Page 108 of Velvet Cruelty

Doc snorts. “Parker moves in on the warehouse and the next morning the old woman’s in the hospital?”

The sound of flesh hitting flesh.

“Chiudi quella cazzo di bocca,” Eli hisses. Shut your fucking mouth.

I feel all three pairs of eyes on me. I let tiny trickles of breath run in and out of my nose, the rest of me is still as stone.

“Thank fucking Christ,” Eli mutters. “This conversation is over. Get dressed and come downstairs.”

The covers shift and Bobby’s warmth leaves my body.

The old woman’s in the hospital. Why would one person being hurt matter if the warehouse was attacked and lots of people were hurt? My body feels it before my mind understands. A sharp cramp in my stomach. My eyes fly open. Doc and Eli are at the bedroom door, Bobby has frozen, his t-shirt halfway on.

“Zia Teresa is in the hospital,” I say. “Mr. Parker attacked her.”

They have no time to lie. The answer is written on each of their faces.

Eli starts to say something, but a hole is opening inside me, a hole where Zia Teresa stands, smoking and telling me what to do. I scream and the sound comes from deep inside and goes on and on and on.

Bobby presses his hands to his ears. Doc bolts from the room. In a stride Eli is beside me. He grips my cheek and slaps me across the face. But I keep screaming. I scream until my head swells and my eyes blur. I will scream until I die.

Out of the haze comes Doc. With a needle. He jabs it in my arm and darkness falls.

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