ASBO: A Novel of Extreme Terror(39)

“Where then?” Dom asked.

“Grab the old lady.”

Dom and Jordan looked at each other and shrugged, seeming not to understand the request but happy to follow it all the same. They headed over to the sofa and grabbed one of Pen’s arms each, before lifting her to her feet.

“Now what?” asked Dom.

Frankie smirked. He picked up the scissors from the coffee table and waved them back and forth in front of his face.

Andrew held his breath and waited for whatever fate was about to befall his wife. He wanted to close his eyes but couldn’t.

Frankie thrust the scissors at Pen, but didn’t intend to stab her. Instead he began cutting her blouse through the middle, starting at the neckline. Pen didn’t struggle; her fight was gone, her face lacked expression. The bindings around her wrists made escape impossible.

It didn’t take long for Frankie to cut the blouse free, letting it fall to the floor in tatters. Pen stood there, rigid, topless except for her purple-cotton bra – one of Andrew’s favourites.

Not anymore.

“Lay her across the table,” said Frankie. “Face up.”

It was then that Pen found her instincts – struggling to break free of her captors and lashing out with the only weapon she had: her teeth. Dom hollered in pain as she bit him and leapt back.

Then he slapped her across the face. “Whore!”

Without further ado, the twins forced Pen down onto the table and held her there; arms above her head so that her midriff was exposed.

“Leave her alone,” Andrew screamed. “Leave her alone, leave her alone, leave her alone!”

Frankie leaped across the room and punched Andrew in his nose, spreading it across his face and unleashing a torrent of blood. Then he grabbed the tape and wrapped several layers around Andrew’s head, covering his mouth – and almost, too, his nose. Through teary eyes, Andrew was forced to watch as he struggled to breathe through his damaged sinuses.

Frankie went back to Pen. He pulled a baggie from his pocket and bit a hole into it. Then he upturned it and sprinkled its contents onto her exposed stomach. It was more cocaine, Andrew realised, and Frankie was intently forming a long, thick pile onto Penelope’s body. He used the edge of the kitchen scissors to separate the pile into several messy lines.

Frankie looked up at the others once he was done. “Dig in, gangsters.”

Andrew watched helplessly as the teenagers took turns snorting coke from his wife’s belly, holding her down by the feet and wrists to keep her from squirming. After a while she just gave up struggling all together. She let them have their way.





Chapter Fourteen


Davie shook his head. Unbelievably, his brother, the twins, and Michelle were all sat down in a huddle on the carpet watching television. Davie remained on the sofa, watching over the girls like he’d been told. Unlike the others, he’d not snorted any smack and was completely sober. Watching them all now, stoned, transfixed by a documentary about increasing climate change, he was glad about that.

Davie did drugs sometimes, just weed mostly, but he’d always stayed away from the hard stuff. Fortunately, Frankie never tried forcing it on him; otherwise he’d no doubt have been persuaded by now.

“Let us go,” Rebecca whispered from his left.

Davie looked at her and got caught in the stare of her soulful, dark eyes. For a moment he forgot that she’d even said anything.

“I said, let us go. Please.”

Davie shook his head. “I can’t. You’ll get my brother into trouble.”

Rebecca huffed. “He’s already in trouble. Kidnap is serious.”

“He hasn’t kidnapped anyone. You’re still at home.”

“It’s still kidnap. He’s holding us hostage. Davie, please.”

Hearing her say his name sent a shiver down Davie’s spine that ended in his loins. Girls like Rebecca didn’t usually talk to him, let alone speak his name. Skanks like Michelle were more the type of girl he was used to being around.

He shook his head once more, but this time tried to express how much he regretted the situation. He wanted her to know that if it were up to him, none of this would be happening. “I hate all this – I really do – but Frankie’s my brother. Family comes first.”

“What about my family?” she asked. “Do they mean nothing? Innocent people that never hurt anyone?”

Davie shrugged. There was no right answer he could give. Frankie was his brother and that was that. He would just have to trust Frankie as he had always done. Things would work out one way or another.