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

by Sandra Raine

"C'mon nothin'!"

  "We'll find her, bro."

  "We better, "bro" 'cause if we don't, we'll both be pissin' out of our assholes!" Justin stormed back into the bathroom and yanked Chloe from my arms. "You two fucking bitches are thick as thieves. And you better fucking pray to God that we find your partner-in-whoring 'cause if we don't, sweetheart, it's gonna be your ass being buried out in the fucking desert!"

  After the commotion had seized itself into an unsettling silence, Mr. Church left the bathroom and walked out of the bedroom. My knees then gave out from beneath me and I slumped to the floor and broke down and cried.

  Once I found the strength to gather up my emotions for Jenna and Chloe's unfortunate dilemma, I walked out of the bathroom then out of the bedroom and headed to the living area where I found Mr. Church gazing out the window. And he must've sensed my perfume 'cause he turned around and just stared at me. Then I remembered I wasn't allowed in the living area without consent.

  "I hope you're okay with my waiting in here, Mr. Church. The bedroom just seems inappropriate." Mr. Church turned back around and continued to stare out the window.

  "They found Jenna," Mr. Church announced solemnly as I laid there on the bed staring vacantly beyond the darkened horizon of the Strip. Mr. Church not only sounded slightly disappointed but regretful that she was found. Maybe he felt that that aspect wasn't as promising for her nor as promising to her fate. "She's alive," he then went on to say. I tried to nod in appreciation for him telling me this but I kept to my silence as I was somewhat sadden, somewhat elated but even I knew that sooner or later they were going to punish her, and I hoped they wouldn't kill her somewhere in the process; the thought while however vile, made me cringe.

  Chapter 44

  Arizona -

  The Suburban had taken a wrong turn somewhere between the Nevada and Arizona desert's terrain.

  I shot Josh an anxious look. He smirked 'cause he knew I was scared. And my pimps. . .well they had a way with toying with my fears.

  From the corner of my eye I noticed Jenna and Chloe were no longer looking at ease from when we first left Vegas not more than a couple of hours ago; they were now looking just as frightened as I was. And it was right around this time when I found myself praying for Dominic and Mr. Church to be here, to help us, but as always my prayers went unanswered.

  For the next half-hour I tried not to show that I was scared. I tried to remain calm and collect. I even tried to focus on seeing Dominic again, yet I couldn't help not to think about Mr. Church either - Mr. Church who I was missing so much that my insides actually ached to see him again. . .And then the Suburban came to a sudden standstill.

  Oh, God! I groaned as my eyes unnervingly glanced out the window. The Suburban was parked off to the side of the road. It was facing oncoming traffic, and to my horror, there was none. The road looked long and deserted, and the desert landscape, dry and barren - virtually empty of any preserved life.

  The side door of the Suburban suddenly swung opened, and before I knew what was happening, Justin and Josh yanked Jenna out of her seat and dragged her across the metal floor as she kicked and screamed and pleaded for her life. Chloe fretfully jumped from her seat and onto the seat beside me, and together we both held on for dear life.

  "Wait!" I cried out unconsciously to both Justin and Josh, my voice shaken beyond disbelief while my heart pounded fast against my chest. "Where are you taking her?" Josh quickly spun a 90 degree in his crouching pose and slugged me dead in the face. My head jerked back then sprang forward. A burst of blood splattered from my nose, blinding me for a minute. And when I came to, Jenna was no longer in the Suburban. I noticed that the door was shut but it hadn't been shut all the way.

  "Oh, God!" I cried out suddenly, and after my blurred gaze caught a glimpse of Jenna still fighting for her life beneath the callous forces of Justin and Josh as they dragged her lithe body further into the desert. I immediately rushed to the door.

  "Jane, no!" Chloe fretted when she grasped my intentions. She, too, rushed to the door but it was only to stop me. But she was too late - I had slammed the door in her face, locking her in the cab.

  "Jane!" She screamed. "Jane! J-A-N-E!" She repeated while her fists pounded hard against the chicken wired windows.

  Justin and Josh must've been at least two and half neighboring blocks into the desert by the time my feet touched down on to the jagged tarred pavement. My heels then kicked up and I literally began to soar through the desert.

