Held & Pushed (2 book bundle) (15 page)

“Why do
you suppose Crystal doesn’t have periods?”

With no
time to weigh my words, I said, “Well, maybe she hasn’t started her period
yet.”

I felt him
stare at me as I sorted through the cards in my hand. “Is that possible?”

Shrugging
it off as if it were no big deal, I said, “It’s possible. Some girls start
really young, some really late, and some never start at all.”

He was
silent a few more minutes. Then, “Have you not noticed her belly, Nicole?”

“Her belly?”
I
asked, trying to sound as though I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Yes, her
belly. She has a noticeable protrusion from her midsection. Coupled with her
lack of menstrual cycles, I can’t help but wonder if the girl’s pregnant.”
Though he’d said it, it felt more like a question.

“I guess
it’s possible,” I said lightly. I didn’t want him to know she was pregnant. I
wasn’t sure if it would be better or worse if he knew, but I had to assume it
would be worse. I suppose I’d been trying to keep him from knowing with the
hopes that I could find a way out and save her before he knew she was with
child.

“Nicole, I
think you know more than you let on.”

“How could
I know anything? I’m not a doctor. I’ve never even touched her. How would I
know?”

“You’re a
woman.”

“So that
makes me a psychic?”

“You can
detect changes in another woman’s body.”

“Yeah, if
I’d known her before maybe I could. How do I know that she just doesn’t have an
addiction to Oreos?”

He didn’t
chuckle as I expected him to. “That’s not an Oreo belly, Nicole, and you know
that. It’s not a chip belly, or an ice cream belly, or even a beer belly. That
is a baby belly. And I believe you know that.”

“But I
don’t know that.”

“Have you
noticed it?”

“Yeah.”
I saw no
reason to lie about that.

“And you
didn’t bring it my attention?” he asked as he discarded his last card.

After
adding up my score and telling him, I said, “You’re closer to her than me.
You’re on top of her every day. I figured you’d know.”

“Oh.
That’s what this is about,” he said as if he’d just figured everything out.
“You hate that I’m with her and not you.”

“That’s
not really true.” In a way, it was. I hated that he was raping a pregnant girl.
It wasn’t that I wanted him to myself.

“Not
really true? So it is somewhat true?”

“Somewhat.”

Now he
chuckled as he shuffled. “Would it make you feel better if I stopped being with
her and began being with you?”

I swallowed
the bile that rose in the back of my throat at the thought of him touching me.
“Yes.”

He smiled
and nodded.
“Very well then.
I suppose that’s the way
it will be.
Although, Crystal may be disappointed at the lack
of a lover.”

“I somehow
don’t think she’ll mind,” I snapped.

He
laughed. “There’s my girl.”

I hated
that he referred to me as his girl, but it beat not being his girl. I’d seen
first-hand what happened to girls that weren’t his.

“The book
is coming along nicely. You’ve been a bigger help than you could imagine. And
Crystal has made a wonderful addition.”

“You put
her in there too?”

“Of course.
They’re all in it.” He smiled and looked at me over his cards, brows pulled
together. “Does that make you jealous?”

“No.”

“Are you
sure?”

I thought
for a minute, trying to make sure that no was the right answer. “No, I’m not
jealous. I mean, I’m the star of the book, right?” He nodded. “I’m just
surprised to hear that they’re in it too.”

“I’ve
changed their names, of course, but I had to add them. It makes the story more
exciting. Now there are love triangles.”

“Between who?”

“Nicole,
don’t act as if you don’t know. Just as in life, things are more interesting
when there’s jealousy. Sex with Crystal is more exciting if you’re jealous. And
I’m sure she’ll be jealous when she finds out that I won’t be with her anymore
because I’m with you. It’s better.”

“What’s
going to happen when the book is finished?”

“I’m going
to find a publisher and become a best-selling author.” He smiled.

“I mean
with me. What about me?”

“I’m not
sure yet, Nicole. You’ve been a good girl for the most part. If you continue to
be a good girl, I may let you go. However, that may not be in my best interest.
You could run to the authorities. How will I become a best-selling author if
I’m in prison?”

“I
wouldn’t tell,” I said. Sadly, I actually thought about keeping my silence if
he’d only let me go.

“We’ll
see.”

And that
was it for the conversation about my release.

Unfortunately,
it wasn’t the end of the conversation about Crystal’s pregnancy.

Chapter
23

Strapped
to the chair, hands bound behind me, I watched as Ron slapped Crystal’s cheeks
to wake her. When her eyes opened, she tensed.

“Good
morning,” he said cheerfully.

“Please,”
she said.

“If you
don’t mind, Crystal, I’ll talk. You only speak if I ask you a question. Does
that sound okay to you?”

“No,” she
said.

“Are you a
prostitute?”

“No.”

“Are you a
runaway?”

“No.”

“Do you
have a husband?”

“No.”

“Do you
have a boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s
his name?”

“Corey.”

“Does
Corey have a job?”

“No.”

“Do you
have a job?”

“No.”

“Are you
pregnant?”

“No.”

He
hesitated, and then asked again, “Are you pregnant?”

“No.”

I gasped
as he hit her in the belly with his fist. It wasn’t as hard as he could’ve hit
her, but it was hard enough to cause fetal damage, and possibly a miscarriage.

Crystal
cried out.

