by L. Grubb
They couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag. One hit to the face and they go down.
This particular guy, Frankie, was the seventh guy we’ve spoken to and by the time we got to him, I was frustrated, fed up and feeling like I was getting further and further away from finding out where she is.
The place where I was sure she was has been checked out and there’s nothing there. Nothing at all. I was sure that she was there but Ryan said his men had searched for hours and found nothing.
So now we’re back to the drawing board and running out of places to look.
“Get him up,” I grit out through clenched teeth to Ryan.
Frankie scuttles back and I shake my head and laugh at his attempts to escape.
“Please! I swear, I don’t know where he is!”
I ignore him and walk ahead as Ryan throws a punch to his temple which knocks him out.
“Jesus,” Ryan murmurs.
“What?” I ask, opening the trunk of the SUV.
“He stinks, don’t these people know basic fucking hygiene?”
Ryan throws him into the trunk and we both walk around to the front of the car. Frankie knows where Louis is, he knows where he’s taken Jas, I can feel it in my bones and I’ll find out, even if it means torturing the information out of him.
Four years ago, I wouldn’t have done anything like this but spending years in prison does something to you. You have to watch your back and learn how to fight, building muscle in the gym as the only way to pass time. And in between all of that, I learnt how to torture information out of someone.
It was time that I used the ‘skills’ that I acquired while I was in there.
These people aren’t going to know what’s hit them. I’ll make sure that they fear me because fear gets you answers.
The tapping on my cheek reminds me of an incessant fly until he speaks and my skin starts crawling. “Don’t pass out on me, little dove. You know it won’t stop me doing whatever the fuck I like to you.” His wet, sloppy, tongue licks the seam of my lips and I try to sink further into the lumpy mattress that I’m bound to. The sour taste of bile climbs up my throat, threatening to come out. Tears spring to my eyes as helplessness spreads through me.
I’m terrified of my own brother when I should adore him, that’s what siblings are supposed to be like, right? Not us, he’s abused me in ways that have scarred me for life. He’s the reason I went to CSU instead of Harvard. He’s the reason my mum had a sudden heart attack at the age of forty-eight. He’s the reason my father committed suicide after I revealed the awful truth about his golden boy; the boy he favored and cherished.
Louis was spoilt terribly, it made him think he could have everything and anything he wanted, including me, his little sister. He thought that being three years older than me made him more superior. I kept quiet about the shit he was doing to me until I was eighteen. My parents questioned why a smart girl like me wasn’t going to the best school in the country, why I was insisting on traveling to the other side of America where none of my family were; hundreds of miles between us. They kept pressuring me into an explanation until I exploded and revealed my dirty, sordid, little secret. Louis had sat there while I told mom and dad every vile little thing he’d done to me.
I ignore Louis talking to whoever else is in the room watching, and condoning, everything that’s happening to me. I ignore them both as I’m swept up in the memories of my parents’ disbelieving faces.
Four years ago
“He raped me!” I screamed into the silence of the dining room where we were all sat eating supper. Tears are streaming down my face as I sit back in the cushioned dining chair after explaining every filthy thing that my older brother has ever done to me in the ten years that he’s been abusing my body and mind.
My mom’s face is as white as the buttoned shirt she’s wearing. My mom’s a prison guard at Virginia Corrections Department and my dad’s the Warden there too so they’re still in their work clothes. My mom has her hair in a tight bun which makes her high cheekbones and bow shaped lips stand out but also making her look extremely conservative.
Dad’s face is as red as a tomato and I swear I see steam flowing from his ears. I wasn’t expecting his anger to be aimed it at me. “You lying little bitch! How dare you say such vile accusations about your own brother!” His voice thunders around the room and my mouth pops open in shock.
I very rarely get angry and if I do, I hide away and bottle it up. My blood is pumping furiously through my veins as I stare in disbelief at my father. I glance to my right and notice Louis’ smug grin, arms crossed over his broad chest.
“You don’t believe me do you, daddy? Do you want proof or will you still keep denying to yourself that I’m telling the truth?” Louis’ smug expression slowly leaves his face at hearing my words. “Do you want to see what a monster your precious son really is?”
My dad furrows his brow as his hands grip the edge of the oval table we’re sitting around. I stand, wincing from the pain between my bruised thighs. I’ve not yet showered and am glad for it because I can show them the horror Louis had inflicted upon me while they were at work.
I drop my jogging pants unceremoniously to the floor, leaving my panties on so I don’t make my parents feel uncomfortable, well, more so than they will be at seeing the proof they obviously need to believe their own daughter. My parents’ gaze flicks to the blood that’s dried down my legs. In the corner of my eye, I notice Louis lick his lips disgustingly before realization dawns on him and his face flushes scarlet.
The horror written across my parent’s’ faces tells me they finally believe I was telling the truth. My mom’s hand covers her mouth as she let’s out a loud sob. She runs from the room, retching as she goes before the sounds of her throwing up can be heard coming from the kitchen.
I swallow around the heavy lump in my throat and stare blankly at my father who has tears streaming down his face, disbelief swimming in his emerald green eyes. “Believe me now?” I whisper.
