“You must’ve known I’d come back for you.”
I took a step backward to get away from Elroy’s head.
“Don’t. Don’t try to get away from me. You
I shook my head.
“You be my good girl, then.”
I nodded.
“Don’t move,” he said, then raised the saber, stepped off the edge, and dropped into the pool. As water splashed up around him, I took a single step backward. He didn’t seem to notice. But he waded closer to me, and I didn’t dare move away from him again. “You’re very lucky to have a pool,” he said. “I wish I had one.”
Lowering his sword, he crouched down until the water covered his shoulders. Then he swished his left arm around, apparently trying to wash the blood off, and the water around it went pink.
“Your name is Alice, right?” he asked.
(Of course, he didn’t say Alice. He said my real name, which is my secret.)
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I’ve heard.” He dunked his head.
I thought about making a break.
Before I could decide, his head came up, hair matted flat, water running down his face. With his left hand, which wasn’t bloody anymore, he rubbed his face.
“I’m Steve,” he said.
“I’m charmed,” I said.
He smiled. “Glad to hear it.”
“That’s sarcasm, Stevie.”
His left hand smacked me hard across the face, burning my cheek and knocking my head sideways. My eyes filled with tears.
“That wasn’t very nice,” I said.
“Depends which side you’re on.”
“From this side, it sucked.”
“If you didn’t like it, you’d better learn how to behave.”
“Consider me taught,” I said.
He grabbed me through the front of my bra, squeezed my nipple and lifted. Both my hands were free. I didn’t try to fight him, though. Wincing, I went up on tiptoes and kept my hands down by my sides. Instead of begging him to stop, I hissed through my teeth and glared at him.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said, keeping his grip. “We’re going to climb out of the pool, then have ourselves a nice party. Margaritas and barbecued steaks. You have my permission to marinate them. Say thank you.”
“Thank you,” I gasped.
“This could be a very pleasant experience for both of us.”
“I bet.”
He pinched me.
I flinched and tears ran down my face.
“You made me do that, Alice. And I
“No.”
“Then why did you make me do it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Would you like me to do it again?”
“No.”
“I can even do worse. Much worse.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll be good. I promise.”
“You’ll be my good girl?”
“Yes.”
“My sweetheart?”
“Yes.”
“Cross your heart and hope to die?”
“Yes.”
He pinched me again. I jerked rigid with the pain, and cried out. He squeezed even harder. Writhing, I arched my spine and threw back my head. Tears spilled down my face.
And I felt his tongue.
Even as he kept pinching me, he licked the tears off my cheeks.
Finally, he let go of my nipple. He put his arm around my back and I sagged against him, sobbing. His hand caressed my back gently.
I thought about taking a bite out of his neck.
I could probably kill him if I did it well.
But he had the sword underwater in his right hand. Even mortally wounded, he could kill me with it in an instant.
Just wait, I told myself. Do everything he says. Be his good girl, his sweetheart, his slave, his whore, his anything-he-wants-me-to-be.
His hand slid down below the waistband of my panties, and gave my bare buttock a squeeze. “So,” he said, “are we ready to enjoy our party?”
“I’m ready,” I said.
I must’ve said it okay, because he didn’t hurt me.
“Let’s climb out of the pool,” he said. “You go first. I’ll be right behind you. Do everything I tell you to— without hesitation or wisecracks—and we’ll have ourselves a merry time. I might even allow you to live.”
He let go of me, then stepped out of my way and gestured for me to step past him.
As I waded, I looked for Elroy’s head.
I spotted it a couple of yards to my left, hovering just above the tile bottom of the pool, staring straight up as if he were trying to figure the best way of reaching the surface.
I glared at Steve, but kept my mouth shut and waded on past him. At the wall of the pool, I braced myself with both hands and boosted myself up.
Steve swatted me across the ass with the saber.
Crying out, I flung myself over the edge and scurried to my feet. I hobbled away from the pool, clutching my buttocks. They felt as if they’d been lashed, but not slashed. There was no cut. He must’ve used the flat side of the blade.
“Looks count, too,” he informed me.
When I turned around, he was just standing up.
I kept rubbing my butt.
“You didn’t have to kill him,” I said.
“That’s a good one, coming from you.”
I gaped at him. “What’re you talking about?”
“You can’t play innocent with me, honey. I saw what you did last night.”
“What I did?”
