Chapter 19
NINETEEN
DANI
I feel blood pouring out of my nose but I refuse to show an ounce of emotion or pain.
The old bastard in front of me is not a third of the man our father was before we ran away.
To my shock, Matthew is off in a corner, leaning against the wall, arms crossed on his chest. Father leans toward me and immediately the smell of him makes me want to vomit.
All I can breathe in is rotten teeth, body odor, and something that reminds me of rotting roadkill.
“Got nothing to say, whore? After all these years I enter a room and you just stand there glaring at me, when you should be on your knees begging for forgiveness. I told Matthew the best thing to do with you was to make sure you were punished correctly. I finally figured it out and when the Thunder Cloud Knuckle Brotherhood reached out, I made a deal with them. They wanted to punish that club you are part of, so you are serving two purposes, though before you are taken, I will be taking my pound or two of flesh. I’m glad they washed your ass off, daughter, because I’m gonna make you dirty again, that’s for damn sure.
I’m planning on leaving a mark or two myself. ”
His words have me moving back, grabbing the chair so it is in front of me.
Father is cackling like a maniac and I refuse to take my eyes off of him.
That is until I see Matthew right behind him, raising his arm.
In slow motion, I watch my brother reach out to our father and start to punch him repeatedly in the head and lower, by his kidneys.
After the first scream of pain, Father didn’t say a thing, even when his legs gave out and he landed first hard on his knees, then he passed out lying on his side.
Matthew reaches down to feel for a pulse.
Not sure if he finds one or not, but he stands up and glances my way.
His eyes take me in from head to feet, then his eyes stare at the way I am gripping the chair.
“Daneira, you better sit down before you fall. Come on, little sister, I got you.”
Feeling like I’m in an altered universe, I stare at my brother, who I’ve not seen in years, and I can’t figure out if he’s playing me or actually being serious.
When he moves closer to me, I look into his eyes and don’t see any of the evil I just saw in our father’s.
I move slowly and sit back into the chair, moaning as I try to get comfortable.
“Do you know how many men are out there? Is Noah here with Samson and the others?”
Hearing his question about Noah, my head jerks up and I stare at him.
“Matthew, why do you want to know about Noah? Why are you even here?”
He runs his hands through his longish hair then squats down in front of me, his eyes never leaving mine.
“First, you call me Matt or Matty and I’ll call you Dani.
That okay? Second, I work with Noah, so this whole thing with our father is a setup.
He’s been dealing in human trafficking with that brotherhood, along with rape and torture of women and children, before those victims were removed from the ‘religious’ commune.
The elders are all involved too, so when Noah approached me, I knew it was time to stop that motherfucker.
Now, do you know if your club will be able to figure out where you are and come to rescue you?
No, I’m not trying to set them up, just hoping we get some more help here because we are outnumbered and the Thunder Cloud Knuckle Brotherhood club are almost here. ”
Still staring at Matty, I’m trying to take in what he said and make sense of it.
“Why now, Matty? What changed?”
Smiling, he softly puts one hand on my knee and squeezes.
“Dani, you were always too smart for your britches. I’ve met someone and want to pursue it, but know Father would lose his ever-lovin’ mind.
Not to mention Mother needs help before she fades away, as do the others.
Took a while but I figured it out and realized what you and Dorothea already knew.
The whole fucking community we have lived in at one time or another was not only wrong but also contained a lot of evil men.
In my heart, I knew it needed to stop and when Noah talked to me, we came up with a plan.
And now we are in the middle of it, though it’s not turning out how we had planned it. ”
As we talk, I see Matty keeping an eye on our father, who is still out cold.
From his backpack, Matty pulls out some zip ties and pulls both our father’s arms and legs together, making sure he can’t move or try to manipulate either of us for control.
When we hear the lock disengage, we both shut up and look that way.
When I see Noah being pushed in, his face bloody, I feel the panic coming off Matty.
“You want to save that little bitch, well now you can suffer with her. Thought you were smarter than that, Noah. For Christ’s sake, I taught you better.
We have the ability to get as much pussy as we want and you have to go and feel sorry for the latest one.
Like this isn’t the only bitch we’ve used and passed on, come on, little brother, get your head outta your ass.
I’ll leave you in here to have some fun then get back to business.
I’m giving you a gift to have Daneira first, which you know I don’t usually do.
Get that taste and then put her outta your mind.
I’ll be back in a bit. Have fun, but don’t damage the merchandise too much. ”
As Samson slams the door while chuckling, Matty turns to me for a second then he moves to stand in front of me as he turns. Noah sees it and I see his face turn to stone.
“Really, Matty, you think I’m like them?
I’ve never put my hands or anything on a woman who didn’t want it.
I’m not a rapist or child molester, for Christ’s sake.
Remember, brother, this was my idea to bring your father and my brothers down at the same time.
I had no idea they would involve Daneira and Dorothea.
Sorry, fuck, forgot Dani and Dottie. Now we need to come up with a plan as, at the moment, the three of us are fucked. ”
“Yeah, you are one stupid motherfucker. Goddamn it, Matthew, take these off of me this instant and help me up. What the hell are you waiting for? I’ve given you a direct order, son, now move your ass.”
Matty doesn’t move a muscle except to look down at our father. The mood coming off of Matty is scaring me but again, I bite my tongue. Better to fade into the background. Well, until our father opens his mouth.