I pull my pants back up and flee from the room just as I hear a loud crash followed by a bang and Louis screaming that I’m a liar.
I lock myself in the bathroom and sink to the floor, pulling my knees to my chest and hugging them as I let my heartache leak out through loud sobs. Not long after my revelation came to light, sirens fill the air coming closer at dangerous speed. The days, months, years that follow will be the hardest time of my life.
Present
“Wake the fuck up, Jasmine. I’m not through with you yet,” Louis growls in my ear, startling me from my memories. “Jaaasmine…” he sing songs into my neck.
“Get away from me!” I scream, my throat feeling raw from the shouting and the lack of water that I so desperately need right now. “Leave me alone!”
Louis’ maniacal laugh fills the room and the feeling of dread washes over me. My heart is beating too fast to be normal, my breathing choppy as if I’m having a panic attack and tears threaten to break free. I’ll not give him and his little friend the satisfaction of seeing me break. I’m stronger now than I was when I was just a young kid. I was defenseless then but I’m an adult now. I can get through this.
“You’re not going anywhere, little dove, nor can anyone hear you from here.” A sinister smirk crosses his face and I gulp past the lump that’s taken permanent residence in my throat. “Your little college friends will never find you here. Don’t worry, I’ll let you heal from the crash before I make a start on claiming, again, what is mine and no one else’s.”
Being reminded of the crash has a deep, painful, throb emanate from my jaw, my bruised ribs twinge with pain reminding me that I’m not in a good way at all, yet they still tied me to this bed like a prisoner. A prisoner to my own twisted brother. I guess prison never changed him. Has he been plotting revenge all along? Has he been planning this since he got sent down? That thought alone scares me. He’s had six whole years to think up things that will punish me for getting him arrested. I can only
hope that Jay, or anyone, will find me in time.
Four years ago
I lean against the side of my car waiting for Jas. This has now become a regular thing over the last couple of months. Every Thursday I wait for her to lock up and I drive her home. Those few moments I get with her have to last me the rest of the week and I hate it. I hate that I don’t get to see her again until the following Thursday.
She makes the incessant noise in my head calm. Nothing has ever been able to quiet the noise, but somehow, just being in her presence stops it.
I watch through narrowed eyes as she steps outside the coffee shop and shuts the door behind her. Walking over, I pull the shutter down and wink at her.
“Evening,” I murmur.
“Hey,” she whispers back. She always does that, almost as if she’s afraid to talk too loudly.
I smile at her as we walk to the car and I hold the passenger door open for her, closing it once she’s safely inside. Jumping into the driver’s seat, I switch the engine on and pull out onto the road.
“I don’t want to go home yet,” Jas’ soft voice says.
“Huh?”
“Can we… erm… hang out for a while?”
I turn my head to her, my eyes raking up and down her body. Her leg bobs up and down and her chest rises and falls on almost panicked breaths.
“Yeah,” I croak and then clear my throat. “Yeah, sure.”
I do a U-turn and drive toward my place. I’ve never taken a girl there, I’ve never wanted to take a girl there… until now. Jas is different though, I want her to see where I live but at the same time, I don’t want her to see what I have to live with every day.
I drive toward the east side of town, my stomach bottoming out the closer we get to my place.
Once I had my first cash injection from my investor, the first thing I did was move me and Dante out of the trailer park. He only had a couple of months left of high school and then he was headed straight to college for summer training but I wanted his last couple of months to be spent living in a better environment than we grew up in.
I knew Jas would be off to college soon too but I had all summer with her and I intended to spend as much time with her as I could.
She’s always busy with school work, trying to get the best grades that she can. I understand it, and for now, I’ll settle for just seeing her on a Thursday but as soon as summer rolls around, I’m going to spend every minute I can with her.
I park up outside the apartment complex and turn the engine off, taking a deep breath.
“Ready?” I ask, not sure whether I’m talking to Jas or myself.
“Where are we?”
“My place.” I smile at her then push out of the car.
I open up her door and wait for her to get out but she’s looking down at her lap, her hands clutched tight and not moving an inch.
“Jas?”
“I can’t.” I almost don’t hear her with how quietly she’s talking.
“You can’t what?” I ask, crouching down beside her and pulling her hands apart.
She looks up at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Her teeth pull in her bottom lip and I have to stop myself from reaching up and pulling her lip from her teeth with my thumb.
“I-I…” Her eyes roam my face and then move to the building behind me.
It takes me a second to realize what she’s trying to say but when I do, I curse myself for not realizing sooner. She’s not like any of the other girls, she’s different, something that I never wanted before, but now, she’s all I want; all I can think about.
“Jas.” I lean closer to her and this time I can’t stop my hand from reaching up and cupping the side of her face. “I’d never expect you to do anything. You wanted to hang out, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then we’ll hang out. We can watch some car crash TV or put a movie on.”
She nods her head and takes a deep breath but still doesn’t move.
“I can take you home if you’d prefer?” My chest grows tight at the thought of her not wanting to see my place; not wanting to be with me.
“No!” she shouts all too quick and my eyes widen. “I mean… erm… a movie sounds great.”
