Chapter 31
Horns and that one last time.
Josh tears Tequila’s tape off her mouth and then takes the knife and frees her hands. I’m considering screaming at the top of my lungs, hoping that someone would hear me. My heart is pounding loudly when Josh drags her across the room and then slaps her again. Tequila is a strong-minded woman, but in this situation she won’t be able to defend herself against a guy who is twice her size, a guy that is so sick and twisted that he wants to rape her in front of me. She knows that he is a monster.
“Come on, Tequila. What are you waiting for? Get up and do a dance for me. My girl here needs to know that she was always my possession and you’re going to remind her of that.” He laughs, running his hand over her neck, then lips.
“Try touching me, arsehole, and I’ll cut your dick with my bare teeth,” she spits, taking a step back. Josh slaps her over the head and then grabs her by her hair, dragging her up so her face is only inches away from his.
“Fucking hurry up. My dick is hard and someone needs to suck it,” he growls, then forces her face down to his crotch.
“Josh, you don’t have to do this,” I yell in desperation, as an icy blast of fear slides its way up my spine. Josh clenches his chunky fingers around her face, fighting with the zipper of his trousers. A moment passes, and Tequila gathers herself and starts hitting him with everything she has. He leans over the cabinet and all of a sudden he has a large knife in his hand. She stops struggling when he moves it to her neck. Terror explodes in my chest, numbing every limb in my body. I can’t let him do this.
“Stop fighting with me. I want Rose to see how I fuck her best friend’s mouth. I’ll start cutting her skin off, piece by piece after I fuck her used pussy too,” he whispers staring straight into Tequila’s eyes. She is on her knees in front of him, shaking with fury and fear. My mind is like a dry sponge, empty and drained. I know that psycho. He means every word, and he is going to hurt her until I beg him to take me instead. When he wraps his hand around her neck and forces her to kiss him, that does it for me. I’m done. I can’t keep it together anymore.
The new me is fighting with my old self not to give up, not to show any weakness, but there is only one way out of this situation. I have to convince him to take me instead of Tequila.
“Strip or I will rip your clothes off piece by piece with my knife, slicing you up a bit as I go.” Tequila is shaking now, slowly lifting herself up, most likely ready to obey his orders. “
“Oh grow up. You aren’t some master criminal. You’re a small-time junky who surrounds himself with smarter people,” I shout to get his attention back on me. “You want to fuck her to frighten me? Oh please. You useless idiot, I’m glad it’s not me. She is weak and easy. You think I’m going to beg you to take me instead? We both know that’s why you brought me here.”
I take a breath and hope that Tequila knows I’m trying to help.
“Okay, here goes. This is what you want—you want me to beg … Come on, Josh, it’s like the good old days.” My tone is sarcastic as I plead, “Oh, Josh, no, please don’t hurt her. I’ll do whatever you want.” I swallow my residual humiliation and choking fear, hoping and praying that provoking him spares Tequila. She doesn’t deserve any of this, even if I have to experience the same nightmare all over again.
“Tahlia, no … you can’t—”
“Shut up or I will shut that trap for you,” Josh roars, silencing Tequila with his fist.
He turns to me. “You think that you get to tell me what to do? I’ll take you, right after I’m done with her. Besides, I have already tasted your pussy, and it’s always more satisfying breaking a virgin for the very first time. The screams turn me on so much, oh and … the begging. Steph was the same. She screamed and fought me, but she knew that she couldn’t win. I felt so euphoric when I finally slit her throat.” He licks the knife, staring at me with those heavy, hooded eyes.
I shift to my sexy voice. “I’m not the same scared little girl from the past anymore. Tequila is no one, and you know you want me. My body is different now, filled with beautiful tattoos and you know that I have a great arse,” I say, trying not to throw up at the same time.
The look on his face as he considers what I’ve said churns my stomach as the truth of this situation hits me hard. Josh doesn’t want Tequila. He is only doing this out of spite. I see that mad twisted gleam that starts dancing in his eyes, that shifts into an open curiosity. He licks his lips, eyeing me up and down, calculating and measuring if I’m still worth it. Tequila doesn’t get it. She won’t be able to recover from the things that he’ll do to her if she stays in this room. Josh wants to triumph over me with his power. He is taking that obsession with me from a couple of years ago to the next level.
He shouts at the top of his lungs when Tequila starts crawling towards the door. He kicks her hard in the stomach, then yanks her hair, sending his fist through her jaw. She falls on the floor, unconscious. I push off my hands, screaming her name, tangling myself on the bed.
“Fine, if you want this, then you’ll have it. You will remember this afternoon for the rest of your life—which will only last until I get tired of playing with my little pet mouse.” He’s suddenly standing next to me. He uses a small silver key to release me from the handcuffs. “Stand in the middle of the room and start taking your clothes off. We need to get reacquainted with each other again, right?”
I have red marks on my wrists, and the room starts spinning when I’m back on my feet. With shaky legs I step in front of the large bed. My vision is clouded with thoughts and memories about Micah. There is no doubt that Josh will kill me if I try to run or attack him. Besides, I have no idea how many people he potentially has downstairs. My hands are shaking when I pull off my jumper and jeans, imagining that I’m undressing in front of Micah, not the man that violated me, raped me, and beat me until I couldn’t get up. I do everything mechanically, shutting my mind down, because it’s better not to think about what is about to happen.
