Page 60 of Forever Midnight

“You swallow them or Joey puts a bullet through your head. Unless you prefer his dick. He obviously wants a piece of you.”

Joey grins, making my stomach turn.

“Pills or dick?” Vinni demands as Joey shoves the gun against my cheek.

“Pills,” I mumble, hoping that’s the end of it. “I’d rather die than let you fuck me.”

Vinni chuckles. “Sorry, Joey. We don’t have time anyway.”

None of this makes sense. Vinni’s babbling confuses me. “Wh-why p-pills?”

“Drag it out. You’ll try to fight it off but you won’t be able to for long. I want you to lie here dying and thinking about how you fucked up. Maybe you’ll get lucky and just pass out, but maybe you’ll choke on your vomit. Only time will tell.”

Another guy watches as I take the handful of pills in my mouth. I try to hide them under my tongue, but he kicks my leg and motions to the water bottle. “Drink up or we put a bullet in your head.”

“And I’ll record it and send it to your parents. Is that what you want?” Joey taunts while Vinni forces water in my mouth.

Reluctantly, my eyes filling with tears, I drink the water and swallow them down, opening my mouth to show them.

“Now, I gotta go,” Vinni says, like we’re friends. “Got shit to do. We’ll be back later, and maybe Joey can get his wish. You have a nice nap there, buddy. Oh, and fuck you.”

Vinni and Joey laugh while walking away from me. I listen to their footsteps, on the verge of a panic attack.

Tears stream down my face and I squeeze my eyes shut to stop the panic from pushing me into full on hysteria. I need my strength. I have to fight.

I have to reach Midnight.

ChapterTwenty-Five

MIDNIGHT

Aballed-up piece of paper hits me in the head from across the room. I look up, glaring at the culprit, unsurprised when I see Thorn cackling like the maniac he is.

“Excuse you.”

“Come on, Mids,” Thorn whines. “I don’t like it when you’re somber. Want to go hunt?”

“Thorn,” I grumble. “You know I don’t like that nickname.” I set my magazine down. “I’m not leaving here until Tru returns. Besides, it’s daytime.”

“That just adds to the fun.” He sits up, bracing his elbows on his knees. “It will pass the time until your honey bun returns.”

“Do not call him a honey bun.”

“Why not?” Eros chimes in, peeking up from his notebook. “Honey buns are delicious.”

“Ooh, yeah,” Raphael says from his perch by the window. “Now I want one. Washed down with the blood of a virgin.”

Eros snorts a laugh. “Good luck finding one of those these days.”

“Adult virgins still exist,” Raphael says.

“In New Onyx?” Eros asks with one raised eyebrow.

“Okay that’s fair,” Raphael concedes. “We need to go to one of those super conservative countries where men and women stay virgins until marriage.”

“Yes, but most of them get married young,” Thorn says. “The window is too tight.”

Raphael scrunches his nose. “Ugh. It’s so hard to find one these days. Remember how it used to be? Virgins everywhere. Their blood was so pure, so sweet. I miss it.”

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