Those Girls (8 page)

The boys kept handing us beers. It felt good, not being so hungry, the water cool and cleansing, the beer making everything fuzzy. Even Dani was relaxing, her voice excited as she talked to Gavin about ranching. She smiled and pushed her long hair off her shoulders, then giggled at something he said. I wanted her to put a T-shirt over her bikini like I had—but then I thought about Corey, how she’d never been with anyone else. Maybe it was good she was showing interest in a new boy.

Even if I didn’t like him or his toothy smile.

It was getting dark and most people had left. A few voices carried across the river, someone taking a swim on the other side, then a truck started up and drove away. Everyone had gone home now. We sat around a small campfire, the smell of river still fresh on our skin, our feet sandy, beer bottles piled behind us. Gavin was trying to get Dani to walk farther down the river.

“Come on, I’ll show you the bridge,” he said. But he was smiling at her in a way that said he wanted something else, and Dani knew it.

“I can’t leave my sisters.”

“They’ll be okay. Right, girls?” I glared at him. He laughed and stumbled off to pee in the woods but not far enough that we couldn’t see him. His white tank top had sweat stains under his armpits, his jeans shorts sagged.

“I want to go back to our camp,” I said.

Dani nodded and started to gather our things. Courtney and I got to our feet, shook out our towels.

“Hold up,” Brian said. “Let’s have another beer.”

Gavin spun back around, doing his shorts up. “What’s going on?”

“We’re going back to the campsite,” Dani said.

“What’s your problem?” He started walking toward her. “I thought we were having a good time.”

“We have to work tomorrow.” Dani sounded friendly, still trying to keep the peace.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” he said. “Shit, we go to work hungover all the time. Nothing to it, just drink lots of water.”

He sat down on the towel, gripped her arm, and pulled her down beside him. This time she got mad, shoved him.

“Hey, asshole, that hurt.”

He shoved her back. “Fuck you.”

“Let go of my sister!” I picked up a bottle, ready to throw it.

“Hey, hey. You girls calm down, now,” Brian said.

Dani had wrenched herself free from Gavin and stood up.

“We’re going back to our camp.” She started walking up the trail, motioning to us to follow.

Courtney and I jogged to catch up, the camera bouncing against my chest, my hand trying to hold it in place.

The boys were trailing a few paces behind, carrying their towels and the cooler.

“Come on, don’t be like this,” Brian said.

“We’ll talk in the morning,” Dani said over her shoulder.

“You better if you want your truck back,” Gavin said, his voice mean.

Courtney looked scared. We both glanced at Dani. I could tell she was scared too, but she also looked pissed off. She wasn’t going to back down now. I figured she was angry that we’d let the guys have this power over us, that she hadn’t listened to me when I wanted to leave hours ago. We walked all the way back to the campsite, the boys following us in their truck, its lights blinding us whenever we looked over our shoulders.

“What are we going to do back at our camp?” I said. “Should we hide?”

Dani said, “Shut up, let me think.”

I could hear the truck behind us, a dark beast nipping at our heels.

“Maybe we should just let them think we aren’t mad, you know? Like everything’s okay?” Dani sounded desperate, like she didn’t know what to do either. Which scared me more than anything.

“They’re idiots,” Courtney said. “They might believe it.”

When we got near our site, Dani spun around and walked to the truck.

“Hey, sorry things got out of control back there,” she said through the window. I couldn’t see into the cab, couldn’t see the boys’ faces.

“We’re just tired,” she said. “Tomorrow after work we’ll go swimming again, okay?”

“Sure thing, babe.” Brian’s voice. “It’s all good, right?” He sounded calm. “We just wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

“Thanks,” Dani said.

The boys backed into the field, turned the truck around, then drove off.

*   *   *

We zipped up our tent, changed into our sweatpants and sweatshirts. I had a flashlight, but I didn’t like the idea of our bodies being silhouetted. I wrapped a shirt around my camera, shoved it into the bottom of my packsack.

“They’re still mad,” I said.

“I know,” Dani said.

Courtney was fumbling around. I could hear the zipper on her packsack opening.

“What are you doing?” I said.

“Getting my knife.”

“You think they’re coming back?” I hated how scared I sounded.

“No, they’ll calm down. Just get some sleep.”

