Fragile Truths (14 page)

“Fuck you,” I wheezed as I still struggled against the copious amounts of oxygen saturating my blood system.

“Not my type, Tiger.”

Just as I was about to answer the door opened and Yard strolled in, his hands behind his back and a malicious gleam in his eye. Terror sharpened my senses as I tried to read him but his nonchalance was indecipherable. He ambled over to the music system and switched off the song currently filling the airwaves. “Enough of that,” he stated as he turned to Jude. “I prefer the silence; it helps to enjoy the screams.”

Jude seemed confused but tense as he stared at Yard. “Did you want something, Yard?”

Yard just nodded slowly as he studied the rack of instruments Jude had lined up in preparation. “My turn,” he murmured as he looked over the tools with indifference.

“What?” Jude barked and I frowned as I flicked my eyes from him to Yard, their obvious animosity thickening the atmosphere in the room.

“I said,” Yard stated slowly, “It’s my turn.”

“On whose authority?”

A bitter laugh erupted from Yard as he stared wide eyed at Jude, “On whose authority?” he repeated with bewilderment. “Who the fuck do you think you are, the fucking kings guard?” He was laughing loudly and coldly as Jude visibly loathed him, hatred and abhorrence plain on his face as he glared vehemently. “My father thought that your particular methods weren’t working,” Yard explained as he walked over to a cupboard, opening the door and reaching into it to grab something I couldn’t see.

“Jesus,” he hissed. “Give me chance. We’ve only been here half an hour.”

“Exactly,” Yard spat furiously. “She’s a fucking woman. You should’ve had her pleading for mercy by now. You’re going soft Jude and I’m wondering if there’s an ulterior motive for your sudden weakness?”

“What the hell?” Jude’s eyes fired angrily as his shoulders lifted in outrage.

Yard merely shrugged, his attention now focused on me as his smile widened and he approached lazily, “Hey there, darlin’. You ready?” I flinched as his finger ran along the length of my jaw then down my neck. He pressed his finger harshly against the dip at the base of my throat and laughed when I started to choke. He rolled his eyes and tutted before he started to unbuckle my restraints.

I frowned at the freedom as I stared at him. He just scrunched his nose as if giving me a sweet moment then as soon as the last strap was released he flipped me over so I was face down on the chair, the scent of sweat and stale blood assailing my nostrils. He pulled at me when I struggled until he had each arm and leg trapped and secure again.

“Right, before we start is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

I was so tempted by the delight and manic glee in him to give up but as my mother’s screams filled my head I knew I had to endure the pain and suffering just like she had done to save me. “I would like to say that you are one fucked up arsehole if you think torturing me is gonna save your dad’s ass. The man will burn in fucking hell!”

“Okay,” he almost sang. “I suggest you don’t bite down on your lower lip, you could make a bit of a mess.”

The torturous pain that exploded on my back was excruciating, the burn and agony unbearable as he dripped a tiny amount of something caustic onto my spine. I could feel it eating away at my flesh, attacking it with a swift overwhelming scorch as it corroded a part of my vertebrae.

“Fucking Christ, Yard.” Jude cried out as he stood watching in shock, “She’ll never tell you if you go too far. She’s different from the others; she has a strength I’ve never seen before.”

Yard chuckled, “She’s a fucking bird, and she’ll give.”

Jude shook his head and flicked his eyes to my face, his eyes worried and I looked at him through the haze trying to determine if he was genuinely concerned for me or for the information he needed from me. He was running his hands through his hair in frustration but he shook his head rapidly. “I’m telling you, we’ll never have it if you fucking kill her.” That answered my uncertainty.

Yard tutted and laughed, “The fuck, Jude. It’s a bit of acid not a fucking bullet, you pussy. If you aren’t gonna sit and be quiet like a good boy, I suggest you get out of here and let me concentrate on Frankie’s beautiful screams.” He grinned at me and scrunched up his face as though he was dealing with a toddler.

Jude shook his head but from the expression on his face he was far from happy about it. Much the same as me really.

Another explosion of pain tore into my back as he dripped another droplet and it dined on my skin and flesh, eating through my nerves and muscles in its relentless need for food. I’m sure it was trying to get access to my heart when I felt it start to devour my insides as it seeped further and further into me.

