Break Me Open Read Online Free Page A

his pockets out on a chair. His greasy face sneered at each item like it was a discovery. I watched numbly, clinically, as if this were happening far away and to someone else. That’s how I’d survived the tough practicals in veterinary school. Maybe I could survive this too by going somewhere far away.
    The other gnarly biker had grinned and promised I was going to get educated. You didn’t educate someone you were going to kill. He’d dropped the body off to a couple guys who’d looked at me like I was a new toy. Twist had dragged me past a dark ranch house of a bar and dumped me in this shack off to the side.
    I tried deep breaths, but a powder hung in the air. I couldn't help myself. I sneezed.
    "Bless ya.”
    "Ok," I said. The sound of our voices warped back into the room. I could feel my heart begin to bubble, and tried to stay cool. “Hey, can you take me back? I get it. You guys are tough. I won't say anything to anyone."
    "We ain't that tough, sweetie," Twist said. "You might think we're hard after what you seen tonight, but we're all fluff and marshmallow deep inside. Well, most of us."
    The panic loomed over me like an oncoming wave, but I fought it back. If I stayed busy there wouldn't be room for fear. I searched furiously for some connection. Empathy was the key to getting people to listen. I’d learned that from work, too. I needed a lot of it to convince people their little buddy was better off resting for good. 
    Maybe it work the opposite way too. I just had to find what mattered.
    "That guy," I said. "He was in your gang."
    "Hell no." Twist reared up and spit right on the floor. "He ain't one of us. And we ain't no gang, neither."
    "So he was in a rival...biker group?"
    "Word's 'club', honey." He leaned in over me. "We'll get to that."
    My heart pounded and I felt the panic tinged with the cotton mouth and headache of my hangover. I couldn't break down. If I broke down I was just meat to this guy.
    "So he was a rival club. He messed with you."
    "Fucked us over, yeah."
    "He's not a good guy."
    "No, definitely not."
    "Alright, so he's dead." I made out a big shrug. "Why would I report it? What do I care?
    Twist stood and nodded to himself a bit. "Yeah, who gives a shit if another biker dies."
    "No, that's not-, " I started, before realizing he was just trying to throw me. "Ok, yeah, another biker dies. Who cares. Good people die all the time, and they didn't deserve it either."
    His eyebrows came close. "Oh yeah, you know about death huh? You a doctor or something?"
    The guy was not dumb. I wasn't going to tell him that I was an orphan. That the only person who'd look for me was probably passed out. I sank deeper into the lie. "Yeah."
    "Well, let's take a look huh?" He dug into my purse, next to the chair with his stuff. My heart pounded in my chest, but with more purpose than fear. I realized I could just run up and knock him out right now. If I was 100 pounds heavier, not hung over and had my hands untied.
    "Oh yeah, there we go." He held up my school ID. "Katie Phillips. That's a pretty name. They seem to have your job down wrong, honey. They think you fix dogs."
    I flapped my mouth aimlessly. I was out of wit. The bright yellow bulb was killing my eyes. I could feel the panic taking over the vacuum my mind had left.
    "What do you want?" I asked.
    "Oh, are we done with the part where you're being brave?" My purse flopped limp on the floorboards. "Damn, I like my girls feisty."
    He pulled up the chair and sat down before me. I peered up as defiantly as I could, but the panic grew as his sour breath sank onto me.
    "We're going to have a little talk. See what you saw."
    "Nothing."
    "You know you talk too much to suddenly act dumb." 
    He stroked my cheek. His hands felt like alligator skin.
    "Then we figure out what's a fair exchange. We see how much you owe us."
    "Money?"
    He licked his cracked lips. "I accept all sorts of payment."
    Rape. Rape was going to buy my silence? Or was it just going to