Page 51 of Vicious Punks
I quickly look around and my whole body shudders at how the walls seem to be closing in on me as my breathing comes faster and faster. There is no escaping this time, I’m going to die tonight. He’s here inside the house. I glance down at Logan as his eyelashes flutter, noticing how quiet the room seems. I can’t leave him out here like this, they’ll put a bullet through his brain. This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have come here. To keep Logan alive like this, for me to find him still breathing tells me enough. This is Payne’s way of getting inside my mind to fuck with me, he’s playing with his food, which just happens to be me. He’s going to kill everyone who’s ever helped me right in front of my very eyes and there’s nothing I can do about it. He knows me well. I never was any good at my obedience lessons, and I rebelled with everything inside my body. He’s provoking me to come out, to show myself. Logan can’t stay here. Payne really will torture him in front of me before he kills him to make me suffer.
I stand on shaking legs and bend down to grab him under his armpits. I don’t know how people do it in the movies, moving a heavy body around without breaking a sweat. I start dragging him across the room, a few feet towards my closet and his breathing picks up as if he’s in pain the whole time I’m moving him. I pause and take a deep breath as sweat coats my skin even though I’m cold, beyond freezing. With one more pull, I let go of him and fall on my ass in the huge closet. His head thumps against the floor and his eyes snap open as he sucks in a sharp pained breath.
“Get out of here. Run,” he whispers, his lashes fluttering as he tries to focus on me.
“There’s no escaping, Logan,” I reply back, my voice drained of any emotion because this is finally it… the end for me.
Everything I did was for nothing. That one small chance of freedom is already gone. At least I finally got to live for a little these last few weeks. I found a way to survive where I wasn’t constantly hiding in fear. I made friends for the first time ever that made me laugh. I found pleasure that I never thought was possible for someone like me. I found a strength I didn’t know I possessed, standing up for myself against these assholes who tried to bring me to my knees, but here I am. I’m still standing.
“Will you just listen for once! Run, Tillie,” Logan says in a commanding, raspy voice just before he passes out.
Run? That’s the thing…there isn’t anywhere to run. All I have left is to face Payne head on. But, even if I die, I’m bringing him with me, straight into hell.
I search underneath Logan, feeling the gun tucked into the back of the waistband of his pants, and pull it out from under him. I stare almost numbly down at it… it takes just one bullet to end it all. Glancing down at Logan, I regret that things couldn’t have turned out a different way. He could have learned to trust me and I could have had him on his knees even just once as he learned I’m not his enemy but those things won’t be happening. Leaning down, I rest my lips against his ear, only so he can hear my voice even though he’s passed out.
“You asshole, I hate you for making me feel. You won’t ever see me again and you won’t ever know this but thank you.” I stay like this for a second, trying to gather my courage to get up and face my father.
I reach into his pants pocket and grab his cellphone as I stand up. Placing his thumb on the screen, I scroll through his contacts and hit dial once I find who I’m looking for.
“Logan,” Nicky’s deep voice says through the phone, oddly calming me.
“It’s me. I needed someone to know I’m going to disappear. Demon Jokers are in the house. Logan is in my bedroom closet knocked out and bleeding. I don’t know where Dalton is…” I trail off, closing my eyes and praying he’s not dead.
It takes a lot to take down my giant biker, but Payne doesn’t do his business alone. I know he will have brought some of the club members with him.
“Stay right the fuck there. Don’t leave the closet and, Tillie… if this is a trap, I’m going to have to kill you.” His voice sounds strained and he curses in Japanese under his breath.
“Nicky,” I choke out and stifle the sob trying to break free. “I need to make sure Dalton isn’t… I can’t leave him down there by himself. By the time you get here, I’ll already be gone. Tell Tey I’m sorry I can’t fix his unicorn. I’m sorry.” The sob I’ve been trying to hold back breaks free as I hang up, cutting off whatever he was shouting.
Dropping the phone by Logan, I bite my lip to stay quiet as tears keep trailing down my face. I shouldn’t ever have been born, this is an endless cycle of me going back right where I belong. I’ll kill myself before they can drag me back to that hellhole. I take a deep, shuddering breath and walk quietly out of the closet, shutting the door behind me.
I’ll say it again and again, I hate the dark. Every dark shadow looks like it’s going to jump at me and drag me away until I’m just a memory, stuck in the darkness. Creeping out of my room, I don’t hear anything but my own breathing and the sound of my teeth grinding to stop them from chattering. Glancing up and down the hallway, nothing moves and I step out, heading towards the stairs. Passing the doorways, I stick close to the walls and bring the gun up each time I look inside. At the top of the stairs, I freeze, feeling as if someone is staring at me. I pinch my eyes closed in dread, opening them a second later to confront my worst fear and slowly spin on my heels.
