with guilt 'cause it occurred to me that I was the one who caused Tanya's grief, and there was not
hing I could do to correct the situation. I guess Dominic must've felt that he had already taken care of that part with me 'cause he never glanced my way as he continued to berate Tanya.

  "And I don't give a shit if you have to drag her ass upstairs, outside, into the bathroom, into your car. . .Wherever you go, she goes! I don't want her fucking eavesdropping on every fucking conversation we have!"

  "Okay, Dom!" Tanya then erupted in a state of anger and humiliation, at the same time, trying hard to suck back her tears. She then made an attempt to release herself from Dominic's firm hold on her but Dominic doesn't let up. Instead, he tightened his grasp around her arm and smirked the way he smirked when he involuntarily instigated that fight between me and his ex, Toni.

  I scrunched my forehead confused upon what I was witnessing between Dominic and Tanya particularly the way Dominic gazed at Tanya like they were lovers or something. I mean, did Dominic possess something over Tanya that made her obviously disturbed just by the way he was staring at her, or was he just toying with her just to be evil 'cause he could be? I turned away once I realized I didn't care to know.

  I finally got my wish: I was going home. And I was glad.

  The ride back home with Dominic was a quiet, yet strenuous one. Not that the other rides were a joy 'cause they were pretty much all the same - quiet with nothing ever being said between us. But tonight was different. It was as if he was uneasy about being alone with me.

  I caught glimpses of Dominic stirring in his seat from the corner of my eye. He also kept fidgeting with his watch. And he kept glancing through the rearview mirror which had me wondering if he was expecting someone to pull up behind us, or was he just trying hard to avoid bumping into the cops since he was also driving a bit neurotic? For a minute there I was convinced that I was in the company of a crash test dummy and not a human named Dominic who was always cool, calm and collect. . .but tonight. . .