She smiles and I can see the hope in her eyes that begs me not to ask any questions. I keep my eyes pinned on hers and before I can stop myself, I’m leaning forward, my lips a centimeter from hers. I can feel every breath that she exhales and I desperately want to close the distance, to let our lips touch for the first time, but she pulls back and I know it’s not the right time.
I pull further back and stand up, trying to shake off the rejection that I feel.
“Come on,” I say, holding my hand out to her.
She looks up at me and I watch as her chest rises and falls on a deep breath before she places her hand in mine and steps out of the car.
Present
I sit and watch as Frankie tries to shout for help around the gag that I shoved into his big mouth. He’s been sat tied to a chair for five hours now and none of the blows to his body or face that Ryan has given him have made him talk.
My eyes connect with his and I can see it in the depths of them. I know that he knows where Louis is.
I squint my eyes at him, standing up slowly. The only sound in the room is the sound of my zip as I undo my sports jacket and hang it on the back of my chair.
“Frankie,” I mumble.
I walk to the little table that’s set up fifteen feet way, examining all of the tools that I laid out hours ago. I pick up a pair of pliers and turn to face him.
“You know, these are good for multiple things.” I let that sink in and then say, “I could use them to pull off your fingernails.” I shrug. “But that’s been overdone, right?”
He squirms in the chair, not able to move against the ropes tied around him.
“I could pull one of your teeth out?” I look to the ceiling and then back down again with an evil grin on my face. “Or…”
His eyes widen as I place the pliers down and pick up a thin sharp knife. I raise my brow and turn back to him, letting him see it in my eyes; how far I’m willing to go to get the information I need to find Jas.
Time is ticking away and he’s now had her way too long; God only knows what he’s done to her by now. I’m frazzled and desperate, I need to find her and this fucker is pissing me the hell off.
“Here’s the thing...” I step toward him, twirling the knife in my hand. “You don’t really seem to be hearing me, Frankie. I’m starting to think you may be deaf. I want to know where Louis is and I want to know now.”
I raise my brows and circle him. He needs to realize that he’s the prey and I’m the predator. He thinks because he’s one of Louis’ lackeys that he’ll somehow come out unscathed. He’s wrong, so so wrong. I’ll leave him lying in his own pool of blood for days, bringing him to the edge of death. I’ll wait until he thinks he’s going to die then bring him back to do it all over again.
“So, I’ll ask one more time… Where is Louis?” I yank the gag out of his mouth and wait for him to talk.
“Fuck you!” He spits out, snarling at me like a dog.
“Tut tut tut.” I shake my head. “That’s the wrong answer.”
“I’m gonna kill you,” he sneers.
I turn to Ryan and throw my head back laughing, the sound bouncing off the walls and when I stop, I turn my stare onto Frankie.
“Wrong fucking answer.” I throw the knife in the air and catch it by the handle. “Those eardrums of yours? Do they even work?” I raise a brow and step to the side of him. “I’m not sure they do.”
I take a deep calming breath and let myself go to that place, the place where my demons live and plunge the knife into his ear.
He screams, trying to squirm away from me but the fucker knows he isn’t going anywhere.
Blood pours out of his ear and I’m sure that I can hear the pop of his ear drum as the blade pierces it.
“Now,” I say, p
ulling the knife out and twisting as I go. “You have one working ear left, think you can hear me properly now?”
His face screws up and I watch as the blood flows down his neck and into the collar of his t-shirt. His head rolls to the side and I’m almost sure he’s going to pass out.
“Where the fuck is he!”
“Fuck… you.”
I come awake with a start, looking around to try and find the noise that slipped through the pleasant dream I was having of Jay. The thug in the corner has his head back against the wall and loud, warthog like, snores fill the small space of the room. I scowl because I’ve never heard someone snore so loud. I mean, Callie snores enough to wake me sometimes but not on the same caliber as this guy. The need to throw the bedside lamp at his ugly face is tempting but for one, I’m tied to the bed by some sort of thick rope, and two, I don’t want to wake him in fear of what he’ll do to me, or fetch Louis from wherever he’s disappeared off to. So, I lay here, cringing at the God-awful sound that permeates my ear drums, cursing the likes of my brother and wondering when Jay will come rescue me from this hell hole.
Looking toward the small window, I notice, through the layers of grime that cover every inch of the glass, the sun rising. The sky, I imagine, is a brilliant blue and the thought of the sun warming my skin has my body relaxing a little, along with little tingles that cover my skin. The thought of not ever getting to experience life on the outside again has tears pooling in my eyes and yet another lump forms deep in my throat. I will not cry, I’m stronger than that. Because of Louis and his sick fantasies, the pain I went through all those years ago has made me stronger than ever before. I won’t cry in the hands of this monster or his friend, this is just another bump in the road for me, another bit of drama to add to my story. I sigh loudly without realizing and the guy in the corner wakes, startled with wide eyes and his brown hair standing at odd angles. His eyes pin me back and they narrow. What the hell have I done? It’s not like I can do anything. I just stare openly at him, wondering who the heck he is and why he’s acting as Louis’ accomplice.