Page 21 of Spiders in the Grove

“LYDIA!” Cesara shouts; before I notice Joaquin coming toward me, Cesara is between us, trying to hold him back. “Joaquin, wait! Just wait a fucking minute, all right!”

But he’s not listening, and he grabs Cesara’s arm and shoves her aside before bearing down on me like a towering, murderous shadow. Joaquin’s eyes…he’s going to kill me; my ‘brilliant’ plan was the worst plan I’ve ever come up with.

Nonetheless, I stay in character, rounding my chin defiantly, daring him to do his worst; a grin dances on my lips. “Do it,” I challenge. “Do it!”

“Please, Joaquin,” Cesara begs, coming up behind him. “At least let her explain herself—please!”

Is that real begging? She’s actually begging this man for my life. Interesting.

Without acknowledging her, Joaquin crouches in front of me, propping his arms atop his legs; he cocks his head to one side, and then the other, studying me, as though undecided whether I’m the most intriguing thing he’s ever encountered, or the stupidest.

“Is that what you want?” he taunts me. “To kill you?”

“I don’t care what you do,” I snap back, “just don’t touch me like that.”

A hint of a smile appears around his eyes.

“Joaquin—”

He puts up his hand and silences Cesara.

“I’m not going to kill her,” he says, and it surprises me. “Just like you didn’t kill her when you first brought her here—like you, Cesara, I see something in her worth studying. Like you, Cesara…” he grins at me, and slowly rises into a stand. “…I see something in her I want, something I’ll have before long.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I ask, still sitting with my back pressed against the sofa; my legs spread open; an I-fucking-dare-you look on my face.

He spears his fingers through the top of his hair, and then adjusts his tie. “I like a woman hard to get,” he says. “But one who hates men this much, presents an even more intriguing challenge—and I never back down from a challenge.”

He turns to Cesara. “Take off your clothes,” he tells her, and she knows he means business; she knows this isn’t the time to stall, or argue, or play hard-to-get herself.

Cesara steps out of her red dress, letting it pool around her feet.

Joaquin grabs a fistful of the back of her hair and he turns her naked body around, bending her over the sofa arm.

He looks right at me as he shoves himself into her from behind. “I want you to watch me fuck the woman you’ve…”—he thrusts his hips—“…grown so attached to.”

My jaw tightens, grinding my teeth; my nostrils flare; my eyes shoot him with hatred and vengeance. But I don’t test his patience, knowing I’ve already not once, but twice now, kissed the mouth of Lady Luck and saved myself from certain death. But Lady Luck, like all ruthless bitches, rarely ever offers thirds.

Niklas

Jackie breathes heavily into the phone. “You should’ve seen it,” she says. “I knew stuff like this went on in the world, but…Niklas, it was awful—awful!”

“Calm down,” I tell her. “Remember what we talked about—you need to stay in character at all times, even when you think you’re alone—”

“I can’t!” she cuts me off. “I’m surprised I could hold it together while I was there; I almost lost it. You sent the wrong person, Nik—what the hell were you thinking, anyway?”

I’m starting to think she’s right—I shouldn’t have sent her; I should’ve sent someone experienced. But it’s too late to do anything about that now. I just need to keep her calm, and in character long enough to pull this off.

“Are you Ok, Jackie?” Is Izzy Ok? Was she even there? I really need to know what Jackie found out about Izabel, but right now Jackie is priority.

“Sure,” she snaps back sarcastically, “I’m per-fect! I’m in Mexico, pretending to be someone who likes to buy slaves, surrounded by dozens of sick, twisted people who actually do like it, and I’m on the verge of losing my shit right there in front of everybody—I can’t go back tomorrow; I just can’t do it, Niklas. Besides, I…” She trails off.

“You what?”

I hear her sigh into the phone.

“Jackie?”

“I’m out of money,” she confesses.

---