“I don’t want them.” Diamond said.
“Sure you do.” I said. “You don’t want to insult my friend here who brought them to you. Come on, Diamond. You look like the kind of girl who can hold her liquor. Doesn’t she?” I nudged my new associate who smiled again, laughing as if we were indeed the best of friends.
“She looks like she can hold a lot more than that.” The man said. It was a typical response.
“Look, friend, my girl here has had one too many and I should be getting her home and into bed. Would you go hail us a cab out front?” I looked at Diamond who was still holding the shot glass and looking like she was about to throw up. “She’s in no condition to drive.” I handed the man another hundred dollar bill and off he went like an obedient little brother.
“Now drink that shot before I let my new friend feel up your skirt.” I hissed. Had Diamond not hit her own head against the brick wall in the alley I think she would have been a lot harder to subdue. But, my luck was too good. After the bump had stopped rising on her head and the alcohol had started swimming in her brain she looked good and drunk.
I paraded her through the middle bar and out the front door. Except this time she was practically clinging to me for dear life. She had to feel awful. I took her purse and read her address to the cab driver who gave me a knowing look like he had seen his fair share of drunk girls and knew it was going to end either in the bathroom in front of the toilet or on her knees in front of me.
What did I care what he thought. We were nothing special. A typical couple. I had Diamond slurring her words and trying desperately to focus her eyes.
“I told you that you shouldn’t have had that last one. But you never listen to me. Don’t you know how much easier things would be if you’d just listen to me?” I said while digging my fingers into her side with one hand and holding her wrist in a vice grip with the other.
Finally, we made it to the building that was Diamond’s apartment. The sun was behind the buildings now and the street lamps had popped on. Pulling her keys from her purse I managed to get us inside and to her apartment without looking like anything more than her doting boyfriend.
As I slid the deadbolt into place I looked at Diamond who was not doing too well sitting on her couch.
“You live in this place, huh?” I said, looking around at the décor. It was that frilly, shabby vintage stuff that women in the United States thought looked very European.
“My head.” She mumbled.
“Yeah, I bet it’s hurting. You really smacked yourself there. You mean the shots of whiskey didn’t help? Well, you might need a doctor. Could be a concussion. That is very serious, you know. Just tell me where Natasha is and I’ll call you an ambulance. Simple, right?”
I don’t know what it is with women. If you tell them to do one thing they have to do the complete opposite.
“I’m not telling you anything.” She hissed.
“Oh, yes, you are. You’re going to tell me where Natasha is or else.” I walked around the apartment and saw what I was looking for. A family photo. I snatched it off the bookshelf.
“Oh, I see you have your mom’s eyes. And little sister does, too.” Through her haze I saw worry fill Diamond’s eyes. “Yeah, little sister has quite a few of your mother’s traits. I can’t be the only man who has noticed that.”
Diamond swallowed hard.
“Tell me where Natasha is, Diamond, and you won’t have to worry about your sister.”
I watched her eyes flicker. She still wanted to be defiant. I had to slap her.
“Diamond, I really appreciate your loyalty and not telling Natasha about our first conversation. That is what really makes this hard for me.” I pulled her up by her collar and shook her by the shoulders.
“This isn’t a game, Diamond! I need to know where Natasha is!”
“Stop!” she whimpered, the blow to her head and the alcohol were making her see three or four images of me by now. “I don’t know where she is. I don’t.”
Leaning in to her I could smell the booze on her breath mixed with some vanilla smelling perfume or lotion on her skin plus the clean smell of terror and sickness.
“You are lying.” I had had enough. Pulling Diamond to her feet by her hair I yanked her into the bedroom. There I tore her computer charger from the wall and used it to tie her hands behind her back.
That was where we were right now. I didn’t expect things to take as long as they did. But I couldn’t say I wasn’t having fun. It was a lot more fun dealing with Diamond who was very easy on the eyes as compared to Denise. That old hag was like tossing around kindling that had been dried for several seasons. Even if I was sexually aroused by the power I had over her I have the feeling it would have been like humping the knothole of a tree.
Every person has a trigger that will go off when they know they cannot endure any more pain. Diamond’s hands had started to turn blue almost immediately after I had bound them together. But, that wouldn’t stop me from breaking them one at a time. Grabbing one of her own pairs of panties I shoved it in her mouth. Rolling her onto her stomach I grabbed her pinky and wrenched it free from its socket. She screamed in pain but it just came out a muffled grunt.
“Have I got your attention now?” I asked.
Crying and gasping with snot running all over down her nose and lips Diamond quickly nodded her head. I knew this would work. I pulled the panties from her mouth and held her head up off the floor by her neck preventing her from getting enough air to scream.
“Her parents. Nat went to her parent’s house.”