  The first thing that ran through my mind as I chased after Jenna was death.

  I looked completely fine when she returned back to the hotel with Justin, Josh and Chloe - not even an inch of hair had been harmed on her head. I remembered embracing her in my arms once we were alone, and telling her how I prayed to God that she wouldn't be harmed, and how I was just glad that my prayers had been answered. But little did we both understood how there was no point in disciplining someone when they were expected to die anyway.

  "Please, God, please!" I pleaded beneath my breath as I ran and ran, soaring through the desert while the erratic beating in my heart drummed in my ears while tears of fret grazed my eyes. Soon my hands began to sweat. My mouth was starting to run dry as my body flushed hot. And all the while as I ran and ran, my eyes never for one second lost focus on Justin and Josh as they continued to drag Jenna through the desert. . .then, suddenly, without warning on Jenna's part, Justin and Josh stopped walking and tossed her across the sanded ground as if she were a piece of garbage.

  My eyes widened. My heart thudded. My adrenaline pulsed. My feet kicked into overdrive. And all the while as I rushed to aid Jenna from the torments of Justin and Josh, I began to question what my intentions were, such as, what was I going to do? What was I going to fight with? How was I going to defend myself, let alone, Jenna from Justin and Josh? What was I going to accomplish? What was I going to gain other than a severe beating? And while all these thoughts plagued my mind I still couldn't bring myself to stop running, to turn around and head back to the Suburban simply because it was too late - three feet too late - 'cause I had already shoved past Justin and Josh's towering frames that by the time either one could grab a hold of me, I was on the ground, leaned up against Jenna who was sobbing and trembling uncontrollably.

  A wave of shock and awe shifted between Justin and Josh along with words; words I could not comprehend 'cause the only thing I could hear for the moment was my heart still drumming in my ears causing me to deafen their words. I ignored Justin and Josh and shifted my attention to Jenna who was holding onto me and me onto her. But then suddenly her aura went from scared to horrified; her eyes, from fear to dead panned; her cries to screams.

  I apprehensively glance over my shoulder. And when I finally grasped what Jenna had been witnessing all along, my body rapidly spun a 180 in the direction of guns pointing directly at us. I opened my mouth to scream but I was too paralyzed and much too gripped with fear to move even as I stared immobile into both Justin and Josh's eyes - two merciless souls looking right down at me.

  "Move, Jane," Justin seethed calmly. His hand was calm. His aim was calm which had me realizing that he had done this before. My spirit jumped from my soul and stared down at me, pitied.

  "Justin, please," I pleaded. But that plea just faded into a bone-chilling scream particularly when he and Josh cocked back their guns. "No. No! NO!" My heart was racing a thousand miles per second. My feet and my hands started digging profusely in the scorching soft sand for leverage as I tried desperately hard to shield my body against Jenna's ghastly screams; screams that coerced my skin to slither with fear, but most importantly, guilt 'cause I was failing to protect her against them. I sucked in the last of my fears and quickly turned back around to face Jenna but her blood was already splattered across my face, my arms, my clothes. . .then time froze when I crouched on my knees with Jenna's limp body in my arms, my eyes glimpsing two simultaneous bullet holes embedded in her forehead.

  Jenna's body slumped from
my hands and back onto the scorching soft sand.

  At first I didn't know what to make of Jenna's death. I mean. . .I was. . .dazed. . .confused. My eyes kept darting back and forth: from the top of her head down to the tips of her shoes. I mean, her eyes were still open. And they were staring right at me. But she wasn't breathing. She wasn't talking. I reached out and placed a calm touch to her weightless arm and tapped her a few times but she wouldn't move.

  My forehead scrunched. I then cleared my throat, and mumbled, "Jenna?" still dazed, still confused. "Jenna?" My tone now sounding more than questionable. "Jenna?" I again called out to her, and what would be the final time.

  "She's fucking dead, Jane." Justin callously spat. I looked up at Justin. My expression still locked in that dazed and confused look which I could feel was turning incomprehensible by the passing minute. Justin shoved his gun back down the front of his jeans.

