Chapter Thirty-Four
Raven moaned andtried to bring her hand to her pounding head.I can’t move. I’m tied up. Oh God… I remember.Her eyes darted around her living room, but she was alone. Except for the dried blood on the floor and the upside-down entry table, the room looked like it always did: neat, comfy, and inviting.
I have to get out of here. How long have I been out? Is it still the same day?She pulled at the rope binding her hands behind the chair she sat on, a slight give lifting her spirits.I can work my way out of these. I know I can.Then she came in, and Raven’s eyes grew wide.Why is she wearing my clothes? What the hell is going on?
“You’ve come to. That’s good. I’ve waited a long time for this moment.”
“Why are you doing this? I don’t even know you.” Raven’s fingers worked the rope’s knot.
“You know me, you bitch!” She rushed over and raised her hand.Smack!Raven gasped. “You cunts are all alike.”
“I’ve never done anything to you. I’ve only talked to you a few times at the pool hall.”Smack!Another slap across her face. She grimaced at the metallic taste of blood on her cracked lips.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut! You deserve everything I’m going to do to you. Women who steal other women’s men away deserve to fucking die!”
Smack! Smack! Smack!Wetness covered her cheeks as her head pounded relentlessly.I’m going to be sick.Swallowing, bitterness coated her throat.And what’s she talking about? What man?Extreme burning in her throat.I know I’m going to be sick.
“Did you think I’d let you fuck my boyfriend and not do anything about it? You flaunted it in front of me, ignoring how I felt. Well, bitch, when a cunt sleeps with another woman’s man, she has to be ready to suffer the consequences.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who’s your man?”
“Like you don’t know. Muerto, bitch. He’s been my boyfriend ever since I was hired as a waitress. He adored me, but then you seduced him with your trampy ways. Everything was great between us until you came along.”
“Muerto? He’s your boyfriend?” She wanted to lie down to stop the jackhammer in her head.Did she say Muerto? I can’t think.
“Don’t act like you don’t know. I see through you.” She put her face a couple of inches from Raven’s. “I know women like you. You don’t fool me. Not. One. Bit.” She stepped back. “You made him desire you. He couldn’t stay away from you. And while I thought he was at work or running errands, he was sneaking off to be with you. Every chance you got, you were fucking like pigs. You disgust me! Do you hear me?” She grabbed Raven’s hair and yanked her head up. “You fucking disgust me, you dirty whore!”Smack!
The whole side of her face was swelling. “I didn’t know you guys dated. He never told me.”
“He’d come to me, still smelling of you, and when I took his beautiful cock in my mouth, I tasted you. Then he’d cry and tell me that he loved me… not you, bitch! He hated that he was powerless to resist you. Muerto told me he wanted to break free of you. I told him we had to leave Alina and go somewhere far away. He agreed. He asked me to marry him. He wanted you out of his life, but you wouldn’t leave him alone.” She walked away, muttering to herself under her breath.
Waves of nausea hit Raven as her body jerked in the chair. The room was spinning; she felt like she was going to topple over.Muerto was with her? What’s her name? I know it. It’s….She closed her eyes, picturing the pool hall, the woman, the bar—Jaime! That’s her name. They never acted like a couple, but why would she be so mad at me if it wasn’t true?She tried to wrap her throbbing head around it.Muerto was cheating on her with me. How could he do that to me? To her? To us?
Jaime came back into the room, the crazed look in her eyes replaced with a cold hardness.
“I’m so sorry I’ve hurt you, Jaime. I had no idea that you and Muerto were dating. I would never date a man who belongs to another woman. That’s not the way I am.”
“You fucking liar. I saw how you flirted with him. You saw us kissing but you didn’t care.”
Saw them kissing? Am I missing something?“I never saw anything between you guys.”
“You’re lying again, but that’s what sluts do when they’re caught by decent, good women. Muerto wants me to kill you. He told me it’s the only way he can be free of you.”
What? Muerto wouldn’t have a woman do his dirty work. Something isn’t adding up. Fuck, my head hurts.
Her lips curled up in a cruel smile. “I’ve been watching you. He’s spent every night with you for the last three weeks. You really are a slut.”
She’s the one I saw that night. This is too crazy. Wait, the knot’s loosening.“I know you don’t believe me, but I didn’t know you were dating Muerto.”
“I don’t believe you. I loved Muerto very much, and he would’ve loved me too if it wasn’t foryou.You stole that chance away from me.”
Raven shook her head. “But I thought you told me that you and Muerto were together and he asked you to marry him. What you’re saying doesn’t make sense.”
Baring her teeth, Jaime shook her fist in Raven’s face. “Stop confusing me! You’re trying to turn everything around. I threw Muerto out when I found out he betrayed me. But he came back to me last night, with an armful of red roses. Beautiful red roses, and he begged me to take him back. I told him he hurt me too deeply, but then he grabbed my shoulders and kissed me so sweetly that it made me cry. He made love to me. He didn’t fuck me like he does you but made heavenly love, and I took him back.” She had a faraway look in her eyes.
She’s a fucking psycho. This is all in her head. I have to get away from her.
Then her attention shifted back to Raven and her gaze was steely. “You deserve to die for what you did to me… to him. You ruined everything. He would’ve come to me, but you spread your legs, enticing him. A man can’t resist a slut. My mother was so right!”Smack!