“You didn’t think you could hide forever, did you?” Poe stands a foot away from me, his leather cut with the Demon Jokers patch mocking me.
Just hearing his voice causes me to flinch, almost dropping the gun as I aim it at his face. He grins when he sees my hand shaking, making the gun tremble, and steps closer.
I pull the trigger without thinking and only hear the clicking sound in return. Nothing happened. The blood drains from my face and it feels like I’m back in the basement, everything narrowing down to this moment.
“I’m very disappointed, Til. After all that training on how to use a gun, you don’t check to see if the chamber is empty?” He shakes his head, clicking his tongue, and brings his own gun out faster than I can track it.
He whips it towards my face and slams it down on top of my head, making my knees buckle under the blow. Grabbing my head, my fingers come away wet as my stomach turns. I end up throwing up at his feet, everything a blur as he snarls in disgust and grabs a fist full of my hair. I whimper as he starts walking down the stairs, leaving me no choice but to follow. I scramble to my legs, almost falling again with how dizzy I am. He whistles, ignoring my weak attempts to swing at him but the angle he has my head leaves it impossible to reach him. I leave scratch marks on the walls as he drags me down, trying to slow him down. I’m not ready to face the devil.
He thrusts me down hard to the ground once we reach the first floor, and takes intimidating steps towards me as I crawl backwards on my hands and feet to get away from him. Each step he takes sounds loud to my ears, it’s a noise that keeps jolting me into moving faster. I bump into a wall and he looms over me before bending down, clasping his hand around my throat like a collar locking in place. He lifts me off the ground by the neck, ignoring me as I gasp for breath and scratch at his forearms as my feet drag against the floor. Poe continues walking forward, leading us into the kitchen and slamming me backwards over the kitchen island. I claw at his hand, seeing spots dance in my vision and I know if my eyes close, I’ll wake up to see myself living in my worst nightmare.
“Nice of you to join us, Tillie.” Payne’s voice skitters down my spine, making me wish Poe would keep squeezing until he crushes my neck. “Release her, she doesn’t get to escape that easily. I have many plans for her,” Payne chuckles in the same gruff, sinister laugh he’s always used just before he started his obedience lessons.
Fingers unwrap from my neck and I’m able to draw in a deep breath as I cough. I realize I’m always in this position where I can only ever see a ceiling as I’m placed on my back. Poe grabs the front of my shirt and makes me stand up while turning me to face the other side of the kitchen.
Dalton starts struggling in the chair he’s tied to once our eyes make contact. His hands are bound behind his back and a piece of tape covers his mouth but he doesn’t stop trying to shout. My lips tremble as I try not to cry when I notice his shirt is torn at his side, the material soaked with his blood and dripping onto the floor around him. Movement to his right finally has me glancing at the monster I call Father. I don’t know what I expected, but it’s not what I was imagining when I thought about seeing him again. Payne looks like the reaper is going to claim him any second now, his skin is sickly pale and heavy dark circles rests under his eyes.
“I went through a lot of trouble to find you.” Payne toys with the knife in his bloody hands and clasps a hand on Dalton’s shoulder in a threatening move that says he’ll kill him without breaking a sweat, as he waits for me to speak. “Nothing to say to your dear old dad?”
I stay silent, my mind racing a mile a minute as I try to think of a way out of this, but I keep coming up blank. Footsteps to my right has me glancing at the mudroom, to see Whiskey striding towards me without planning to stop. I try to back up but Poe tightens his hold on the front of my shirt and lifts until I’m standing on my toes just as Whiskey grabs my arms to hold me still.
“Did you miss us? It’s been a while since I’ve been between those creamy thighs. That night we all took a turn squeezing into that tight virgin hole of yours still plays in my head like it was just yesterday. I guess raping you never tamed your rebellious side, but we still have time to give it another try.” Whiskey winks at me and lifts his hand to run down my cheek but I quickly whip my head away before he can touch me.
My stomach turns, feeling vomit climb up my throat again and sweat rolling down my spine, but I try to keep my face blank so he doesn’t know how terrified I am. I can’t seem to focus my gaze on anything, but the moment I glance at Dalton, my world seems to stop and all I can see is him. His eyes burn with fury, his jaw tight, and it looks like he’s not breathing as he stares back at me.
