The world was a horrible place. I got that.
“You’re defending him?” I heard the shock in her voice and don’t like it.
“I’m not … damn it, Emily, stop it, okay. I’ve got to go.” I didn’t want to carry on a conversation that made me feel so guilty and mad at the same time.
Without waiting for her to stop me, I turned off the chat, signed out, and closed the laptop down. I didn’t move, staring out at the ocean.
Earl wasn’t too far away.
I could feel him.
I didn’t turn around.
“How long have you been there?” I asked.
“Long enough.”
“She’s my friend and she’s worried about me.”
“Your friends are safe, Ashley, so long as you stick to the deal and they don’t meddle in my business.”
He sat down beside me. His warmth surrounded me, even though I wanted to be angry.
He had women on the island. The house was always clean. Not a speck of dust anywhere. The dishes, when we were in the dining room, were always cleaned away.
They moved around without being seen.
“The women you keep close. Do you fuck them?” I asked. The words spilled from my mouth before I had a chance to hold them back.
“No.”
“Have you ever … fucked them?”
“Ashley, be careful.”
Tears filled my eyes. It was times like this that I realized our dynamic was captive and captor. I wasn’t a girlfriend. I was a piece of flesh.
I felt stupid for thinking it could be otherwise. I gripped the laptop, about to stand, but his voice held me still.
“Yes, I’ve fucked them. I’ve had no choice. You can believe me or not, I don’t give a fuck. This life, I’ve fought my way to the top. You don’t know how I came to be, Ashley. You don’t know what I’ve sacrificed, what I’ve fought to claim.”
Turning toward him, I saw him staring out across the ocean.
There was no guilt. No remorse.
“I fucked them because it was a requirement. You’re aware this used to be owned by my grandfather,” he said.
“That’s not building it from the ground up. That’s not fighting for your life, for this, every single day. You got it handed to you on a silver platter.”
The laugh that erupted from him sent a chill down my spine.
“You think because I was the only living son that I could have all this? The wealth, the power, just because of my last name. Just because his son fathered me.” Earl’s laughter was dark, sinister, full of hate.
I felt sick, but I didn’t get up and leave.
The beast lurked beneath, ready to pounce.
He’d told me vague parts of his life with his grandfather and his father, but I hadn’t gotten a lot to build up a picture.
“My father hadn’t even earned the right to take over from him. He was learning the ropes. Dealing every single night in pussy. It’s what he was doing when he died.” Earl’s hands were tight, the threat in them clear.
Fear traveled through my body at what he could do.
“You want to go around thinking the world is black and white. That it’s either good or bad. You’re wrong, Ashley.”
He didn’t tell me anything more. Earl got to his feet, turned on his heel, and walked away.
I came to realize the reason I was allowed to be alone. I couldn’t get the fuck off this island. His men were there. And there was no way out other than with his express permission.
I was trapped here until he was ready to get rid of me.
****
Earl
A young teenager.
“What?”
“You heard me, boy. You get in that room and you fuck her. If you don’t, I’m going to make one of my men, and believe me, they’re going to leave her broken and bloody.”
I looked into the room.
It was a dirty place where my grandfather kept the girls. It was all designed to make them feel like animals. Their human rights were gone. They were property. They were marked. A single brand burned into their skin at their hip. Each one letting his customers know who she belonged to.
Staring into the room, I saw the property was young. Couldn’t be any more than sixteen. I’d seen her arrive. The men had already tasted her virgin state. Blood covered the pants at the apex of her thighs. They’d raped her virginity and made her keep the evidence on her for their own sick games.
My grandfather had been pissed.
A virgin was worth so much more. He’d played along, found out who’d done the deed, and right there, in front of all the women, he’d put a bullet in the man’s head.
Now, the girl who’d been torn, she was here, for me.
I hated this.
He commanded his men.
They all did as he told them.
My grandfather had a sick, twisted way of keeping himself entertained.
I didn’t know what to say.
My dick wasn’t hard.