beer and reeking of bad deeds. There was the general smell of unwashed men in the air too that made bile rise in my throat.
A hand brushed my back and I lurched around, raising my hands in two fists to warn off whoever it was.
Orville stood there with a dark and hungry look on his face. He was so lean, his clothes seemed to hang off of him and his greying hair looked like it hadn’t been washed in weeks. “Did you kill our friend, Quentin, little bird?” he asked and I lifted my chin, my jaw tight as I nodded.
“Bitch,” Farley spat, drawing nearer and I backed up, though that meant I was only getting closer to the drunken men behind me. “You kill my brother, now Quentin…you’re gonna pay.”
“She had help,” Duke growled to my right and I glanced towards the fire, wondering if it was safer to move nearer to the flames than the men. “Isn’t that right, red? You and the mountain man.”
“She’s been shacking up with that yeti?” someone called from behind me.
“Yeah,” Orville purred. “Did you get on your knees for him, little bird? Did you take that big mountain cock all the way in?”
I raised my fists higher as laughter rang around the clearing. I knew it was useless, but I wasn’t going to cower and beg for mercy. I’d fight until they won. I’d fight until I couldn’t fight anymore.
Someone threw a beer bottle into the fire right behind me and I jumped at the noise, glancing over my shoulder and finding several of the men lurking closer.
“Get her on her knees,” Duke commanded Farley. “I think red has an apology she wants to make to Orville for cutting him.”
My heart lurched as Farley strode towards me, fear snaring me and making my skin prickle all over. He came at me fast but I stood my ground, diving at him with an animalistic shriek as I clawed and tore at him. His fist slammed into my gut and I wheezed as I hit the ground, clutching my stomach and groaning as I scrambled to get up. Before I could, he moved around me, kicking me hard so I fell before Orville then yanking my hair so I was forced to look up at him. I bit back on a scream as pain flared through my scalp and tears of agony seared my eyes.
Orville stepped closer, rubbing a hand over his crotch as he patted the knife at his hip in warning. “You play nice or I’ll take a few fingers from you, pretty thing,” he purred, unbuckling his pants.
I sneered at him, my breaths coming frantically as he stepped closer so I was eye level with his groin. Farley’s grip tightened in my hair and I winced as he forced my head closer to Orville’s dick. Shadows moved in my periphery as more men moved to watch and my heart hit a wild beat as I was held at their mercy.
Orville rubbed himself through his pants and I glared up at him the whole time, my eyes pinned on his, making him struggle to concentrate. I wouldn’t let him escape my hate, my disgust.
“Hurry up, Orville, there’s a queue forming here,” a guy called out and laughter hit my ears again, making my insides twist and writhe. If they thought I was going to stay here on my knees and open my mouth obediently, they were going to be sorely disappointed. I knew the alternative meant death. But better that than have my soul torn to pieces by these retched dogs.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Orville demanded, but I didn’t. I glared up at him unblinking, my upper lip peeled back. “I said stop!” His hand crashed into my cheek and my hair yanked tight in Farley’s grip as my head wheeled sideways. The welt on my lip split open again and the taste of blood in my mouth made me starve to spill theirs. I could feel the animal in me rising, an ache for violence dripping through my core. If I had to die, I was sure as hell going out of this world with their blood painted on my flesh.
I twisted towards Orville as he removed his hand from his crotch, lurching forward and sinking my teeth into his pants, biting down until I met his hard on and sinking my teeth in deeper and deeper. Orville screamed and Farley yanked my head back, but my jaw was