“Ruger!” She says.
“What?”
I tryto make it sound believable.
“I want you,”I tell her. “You were right. But I want you the way I want you… Tied up on the dining table spread eagle for me.”
“Fuck, that’s dirty,” she says. I have her attention. I feel sick as she looks at me, but I can hide any emotion that I choose. Even disgust. Her eyes roam over my body with nothing but pure lust. “You want to take my pregnant pussy.”
“Yeah. That’s what I want. Take my shit back.”
Stupid fucking woman.
“Okay,”she says. “I’ll let you do it then. Clothes off. You can tie me up. Maybe you’ll feel something if you see the way you’ve hurt me.”
It would be better if I forced out the lie that I didn’t want to hurt her. I can’t lie like that in front of God. I don’t want him looking that close when I start up sinning.
I watch Darlene undress. She has bruises all over her. Most are healed up. I never hit her torso. I stopped hitting her head once Gideon got through to me. I know they won’t leave me up here for long…
Southpaw is morepredictable than he thinks. He’ll send Tanner next because Tanner won’t lose his cool around me the way Gideon does. Gideon makes it to fucking easy because he has no damn control over himself. I’m amazed he made it through the Rangers without getting his ass kicked out right after basic training.
Doc taught me to shut the fuck up and follow orders. Gideon puffs his chest out and acts all ignorant all the time.
I thinkof everything except Darlene’s body. It makes me sick to think another man touched what was once mine. She looks like a ghoul to me and the bruising doesn’t help. Her thighs are fucked up. Her arms. Everywhere I could hit without hurting the baby.
“You look beautiful,” I say to her. If my lie gets any longer, I won’t be able to pull it off.
She looks so damnappreciative for the compliment. Was it like that with the other man? The man she laid on her back and hadthis baby for? She confessed everything she did and it wasn’t just once she laid with this motherfucker. What I feel for her is nothing more than pure hatred. I can barely hold all my hatred back.
Her ass presses into the table and she spreads her legs. The smell is something fierce. I know I should be cleaning her more, but it’s a pain in the ass and it doesn’t matter as long as I can ignore the rank smell.
“I can’t wait to feel your big dick,” she says. “None of the others had a dick like yours.”
I turn her voice into a wasp buzzing in the back of my head. She won’t be human for long.
“Let me tie you up.”
I can’t bring myself to call her a pet name. I can’t bring myself to think anything good about her. I watch her stomach moving as she lies on her back. She holds her arms up, preparing herself for me. I have rope for the task that Oske uses for cows or sheep or whatever animals she has grazing a few acres away from here.
Darlene must have some of the same brains as those sheep because she gives me her hands and I hear that fucking wasp buzz buzzing away with her dirty talk until I have her nice and secure on the dining table. I step back and out of her line of sight. I don’t want her neon eyes glued to me while I think about how to approach this.
I need the baby to survive.
That’sthe most important part of everything going on right now. Keep the baby alive.
“I’m gonna need to keep you quiet.”
I wrap up a white rag and Darlene eagerly opens her mouth. I don’t make eye contact with her. Once she has the rag in her mouth, I kiss her forehead. Throwing her a bone.
“Good…”
I can’t even finish the sentence. Good girl… She’s more like a dumb bitch. I move to the other side of the table where she can’t see me. Maybe I should strap her head down. I don’t know. My heart races because I’m new to this and I don’t want to fuck up. I stand between Darlene’s legs, looking at the part of her I need to work on before returning to the kitchen to grab my tools.
She sucks air in sharply when I pour rubbing alcohol over her stomach and skin. Working with a sterile white cloth and latex gloves on my hands, I rub every inch of her flesh clean that I’ll need to have cleaned up. The cold rubbing alcohol must tickle her. Those last sensations of life tingling across her skin before I slaughter her.
Doc, I wish you hadn’t died. I wish you hadn’t left me with my demons. I kept fighting as long as I could, but I done lost the fight.
I balancethe scalpel in my left hand, ready to make the first cut. I’ve dressed a deer. With Jairus and Jotham, I dressed an elk out in Montana. This is a little different. A lot different. Once I can get my hand to make that first cut. This would have been easier if this bitch hadn’t shot my good arm.