Tangled Rose by Abby Weeks Read Free Book Online

up and act a lot smarter than she was right now.
    She got up and climbed out of the tub. It would do no good to anger him. She could make him go down to the office and get another key. She could make him kick down the bathroom door. But what good would that do? There might be some times, some places, when heroics were called for, but she had to be honest with herself, this wasn’t one of them.
    She forced herself to unlock the washroom door and walk out to the room.
    “I’m opening it now,” she called through the door. “I’m sorry.”
    She opened the door and Fat Boy pushed his way inside. He was angry but not as mad as he’d have been if she’d forced him to go down the stairs again.
    “Why was the door locked?” he said.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “You fucking better be.”
    He came into the room and sat on the armchair in the corner. Rose remembered when it had been Patrice in the chair. If only it could have been Patrice in it now. But it wasn’t. She had to stop letting herself think like that. She had to face up to the facts. This was her life and she was a fighter. She was going to survive. She was going to harden up, toughen her resolve, and do whatever it took to get through it.
    “I was just washing up,” she said and turned to go back into the bathroom.
    She thought the safest thing for her would be to stay out of Fat Boy’s way. Maybe he wouldn’t be interested in her now that he’d already fucked her. Maybe that was all he’d wanted. If she could stay out of his way, out of his sight, she might just get through the night.
    “Wait,” Fat Boy said.
    She stopped. She was at the door to the washroom. She tried to look as casual as possible. She didn’t want things to get nasty. She was wearing the sweatpants and t-shirt that Patrice had picked up. She knew she didn’t look provocative. Also, now that she wasn’t tied to the bed she thought that maybe she wouldn’t be as alluring or tempting to a man like Fat Boy. Maybe it had been the fact that she was tied up that had excited his lust.
    “Come over here,” he said. “Bring me one of those beers.”
    There was a brown paper bag on the table just inside the door and it contained some things that Fat Boy had brought over. There was a couple packs of cigarettes, a six-pack of Molson’s Dry and a Snickers bar. She grabbed a can of beer. It was cold to the touch.
    “Open it,” Fat Boy said.
    Rose looked at him. He was calm, sitting on the chair like he didn’t have a care in the world. She wondered what was going on in his mind. It was like trying to penetrate a deep, dark hole.
    She opened the beer and handed it to him. He took it from her and took a long swig.
    “Refreshing,” he said.
    She nodded.
    “Get on the bed,” he said.
    She sat back on the bed. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She knew something bad was going to happen to her again. It was like the feeling she got before a storm. The atmosphere seemed heavy, dark.
    “What are you going to do to me?” she said with a quiet voice.
    She knew she sounded silly as she said it, like a child. He smiled at her, his lips drawing back over his teeth in a mean snarl.

X
    “L IE BACK,” FAT BOY SAID.
    Rose lay back on the bed. Fat Boy got up from his seat and stood over her, drinking from the beer can. She thought he was going to tell her to strip her clothes but he didn’t. He just stood there, looking down at her. She had a flashback to the night of the rape. She began to shake in fear and couldn’t control herself.
    He held his beer can over her and poured it on her. She was shocked. It was awful. She just lay there as a stream of beer flowed from the can down onto the new cotton shirt that Patrice had bought her. Why was he doing this? It was humiliating.
    She stayed in her position watching the beer soak her new shirt. After a few seconds she was so wet that she could see her breasts through the clinging cotton. It was soaking the bed too, ruining it, staining the