“Nothing,” he said, and continued to stare. He was unnerving and eerie, the way he hardly spoke. He ran his eyes all over my body and I felt like there were cockroaches crawling all over me.
“Leave me alone,” I said quietly.
“I like you,” he responded. He stood up and unlocked my cage. I squirmed away from him as far as I could get, but he took two steps into the space and was inches away from me.
“What do you want from me?” I asked again.
He smiled in return, and then reached out to touch my hair. I flinched away and felt nauseous. He took a strand of my hair and smelled it, his gross breath washing over me. I shied away and tried to pretend like he didn’t exist.
When he was done smelling my hair like a total animal, he reached out and touched my face. I grunted and moved away, but I was trapped in the back of the cell. He moved closer, and pressed his dirty thumb against my mouth. I felt his grimy nail part my lips and press up against my teeth.
“Open,” he said. He continued to press his thumb against my mouth, but his face got angry.
“Open,” he said again, and I parted my teeth. He slipped his slimy skin into my mouth. Before I could taste too much of his filth and his sweat, I bit down as hard as I could.
He let out a loud scream and I forced my teeth down as hard as I could. He jerked back and tore his thumb from my mouth, and toppled backwards toward the exit. I moved fast, hopped to my feet, and started to hobble out of the cage.
I don’t know what I was thinking. All I knew was that I had to escape, or at least try. I couldn’t be a doormat for Michael’s thugs to fuck with, no matter what. I didn’t get far though. My legs and hands were still tied together, and as soon as I cleared the cage’s doors, I tripped and fell over into a stack of liquor bottles. I tumbled to the floor and bottles rolled everywhere, making a loud noise of falling glass. I lay on my back, waiting for the inevitable. After a moment, he was back in my field of vision, looming over me and clutching his thumb.
No matter what happened, I wouldn’t stop fighting. I wasn’t weak, and I wasn’t a doormat. I’d do whatever I had to do to survive.
“That was bad,” he said.
“Fuck you, pig.”
He frowned. “That’s not nice.”
He cocked his foot back like he was about to kick me, when suddenly the door upstairs opened.
“What the fuck is going on down there?” I heard Michael yell down.
The pig-faced asshole froze, a look of panic blooming across his face.
“Nothing,” he called back.
I heard the stairs flex under Michael’s weight as he walked down. He turned the corner and saw me, laying on the bottles, with the creepy pig standing over me.
“What are you doing, Spud?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Spud said. He clearly wasn’t bright.
Michael advanced on Spud slowly. “What did I say to you?”
“Leave the pretty girl alone.”
“Yes, exactly. And what did you do?”
He stared at Michael. “I didn’t leave her alone.”
Michael shook his head sadly, inches away from Spud. “No, lad, you didn’t.”
Out of nowhere, Michael’s fist smashed into Spud’s gut, doubling him over. Michael lifted his fists above his head and brought them down on the back of Spud’s head, knocking him to the ground. Spud groaned.
“Sorry, lad, but you know the rules.” Michael kicked Spud hard in the ribs once, then twice, and stopped. He looked over at me, and I stared back at him, my eyes wide with fear.
“And sorry to you too, lass. These animals can’t control themselves sometimes, not when they see a woman like you at least.”
I didn’t respond. He moved over to me, grabbed my tied-up hands, and hauled me to my feet.
“Not hurt, are we?”
I mentally went over my body. My butt and back were a little bruised, not to mention I was starving, thirsty, terrified, and I was completely grossed out, but I was mostly fine. I shook my head in response to Michael.
“Good then. He’s pretty harmless, honestly. Most of the time.” Michael moved me toward the cage, and gently pushed me in.
“There you go now.” He pushed the tray in toward me. “Hope you like tuna.”
“He put his thumb in my mouth,” I said stupidly. I didn’t know why, I said it, but it just came out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I didn’t understand why Michael was protecting me and hurting his own people for my sake.
Michael nodded and seemed to understand. “I’m not a monster, but I have to work with them. He probably wouldn’t have gone any further.”