All right, then. No need to be that way. She handed him a bag much like Willa’s, lumpy with its contents.

He opened it up. This ain’t what I said for you to get.

It is so.

I said it ain’t.

She shrugged, but her shoulders trembled with it. Maybe I’m wrong. I thought that’s what you told me.

Avery threw the bag down and cuffed her with the back of his hand. She clutched her face and wavered, but didn’t fall. A pinch of this would throw off the whole batch! You were gonna go on back home and mix it up before I could see it, weren’t you? That’s what you were gonna do. You women are out to get me, that’s what it is. Either that or you’re all stump stupid, and I know that ain’t right. What’s this turned into now, Lu? Why are you three trying to interfere with what you know I mean to do?

Ain’t no one interfering, Ave. I just made a mistake, that’s all. She was just beginning to notice that the filth on his clothes wasn’t entirely made of swamp scum and mud, and she was getting nervous, though she did her best not to show it. Only the quick twitch of her eyes betrayed her fear. Left to right they went, and right to left, intuitively seeking some exit even before the danger.

He took her quickly, though not so quickly as Willa, for Luanna was not taken off guard. She screamed and tried to run when she saw the knife, but he caught her hair in one huge fist and yanked her head back to be beaten and sliced. She didn’t go down without a fight. Once, twice, even a third time she nearly got loose, only to be drawn back into his sharp embrace. I wanted to applaud her for it, but my stomach was turning, wanting it to end.

Luanna fought back like a jungle animal, and although Avery eventually took her down it was not without losing a handful of hair and flesh of his own. Towards the end I turned away, unable to watch another moment of ripping fabric and shearing skin. God, I hated myself for my revulsion. I hated myself for wishing she’d quit struggling and just give up already, so he wouldn’t have to mangle her any more.