Alberto tensed, quickly recognizing the voice. It was Sam. The man who had stepped on Alberto's hand just only moments ago when Alberto had been trying to fill his pockets with his winnings from the card game. A prickly sensation flooded his senses, throwing caution into his thoughts. “What are you doing here?” he snarled, but uttered a low moan when the blade of the knife left a thin trail of blood down his back.
“Just do as you are tor, and we'll see to it tha’ you don’ get hurt none,” Sam growled.
Alberto swallowed hard, gritting his teeth. He didn't want to show a cowardly side to his nature. But he didn't want to get hurt, either. He had not only himself to protect, but also Maria. “What do you want?” he said quietly, knowing the answer to that before he even spoke. Sam had come for the money. Alberto had been set up. He looked toward Grace and saw the look of mockery flashin
g in her green eyes, making them look even more like those of a cat. His eyes raked over her nakedness, so sure it wasn't he who would be sleeping with her now. He had lost… and more than money… it seemed.
Sam shoved Alberto onto the bunk. “Get ‘im ready, Grace,” he growled. “You know wha’ I mean.”
Alberto was now able to see all around him. His heart throbbed wildly when he saw Sam standing there with a knife in one hand, and the other resting on a holstered gun. Hopes of coming out of this alive quickly dwindled.
“Come on, darlin'. Relax,” Grace purred, stretching her body out next to Alberto's.
“What the … ?” Alberto gasped, suddenly realizing that Grace was continuing with her efforts of seducing him. Her fingers traced a path downward, stopping on his manhood, fondling it until it sprang up again, even though there was an audience. He closed his eyes, not wanting to be a part of this ugly scene, but he couldn't control the lusty urges building up inside him. When Grace's tongue replaced her fingers, he stiffened, breathing wildly, feeling the warmth seizing his insides, ready to erupt into a million spasms of delight. Then Sam stepped forward and took Grace by the hand. . . .
“Enough, little woman,” he snarled.
Alberto opened his eyes, startled. He watched as Grace went to stand across the room to watch while Sam approached Alberto with his breeches removed. “What do you think you're going to do with me?” Alberto shouted, trying to climb from the bunk, but stopped when a gun-toting Grace walked across the room, pointing it at Alberto.
“Now, just you shut up, darlin',” she purred, smiling wickedly. “You're soon to find out just how we get our pleasures aboard this movin’ vessel. There's more to life than playin’ poker. . ..”
“You . .. can't. . . .”Alberto whined, then felt Sam's fingers twist around his hair to yank him from the bunk.
“We . . . can .. . and we will, sonny boy,” Sam growled, moving around to Alberto's behind.
“Stop. . ..” Alberto moaned when he felt the stiffness of Sam's sex press against his buttocks. When the lunge was made inside him, he gritted his teeth together, to keep from screaming. He closed his eyes. It was all too humiliating. He tensed when the pain began to wrack his body. He was being raped . . . but. . . by a . . . man. He had never felt more degraded in his life. He would be nothing but grime when these two finished with him.
He began to tremble as cold sweat began to pop out along the full length of his body. He opened his eyes momentarily, to see a look of hungry desire in Grace's eyes as she continued to stand and watch. When Sam's body became all tremors, Alberto felt as though his body was going to be torn in half. He couldn't help but let out a loud sob as he was pushed to the floor in a heap. He rolled up into a fetal position, waiting for the final insult. . . death. But he would welcome it now. . . .
“Git up and get yore clothes on, sonny boy,” Sam growled, already dressing himself.
Alberto's eyes opened widely. He looked around the room, searching for his clothes. He felt anger rising inside himself when he saw Grace emptying his pockets of everything. They had taken his male virginity from him . . . and now they were also taking his winnings. He had lost. Everything. Everything … but… Maria. “Oh, Maria,” he thought desperately to himself. “How can I ever tell you?” He knew that they always shared everything. But this was one thing … he could never share with her.
“Did ya hear?” Sam growled, kicking Alberto in the ribs with the sharp point of a boot. “Get yoreself up and get dressed. Do ya think we wan’ to be stuck with the likes of you all evenin'? We have other crops to pick.”
Groaning, Alberto pushed himself from the floor, feeling an unusual heaviness in his body. Each movement was as though he was a tied rope … ready to snap. He wasn't sure which part of him ached the most, but he managed to get to his clothes. Piece by piece he struggled, until he was finally fully clothed. Then he eyed Sam and Grace, wondering what to expect next.
Sam slithered toward him, waving the opened knife in his face once again, chewing on a fresh wad of tobacco, now fully clothed. “Now, sonny boy, if'n ya tell who it was who done this to ya, I guess I don’ have to tell ya whut to ‘spect from me,” he drawled.
Alberto's eyes widened. “I won't tell,” he mumbled. “Honest.”
“Too bad you didn't get to get into Grace's pants,” Sam laughed boisterously. “She has a way of showin’ fun, like no other whore has.”
Alberto felt a brief brave tremor surge through his veins. He set his jaw firmly and said, “Then why did you do . . . that… to me? Why didn't you just. . . go … to bed … with Grace?”
Sam spat tobacco juice onto the floor, laughing raucously. With one brow raised higher than the other, he slapped Alberto softly on the cheek. “Sonny boy, don’ you know you're just as purty as a woman?” he snickered. “Not too often one comes along like you. When they does? I has me my fun.”
Alberto's face flamed. He had never been compared to a woman before. His fury was kindled even more. “You can't be from my country,” Alberto snapped. “None of my people could be as filthy-minded as you.”
“You guessed it right and proper, sonny boy,” Sam said, winking. “I make it my pleasure to ride these ships from New York to Italy. Gets me more rich each trip. Tha's why I couldn't let you step away from that poker game with all my money.”
“I'd gladly have given you all you asked for,” Alberto said glumly. “But why did you have to degrade me so? Why?”
“Like I said. You're an extra purty one, you are.”
“I'd like to kill you,” Alberto snarled. “And I must tell you, if I get the chance, I will.”
The knife blade moved closer to his throat. “Now, I don’ like hearin’ talk like that,” Sam growled. “I thought you had agreed to forget wha’ happen here.” “I agreed to not tell anyone. But I didn't agree to forget. I can never forget. This nightmare will live with me for the rest of my life.”