Then he slapped her across the face. “Whore!”
Without further ado, the twins forced Pen down onto the table and held her there; arms above her head so that her midriff was exposed.
“Leave her alone,” Andrew screamed. “Leave her alone, leave her alone, leave her alone!”
Frankie leaped across the room and punched Andrew in his nose, spreading it across his face and unleashing a torrent of blood. Then he grabbed the tape and wrapped several layers around Andrew’s head, covering his mouth – and almost, too, his nose. Through teary eyes, Andrew was forced to watch as he struggled to breathe through his damaged sinuses.
Frankie went back to Pen. He pulled a baggie from his pocket and bit a hole into it. Then he upturned it and sprinkled its contents onto her exposed stomach. It was more cocaine, Andrew realised, and Frankie was intently forming a long, thick pile onto Penelope’s body. He used the edge of the kitchen scissors to separate the pile into several messy lines.
Frankie looked up at the others once he was done. “Dig in, gangsters.”
Andrew watched helplessly as the teenagers took turns snorting coke from his wife’s belly, holding her down by the feet and wrists to keep her from squirming. After a while she just gave up struggling all together. She let them have their way.
Chapter Fourteen
Davie shook his head. Unbelievably, his brother, the twins, and Michelle were all sat down in a huddle on the carpet watching television. Davie remained on the sofa, watching over the girls like he’d been told. Unlike the others, he’d not snorted any smack and was completely sober. Watching them all now, stoned, transfixed by a documentary about increasing climate change, he was glad about that.
Davie did drugs sometimes, just weed mostly, but he’d always stayed away from the hard stuff. Fortunately, Frankie never tried forcing it on him; otherwise he’d no doubt have been persuaded by now.
“Let us go,” Rebecca whispered from his left.
Davie looked at her and got caught in the stare of her soulful, dark eyes. For a moment he forgot that she’d even said anything.
“I said, let us go. Please.”
Davie shook his head. “I can’t. You’ll get my brother into trouble.”
Rebecca huffed. “He’s already in trouble. Kidnap is serious.”
“He hasn’t kidnapped anyone. You’re still at home.”
“It’s still kidnap. He’s holding us hostage. Davie, please.”
Hearing her say his name sent a shiver down Davie’s spine that ended in his loins. Girls like Rebecca didn’t usually talk to him, let alone speak his name. Skanks like Michelle were more the type of girl he was used to being around.
He shook his head once more, but this time tried to express how much he regretted the situation. He wanted her to know that if it were up to him, none of this would be happening. “I hate all this – I really do – but Frankie’s my brother. Family comes first.”
“What about my family?” she asked. “Do they mean nothing? Innocent people that never hurt anyone?”
Davie shrugged. There was no right answer he could give. Frankie was his brother and that was that. He would just have to trust Frankie as he had always done. Things would work out one way or another.
“Look what they’ve done to my mother,” Rebecca told him.
Davie looked to his right and examined the woman. She was sprawled back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, unblinking. A dusty film of cocaine particles covered her naked body and thicker clumps of it clung to the fabric of her bra. Davie tried not to stare at the woman’s breasts.