Page 48 of Assassin's Obsession

I bite him like I did Freddy, but unlike the younger man, even drawing blood doesn't make Derian move his hand away.

"You're something else, Ms. Candi. I don't know if I envy the boss, or feel sorry for him."

If Angelo is the reason this is happening to me, he should definitely feel sorry for the other man because I'm going to steal one of his knives and stab him with it.

Mario straightens after giving my calves the same treatment as my thighs. But not even a millimeter of the duct tape reaches past the hem on my jeans to press against bare skin.

"We need to gag her next," Derian mutters. "She's proving to be some kind of cannibal."

"She bite you too?" Freddy asks with glee. "Hurt like a bitch when she did it to me."

Derian doesn't answer, but blood from his wound is making his hand slick on my face and I'm able to yank my head to the side. "Serves you both right. I hope your hands get infected and fall off."

"Yeah, you better get the bites disinfected. The human mouth has more than six billion bacteria," Mario says. "Some scientists estimate it's as high as twenty billion."

"You been watching the science channel again?" Derian's hand drops away from my face since I'm not screaming.

Mario shrugs. "It's interesting." He looks at Freddy. "Give me your tie."

Neither he, nor Derian, is wearing one. Mario is dressed like how you think a mafioso would, in a suit and shiny dress shoes. But the guys that work for Angelo both wear clothes I wouldn't be surprised to see on soldiers in a dark ops unit.

Yes, I watch television too. Not the science channel, like Mario, but I learn things.

"What about me?" The metallic taste of blood makes me feel nauseous. "I've got both Mario and Derian's blood in my mouth. I'm going to have to do a full course of doxy-PEP."

"Shit. Death ain't going to like that," Mario mutters, reaching toward me with the tie.

I rear my head back.

"Wait," Derian orders. "You got a clean pocket square on you?"

Mario nods. "Course I do. I was raised just like you were."

"You guys carry handkerchiefs?" Freddy asks mockingly. "What kind of mamma's boys are you fuckers?"

"The kind that can kneecap you here in the alley and leave you for the rats to find." Suddenly the hand that isn't holding hiscrisp white handkerchief is filled with a gun already tipped with a silencer.

Is that the one he shot Gino with? Must be. He's not going to carry around two guns with silencers on them, is he?

The thoughts are bouncing around my brain like ping pong balls at a national tournament.

"Put that away and use your kerchief as a barrier between Ms. Candi's mouth and the tie. Who knows the last time he washed it?"

"Hey, I'm not a slob. I get my ties cleaned whenever I spill somethin' on 'em."

"Yeah, you're real fastidious," Derian mocks. "Death don't want your dirty neck sweat in Ms. Candi's mouth."

I would laugh at the ridiculous exchange, but I'm too busy trying to avoid Mario's attempt to gag me, my jaw locked tight and my lips sealed.

"Don't make it so tight that it hurts her," Derian orders.

"You don't gotta tell me not to hurt her. I like my hands where they are just fine."

"You don't have to do this," I say in desperation, my head turning side to side to avoid Mario's questing hands. "I won't tell anyone. I promise on my mom and sister's lives. Just let me go home."

"Don't worry about your ma and sis," Mario says. "They're being watched over too. Death ain't going to let harm come to them."

At the thought of my mom and sister beingwatched overby the mafia, I scream with frustration.

---