Page 58 of Archer
“We don’t like our women feisty,” Ray said and the usage of the word “we” made me even sicker. Against all good instincts, I hacked the warm fluid in my throat up and spat square between in his nose. Across the other side of my face, his knuckles swung, and I felt hot blood gush from my mouth. “Are you finished, bitch?”
Unable to take any more pain, I glared at him in silence before breathing deeply through my nose and lowering my head in surrender.
“Good,” Ray said, then turned to Slink. “Let’s wake him up. It’s showtime.”
“Sh-showtime?” I asked as I watched Slink grab a large metal bucket filled with ice and water that dripped of condensation. As he struggled with his lanky arms to lift it high enough, Ray turned to me.
“It’s time you learn a bit about your daddy, little Rose,” he said.
Slink gasped and grunted, but finally he lifted the bucket high enough to pour over my dad’s face. Immediately, like a fish, he was flapping on his desk back into consciousness. Though I could see his pained wince through his puffed eyes, I was just relieved to see him breathe again. At least one last time.
Struggling to breathe, he gasped out, “Where am I?”
“Dad!” I shouted and he pulled his eyes to me. By reflex, he tried to propel off the desk toward me, only to be restrained by the physical pain in his body. Weeping, I said, “Dad, I love you. I miss you. Dad, I love you so much.”
Everything angry I’d felt toward him over the past month seemed to vanish and all I wanted was to tell him how much he meant to me. Unfortunately, Ray cut me off by grabbing my chin, making me look directly at my father.
“Your daughter has a lot of spunk in her, Ron.” My dad’s neck turned so his ear was on the desk, faced toward me, and it looked like he used all his energy to shake his head.
“No, Ray, please don’t…”
“Reminds me a lot of her mother,” he said. “Got those blue eyes, too.”
My heart stopped beating and it felt like the tension in the room no longer mattered. My chin still in Ray’s hands, I shifted my gaze from my dad to him.
Swallowing a lump in my throat, I grimaced at him and coldly asked, “What?”
“Just like I thought.” His dry, cracked lips spread into an evil grin and he moved his hand, giving my cheek two light taps before spinning to face my dad. “She doesn’t even know what happened to her mom, huh? When will you get tired of your web of lies, Ron? They’re sure as fuck not helping you.”
“Dad,” I said with my voice quivering. “What… what’s he talking about?”
“Are you gonna tell her, or should I?” Ray asked my dad and unsurprisingly, he stayed speechless, jaw hanging open just slightly.
All the rage I felt for him came pouring back. Kicking in my ropes, I screamed, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
All the men in leather jackets laughed around me and Ray laughed, wiping a fake tear from his eye.
“I like you,” he said. “You’re just like your mother. I can’t believe it. She was much braver, more cunning than this pathetic fool.” He smacked my dad’s elbow and he yelped in pain from the contact. “But at the end of the day, still an idiot.”
So much vile hate filled inside me as I demanded, “Tell me what you’re talking about. How do you know my mom?”
“Well, Rose, she—”
“Stop.” Finally, my dad spoke up. Tears trickled down his face and he looked at the ceiling with shame written on his face. “Let me tell her.”
“Wow,” Ray said. “Looks like you’ll die a man after all.”
Ray slid away from my dad’s view so he could face me if he chose, standing by Slink and Cash. The guy behind me, whose name was Ghost, I think, joined them while the last bald man still stood at the door. He wore a black bandana around his head and had an unlit cigarette between his teeth. Still unable to look away from the ceiling, my dad began to speak.
“When you were just a toddler, Rose, your mother, she…”
“She fell,” I said. “She fell on a patch of ice. That’s what you said.”
The men exploded into laughter, Ray even slapping his knee.
“Yeah, ‘fell’. All right, Ron,” Ray said, and I snapped my face to him.
“You killed her, didn’t you?” My throat squeezed as rage bubbled through. No words could properly capture how I felt, but I tried anyway. “You fuckin’ ugly freaks! Go to hell, you monsters!”
