“Say nothing else, Sir. We need to get this taken care of before we pass judgment on who this storage room belongs to.”
Inside I’m jumping for victory but I am livid over those damn pictures.
The principal tookmy father’s side. Of course he did, he’s the chief of police. A real saint in the community. I was ignored. As usual. My father took my cell phone away from me as soon as we stepped out of the principal’s office.
When we get to the car, he puts me in the backseat. He bends down, and I cringe away from him. He grabs my face, and I feel the pain immediately as he twists my neck to make me look at him.
“You think I don’t know that you’ve told our secrets to Drew?” He releases my face with his right hand and slaps me. “You think I’m not going to punish you? That Donnie isn’t going to fuck you up?”
I keep quiet. I know better than to fight with him. It’s better to be docile for now. He slams the car door and locks it before he walks around the front of the car. He gets a phone call and ignores it. It’s significant that he doesn’t answer the phone. It means he’s too pissed off to talk to anyone, and that equates to me getting my ass beaten or worse.
When he gets into the car, I try to plead. Just this one time. I can’t go to my doom knowing I didn’t try. It’s going to backfire. I know it will. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
“I’m going to graduate in a few months, Father. I won’t be a burden to you and Donnie anymore. With me moving out, I can keep you from worrying about me.” I am stretching for his emotions. It’s stupid to believe he has anything but anger toward me
“Did you sleep with him, Maddie?”
I look down. I’m not going to let him cheapen what Drew and I have.
“You fucking whore. I told you no sex. No dating. And what do you do? You fuck the first man that gives you attention. You’re never leaving the house again.”
My hands twitch for a knife. To gut the fuck out of him with it. The end of his life would mean freedom for me.
“We own you. You’ll learn that tonight. I didn't want to go this far, but I can see you think because you’re eighteen that you don’t have to stay with us. Well, little peach, you’re so fucking wrong.”
“I’m not your little peach. That was Momma.”
He reaches into the backseat and slaps the hell out of me. “You became my little peach the minute your mother died. Don’t you fucking forget it.”
My lower lip trembles as blood trickles down my chin from my split lip. I hate when he reminds me that I am his. I’m not. I won’t be, ever. Drew owns my heart. I know this with every fiber of my being.
We pull into the driveway, and Donnie is outside, waiting. He’s looking at me like I’m a piece of meat, and I’m not sure I want to get out of this car. I could fight them. Make a big scene and get the police called out. But one look at who lives here and the police will take my father’s side.
“Get out of the car, Maddie,” my father demands as he turns off the ignition. I feel like I’m opening the door to my doom.
“Please,” I whisper just as Donnie opens the back door. I know better than to think I can get out of this punishment I’m about to receive. Before my father can respond, Donnie is yanking me out of the car.
“You fucking snitched to Drew, didn’t you?” he growls in my ear. I try my hardest not to think about what is about to happen to me. It’s best I don’t contemplate it. My father opens the house door, and Donnie drags me in by my left arm.
“You ungrateful little whore. I fucking told you before we left not to do anything stupid. And what do you do? I bet you couldn’t wait to fill Drew’s head with lies the minute we left.”
“I didn’t tell Drew on purpose. He got a look at my back when I was undressing.”
I shouldn’t have said that. My father yanks my hair as Donnie rips my shirt off my body. “You want to be a whore for him? That’s going to cost you.” Donnie sneers at me.
Trembling, I try to cover my exposed breasts but Donnie grips my chin as father yanks my pants down. My skin crawls as I know it’s going to be a massive beating. I hear my father’s belt being unbuckled. I gulp, trying and failing to keep the tears from spilling.
“You know we will have to kill Drew now that he knows. He was a damn good friend for years.” My brother spits at me as my father brings the belt down onto my thighs. I scream out in pain as the belt comes down, fast and without mercy.
Donnie slaps both my breasts. “Pay attention now. Mom had to be beaten like this a few times to keep her in line. Dad sure did love doing that. He taught me a good woman stays still. So fucking be still.”
I can’t. My father is beating the hell out of my legs, and I can’t stand the idea that Donnie is seeing me naked. I whimper as Donnie grabs my hair and bends me over so that I’m standing at a ninety degree angle from the ground. My father kicks my legs apart, and I feel the cool air against my skin. I’m grateful he’s not taken my underwear off me.
“No child of mine is going to be the neighborhood slut. This is for fucking Drew,” my father says right before his belt hits my pussy. I scream as the belt comes down, lashing out onto my soft skin. I feel my vision blur as Donnie keeps slapping my face.
“Donnie …” I beg. I know my father isn’t going to hear my pleas. Not over the whoosh of the belt flying through the air and me screaming. Donnie doesn’t stop. He never stops. A slap comes with every single sting of the belt. They’ve synced their hits.
I feel the blood running down my thighs as my father goes from hitting my pussy to my ass. “This body will know it doesn’t belong to anyone but us. Isn’t that right Donnie?”
