Chapter 3
I could still feel his dirty fingertips on my face. As I stood in his shower, which was slightly grimy and gross, I stared at the wall and scrubbed at my face with the bar of yellow soap I found. Still, I could feel it, his digits digging into my chin as if he had the right to touch me. Frowning, I dunked my entire head beneath the water and tried to rinse it off.
Who the hell does he think he is!
Usually, whenever I turned on the doe eyes, people immediately let me get away with murder. Not Quincy. I'd only known him for a short time, and I already wanted to punch him in the throat. I ran my hand down my face and glowered at the wall.
I wanted to call my mom. She would be worried, wondering if I made it or if I had been arrested. I already knew that I couldn't though. We had one burner we used for things that were less than legal, but I still needed to get a phone of my own that wasn't tied to me at all. People thought it was easy enough to walk into a store and grab a burner, but cameras were everywhere now. If they saw me buying it, they would tie me to it and whatever serial number was on the phone. No, I had to be smarter than that.
"Hey!" Quincy called as he pounded on the door. "You gonna be done anytime soon?"
I glared at the door. What I wanted to yell out was get fucked. Instead, I continued cleaning the grime and sweat from my body with the towel that I had been given from that crazy bastard. The more I thought about it, the more it pissed me off. Who the hell was Benito to dump me off on someone else? I'd just realized that I had a brother—no, brothers—and now I was shoved off on some stranger? Clearly, they wanted to get rid of me.
So why not just send me home?
"Seriously, let's go! You know there's only one bathroom here, right?"
"Will you let me shower!" I snapped.
"I have to piss," he called back, a growl in his voice.
"So? Take it outside!"
I was glad I'd locked the door. Quincy needed to stay as far away as possible. I didn't give a damn if he pissed his pants, that had nothing to do with me. The asshole was making me share a room with him. I was big on personal space, and now I was going to be crammed into the same place as a stranger. In the same bed.
Fun.
I worked my fingers through my hair as I used the mango shampoo I came across. Frowning, I scratched up a lather as I closed my eyes and tried to relax. As soon as I wake up tomorrow, I'm buying my own shit. What man walks around smelling like mangos?
As I thought about shopping, I realized I needed to go out for several things. Just as quickly, I also realized that I needed a job. How the hell was I going to buy anything if I was out of cash? I needed some kind of card, a source of income, and then a place of my own where I could get the hell away from Quincy.
"Oh, fuck this shit."
I heard his words, but ignored him. Until the sound of the door creaking open reached my ears. I yanked my head out from under the water and quickly wiped it off my face. Shampoo stung my eyes as I opened them prematurely and witnessed Quincy walking into the bathroom, completely naked.
My jaw dropped. He stepped over to the toilet, grabbed his dick, and aimed. A deep, satisfied groan left his lips while I was left in a state of shock. There was no way he'd broken in and was pissing in front of me!
"Hey!" I snapped. "Get the fuck out!"
Quincy glanced over his shoulder, a grin tugging at his lips. "Should have hurried the fuck up. I told you I had to piss." He groaned and finally shook it off before he wiped the tip of his dick and flushed. After he washed his hands, Quincy yanked open the glass door of the shower. "My turn. You're gonna use all the hot water."
I blinked at him. "I don't give a fuck. Get out!"
Quincy stared at me, shrugged, and stepped into the stall. It was already small enough without him getting in with me. I squashed my body up against the wall, the coolness contrasting with the heat of the water. The more I moved away, the more his big body seemed to take up. He finally shut the door and grinned at me.
"Pass me the soap."
I stared at Quincy like he had lost his mind. There was no way that he was doing this shit right now.
"What is this? Some kind of power trip for you? Is your dick really that small?"
Quincy grinned. "You tell me?"
Don't look at his dick. Don't look at his dick. Don't look at his ? —
SHIT.
Yeah, Quincy didn't have a small dick at all. It was actually nice. Not thick, but long with a piercing through the head of it that made me stare in wonder. I couldn't even imagine getting my dick pierced. That was insane.
Quincy cleared his throat. "My eyes are up here, princess."
I snapped my head up and glared at him. The smirk on his face told me he thought he'd won something. I scoffed, shoved past him, and shimmied my way out of the shower. But not before my body rubbed all over his on my way out.
"Calm down, baby. I won't hurt you." Quincy laughed. “Not unless you beg me real pretty-like.”
I flipped him off. "You're an asshole."
"You have no idea."