I was squirming and writhing on the chair as tears flowed down my cheeks and dripped onto the floor, my chest heaving with the intense heaves of my cries.

“You are a strong little thing aren’t you?” Yard said reverently as if fascinated by a female’s pain threshold.

“I’d fight the fucking devil to take out your dad,” I rasped as the acid started to adhere to my lungs. I’m sure it was eating at my oxygen as well as my body, the pain making each inhalation difficult and agonising.

Yard scoffed and I screamed uncontrollably as he squeezed the dropper harder and a larger drop of acid ripped through my side just above my hip. The amount was enough to bore a hole through me in seconds, its potency gorging on me violently as my eyes rolled back and my heart surged in my chest, the pain feeding its need to pump harder and faster to handle the adrenaline.

Yard sighed tiredly as he paused and allowed me to come to terms with the pain. I could feel myself slipping off somewhere as my brain struggled to cope with the agony and rapidly started to shut down.

As if sensing my imminent oblivion Yard yanked at my hair and pulled my head back. “Stay with me bitch,” he growled as his fist connected with the side of my face.

“I told you!” Jude snarled. “You’re gonna lose her and then what?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Yard hissed as I heard him pick up an instrument from the tray.

My eyes widened when I caught sight of the secateurs. My breathing sped up as he took a hold of my little finger and winked at me. “Give in yet, gorgeous?” he asked as he held the shears against my finger and pressed slowly but firmly.

I didn’t answer him as a deep calm enveloped me. I could feel my lips lifting on their own accord, my spirit kicking in as my body shut down and built its natural defences. An unnatural fearlessness came over me as adrenaline and detachment struggled against each other in my exhaustion. “Make sure you leave my middle finger on,” I smirked slowly. “Just so I can stick it to you when your dad gets screwed in the showers.”

“You fucking bitch!” he snarled but my final scream obscured his words as an overwhelming pain brought nirvana and blackness surrounded me

Tate

She’d been gone too long – much too long. The room was silent apart from the wheeze as I breathed in, confirming a couple of broken ribs.

My eyes were trained on the window, the light allowing me to watch different people come and go up and down the corridor. So far I’d counted seven apart from Jude and Niko, and I knew in my present state that I had no chance of taking them on.

A scream echoed around the building, its terrifying force stilling the blood in my veins and amplifying the nausea in my stomach as a deep shudder ripped through me.

“No, no, no” I murmured as I pulled at the chains, the heavy metal wrapping my wrists was pulling my tendons with the weight but the smooth cool steel grounded me, giving me something other than the pain to focus on. I knew I wouldn’t free myself from them but I couldn’t remain still as they hurt Frankie, my heart was beating so rapidly I needed the movement to counteract the adrenaline surging through me. “Jesus Christ,” I choked out as another piercing scream reverberated around the air, tearing through the staleness with its potency and trapping all the oxygen in my lungs.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on something – anything to strengthen myself for when she returned, if they returned her. Nope, I wouldn’t allow my thoughts to go that dark – she would come back, she had to.

The silence was even more disconcerting and I strained my neck against the pain to tilt my head and force my ears to capture any sounds they could. At least her cries told me she was still alive.

I couldn’t see a way out of this. Frankie had some evidence against Don and I had an awful feeling she wasn’t going to abandon her purpose and give it up. Her stubbornness would kill her.

I pulled against the chains again, groaning at the pain that tore through me. The big fella had done an epic job on me and if it wasn’t so tragic I’d have offered him a job. I knew I had a couple of broken ribs and my face felt like he’d taken a bat to it, the bridge of my nose was split and one of my eyes was swollen shut.

The door opened and I stared in disbelief when Yard and Jude dragged Frankie between them, her pale legs trailing behind her as they held her up with a hand on each of her arms.

“What the…”

I was suddenly struggling to breathe against the nausea curling my guts as they tugged her up onto the bed and dropped her face down, a trail of blood retracing their route behind them. She was unconscious but wore a long white t-shirt that was covered in blood and stuck to her back where holes seemed to have been burnt through it.

“What the fuck have you done?” I choked out as my throat began to close up, restricting my voice along with my breath.

