“Sister Andrea, it pains me to have to bring you before the Lord in this manner, but our friend there has no care for your safety and refuses to cooperate with me. The Lord spoke to me and let me know the only way he’ll learn is by watching you suffer. I must act as the Lord directs me.”

Andy collapsed. Cody tried catching her, but he wasn’t swift enough, so she dropped to the floor. She slapped the ground beneath her with everything she had, using nothing more than her right earlobe and that same cheek. The preacher walked the short distance to the front of the church and took Andy by the arm. She was slow getting back to her feet, but Randy Jessup helped her stand and put a hand on both her shoulders.

She shook all over but didn’t have enough strength left over to look the preacher in the face. “What have I told you about being so dramatic, Sister Andrea? It doesn’t bring you any favor from the Lord.”

Andy cried into her hands. The preacher’s face turned callous, and he gripped her shoulders until droplets of blood rolled off the tips of his fingernails. When Andy could speak, she said, “Please don’t hurt me, Brother Jessup. I’ll do whatever God commands, but I don’t wanna be hurt no more.”

“This ain’t got nothing to do with nobody but me and you. Just let her go.”

The preacher shoved Andy onto the bench so hard it nearly tipped. “Friend, Peter wrote in his second epistle that God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be held for the day of judgment. I will not sin against God and suffer the same fate. No, sir. Just as Jesus said, ‘He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.’”

The Elis grabbed her by the arms and legs. Her screams cut through his preaching, and she fought to get away from them. Cory grabbed Andy by a handful of hair and jerked her over. They stretched her across the bench, and Cody pinned her to it. Cory cinched the first belt so tight across her chest it flattened her tits. The preacher stood over her and ran the tips of his fingers through her hair. Andy shuddered at his touch and winced when the second belt got strapped across her thighs. Randy held me in a gaze to make certain he had my devotion. Fire licked his good eye matching the flaming dove stitched into his eye patch, then he blinked and left that eye closed while he told the Elis to get where he needed them. He flicked the lid of a water jug with a quick flick of the thumb.

Andy finally went limp. Cody dropped the foot of the bench, and Cory jerked the towel from her face. Randy Jessup slipped his fingers into the crook of Andy’s neck to check her pulse. “Take her back to the basement,” he said to the Elis, “when you’re done with her, come back and get him. I need to prepare my sermon for tomorrow.”