Frustration shot through me as I snatched the towel off the counter that Quincy had laid out for me. I stormed out of the bathroom, slammed the door, and stood in his bedroom trying to force myself to take a deep breath. As I tried to gather myself, I pinched the bridge of my nose in irritation.
Why is this my damn life?
All I wanted to do was go home, but there was no way to do that. If I left and returned to what I knew, I would probably end up inside of a prison cell. And I would be there for a long time. I couldn't stand the idea of being locked into a box. It was better to die than to be captured. As soon as I thought that, my mother's face popped into my mind. Guilt wracked me, and I swallowed hard. Right, I couldn't do anything. I had to stick this out.
While Quincy was busy in the shower, I dug into my duffel and pulled out a fresh pair of boxers and a white T-shirt. As soon as I was changed, I stared at Quincy's bed. A shiver ran up and down my spine.
"This is bullshit," I muttered.
Part of me was sorely tempted to go sleep on the couch, but I remembered what it looked like and shuddered. There was no way that couch wasn't crawling with new life forms of bacteria. It was a petri dish of organisms. Yeah, I was okay with not sleeping there. Finally giving in, I walked to the side of the bed that held no nightstand and climbed inside. As soon as I laid down, I was wrapped in the scent of Quincy's cologne. My stomach tightened. Why did it smell so good?
"Whoo, that was good," Quincy said as he walked out, still towel drying his hair. Still naked. "I needed a good shower."
I stared before my eyes narrowed, and I flipped over. "Put some fucking clothes on!"
"I told you, I sleep naked, baby girl. Get used to it."
Every muscle in my body tightened as I rolled over to glare at him. "Do not call me baby girl. I'm a fucking man."
Quincy chuckled. "Sure, sure," he said as he stretched and checked himself out in the full-length mirror that was propped against the wall. He flexed his muscles, turning this way and that as he stared at himself. "Damn, I look good."
I grimaced. "Gross."
He turned and raised a brow. "You don't think I look good?"
The question came so suddenly that I was thrown off balance. I opened my mouth to tell him what a piece of shit he was, but instead my voice disappeared and I was left tripping and stumbling over my words.
"You… who the hell... I think you're a?—"
"I'll take that as you definitely think I look good. Move over, baby girl."
Rage boiled in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to fly over the bed and punch him in the face until he was swollen and bloody. The only problem was that I was pretty sure he had a gun. Maybe not on him, but nearby was a safe bet. With a huff, I shifted back over to my side and yanked the blanket up beneath my chin. The bed moved beneath me once the light went out, and I held my breath as Quincy joined me in bed. I stayed still. Until a hand, the one I’d noticed was missing part of his pinky, caressed my hip.
"What the fuck man!" I screamed as I jumped up.
Quincy burst into laughter. "Ah man, it's so easy to fuck with you."
I ground my teeth together trying not to lash out and punch him in the face. What have I ever done to deserve this? My copious crimes flashed in my mind, and I sucked in a shuddering breath. Every time my mother told me I would pay for my crimes, I thought she was just being a mom. Now, I wasn't so sure. Karma was feeling way more real.
"Just stay on your side," I grumbled.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm doing it." Quincy yawned. "You stay on your side."
"The fuck? I'm not the one with my dick out!"
I expected him to have some smart-assed reply, but instead, he fell silent. Waiting, I stayed still, my breath catching in my throat... until he started to snore. The air whooshed out of me, and I shook my head at how stupid he was. What if I snuck into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and buried it into his guts? He had no idea who I was. I could burn this whole place down around us and laugh at the wreckage. Quincy would never know.
A smile tugged at my lips. I shifted slowly before a hand wrapped around my wrist, yanked it upward, and I stared as a handcuff was snapped around it. He hooked the other end to the bedpost all while I stared in horror.
"What the fuck is this!" I snapped.
"Shhh. Time for bed."
I continued to stare at Quincy. "Let me out of this. Now," I snapped.
"I said"—he moved closer, slapped a hand over my mouth and laid back down—"shut the fuck up."
Quincy started snoring again in the next minute as if nothing had happened. I tried to get free, but there was no getting out of the metal cuff that he had put around my wrist. Not without him seeing me move to get something to help me out. Even so, I checked, yanking it a few times before I winced and hissed.
"Do I need to show you how good those hold?" Quincy's voice wrapped around me in the dark. "Because I can."
I went still. I'd been in enough tough situations to know when to knock it the hell off. Antagonizing Quincy wasn't going to get me anything. Instead, I closed my eyes, stayed still, and eventually I heard his snoring. I tested the cuffs one more time, but there was no way out of them unless I was willing to break a bone.
I was fucked.