“I’m going
to ask you again, and it would be wise for you to answer me honestly. Do you
hear me?”

She
nodded.

“Are you
pregnant?”

“Yes,” she
cried.

“Do you
think it’s wise to bring a child into the world when neither of you have a job?
Do you plan to have the working people support you and boyfriend while you spit
out child after child, none of which you can support? Do you?”

“No,” she
answered through tears.

“I don’t
either,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”

She didn’t
answer immediately.

He patted
her belly roughly, reminding her of what would happen if she didn’t answer him.
“Answer me.”

“Would it
have made a difference? Would you have left me on the street if you’d known?”

“I’m
asking the questions here, Crystal. You just answer them. Why didn’t you tell
me?”

“I was
afraid.”

He smiled
and said, “You should be.”

He stood
and stared down at her. “Do you and Corey have a good relationship?”

“Sort of.”

“What does
that mean? Does he hit you?”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“What
else?”

“He...he
cheats on me.”

“Come on
now, Crystal.”

“What? He
does.”

“But don’t
you cheat on him too?”

“No.”

“Crystal,
don’t lie to me. Would you like to ask Nicole what happens to girls who lie to
me?”

He looked
at me and I took that as my cue to speak, so I said, “Tell the truth, Crystal.
Please.”

She
glanced at me quickly, and then looked back at Ron.
“Once.
I only did it once.”

“If I only
rape you once, does that mean it doesn’t count? If I only cut off one of your
fingers, does that make it okay since it was just the one time?”

She shook
her head.

“You lied
to me.”

“I didn’t
lie.”

“Well what
do you call it?”

“I just
didn’t tell you something that was none of your business.”

“Well
withholding something is the same as lying, isn’t it?”

“If that’s
the case, you lied to me too.”

“What?” he
asked with a little laugh.

“Yeah.
You didn’t
tell me what you were going to do to me. You didn’t tell me you were a fucking
lunatic.”

“Such
language,” he said. He threw his head up and looked at the ceiling. He sighed
deeply. “Well, you did lie to me.
Twice, technically.
But I’ll only charge you with the first one, the big one. Lying about your
pregnancy is too big to let slide.” To me, he asked, “What should we do with
her?”

I had no
idea what I should say. I said nothing, hoping he would move on and treat it as
if it were a rhetorical question.

But he
didn’t.

“Nicole,
what sort of punishment do you think fits the crime?”

Thinking
stupidly that I could outsmart him, I said “Slap her around a little bit
maybe.”

“You can
do better than that, Nicole.”

I tried to
think of something he could do to her that would cause the least amount of harm
to the baby. Clearly, he wouldn’t be satisfied with anything small. It would
have to be big.

Unable to
believe what I was getting ready to say, I opened my mouth and let the horrible
words that were sure to haunt me all of my days fall from my tongue. “Maybe you
could pull out her piercings.”

He smiled
at me and nodded. “That’s my girl.”

She looked
at me like she wanted to kill me. I didn’t blame her. At that moment, I very
much wanted to die.

“Very good, Nicole.
I don’t think that’ll be punishment enough, but it’s a good start.”

He bent
down, hooked his finger in the two silver loops that hooked over Crystal’s
bottom lip, and yanked. She’d turned at the last second, trying to keep him
from ripping them out of her flesh, but instead only making it worse.

Ron threw
the lip rings to the floor behind him and grabbed the ones in her eyebrows. One
by one, he ripped them out, taking no care whatsoever.

Tired of
fighting with her, he put one knee on each side of her face, holding her head
so she couldn’t turn away from him. He pulled her earrings out one at a time.
First came the scream, and then came the small ting of the metal on the
concrete floor.

I couldn’t
see her face because he was blocking my view, but from the sounds, I could tell
he was ripping out her tongue ring.

God forgive
me. This was something else I’d always feel guilty about. It was once again my
fault that an innocent woman was suffering.

He
returned to the squatted position beside her and grabbed her belly button ring
between his thumb and index finger. He looked at it closely, pulling it up slowly,
until her skin was stretched. Then, he pulled a little harder, causing it to
snap free, leaving blood where the ring had just been. Another ting as he
tossed it to the floor.

“That
leaves just one more, I believe,” he said as he leaned down and grabbed the
piercing that shined on her crotch. As he slowly pulled it the way he had her
belly button, I cringed. He said, “I’m going to hate to see this one go.” Then,
he yanked it, causing her to scream.

I squeezed
my legs closed and suffered through sympathy pains that in no way matched the pain
she was going through.

“Did that
hurt?”

“You know
it did, you son of a bitch,” she yelled through her tears.

“Well it
hurt me when you lied to me.”

“That’s
not the same and you know it,” she wailed.

Walking
over to the cabinet over the utility sink, he said, “I know a great many
things, Crystal. But there are still a great many things I don’t know. For
example,” he said as he returned with the tool belt. “I don’t know why a
beautiful young woman such as you would want to ruin her body with this hideous
graffiti.” He squatted and pulled the knife from the tool belt. It was the same
knife he’d used to carve my name into Melinda’s belly.

My stomach
knotted and my skin crawled. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly—but I dared only
do it briefly—and for the billionth time since the day he’d brought me here,
screamed in my head to wake up. This had to be a nightmare. But when I opened
my eyes, I sadly realized this wasn’t my nightmare. It was Crystal’s.