Page 57 of The Right Woman

“What?” he asks with a whiny, annoying voice. Obviously, he doesn’t know what’s pressing against him right now.

“Move with me. Let’s go.”

“Oh shit.”

“Don’t speak or I’ll shoot you here, you waste of fucking life.” We spin, and I lead him toward the car, then open the passenger door. “Get in.”

“I don’t?—”

With a chopping motion, I hit the back of his head hard enough to knock him out, then shove him inside. In a few steps, I’m back behind the wheel and take off to my second spot, hoping it’s as abandoned as it looked from the satellite maps. His body slumps over toward me, but I shove him back into his seat and fix his seatbelt. The child lock is down on his door, so he shouldn’t be able to jump out. But I’ll just pistol whip him again if he so much as looks at me.

It’s about half an hour until we reach the destination, and he awakens enough that I slap some duct tape over his mouth and his eyes, then bind his hands with it, too. Then I force him out of the car as he wails, tears and snot streaming down his face.

“You seem scared to have someone force you to do something you don’t want to,” I say, holding him by the back of his collar. His backpack is still hanging on, so I use it to shove him toward the trunk of the car where I grab what I need.

He stumbles and whimpers as I shove a broomstick in his back, leading him to the collapsing barn over some old gravel driveway. The place is miles from anyone else, and it’ll take a long time before anyone finds him here.

When he finally trips across the concrete threshold that once must have held barn doors, I smile at my luck. Gripping his waist, I tug down his pants, then hoist up his hips and shove the end of the broomstick in his tight asshole. The gag muffles his horrific screams, but the sound brings me some pleasure. The dirt doesn’t help him gain any footing as he attempts to scramble away on his knees.

“I’ve probably torn something there by now,” I say, thrusting the stick in deeper. “Do you think this is how Piper felt when you raped her?”

His sobs turn into words, and I rip the tape from his mouth to hear him. “This is about Piper? Piper Hendricks? She-she was aslut, man! Shewantedit!”

“You were, what,nineteenwhen you did that to a thirteen-year-old girl?”

“I’m sorry, okay. I-I’m sorry! Want me to apologize to her? I’m sorry! Just,please, don’t kill me, man. Please…”

“She tried to kill herself because of what you did. You think an apology and begging for your life will save you?”

Through huffed breaths, he gives up, slumping onto the stone floor. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Get up.”

“No. I-I won’t say anything. I’ll disappear.Please!”

Using the end of the stick, I shove in until he squirms away on his knees, gets up and runs forward, bashing his face into an old post. He screams from the pain. With a hand on his backpack, I hold him to the post as he shuffles his feet, still unaware of his surroundings.

“You don’t get a choice on what you see or hear. You don’t get any autonomy here.” I take more duct tape and bind his arms and legs to the post as he tries to kick and squirm out of my hold, but I’m overwhelmingly much stronger. “The only thing you’ll know is the smell of your flesh burning as you die.”

“No! Please! No!” His shrieks are the last thing I hear before I slap another piece of tape over his mouth.

I grab the can of gasoline and spread it around.

As I walk out of the old shed, I take a deep inhale of the crisp night air.

Then, I light the match.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

PIPER

Being alonein the house is weird. It still doesn’t feel likemineor that I belong, but Adon says it will just take time and to put my belongings wherever I want. Maybe once I start paying him rent, it will feel more like a home.

Freckles makes it feel more that way, and as I arrange plants around the living room, it looks pleasantly Piper-ified.

Avery and Odin ended up going back to Emily’s before Adon left for some family dinner thing she had planned. As awkward as I thought the exchange would go, it was nothing like the horror movie in my mind. Far from it.

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