Page 133 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Well fuck.
Underneath me, Ella’s voice is breathy, and I do not know if it’s an act, if she is trying to soothe him, or if this is the default she falls into around him. It wasn’t like this with me. It was stronger. Friendly, kind, but crisper. Now though, it’s like she is…groveling.
I feel her back move when she speaks. “It’s okay. He was—”
The man laughs.Mayhem.He laughs, then I hear footsteps, and I raise up, peeking over the side of the bed. My heart tumbles in my chest. I see black pants, ink over golden skin, and nothing else before someone grabs the back of my neck and the warm barrel of a gun is pushed into my mouth as I am yanked to my feet, almost stepping on Ella, but I manage not to trip, not hurt her as I leap over her.
The hold on my neck is strong, but it slides to my throat, and I’m pulled against this man’s chest, his other arm bound over me, holding the gun in my mouth. I taste metal, something more bitter. The warmth on my tongue is bordering on painful.
My eyes go to Ella, and she is slowly standing to her feet, her cheeks flushed and her hair a mess around her face.
A voice whispers in my ear, “Close your eyes. Don’t fucking look at her.”
I close my eyes, otherwise staying extremely still.Go limp. Go limp. Limp, limp, limp.
“Don’t.” That word is not for me, I can tell. I feel the man’s chest rise at my back, like he is holding his breath after he issued the command.
But the girl doesn’t listen to it. “He was just—”
“If you speak one more fucking word, I’m pulling the trigger. You want that, huh? You wanted me to murder someone for you all along? After this one, we can head back to your trailer park and kill your mom while we’re at it? How’s that sound for a date?” His voice is even, almost amused, and it makes the words he speaks even more threatening.
I squeeze my thighs together. I don’t want to have an accident, but my mouth is watering around the barrel of the gun, it is uncomfortable against my teeth, and I know his finger is on the trigger. I cannot fight back and I can’t defend myself with words either.
Limp, limp, limp.
Silence echoes in the room, and I am grateful for it.
He pushes the barrel further into my mouth. My stomach convulses, but I do not gag.
“You don’t have a gag reflex,” he whispers in my ear, and shivers slide down my spine. I squeeze my eyes closed tighter. “I can only guess how you learned that.”
Saliva escapes the corner of my mouth, dripping down my chin. Bad memories threaten to burst in my brain like pulsing lights knocking against a dark box.
“You think you’ve been through shit?” He laughs. It is a boy’s laughter, carefree in the most disturbing way. “If I find you alone in a room with my girl again, you’ll be praying you can get your sorry ass back to that fucking whore house of yours in one piece.” Then he pulls the gun from my mouth and shoves me away from him. I stumble toward the bed, my eyes flying open as I stare at the dark duvet beneath my fingers. “Now get the fuck out of this room.”
My knees shake and the pressure on my bladder is almost too much.Too much too much too much.“I cannot leave. Lucifer said—”
I hear the girl gasp at the same time a dull pain registers on the back of my skull, bringing me down to my elbows on the bed. Spots pop in front of my eyes, the sharp pain in my head growing brighter.
He hit me with the gun.
“I don’t give afuckwhat anyone said.Get. Out.”
I do not move. I do not breathe. I’m trying to adjust to the dazzling pain, but before I can, he tosses the gun on the bed where it lands harmlessly out of my reach, then he is grabbing the back of my neck again and yanking me around, aiming me toward the open door.
“Here. I’ll help you.” He walks forward with me, then purposefully knocks the side of my head against the doorjamb.
The girl makes a strangled sound, like a growl, but she says nothing, and I think it is for the best.
Dazed, the man throws me into the dark hallway, and before I can catch my bearings, the door slams shut behind me.
I stare at it as I twist around, stumbling backward, my palms splayed on the wall opposite the door.
My chest is heaving, emotions of past memories assaulting me.
I take deep, burrowing breaths.
It is for her, for her,for her.The girl with blonde hair. My ghost of good memories.
