Tangled Rose by Abby Weeks Read Free Book Online Page A

sheets.
    Fat Boy still had that awful snarl on his face as he watched the beer pour onto her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes and lit one. He had a steel lighter. He flicked it shut with a snap and put it back in his pocket, then went to the side table and got another can of beer.
    “You thirsty?” he said to her.
    She said nothing.
    He opened the beer and the sound of the can opening reminded Rose of a gun being cocked. She pictured using a gun on Fat Boy. He held the second beer out over her and again began pouring it over her. She couldn’t believe it. Why was he doing this to her? What possible pleasure could there be in this for him? He poured the beer over her breasts, then lower, over her sweatpants. To Rose it looked as if she’d soiled herself. It felt like that too. She hated being there, lying on the bed while he did this. He let the beer flow over her chest and then onto her face and mouth.
    “Drink,” he said and laughed.
    She looked at him and could tell from the fierceness in his eyes that he meant it. She opened her mouth and let the beer flow into it. She swallowed as much of it as she could.
    “Good girl,” he said. “Swallow up for daddy.”
    She lapped up the beer and almost choked on it. When she coughed he laughed at her. “Come on,” he said, “you can do better than that.”
    He opened a third can of beer.
    “Get up,” he said.
    She sat up in the bed in her soaking wet clothes and he handed her the can.
    “Drink it,” he said.
    She looked at him. There was such a cruel twist to the snarl on his mouth that it scared her. She didn’t want the beer but she was too afraid to refuse. She opened it and brought the can to her lips and took a sip.
    “I said drink it,” Fat Boy said.
    Rose shook her head. She couldn’t understand why he was doing this. Why was he being so cruel? What was wrong with this place, with these men? She brought the can to her lips and took deep gulps of the beer.
    “That’s it,” Fat Boy said.
    He got himself a beer and the Snickers bar and sat back down heavily on his chair. He opened his beer and began to drink it. Rose sat on the bed in her soaking wet clothes and drank hers. She felt like a mess. Her clothes, the new ones that Patrice had bought for her, were covered in beer and clinging to her skin. She felt awful. She wanted to change but she knew she wasn’t allowed. She eyed Fat Boy warily as she drank the beer and when she was finished he went and got the two remaining cans and handed one to her.
    “I can’t,” she said. “I’ve had enough.”
    “You’ve had enough when I say so,” he said and sat back down.
    Reluctantly, she opened the can and took a sip of the beer. Her stomach was already full and she was beginning to feel a light buzz from the alcohol. Fat Boy had finished his candy bar and was smoking another cigarette as he sipped the last of the beers.
    “Why are you making me do this?” she said.
    Fat Boy sneered at her. She looked away but looked back at him when he spoke.
    “Let’s just say that I’m a filthy, horrible man,” he said and laughed.
    Rose nodded. That much was true. She brought the can to her lips and sipped some more of the beer. Her stomach was already full but she was able to drink it slowly. She didn’t know where he was going with this. One thing she did know was that there had only been six cans of beer in that grocery bag and this was the last of them.
    She tried to relax as she sat there in her wet clothes and finished the beer. When she was done she turned the can upside down to show Fat Boy that she’d finished.
    “Good,” he said. “Very good. Now take off all your clothes.”
    She looked up at him. There was a pleading in her eyes that she knew he would take as weakness but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to go through again what he’d done to her last time. She didn’t want to feel like that ever again as long as she lived. She couldn’t take the