I climbed into my sleeping bag, heard my sisters settle into theirs. I tried to stay awake, listened to every noise outside, but my eyes kept closing.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I woke, my pulse racing as my eyes searched the dark. Footsteps outside, the rustle of clothes, something brushing against the side of the tent.

Dani whispered, “Shhh,” almost too low to hear.

Beside me Courtney was feeling for her knife.

My hands also groped around under my sleeping bag for my flashlight. I touched the cool metal, wrapped my fingers around it. I strained my ears. It sounded like two sets of footsteps circling the tent. Brian and Gavin. Were they trying to scare us?

I remembered the look on Gavin’s face earlier. The rage. Now there was silence. Where had they gone?

I rolled over slowly, trying not to make any noise, reaching out for Courtney, touching her arm. She grabbed my fingers, gave them a squeeze. Dani slowly moved to a kneeling position. I could see the faint outline of her body.

Someone moved outside again.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Gavin’s voice, low and slurred.

Like this was a game? I gripped my flashlight. If they touched the zipper on the tent, if they moved an inch closer, I was going to smash their hands with it.

“We’re trying to sleep,” Dani said loudly. “We’ll party tomorrow, okay?”

“We want to party
now
.” Brian’s voice.

Courtney whispered, “Maybe we should have one beer with them, then they’ll leave us alone.”

“I don’t think that will do it,” Dani said.

“Just go away,” I yelled. “You’re assholes!”

Dani jabbed me in the ribs. “Shut up, Jess.”

Outside we could hear the boys moving around like they were setting something up, a couple of thuds, dragging sounds, the hiss of a beer can opening.

“Come on, girls. We just want to say we’re sorry about earlier. We were being jerks. We brought some weed to make it up to you.”

A brief flare of light, then flickering flames. They’d built a fire.

“We have to work in the morning,” Dani said.

“We’re the bosses. You can sleep in.”

“We need the money.”

“If you come out, I’ll put in some extra hours tomorrow night after work—might be able to fix the water pump faster.”

“I don’t trust them,” I whispered.

“None of us do,” Dani whispered back. “But they’re not going away.” She turned toward the front of the tent. “Just one beer, okay?” she called out.

“One beer. That’s all we want.”

“Come on.” Dani unzipped the tent, bent low, and climbed out, her feet bare. Courtney followed. I lingered for a minute, zipping my hoodie up to my throat, hoping to hide that I wasn’t wearing a bra. I debated staying in the tent, but I wanted to be near my sisters. The fire glowed through the side of the tent. I saw a glint of metal next to me. Courtney’s knife. I put the knife in my pocket and climbed out.

“There she is,” Brian said. “Hey, little sister.” He was sitting on an old log. They’d moved a couple around the fire for seats.

I forced a smile. He patted the log near him, but I moved to the other side of the fire and sat on the log close to Dani.

He grabbed a bottle out of the case, offered it to me. I shook my head.

Courtney took one, leaning across to get it. Brian stared at her waist where her shirt rode up. I wanted to reach out and tug it back down.

He smiled brightly. “See, this is fun, right?”

Courtney and Dani nodded but they were quiet, staring at the fire the boys had built, a rock circle surrounding it, some tree limbs dragged close.

“What’s wrong with you all?” Gavin said. He was sitting on an old stump, poking the fire with a stick.

“We’re just tired,” Courtney said.

Her voice sounded just like it had apologizing to Dad whenever he would drag us out late at night to play card games, our eyes blurring with fatigue, fetching him beers until he finally passed out on the table.

Gavin drained his beer, opened another one.

“Thought we weren’t supposed to have a fire,” I said.

“S’okay. Parents are away for the night. No one will see it out here.”

I caught my breath.
No one will see it out here.

No one would see us.

“So you girls have a boyfriend waiting back home?” Gavin said, his mouth moving slowly like he was trying not to slur.

“Yeah,” Dani said. “We all do.”

He looked annoyed. “Where are your parents?”

“Back home,” she answered.

I didn’t like the questions, wondered why they wanted to know.

“Our aunt, she’s waiting for us,” I said.

The boys exchanged a look. “She must be worried, you already being late and all,” Brian said, his voice cold.

“We called her when you guys were buying beer,” I said.

“Oh, yeah. Where’d you call her from?” Brian said, not sounding drunk at all anymore. Had he been faking? I tried to remember if I’d seen a pay phone near that store, but I couldn’t think.

