Those Girls by Chevy Stevens Page A

shoulders.” She ran her hands through it. “Yeah, like that.”
    He handed us beers. “Don’t know why you had to be such stuck-up bitches. We could’ve had a lot of fun.”
    We sipped at our beers. I was scared they’d drugged it or poisoned it, but the cold liquid felt good. They also gave us sandwiches, which we wolfed down, keeping our eyes on the boys, waiting for the next step.
    They brought in a portable stereo, put on some country music.
    Gavin clapped his hands, kicked the ground a couple of times with his boots. “Let’s dance.” We stared at them.
    “Why aren’t you dancing?” Brian said.
    We danced, and they joined in, twirling us around like we were at a barnyard dance. I could feel my sisters’ anger simmering off of them, though none of us said a word. Our hands were finally untied, but while one brother danced, the other sat with the gun pointed at us.
    It was hard to keep dancing. Dani and Courtney faltered and I stumbled, which earned me a slap on the butt from Brian. “Wake up!”
    The boys tired of the game and started taunting us, picking on Courtney and me. “What’s your real names?”
    “I’m Sara—she’s Melissa.” Courtney pointed at me.
    “You’re lying,” Gavin said. “You were lying as soon as we saw you in that busted-down truck.”
    Brian started laughing. “Almost got it fixed up.” Dani looked at him. “Think I might just keep it. Take the plates off, throw a slap of paint on it. Make for a real nice souvenir.”
    Souvenir.
    I wondered how much longer they planned on keeping us alive.
    Brian circled closer to me. “Your sister said you just turned fifteen.”
    I tried to think which one had told him.
    Brian was still talking. “But I think they’re lying about that too. That’s no fifteen-year-old’s body.”
    He stood behind me, his breath on my neck. He lifted my hair, nuzzled my neck, grabbed me, and pulled me back. I cried out.
    My sisters came toward me. Gavin stepped in with a gun. “Stay back.”
    “Leave her alone,” Dani said.
    “She’s just a kid,” Courtney said. “You can do whatever you want to me again—whatever you want. Just let her go.”
    He reached around, cupped one of my breasts, gripping it hard. I elbowed him in the stomach, kicked back with my foot.
    “You little brat!” He grabbed me around the waist and started to drag me out of the room.
    Dani and Courtney were screaming, “No! Leave her alone!”
    Then I heard the sickening smack of metal hitting flesh.
    “I’ll shoot your sister, bitch!” Gavin’s voice.
    I looked back over my shoulder, frantic. Gavin had the gun pointed at Courtney. Dani was on the floor, holding the side of her face.
    Brian had me out the door. I fought hard, pushing back with all my strength, but his arm was wrapped tight around my body. Was he going to kill me? Crazed with fear, I didn’t care. I didn’t want to find out what he was going to do. I remembered the sounds from Dani and Courtney as they tried to clean themselves, their moans at night when they tried to sleep, their crying in the dark.
    Brian hauled me down a short hallway, then through an open door. He had the rifle tucked under his other armpit, his hand gripping the lantern, which was swinging and casting strange shadows. I looked around, searching for an escape, something to save me. We were in a warehouse, looked like the roof was a few feet higher than our room, with exposed rafters and aluminum sheeting. Clear plastic poly covered the triangle at the top of the walls at both ends of the building. Wooden crates were stacked all over in haphazard towers, a conveyor belt came out of the side of the building. The air smelled of rotting fruit. A rat scurried away from us. Brian startled, then muttered, “Fucking thing.”
    He took me to a room that broke off from the main one. An old cash register sat on a wooden counter, empty shelves lining the wall. A mattress lay in the center, a faded blue blanket tossed over it. I could see