Page 106 of Requiem

I don’t, until he pulls another pair of zip ties from his pocket. “No,” I protest as I try to sit up. “No, not again …”

The punch comes so hard, and so fast, that it knocks me off the bed, onto the opposite side of the room. I’m amazed that I don’t feel the pain at first, just the immense and uncomfortable pressure of his fist against my flesh. What I do feel is the thick slick wetness that’s running down my face. Jeremy makes his way around to where I’m lying, dazed, on the floor. He looks like a giant as he stands over me. A very angry giant. Before I can even finish the idle thought, he delivers a quick, vicious kick to my ribs. I grunt in pain and curl up into a ball on the floor.

“Please,” I cry into my hands. “Please …”

Jeremy bends over and grabs a fistful of my hair. I have no choice but to follow it upward and onto my unsteady legs. When I’m upright again, he takes my right wrist and uses it to pull me back onto the bed and all the way up to the headboard. At this point, I am in too much pain and too stunned to protest, as he uses one of the plastic fasteners to secure it to the wrought iron headboard. In a matter of seconds, the left wrist joins it. Then he is leaning over me, his face only a couple of inches from mine.

“Beg and plead all you want, you stupid cunt. All you’re succeeding in doing is giving me a hard-on. I’d kick that fucking thing out of you right now, but I don’t want to deal with all the blood while I’m screwing you.”

He runs a hand over my rapidly swelling cheek and then holds it up so I can see the bloody smudge on his fingers.

“See that, Jules? If you think that’s a sticky, painful mess, just wait until you feel your baby leaking out of you,” he taunts softly with a smile that sickens me. “You know, I was going to wait until later, but I’m thinking maybe we should take advantage of this big old bed right now. What do you think?” He’s patting the mattress next to me. “Hmmm? Still think rape is a little too common for me?”

I turn my face away from him and he straightens up with a chuckle.

“Uh-huh. That’s what I thought. I’m going to get another drink, and while I’m gone, I want you to think about how badly I’m about to hurt you. Just wait and see what I can do when I really put my mind to it.”

I still have my face turned away from him when he leaves the room, whistling a Mozart horn concerto as he moves into the hallway and down the stairs.

.

Matthew 39

“Fuck, Brett! Can’t we go any faster? Jesus! Every second she’s with him …”

“Matt, you need to stay calm,” he says, putting a hand on my shoulder from the driver’s seat of the car. “This is not the time to have a meltdown, man. Julia needs you to be calm and clearheaded.”

I sigh and rub my temples. I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. Jeremy was exactly right. This is worse than anything anyone could possibly do to me physically. Julia is suffering. She’s bleeding. He’s probably got his hands all over her right now … No. I can’t let my mind go there. Besides, I’m not the only one with something to lose here.

“What do you think will happen if your mom walks in on them?” I ask quietly.

He gives me a sideways glance from the driver’s seat before he speaks again. And when he does speak, it’s with an iciness that reminds me of the man Brett Corrigan used to be.

“If I know my brother, and I do, he’ll be surprised. And then, he’ll be happy.”

“What?” I gasp, twisting around in my seat to get a better look at him now. “What do you mean he’ll be happy?”

“She’s next on his hit list, I’m sure. She’ll have saved him the trouble of tracking her down. And then, after her, it’ll be me he’s gunning for. Then Maggie, most likely. Jeremy is nothing, if not thorough.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I mean, I always knew that Brett had an insight into his brother’s mind that the rest of us didn’t, but I never realized he could peer so deeply into the murky depths of Jeremy’s soul. That is, if he had a soul.

“I’m sure I’d be up before you …” I start, but Brett’s mouth turns into a tight little smile that gives me the chills.

“Oh, no, Matthew. That would be too easy. He wants you to live on and suffer.”

“You mean …you mean after he kills her?”

My question shakes Brett out of the dark place he’s in and brings him back out into the light.

“No,” he asserts, shaking his head emphatically. “No, man. He’s not going to kill her …”

I turn back and face forward, watching the scenery on the Long Island Expressway go by in a blur. No, he won’t kill her, because I’m going to get there before that happens. But that doesn’t mean she won’t be begging him to kill her by then.