Flesh and Blood, Sian Rosé [most difficult books to read TXT] 📗

more ruthless. All Stella had to do; she kept reminding herself was to bide her time. Wait for an opening.

The fuckers would get what was coming to them.

She’d make damn sure of it.

“Oi! Skank!” Neil shouted, coming right up into her face so that his stagnant breath attacked her nostrils. He dropped his beer can, allowing the metal to clatter to the ground, then shoved his fist as hard as he could into Stella’s taut, flat abdomen. Involuntarily, the teenager hurled, her body curling inwards as she spluttered; and long, gloopy webs of spit drooled from her lips.

“FUCKING ANSWER ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!”

Stella scrunched up her face. She resisted the urge to scream back.

OF COURSE I’M CRYING YOU STUPID CUNT. YOU’VE TIED ME UP NAKED IN A FOREST LIKE I’M A FUCKING SPIT ROAST.

But she had to play it clever. There would be time to take out her anger later on. For the moment, she had to be the damsel in distress that Neil was stupid enough to believe she was.

“Please… let me go…” she begged quietly.

At that Neil, smacked his hand hard over her bare arse, piercing her skin with his dirty nails so that tiny pricks of blood appeared on her buttocks. She winced.

“You need to learn a lesson, little missy,” Neil hissed, digging his nails in deeper and deeper into the flesh. “Nobody fucks with me. Man, woman, kid, nobody fucks with me. Get it?”

Whimpering, Stella silently nodded. She twisted her wrists in their restraints, the bones in her joints creaking and groaning in protest as her weight dangled from the outstretched branch. She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could, squeezing more tears from their outer corners. But inside, beneath her skin, her rage bubbled and sizzled like molten lava about to erupt, hot and venomous as it pulsed through her veins like wildfire.

“Come on, you lot,” Neil said, his voice deepening as he glanced around expectantly at the other deviants around him. “Let’s get this party started. We gotta focus properly. Put your fags out…” he lunged out one arm to stop the boy beside him, who was obediently about to drop his cigarette onto the forest floor.

“Put your fags out… on her,” Neil corrected himself, his brow furrowing, eyes glittering nastily as he nodded towards Stella. In one swift movement, he snatched the shortened cigarette up away from the friend to his right, then stepped forward to press the tiny glowing circle of heat into the centre of Stella’s navel.

She screamed, the wild, animal-sounding shriek pouring from her lips like a nightmare into the darkening afternoon, but Neil persisted. He pressed the red-hot butt of the fag end harder into her flesh so that the burning ash sizzled her skin and left a harsh, ugly burn behind.

“Now!” he barked, brow furrowing as he let the roll-up tumble to the floor, and he snarled meanly around at the circle of uncertain cronies. Whilst some were hesitant, alarmed by the sinister reality of the situation, others were spurred on by the power trip of it all. A red-faced, sweaty teenager covered in fat rolls came forward next and placed the tip of his own burning cigarette butt into the side of Stella’s throat. A tall, skinny red-haired boy went next, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he probed the side of one of her breasts, a throaty giggle escaping him as he watched her writhe in agony.

More of them came forward in clusters. Some even lit fresh cigarettes just to mark her pristine skin; until the young woman’s bare body was covered in nasty fag burns, some of which festered and gleamed in their rawness.

“STOP!” she squealed, her slender figure bending and convulsing in her suffering. This got a few laughs.

“Shut up!” scoffed the red-haired boy, who then proceeded to throw a half-empty can of beer at her head. The weight of it smacked into the side of her face, forcing her head to roll; then splashes of acidic beer splattered down her body, congealing painfully in her wounds. Others began to follow suit, throwing bottles and cans at her. A few of the boys threw their bats and sticks. One even unzipped his trousers and took a piss all over her badly bruised and battered legs.

Sobbing uncontrollably, Stella bowed her face to the side, concealing it in the crook where her shoulder met the side of her neck. In one brief, fleeting moment, she caught a tiny whiff of her mother’s perfume, that sweet, familiar scent that had always brought her instant comfort, just lingering on her skin.

All of a sudden, the rough, gravelly bark of a dog tore through the air, startling Stella so that she froze rigid and stiff like a hanging corpse. Laughter from the despicable men that crowded her and the growls of the dog grew louder amongst the tinkle of a dog lead and the heavy patter of paws on the woodland floor.

Her heart dropped into her stomach.

She felt like the entirety of her intestines would drop straight out of her arse, into a pile on the ground beneath her.

Panting desperately, she snapped her head to see where the source of the noise was coming from.

Another group of only about three or four of the tracksuits were coming towards her out of the gathering of trees around them, one of them holding a thick black dog lead.

The dog itself was huge.

It was a white, fierce-looking pit bull covered in dark brown patches; its little ears flapping about as it bounded into the clearing; its owner struggling along behind it as its sheer strength tugged on the leash.

From a red, glistening mouth shone snapping, hungry jaws; menacing snarls and yaps protruding from its gruff throat. Its small, dark eyes glittered, staring up at her with bloodthirst.

“Yo, Gav. You got any dog treats?” Neil asked, roughly shoving Stella’s hanging body as he passed her to meet the new arrivals.

“Shit Neil- this is insane…” Stella winced as she listened