“What do you want?” Lindsey sighed, shifting the detergent to her other hip.
“I dunno.” Brian shrugged, still grinning that goofy grin. “I just saw you and thought… you might wanna meet at the tree fort again?”
Lindsey looked at him for a moment, contemplating it. The memory of Zach and the phone call was fresh in her mind and she chewed her lip, seeing the way Brian’s eyes moved over her. “What time?”
“Say nine?” He looked at his watch. “I get out of here at eight.”
“Okay.” She turned and then glanced back. “Just you?”
“Do you want me to invite more?”
“Sure.” Lindsey kept going, calling over her shoulder. “The more the merrier.”
“All right!” He was already digging his cell phone out of his pocket.
Lindsey saw Mr. Finn again that evening while she was changing in the garden. She flashed him a view from behind when she pulled her short shorts on, winking over the fence as she passed.
“Have a good night,” she called.
He shook his head. “You’re a bad girl.”
“I try!”
She’d expected the same guys as last time-the one she’d fucked again at the pool, Ralph, and maybe the little shy blonde one, too. She doubted Brian had too many other friends he was willing to share with. She didn’t know then how she misjudged him.
It wasn’t dark when she reached the tree fort-it wouldn’t be full dark for another hour-but the light was starting to fade under the canopy of the trees, and it was entirely too quiet for her liking. She expected talking, laughter, anticipatory howls even, a radio perhaps. She could only hear her own breath, fast and light, and the sound of the wind shifting the leaves overhead.
Maybe they hadn’t arrived yet. Maybe that was good. She had considered not coming at all, even though she’d said she would. Changing in the garden gave her a little thrill, but the walk didn’t have the usual crotch-tingling anticipation. In fact, she felt decidedly uninterested in being there. More than that-she felt sad, and even a little guilty, especially when she thought about Zach.
She was thinking about going home and calling Zach, taking the long way, maybe stopping by 7-11 for a Slurpee, when the cloth slipped over her head from behind, enveloping her in darkness. She knew who it must be, what they were doing-of course, not all of what they intended to do, not by a long shot-so her struggle was expected, but it was also in earnest. She wasn’t playing. She didn’t want to play this game anymore. Not that it mattered.
“Where’s her fucking tits?”
Lindsey shrieked when rough hands pulled her top down, squeezing her breasts hard. Someone was holding her from behind, arms locked around her elbows, and her panicked, heated panting pulled the dark cloth into her mouth again and again. Lindsey used the strength of whoever was holding her to lift herself, aiming her legs in front of her and pistoning them out, hard. She heard a satisfying “Oof!”
“Bitch!” a voice gasped and she shrieked when the backhand came out of nowhere-of course, she couldn’t see it coming. It was a hard hit, landing solidly against her temple, making her ears ring with the blow. She even saw stars for a moment and then her lip burst against her teeth like plump fruit, only fat with blood instead of juice, when they hit her again.
“She likes it, I’m telling you!” That was Brian’s voice-he was the one holding her. She struggled in his arms, twisting uselessly, tasting copper and swallowing her own blood.
“No!” Her hoarse voice pleaded with them. “Please!”
“That’s what she said last time,” Brian chuckled, hefting her arms, pulling her in tighter. “I’m telling you, she loves the rough shit.”
“Good.” The voice she didn’t recognize made Lindsey’s insides turn cold. “I’m gonna give her plenty of it.”
“Not like this,” Lindsey gasped as someone pulled the cloth or blindfold or whatever it was up over her mouth and tied it hard behind her head, leaving her bleeding lips free, but she was still unable to see.
“How are we gonna get her up there?” It was another voice Lindsey didn’t recognize, rougher than the first, like his throat was filled with gravel or grit.
“I don’t want her up there.” That was the smooth one-the one who’d backhanded her, she was sure. His voice was smooth and deadly, like a snake. “Hand me that rope.”
Lindsey moaned softly as they began to tie her, and she stopped resisting as hands pulled off her shorts and top. They pulled her hands up high, using some sort of tree limb, she was sure, stretching her so far that she had to go up on her tiptoes, losing her sandals in the process. She tried to balance in the dirt, feeling pine needles under her feet as they continued to work around her, pulling, prodding, spreading her legs and securing those, too, with rope. Her arms ached already, but she had a feeling that was going to be the least of her worries in the pain department in the long run.
She tried to think of things to say, a way out of this, to gain control, the upper hand. They had left her mouth free, and she could have talked, but everything that came into her head was a plea, and she knew it was what they wanted-it would only fuel things further-and she was determined, now, not to give them what they wanted. Not until she had to.
“How are we gonna fuck her like that?” Brian sounded truly confused, but Lindsey wasn’t at all surprised by the answer.
“I’m not gonna fuck her.” Smooth’s voice was almost right next to her ear and she startled at his closeness as she heard Gritty laugh on the other side of her. “Not yet, anyway.”
“But-”
Lindsey winced at the sound of the blow, hearing Brian cry out, “What the fuck?” He sounded genuinely surprised, but she wasn’t surprised at all. She knew their type. The two guys Brian had brought with him tonight would only get off on hurt, not just force, but the mean, sadistic kind of hurt that spilled over from the case of Bud they’d brought with them, but more, it spilled from them like pressure cookers gone too long with something really nasty boiling inside, something unable to contain itself. Brian was just starting to see the overflow. Lindsey knew she would be the brunt of whatever explosion eventually occurred.
“Shut the fuck up, kid.” Smooth grabbed the back of Lindsey’s head, her hair in his fist, the blindfold tightening to the point of pain. He kissed her, but it wasn’t any sort of real kiss-it was just an attempt to bruise her mouth with his, forcing her to cry out as her teeth collided with her lower lip and started the bleeding again. He wanted to hear her and she knew it, trying to keep her pain in with whimpers, trying not to show her fear.
“She’s got a nice little cooze.” Gritty’s fingers-she knew it was him, his voice was on the other side of her-were short and stubby, just as she imagined he was, and probably his little dick, too. They probed between her pussy lips, searching.
“No tits, though.” Smooth grabbed them again, twisting, pulling so hard she could feel instant bruises forming. “Might as well cut the damned things off and start over.” Gritty laughed, a dark snort and chortle, his fingers still probing between her thighs.
“What do you think, girlie?” The heat of his body felt huge beside her, overpowering, and she felt more than heard a gentle click beside her cheek. “Wanna just lose the baby tits and start over again?”
She felt a scream rising from her throat as he scraped the blade-end of a knife gently over her cheek, back and forth, and fought hard against it. There was no one to hear her, she knew, and screaming would just give them what they wanted. She held as still as she could as he drew the knife’s edge over her skin, petting her with it, as if he were trying to shave off the soft, downy peach fuzz covering her flesh. When he reached her breasts, he stopped, and Lindsey held her breath, trembling, willing herself not to panic.