  "G-e-t u-p!" Josh seethed. He abruptly yanked me up from off the sand and began lugging me away from Jenna's body. And because I was still in shock over Jenna literally dying in my arms, I made no attempt to fight against him. Instead, I kept my gaze over my shoulders, my eyes glued to Jenna's body which was slowly turning into a corpse beneath the scorching sun. And Jenna, slowly but surely, began to disappear farther from my sight as Josh tugged me further and further away from her. And the more he tugged, the more the colors of pink, white and blue - the colors of Jenna's tee, jeans and shoes faded against those blandish colors reeking of dull greens, boring tans and coffee browns with only the black of her hair remaining visible to a once human existence.

  Chloe was still sobbing uncontrollably when Josh swung open the Suburban door and shoved me inside. My butt landed on the floor again. Chloe was quick at my side, helping me into the seat beside her.

  "Clean yourself up!" Josh barked, tossing me a pack of baby wipes from a nearby duffle bag. He then turned around and met Justin with a stern nod. "We need to get off this road, man." Justin nodded in agreement. A second later, Justin peered into the Suburban just as Josh was hopping in beside him. He gives me a cold and harsh and brutal stare before giving Chloe an impious wink.

  "How many does that make now, Crystal, baby? Four?" Justin ruthlessly toyed with Chloe who still continued to sob while I cringed in my seat. Justin slammed the Suburban door leaving Josh to chortle.

  Once the engine to the Suburban cranked over, and the vehicle back in motion, Josh reached under his seat and retrieved a dense looking black case with silver edge trimming and settled it gently onto his lap. He snapped the lid open and removed a zip-lock bag housing white powder and a razor blade and settled it on top of the case's lid. He zipped open the bag and sifted some of the white powder onto the lid. He cut a few lines with the razor blade. My mouth suddenly watered as my eyes swept ecstatically over the coke. My nostrils flared like a bull. My body ached like a starved depraved junkie. And the urge to consume, to escape this ongoing nightmare suddenly nipped at my nerves while Chloe continued to sob over Jenna's untimely death; a death I was still having trouble comprehending 'cause the shock of Jenna's passing, and right before my eyes, hadn't hit me as of yet. I figured Josh teasing me with the coke was his way of calming the storm before it came crashing down over everyone's head, now meaning with Dominic.

  Josh rolled a Benjamin and handed it to me. I selfishly snorted four of the seven lines as if the coke was going to somehow sprout wings and fly away and I didn't want to take that chance. Josh snatched the rolled Benjamin from my fingers and handed it to Chloe who shook her head in protest. Josh, because he refused to have any of her bullshit, pulled his gun from the front of his jeans, cocked it, and then pointed it at Chloe.

  "Take the fucking hit, bitch, or else you'll be snorting your own fucking brains!" he threatened. Chloe immediately dropped to her knees and finished snorting the rest of the coke. "Good." Josh praised. "Get back in your seat and stare out the window until I tell you not to." Chloe sniffed back her tears and did what Josh demanded her to do.

  Josh turned his attention back to the case and blew off the remainder of the white residue; it disappeared into the air. He shoved the coke, the razor blade and his gun back into the case and set it aside. Meanwhile, the Suburban's cab started to spin with Josh gazing at me, his fingers trickling sensually through my hair. And there must've been something about my getting high that totally turned Josh on 'cause one minute he was sitting beside me and the next I was on the floor beneath him with my jeans and tennis shoes being tugged off my body.

  When I finally gained some perspective, my legs were already pried apart with Josh on top of me, burrowing himself deeper into me like if he was trying to achieve maximum penetration 'cause his thighs were clenching hard against my pelvis.

  Slightly breathless, he demands, "Wrap your fucking legs around me, damn it!" I wrapped my legs around Josh's waist causing him to moan, to burrow deeper and rougher in me while I kept my hands pinned to the sides of my head, my eyes glued to the door, my thoughts lost on coke, on Jenna, on Dominic, on Mr. Church then back onto Jenna. Snapshots of her dead body and opened eyes flashed before my eyes. And when I blinked, snapshots of my dead body and opened eyes flashed before her eyes. . .I was so fucking gone.

  Chapter 45

  Phoenix -

  Dominic's Hummer was already sitting in the parking lot of the old Home Depot. And when the door to the Suburban finally opened, I saw two things that immediately annoyed Dominic: One, I was high. And two, my clothes were stained with blood.