“Don’t worry about it, little sister.” Brian’s smile told me he knew I’d lied. “You’ll be home in no time.”

“No time,” Gavin echoed.

“That’s it for us, boys,” Dani said, draining the last of her beer.

“Yeah, party’s over,” Courtney said.

“Fire’s almost out anyway,” Gavin said. “Getting cold.” He rubbed at his arms. “Might have to climb into bed with you. Been drinking too much to drive.”

“No way,” Dani said. “You guys are going to have to sleep in your truck.”

She started toward the tent. Gavin grabbed her arm, his hands digging in.

I got up off the log. “Let her go!”

Dani tried to yank her arm free. “Cut it out!”

He pulled her down onto his lap, his arms wrapped tight around her body, one hand reaching up and gripping her throat.

“I’m sick and tired of your games,” he said.

Courtney and I were running toward Dani when Brian grabbed me around the waist, lifting me off my feet. All I could do was squirm as he tripped Courtney, who hit the ground hard. He kicked her in the side of the head. She lay in the dirt near the fire, eyes closed, a low moan coming from her throat. I grabbed the knife out of my pocket, jabbed it into the arm around me.

Brian yelled, then let go of me. I ran, the knife still in my hand, trying to get to Dani. Gavin had pushed her to the ground and was holding her arms behind her back with one hand, taking off his belt and wrapping it around her wrists with the other. She squirmed and kicked. He punched her across the head.

Brian tackled me. I hit the dirt hard, scrambled forward, but he grabbed my ankles, dragging me back as I screamed. I twisted and turned, tried to stab him with the knife, but my wrist was bent backward and the knife dropped to the ground. Brian’s large body was lying on top of me, his breath hot in my ear.

He sat up, pressure leaving my upper body, knees crushing the muscles in the backs of my thighs, a fist digging in between my shoulder blades. Sounded like a belt buckle was being undone, then my arms were tied behind my back, my wrists grinding together. Something else now, material tearing. I screamed as loud as I could. Something was jammed down my throat, fabric tasting of grease.

“Tie that other bitch up,” Brian said.

He threw me over his shoulder. His back was naked, my cheek bumping against his bare skin. He carried me to the truck, then tossed me in. I hit the metal with my back. I tried to shimmy away, kicking out with my legs. Brian climbed in, flipped me over. A knee pressed down on my legs, a hand gripped the back of my neck, fingers digging into the tendons. His body shifted, the weight pressing harder on one leg, like he was reaching for something. I screamed into the rag. He ran something through the belt around my wrists, wrapped it around, and pulled it taut. Felt like a rough rope.

Metal clanging against metal, like he was tying the rope to either side of the truck bed. Tie-down brackets? The weight shifted and pressed on the backs of my legs. Then the pressure was suddenly gone. A thud as he jumped back onto the ground. I wrenched my arms, but the rope was too tight. I tried to squirm around to see what was happening to Courtney and Dani but could only look over my shoulder, neck straining. The tailgate was open and I could see partly out the back, the dim glow of the fire outlining the boys, their upper bodies pale.

Courtney was still on the ground, a dark lump. I could just make out her blond hair, looked like her eyes were closed. Gavin knelt over her.

“Get her in the truck,” Brian said

He was carrying Dani over his shoulder. He dumped her in and she fell hard, her head smacking onto the truck bed, her screams muffled like he’d put something in her mouth too. He leapt in beside her as she kicked out, dragged her body up beside me. He flipped her over. Sounds again, like he was unhooking the rope from one side. The tension around my wrists eased but then tightened, like he’d threaded the rope through the belt around Dani’s wrists too.

Boots scraped on the truck bed as he climbed out. I tried to look over my shoulder again, caught a glimpse of his naked back.

“Get their stuff,” Brian said.

Courtney was tossed in, then dragged up on the other side of me. Her mouth was also gagged, looked like with half of a ripped shirt. Her arms were behind her back, but I couldn’t see what they’d been tied with. Our eyes met, hers terrified, the whites bright in the dark. The rope loosened again, then tightened as we were bound together. They’d pulled it even tighter this time. I could feel it pressing across either side of my butt cheeks, the belt and rope pinching the skin on my wrists. I could hear the guys taking down our tent. They weren’t talking but they were moving fast, their breathing heavy in the quiet night.