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The Aer and resistance in her face
"Fold your hands together behind the chair," the American says
"Go fk yourself"
Thwap! Izel’s body jerks sideways, al the chair over with her in it "Motherfucker!" she cries out, holding her hand over a fresh bullet wound on the opposite thigh to match the other one
The American never moves, his expression and posture always casual and controlled
"Fold your hands together behind the chair," he says once more with the exact amount of calm as before
This time, Izel is compliant Reluctant and defiant as always, but compliant
"Come out of the bathroom," I hear the Aainst the wall, thrusting ether nervously in front ofdown the back of my throat What should I do? If I just stand here like this it’ll only prolong the inevitable There’s no way out of this bathrooh that door
Finally, I do as he says
Trying to push the door open the rest of the way, I have to shoulder it hard because of the body lying on the floor on the other side I try not to look when I step around the lih that it makes my stomach churn Especially when I see his eyes It’s always the eyes, lifeless and elazed over, that makes me sick to my stomach I take a deep breath and step over hiunshot wounds as I i is labored and she strains to keep her co me
"Come here," the Aain and his eyes avert to --it’s what he wants, I holdhands out to him He slides the blade behind the fabric and cuts me loose
"Did you tell him that you’re a whore?" Izel asks
I shat saliva is left in my mouth I’ me feel ashamed by her accusations I pretend to be er tied together
Izel turns to the American, her hands still folded loosely behind her back She says with a spiteful s sorry for her, don’t That little puta is treated better than anyone, even better than me and I am his sister Javier has her anytime he wants her And he doesn’t have to take it"
I feelinto er What she says is only halfway true, but right now isn’t the ti that I say will matter Not to the American and certainly not to her I only care what the American thinks because I need him to help me If he thinks of me as a whore, he’ll surely be less inclined later on If I can ever convince hi absolutely no interest in Izel’s obvious atte on the table by theand says to me, "Left zipper, inside pocket you’ll find a rope"
I walk across the rooainst o between the two, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand on end as I pass them I halfway expected Izel to use the opportunity to reach out and grabh more bodies and debris scattered about the small area, this time I’m too afraid of the two still alive in the roo up at me from the floor I smell the blood At least, I’m pretty sure that faint metallic stench is blood There’s so much of it all around ust of ind pushes through I reach inside the A for the rope I’ what he carries in this thing
With the wad of rope in her stuff on me instead of strips of fabric from the bed sheet I turn around and look only at the Aht tellto make as little eye contact with Izel as possible It never takes her much to intimidate me
The American nods toward Izel
"Tie her hands behind the chair at her wrists," he instructs
My heart leaps Still tryingat her, the attempt is thrown out the ith his words and look at her is exactly what I do She’ll surely grabthat close
The conflict in et out, can’t
He un in his hand subtly at Izel, his wrist still propped on his leg "She will not touch you," he says, looking only at me "If she so , I’ll kill her and she knows it"
From the corner of er
The Aain to indicate that I should proceed
Fuain and slowlyit iet Her s so conspicuously she takes notice; her brown eyes skirt the her head
"You really did it this tiet out of the fence? Did Lydia help you?"
I’m almost behind her when she says Lydia’s name and I stop dead in my tracks Izel notices my reaction exactly for what it is: worry And she runs with it
An even s the corners of her lips "Ah, I see," she says "So she did help you" She clicks her tongue "Unfortunate for poor Lydia, she will be punished But you already knew that, didn’t you, Sarai?"