Page 140 of Girls Night
Heart hammering like a wild stampede, I begin pinching myself over and over again, squeezing my eyes shut.
This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real.
“Shall we get on with it?’ the man questions, and much to his dismay, not a soul answers.
I don’t think anyone knows how. How could we when everything is still so vague and cryptic? What does he mean we’re going to deliver revenge? That we’ll be liberated after seeking our justice? In horror movie terms, that usually means killing someone…
But that can’t be it… Right?
Right?
The masked men murmur unintelligibly amongst themselves, turning to regard us all every so often. Beside me, Jules is shaking like crazy. When I glance over at her her pretty green eyes are widened and welled with unshed tears. She’s paler than normal, her mouth slightly ajar as she stares around the room. She won’t even look at me.
Moments later, one of the masked men sidles up to the table and plucks the guest book off the table. He brings it back to the group, which they begin to examine. Not long after that, the leader clears his throat. “When we call your name, please step forward and prepare to go upstairs. Once you make it inside your designated room, you’ll have thirty minutes to do what’s expected of you.”
“A-and what would that be?” someone questions.
The man chuckles, his shoulders bouncing through the motion. “All will be revealed soon enough,” he repeats. “There will be different tasks for everyone. Good thing you brought a plus one, huh? They’ll be here for moral support...and possibly leverage should it come to that.”
More horrified gasp.
More unsettled and terrified whimpers.
I pinch myself again.This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real.When the fuck am I going to wake up?!
“And if we don’t complete your task?” someone else asks.
The man chuckles again, exchanging a look between his men. “You die.”
* * *
They finally call my name. I don’t know when it happened, but one second I’m sitting there with Jules, both of us huddled into one another as hushed cries erupt around us, and the next we’re trailing down a darkened hallway with one of the masked men. I don’t even remember going up the stairs, that’s how out of it I am, and it’s definitely their fault. I didn’t realize it until just now, but they’ve obviously drugged us to some extent. I’m dizzy, sweating, and no matter how many deep breaths I take, my heart won’t calm it’s frantic tempo. Then again, with death on the table, I don’t think anyone could be calm.
Suddenly, the man stops before a door. Much like the maid, he remains silent as he opens the door and motions for us to go in.
I make it all of three steps in before my legs lock up and Jules crashes into me. I almost hurl right there, literally have to cover my mouth with a hand as the appetizers shoot up my throat.
It’s him.
My abuser.
The one and only source of my trauma I strive to keep buried in the past and out of my present; my sister’s ex-boyfriend’s father. He raped me more times than I can count...and I never told a soul. I couldn’t, not when he’d threatened to kill everyone I love if I did. By the time it slipped free one, it’d beenyears.Drea and his son had long since broken up,they’d moved.My parents tried to find justice, but by then, there was no proof. It was useless.
And now here he is, strapped naked to a chair in the middle of the room. There’s a gigantic bed behind him adorned with luxury linens. Don’t ask me for colors because the entire room is bathed in a bright red light emanating from the lamp on the dresser to my right. Evidently, we’re not the only ones who are drugged. They’ve probably given him more than he can handle given how he can barely hold his head up.
What’s standing perfectly upright, though?
His dick.
I’d say they juiced him up with Viagra.
“Your task is to kill him.” the masked man says. “Seek your justice and free yourself, Kaia. You have fifteen minutes on the clock.”
Fifteen minutes? I have fifteen minutes to...to kill him?
I puke. There’s literally nothing I can do about it this time. It spews free like the exorcist, dropping me to my knees as my mind tries to comprehend what I’ve just been told. My heart is on the verge of a full-on deadly attack.
Jules drops to her knees beside me, rubbing my back as my body continues heaving. “This is my fault, it’s all my fault. I’m sorry, Kai. I’m so fucking sorry. I should’ve listened to you,” she wails.
