***
When Tanesha eventually came to, she gasped at the number of men in the hall. Apart from the usual seven men she was used to seeing around, there were four really scary-looking men with holsters strapped to their backs. The biggest of the new men sat at the table with Skull, deep in conversation. He was almost as tall as Skull and bigger. He was bald and looked to be around his late forties. Though his face was turned away from Tanesha, she could tell from his side view that he had a mean-looking face. That must be the Ghost Mickey had been talking about, she thought. She’d obviously not been able to escape as she’d hoped before he arrived, Tanesha groaned, causing different pairs of eyes to turn her way.
“F. M. L.” She muttered under her breath. She had to get away from these murderers, Tanesha thought frantically, trying to turn. And that was when she noticed that she had actually been tied to a pillar. Both wrists had been tied behind her around the pillar, and her legs had been pulled apart and tied to the pillar as well. “Fuck my life.” She said out loud this time, drawing laughter from the men.
“Finally, she’s up.” The man Tanesha suspected was Ghost, bellowed, getting to his feet and starting towards her. “So you tried to escape huh?” He said, coming to a stop in front of her.
“And what if I did?” Tanesha snapped, causing the men to chuckle with shock and amusement.
“Oh, she’s fiery, this one.” Ghost said, turning to look at Ty. “You’re going to get your hands full with this one, my man.”
“Tell me about it, Ghost,” Ty responded, getting to his feet. “I just want to lock her up and not deal with her at all.” He chuckled, crossing his arms across his broad chest.
“Not until she’s punished real good.” Ghost muttered. “Know what we do to worms who try to escape?” He asked a furious-looking Tanesha.
“You expect me to guess?” Her sneer would have made a prison bully proud. “I’m sorry but I don’t speak psycho.” There were gasps all around as Ghost’s eyes widened in surprise and Skull’s flashed with a warning.
“Shark, bring me duct tape,” Ty growled. That was the only way he knew how to shut the crazy girl up before she caused her own murder with her loud mouth. “Hurry up. I can’t even stand to hear her speak.” He managed to sound disgusted.
“And you call yourselves tough.” Tanesha gave a short humourless laugh. “Is it that you can’t stand to hear me talk or you don’t know how to hold your own against a woman, you spineless bastards?”
“Shut the fuck up!” Skull growled, jaw clenching. “Shark?” He bellowed.
“No, no, Skull.” Ghost said quietly. “I want to hear what she has to say. Maybe afterward, we can all show her just how spineless we are.” Ghost’s eyes slowly raked Tanesha from her heaving breasts to her toes and then back to her face. He licked his lips suggestively and then brought his face close to Tanesha’s. “Go on…speak, little girl.” He instructed and promptly took a step back when Tanesha actually spat in his face. “Fuck.” He growled, wiping his face with his hand. He looked pissed.
Tanesha watched with a pounding heart as Ghost slowly turned his full angry gaze on her. The man actually looked like a supervillain from a movie, she couldn’t help but think. That made her even angrier. “You evil, evil man. When the law catches up with you, your little reign of terror will end. So enjoy it whilst it lasts.” She breathed.
“Oh I will and I am.” Ghost rasped. “And I think you mean if and not when.” He gave a burst of short chilling laughter.
“You think you’re good at whatever madness you’re running here huh? You think you’re the only one that can mess with people’s lives? Well, you’re not.”
Ghost looked incredulous. “Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m promising you. Your day of reckoning is coming.” Tanesha managed to look as threatening as she could in her current state of immobility.
“So dramatic.” Ghost laughed.
“Oh yeah?” Tanesha sneered. “You can suck my dramatic dick, you reprehensible…”
“Okay, that’s it.” Bellowed an exasperated Ty as he snatched a duct tape from a not too shocked Shark and stormed towards Tanesha whilst tearing some of the tape. And then he was not so gently, taping her mouth shut.
Tanesha was however surprised at the look in Skull’s eyes. It was a clear warning to her not to do anything stupid. But why would Skull warn her as if he cared what happened to her, Tanesha wondered. Was she reading too much into something that wasn’t really there? Well, at least she’d been able to tell Ghost her piece and that was okay with her. She knew her friend, Caroline would have been proud of her if she were to be there that very moment, Tanesha would have smiled if she could. Caroline’s own choice of words would make a sailor blush and she’d taught her well.
“There.” Tanesha watched the relief and satisfaction on Skull’s face. “Now, you can say whatever your stupid brain tells you to…behind that tape.” Laughter met Skull’s mocking words.
“What do you plan on doing to her, Skull?” Ghost rasped, staring at Tanesha. “You’re running the show so you have to decide which punishment will be suitable.” He turned to face Ty. “And it has to be good. I want her to feel pain.” He turned to look at Tanesha. “My men here haven’t been with women in a while. They would love a good fun. Maybe we will give her some lashes first, and then…”
Ty had to push both hands into his pocket to stop himself from throwing a punch. He looked at the eager faces of the trolls standing around and allowed a grin that didn’t reach his eyes to widen his mouth.
“Lashing is definitely out of the question, Ghost. Until I send the first batch of pictures the day after tomorrow, I don’t want any blemish on her. As for your men having fun, I have an even better plan. Come on, let’s finish talking business. Then we can get to the fun part.”
“Great.” Ghost said moving outside onto the porch with Ty.