“Son, come on, we don’t have a lot of time before the brotherhood arrives. I want to dip my cock into that whore once more before we sell her off. Both her and your other sister have a huge price on their heads. If there’s time, I’ll even let you get yourself some. Come on, Matthew.”
Something catches my eye and I see Noah has moved and is just about to kick our father in the kidney area.
When he does, the sound coming from that bastard’s mouth is like music to my ears.
After all he and the elders did to Dottie and me, I couldn’t care less if Noah and Matty beat his dilapidated ass to death.
When Matty tells Noah to stop, I’m kind of shocked. Then he explains it to us.
“I want him dead just as much as both of you. My plan though is to trade him off to the brotherhood so they can deal with him. He’s been fucking them from the beginning.
He used every one of the people who were trafficked and ended up at the ‘property.’ And he was skimming off the top, so he basically was stealing from them in all aspects.
They told him not to touch the merchandise, and he did.
And he stole their money. I’m sure they’d like a chance to punish the motherfucker for his sins.
Noah, pull him over into that corner. Yeah, the one with the puddles and shit.
Let him get a feeling of how those other folks felt when he was holding them.
I need to check Dani’s injuries really quick. ”
When my brother turns my way, I curl into myself on the chair.
When his hands touch my calves I almost scream, but that’s where they stay.
Carefully he removes my socks to look at my feet.
His inhale of breath tells me they are really bad, which I knew by how they felt.
Pulling his backpack off and digging in it, he brings out a jar of something.
When his eyes hit mine, I can see the sadness in his.
“Dani, this is a mixture of aloe vera and arnica. It will give you some relief from the pain but your feet are bruised and skin is broken. I don’t have any pain pills but I’ll give you some Tylenol, which might help a little. Do you trust me enough to let me put this cream on your feet?”
Watching him and seeing the look in his eyes, I nod.
Matty then grabs some gloves, and after putting them on, he starts to spread the cream on the bottom of my feet.
At first it hurts bad, but gradually it starts to feel a little better.
He’s right, it helps but doesn’t take the pain away totally.
When I hear pills shaking in a bottle, I look up to see Noah opening up a bottle and shaking some into his hand.
He leans toward me, his hand out, while showing me the bottle in his other hand.
At this point I’ll take just about anything if it helps me with this pain.
It seems to be getting worse as time goes by, even with the cream, though that cuts the overwhelming feeling of pain.
Putting my hand out, Noah drops the Tylenol in it, then reaches down and grabs a bottle of water out of a bag he brought in.
He opens it and again, hands it to me. I put the pills in my mouth then swallow them down with some water.
Never knew water could taste so good. Maybe because it helped rinse out the blood taste that has been living in my mouth since Samson took me from the garage.
Damn, I pray Duchess is alive and getting taken care of.
Hearing a throat clear, I look to see Noah has two sandwiches in his hands, both stretched to me.
“Pick whichever you want, Dani. One is turkey with Swiss; the other is ham with cheddar.”
I get what he’s trying to do by letting me have choices, which is nice of him.
With my belly so upset, not sure I can eat but I grab the turkey and Swiss.
Matty already has a sandwich and is eating while our father is still out or at least faking to be out.
Slowly unwrapping the sandwich, I take a small bite.
Damn, it’s good, lots of turkey with the Swiss and some lettuce and tomatoes with mayonnaise.
Yummy, I think to myself just as we hear a moan coming from the corner.
Great, the old man is waking up. Why couldn’t he stay out until we were done eating?
Matty walks to him, his one hand holding a sandwich.
When he leans down, he reaches for our father’s wrists, and cuts the zip tie.
I watch as Matty helps him roll over and then gets him in a seated position.
He hands the sandwich and then reaches behind him to Noah, who is holding a bottle of water.
Dad looks first at Matty then the food and water.
Cautiously, he takes both and tries to sit up a bit straighter.
It dawns on me that our father is not getting old, he just is old.
The years have not been good to the unkind man.
That’s karma when your soul is black and you don’t have a heart or soul, so I guess that’s what happens.
A very small part of me feels bad for him, but then our childhood flashes before my eyes and all the pity I have evaporates.
There is nothing that can happen to him that would be enough for what he’s done to his family.
As that thought passes through my mind, his eyes find me and the look on his face I can’t make out.
Well, until the old bastard opens his mouth.
“Don’t worry, Daneira, your time is coming quickly.
I might be a bit bruised and battered but it ain’t nothing to what’s coming your way, slut.
I made sure the brotherhood found the vilest human being they could find to sell you to.
His playthings generally don’t last a month or two before he is looking for a new one.
So prepare, daughter, your last days on this earth are about to be very painful.
I hope he breaks you before he kills you and gets rid of your body. ”
Before I can say a word, Matty backhands the old man hard.
“Don’t talk to her, you old fuck. You are not in charge any longer, hear me? Sit here, shut your mouth, eat your food, and mind your business, you got me?”
That brings a smile to my face just as our father looks my way.
For some reason I’m feeling brave, so I lift my left hand and give him my middle finger as I take another bite of my sandwich.
Matty sees me and starts to laugh, as does Noah too.
Hearing the two of them, even with the situation we are in, I can’t help it…
…I giggle. This pisses my father off, which was exactly what I wanted to do.
Mission accomplished. Guess this isn’t over yet, not by a long shot.