When I stand in front of him in my underwear, the darkness clouds everything: my mind, my vision and my ripped-apart soul. My clothes are by the end of the bed, and I know that I might have only a split second decision to make this right.
Tequila is unconscious and that might be a good thing. It’s better if she doesn’t see what is just about to happen.
“Do you think that your perfect Micah Thomson won’t notice how ugly you really are?”
I dismiss his questions, his words like a thousand small knives being twisted inside my gut.
“Bra, take it off. I need to look at your tits,” I hear him ordering me, hopefully for the last time. I know that my hands are trembling when I release the clip and my bra falls on the floor. The rat is laughing out loud and when I open my eyes he is standing right in front of me, way too close. I have been telling myself that I shouldn’t be scared, but right now I’ve lost control. I’m at his mercy, and the problem is that he doesn’t have any kind of empathy, none. And he won’t stop until he completely breaks me, until I’m in that cramped, dark hole in the wall again.
He licks his lips and, making eye contact, he holds up the same butcher knife that he used on Tequila. A moment later, he slices through my skin opening a small deep wound. The pain is familiar to me, almost a comfort as blood starts flowing down. I grit my teeth, forcing myself not to make a sound, because it will only make things worse.
I don’t know how much time passes, but in the end the blood is running down my arms, and the pain escalates. He cuts the side of my knickers and they fall down. Fear stabs my heart, grinding a hole that may never heal, when I feel him violating me between my legs.
“Wet, always so wet. I’ll teach that dirty cunt how to behave. You’re my property and you always will be. Say ‘yes, master.’ Otherwise I’ll stick this knife between your legs,” he whispers in my ear. I swallow hard, still looking at him and wondering if this is going to be my end. The tiny voice in my head says that I have to obey him, because I can’t let him turn to Tequila.
“Yes, master,” I say. A creepy smile appears on his twisted face.
“Get down on your knees and suck that dick, because this is all I’ll use you for from now on,” he orders me.
I fight with myself for a good few seconds, until I kneel in front of him, staring straight into that bulge in his crotch. He unzips his trousers and frees himself, looking down on me. For so long I believed that no one would ever force me to do anything like this again. For so long I thought I was healed.
“Suck it, or I’ll choke you with it,” he rasps, throwing the butcher knife on the bed. I take him into my hand and put it into my mouth trying to force myself not to gag. Tears are already streaming down my cheeks as he starts moaning. “Good. Suck it like a professional.”
My stomach revolts, but I free my other hand realising that my jeans are only inches away from my knees. If I can just reach out and grab that small knife that I hid away earlier on, then I might be saved. Panic mixed with disgust shuts down my defence mechanism, but I force myself to glance back at him. His eyes are closed, and his head is arched backwards.
I use my tongue to make this more pleasurable for him, while my fingers creep over towards my clothes. It takes me only a moment to find that knife hidden in my back pocket. Adrenaline spikes, as I keep moving my mouth up and down. He may enjoy this for a bit longer, because my new self screams that this is the last and final time that he ever forces me to do anything so vile.
“Yeah, whore, good. This is what I’m talking about. Don’t stop or I’ll fuck you hard, tear you apart,” he mumbles.
I wrap my fingers around the knife and attack. It’s like I’m charged with adrenaline when I know the time has come. My heart races and the world feels like it’s stopped. I pull my mouth away and stab him hard, right in the thigh, right over his femoral artery, screaming like a banshee.
The rat roars, stumbles backwards and falls on the floor. I have the smallest knife in my hand as I stand over him, taking long pulls of air, frozen in time.
“You fucking bitch, I’m going to kill you for that!” Blood spurts out of his wound, dripping down his leg, creating a small pool on the carpet. In that moment I’m like a person possessed by a demon, because I launch at him and stab him in his groin as hard as I can, twisting my lips with satisfaction. He tries to grab me, but he is clumsy from the pain and blood loss.
I’m back on my feet, thinking that I have to get out of here, out of this room. Luckily the door to the bedroom is unlocked and while that arsehole is screaming his head off I look at Tequila. There is no time and I won’t be able to run with her, so I grab his knife and get out knowing that I’ve only got this one chance. Josh won’t do anything to her; he will go after me instead. Gripping his large knife, I run to the stairs and race down, still naked, losing blood, not paying attention to the deep cuts on my arms. The sudden dizziness nearly sweeps me off my feet.
I’m stunned to notice that there is no one waiting for me downstairs, shocked that I’m not falling into the hands of Josh’s henchmen. They either must have abandoned him or someone must have spooked them. Either way this seems too easy. What if this is a trap? I stop for a moment and glance around wondering what to do. I squeeze his large knife in my palm, knowing that I can use it to finish what I started, to kill that motherfucker, that piece of shit.
I take a few seconds to catch my breath, but then someone tackles me from behind and throws me on the floor. I smell him before I realise that he has me again. He grabs my wrists and sits on top of me and I drop the knife. His hands and face are covered with blood.
He hits me before I have a chance to get him off me.
“Cunt, stupid ungrateful cunt. Do you think that’s going to stop me? I’m going to tear you apart, you whore!” he screams, and hits me again, most likely breaking my jaw, because I see stars in front of my eyes. I feel warm liquid that spreads over my naked body. My vision is blurry, and pain explodes everywhere. When he starts fiddling with his crotch I already know this is the end. I haven’t stabbed him hard enough, and now I’m going to pay for it with my life.
I lift my head, and he spits into my mouth, rasping, “I’m going to take what’s mine and then I’ll fucking kill you!”