“So, you think you’re tough?” David asks. “Do you have any idea who I am?”
“No, and I don’t care,” Gabrielle says. “I’m not interested in getting to know perverts.”
David’s eyes darken, and he says, “I’m David West. My friends and I have a bit of a reputation here.”
Gabrielle’s stomach turns, and her blood goes cold. She’s heard the other girls talking about David West, and everything they’ve said makes his sick version of Rock, Paper, Scissors look fun and tame. He’s killed at least three different girls in the club and sent many more to the hospital. And that’s just in the last year.
“Do you know how to play this game?” David asks.
“No,” she snaps.
“You don’t know rock, paper, scissors?” he asks. “Maybe I can pull this s.l.u.t off the floor and have her give another demonstration.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Gabrielle hisses.
“Fine,” David says. “There are thirty thousand dollars on the table. If you win one round, you get ten thousand; two rounds, twenty thousand, and well, you get the idea. But if you lose around, I’ll slap you across the face.”
Gabrielle looks down at her plastic stripper shoes. She wants to run out of the room, but she knows there’s nowhere to go. The men in David’s room would only drag her back in, and they’d enjoy watching her struggle. She glances at the money on the table and squares her shoulders. Thirty thousand is more than she’s ever made in the club—it’s not a lot, but it could help with her debt to Jackson.
“Fine,” she says. “But if I win, I’ll also slap you in the face. It’s only fair.”
“Who says I care about playing fair?” he asks.
“Are you scared of a woman?” she challenges, flipping her hair over her shoulders. “Only a coward would refuse.”
The men laugh and jeer, and David’s face tightens. He clenches his jaw and pulls her onto the sofa next to him. He slides his hand under her short skirt and pinches the inside of her thigh.
“I’m going to enjoy beating you,” he whispers.
The double meaning chills her to the bone, and her heart hammers in her chest. She closes her eyes. For a moment, she lets herself imagine kicking him in the crotch. Then she takes a deep breath, opens her eyes, and prepares to play.
“Rock, paper, scissors,” David shouts.
Gabrielle flattens her hand into paper, and David balls his fist into the rock. She smiles, feeling victorious. She blinks and feels a breeze moving toward her face, and then a hard hand smacks into her cheek. Her head snaps sideways, and she bites her tongue.
“You were too slow,” David says.
He licks his lips, and the pupils in his eyes dilate. She looks down and sees the excitement in his jeans. He catches her looking and grabs his crotch. She gags and looks away.
“Good one, David,” a man shouts.
“That was hilarious,” says another. “The look on her dumb whore face was priceless.”
Gabrielle swallows the blood and wipes her lip on the back of her hand. Her mouth tastes like copper, and her ears ring, but she’s not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much it hurt. She smiles as wide as she can and combs her hand through her hair.
“Let’s play again,” she says.
David’s eyes narrow and he says, “Rock, paper—”
Gabrielle rewinds her arm and slaps him across the face before he can say scissors. When he straightens up, his eyes are pure venom, and there’s a red blotch across his cheek. He rubs his face and mutters something under his breath.
“You were too slow,” she says. “If you want to win, you’ll have to be faster.”
“Let’s go again,” he says. “Rock—”
Gabrielle swings her head to the side, and David’s fist grazes the side of her ear. She reaches for an empty beer bottle on the table and smashes it against the side of the sofa. Shards of glass and warm beer fly everywhere, but she keeps her fingers curled around the neck of the bottle. The jagged edges of the broken bottle glint like teeth in the light.
“You’re still too slow,” she says, waving the bottle back and forth.
“I like your spark,” David says. “I’m going to love crushing it out of you. So how about this? We played one last round. If you win, you take all the money on the table. But if I win, I’ll do you on the table. And then maybe afterward, I’ll let my friends have a go at what’s left of you. Is that okay with you, Jackson?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a man step out of the dark shadows in the corner. Relief floods her, but then Jackson’s lips twitch in a small smile. He raises his whiskey glass in a mock toast and nods.
“Be my guest, David,” he says.
Gabrielle swallows hard. Having s.e.x with Jackson is one thing—he’s rough, but he’s not unkind. But having s.e.x with this monster in front of so many other men is another thing entirely. She looks at Jackson, trying to read the expression on his chiseled face, and she shivers. His eyes glow with a strange intensity, and his mouth looks almost vampiric.
I’m an idiot, she thinks. He won’t save me—he’s the whole reason I’m in this mess. He played me, and now he’s going to watch the show just like all these other pervs. Well fine, if he wants I show, I’ll make sure he gets it.
“Okay,” she says to David. “I accept your little game.”
A man whistles and shouts, “This’ll be good.”
“I call second dibs,” says another.
“Let’s play,” she says. “Rock, paper, scissors.”
She sticks her fingers out like scissors, and David balls his fist for rock. His face glows in the dim room, and a demonic smile twists his thin mouth. He leans toward her, and she waves the broken bottle near his face.
“Looks like I won again,” he says. “I wonder, are you going to scream when I hold you down on that table? Lots of girls scream.”
“Dream on, perv,” she hisses.
“Oh, so you’re one of those,” he says. “You think you’re brave, do you? Well, little girl, I know ways to hurt you that you can’t even imagine. You’ll scream alright—in the end, they all do.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Jackson. His face is smooth, but his eyes look dark. He steps back and disappears into the shadows, leaving her alone with David and his friends. She tightens her grip on the broken bottle. One on one, she stands a chance against David, but if his friends jump in to help, she’s screwed.
David grabs her leg, and she leans forward. The bottle scr.a.p.es the side of his fair neck, leaving a jagged red line. A thin stream of blood seeps from the cut and darkens the edge of his collar. His eyes widened with shock and then pain.
“You’re still too slow,” she taunts. “You’re lucky I didn’t aim for your face, but I guess there’s still time for that. Tell me, would you scream?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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