  But somehow I had sensed that my appearance wasn't exactly the cause of Dominic's annoyance 'cause within an instant his teeth clenched and his jaw protruded. He took an apprehensive step back, mustering, "Fuck!" beneath his breath. He raked his fingers through his hair and shook his head in total disgust. "What the fuck happened?" he then pried Justin harshly.

  "What the fuck does it matter!" Justin sassed, slamming the door behind us. "Besides," he said picking up a black duffle bag from off the front driver's seat and shoving it against Dominic's chest. "She made you money, right? I mean, that's all that really matters here, right?"

  Dominic clutched the duffle bag so hard that I swore I heard something snap in two. Dominic ignored Justin and looked to Josh for an answer but he, too, kept to his defenses.

  "Jane tried to play Mother-fucking-Teresa and the Devil bitch slapped her back to the fucking Pope! What can I say?"

  "I can fucking see that, Josh!"

  "Then what's the fucking problem, cuz?" Justin inquested casually lighting a cigarette and dragging hard. Through a plume of heavy smoke he coolly states, "Are you pissed 'cause she interfered? Or, are you pissed 'cause you weren't in Vegas to protect her?"

  "Both."

  Justin flicked his cigarette and ashes scattered around his and Dominic's shoes. "Well, cuz, maybe next time, and instead of jet-setting from one city to another looking at Universities you're obviously not going to attend, you can baby-sit in place of our dear old friend Mr. Church."

  "Fucking prick!" Dominic spat. He opened the back passenger door to his Hummer and tossed the duffle bag onto the back seat. Slamming the door, he pressed, "Did he fuck her?" Justin shrugged his shoulders as did Josh.

  "Does it matter?" Justin then toyed belatedly through an impious smirk. Dominic bit back the obvious of his jealousy and tried to shake it off as if it didn't bother him although I could see that it did even though I knew nothing like that happened. I mean, Mr. Church also had his limitations. And fucking me was one of them.

  A brief silence shifted between Dominic and Justin, and my eyes were starting to grow heavier from the lack of last night's sleep, the unexpected death of Jenna, and the bullshit between Dominic and the cousins unfolding around me. And the one thing I did grasp within the "bullshit" was Dominic's ego threatened by Mr. Church's.

  "We still have another stop." Justin stressed, taking one last long drag of his cigarette before tossing the half-smoked cancer stick onto the ground. He stomped on it gently. Dominic nodded an
d reached for my arm and ushered me into the front seat of his Hummer. He leaned across my lap and strapped the seatbelt against my body and slammed the door. I leaned my head against the headrest. My eyes then shut long before Dominic settled into the driver's seat.

  When I awoke from the drive back home, Dominic, much to my horror, was staring right at me. His eyes were vacant as if he were a corpse, sitting there and just staring at me. My heart thudded. I jerked back in my seat, startled. Dominic then casually leaned into me and pulled my face to his. I took a deep unsettling breath while the intoxication of his pricey cologne caused me to choke on my fear of him.

  "I missed you, Jane," he said seriously. My body cringed in my skin. "Did you miss me?" He then sheepishly asked running a sensual finger alongside my face before settling it between my trembling lips. I stiffened a nod although a partial of it was a complete and utter lie. "So, tell me, Jane, did you enjoy yourself with our dear friend Mr. Church? Did he calm that storm that's been brewing since the night of my graduation? Did he satisfy that special place?" Dominic suddenly paused to trail that exact finger along the left of my inner thigh until it settled between my legs hard. My body jerked uncomfortably forcing me to catch my breath. "I'll take that as a no then." Dominic unfastened my seatbelt. He leaned across my lap and opened my door. And while Dominic had me believing he was being a perfect gentleman with all his selflessness and grace, his gesture was actually intended toward Tanya who'd, much to my surprise, been standing at the passenger's door watching me and Dominic the whole time. And just by the agitated look sprawled across her usually radiant and flawless face told me she wasn't exactly amused.

  Tanya grabbed a stern hold of my arm and helped me out of Dominic's Hummer. I stumbled over my anesthetized feet as I was still groggy from the trip, or was it from Jenna's death? Tanya slowly escorted me up to her bedroom and helped me into the shower. She handed me a shaver and a bottle of douche.