Yard turned to me and grinned. I noticed Jude turn the other way and walk out of the room without uttering a word. “She’s one stubborn bitch,” he laughed. “So I thought I’d show her just how persistent I could be.”

“She needs help. I can hear her struggling to breathe from here!”

He just shrugged and threw me a wink before he followed Jude out of the door.

“Fuck, fuck!” I wrenched desperately on my restraints but they wouldn’t budge. Frankie wasn’t just wheezing, she was gasping for oxygen as her blood trickled in small rivulets down the sheet and seeped rapidly onto the floor, creating a deep crimson puddle, each new drip generating a splash with the density of the slick.

“SHE WILL FUCKING DIE, YOU BASTARDS!”  

She needed help fast before she bled to death – very quickly taking into consideration how quickly the puddle was becoming a pond. She was quiet, too quiet; the only sounds from her were the heavy pants as she desperately attempted to suck in some oxygen, her vague moans muffled as her face sunk deep into the mattress.

“Frankie.”

She remained still and quiet, her body flat to the bed with one of her arms hung over the edge as more blood trickled from it. It was then I noticed the absence of her little finger, a scrap of bone jutting out where they had severed it at a random point above her knuckle. “Ahh, shit.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“GET IN HERE!”

She would either suffocate or bleed to death in this position. I rattled harder on the chains hoping to stir Frankie and get some bastard to help her, “FRANKIE!”

She murmured something and I exhaled noisily, comforted slightly with her faint responsiveness. “Frankie, look at me.” Her head moved the tiniest hint but I pushed her further. “Frankie! Look at me… NOW!”

“Mmmm,” she grumbled as she struggled to nudge her head sideways.

“That’s it babe, I’m right here.”

Finally her head turned until she was facing me. There was no blood on her face and I took that as a good sign but I knew they would save the best torture the further she rebuked their demands. “Good girl.”

She mumbled something under her breath and I cringed as she started to cough halfway through her words, her pretty face twisting with the pain the action produced. “What?” I asked loudly, my need to keep her awake overruling her need to obliterate the agony.

“Leave – me…” Her tongue peaked out to dampen her dry lips before she finished her sentence. “…alone.”

“I can’t do that, I’m afraid. I need you to open your eyes and look at me. Stop being so damn difficult.” I smirked when her eyes opened and the stunning silver of her eyes glared at me heatedly. “There you are. I thought you’d gone soft on me.”

She mouthed a rather rude gesture and I grinned at her. “You have no idea how much I would love to fuck you again, but maybe now isn’t the best time.”

She stared at me, her eyes wet and half closed but my heart ached at the slight twitch of her lips. “Maybe later,” she slurred as her eyes began to close again.

“No, no, no, Frankie. Keep those eyes on me. I’m cold and lonely here and bored out of my bloody mind. I tell you something, when I get us out of here I am gonna devour the biggest, sloppiest fucking burger I can get my hands on. What’s your ultimate food, Frankie?” She remained silent but I pressed on, “Come on, I hate talking to myself. What’s your comfort food? Steak? Chips? Oooh, I bet it’s chocolate.”

I tilted my head as something jumbled passed her lips. “What? You need to learn fucking English, babe. Can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

She coughed faintly and wet her lips again, “Coffee.”

My jaw dropped and I made a needy, throaty moan, “Fuck woman, did you have to mention coffee?”

She snorted and swallowed heavily. “With Turkish delight,” she managed, her words and her spirit lifting my lips into a wide grin. Hell, she had been tortured and by the looks of her back, burnt with something so potent it had melted her clothing but there she was, dreaming of coffee and Turkish delight. 

“God, I adore it too, but only the proper stuff, the lemon’s my favourite. What’s yours, pink or yellow? ... FRANKIE!”

She jerked then hissed in pain, “Mmmm.”

The door opened suddenly and I watched as two nurses entered the room flanked by Nik. “Shit, it’s about time.” He flicked his eyes to me but remained silent as the nurses got to work on Frankie, inserting needles here and there, cleaning and wrapping her finger and stitching the various tears on her skin. I winced as she screamed when they pulled off her t-shirt, the corroded material drawing her skin with it.