Page 91 of Bad Seed
Shifting his legs, Red squats before me like we’re old friends. “Here’s the thing, sweetheart, I don’t want to hurt you.” He holds out his hand and Green throws something at him. Red catches it and starts to peel it with his knife without taking his eyes off of me. “Hurting women isn’t a particular pleasure of mine.”
Oh, god.
Oh, shit.
They’re going to beat me.
They’re going to kill me!
“So all you need to do is tell me what I want to know and…” Red stabs a piece of what he cut off and takes a bite. His eyes well up instantly and he spins back to his partner. “This is a fucking onion!” Screaming, he hurls the vegetable at Green’s head, where it bounces off like a tennis ball hitting a wall.
“Sorry,” Green mumbles.
Red spits on the floor right by my bare feet. I jerk them to the side and flinch at the disgusting move. After wiping off his mouth, and clawing his tongue, he grabs me by the shoulder. Fingers digging into my skin, he shouts, “Where’s Talong?”
“Who?”
Oh, my god. Is this all a case of mistaken identity?
“Cute. You think you can out stupid my brother here.” He jerks a finger back to Green who gives a wave at the attention.
“I’m not playing dumb, I swear. I don’t know anyone named Tagalong.”
“Talong. He ain’t no fucking Girl Scout cookie.”
“Imagine if he were,” Green shouts with a great laugh.
“You’d have gobbled him up on the first day,” Red laughs back.
Oh, fuck. I’ve been kidnapped by insane people.
“This is all some misunderstanding,” I tell them and start to rise. “I’ve never met this Talong in my life. I’m afraid you have the wrong person.”
“Green?” Red glares at his brother. He doesn’t move from his spot in front of me, but he doesn’t shove me back to the chair either. “Did you fuck this up? Is this the chick?”
“Yeah. Least, I think so. Pretty sure. Uh…” Green holds up his thumb like he’s about to paint a picture and sizes up my face. “Now I ain’t so certain.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Red groans and clutches his head. “He’s gonna kill us for this.”
“I promise, I won’t tell a soul. No one needs to know you grabbed the wrong person. Just let me slip on past you and…”
“It’s her.”
A voice thunders through the room. Red slaps his palm to my shoulder and shoves me down so fast my knees crack. Both him and Green turn, then give a slight bow to a man walking in through the door. I catch a hint of a hallway outside before he slams the door shut.
Tomato. It’s all I can think of the rotund man in the bright red suit. But unlike Red’s cheap track suit, this man’s look like it cost the downpayment on a house. A good one. He tips back his hat, a gangster fedora, and eyes me down. Sunken eyes narrow against the wide nose and thin—to the point of being invisible—lips. I can’t tell if he’s sunburned or so pale his skin has taken on the color of his suit.
Despite carrying a cane, he puts no weight on it, and marches across the room with an air of pants-wetting fear. “Mr. Ato,” Red says as he scuttles off to the side. Then he slaps his brother in the chest.
“Boss,” Green says giving another bow.
Boss? Oh…oh shit. Does that mean…?
Is this his shift manager?
Mr. Ato swings his cane to pin it right under my chin. He stares me up and down, and I squirm. For the past ten or so hours, I’ve been stuck in the back of a van in nothing but my panties and a tank top. And he’s staring like he’s about to peel me the way Red did that onion.
“Look at her. She’s exactly his type.”
