I didn’t laugh hard often, the emotion tended to sit on the periphery of my mind, but the moment did strike me as amusing.

“I love her. I can’t hurt her,” Jackie cried, and Abel yanked her arm hard to drag her to the other side of the table. “No, no, no, no,” she begged and pulled on her arm.

Jackie swung the drill at Abel’s head, but he stepped back just in time and snatched Jackie’s wrist out of the air.

The switch in Abel was instant.

He went from joking and loving the moment into a murderous place, his face darkening as he glared at Jackie.

“You’ll pay for trying that,” he pulled the drill out of her hands and slammed her down onto the table hard enough that it knocked the fight out of her.

Her hands and legs were quickly and efficiently attached to the table, and I smirked as she fought the restraints with all her strength. She was back to being the wild animal caught in a hunter’s trap.

“Okay then, Jess, it’s back to you. Do you want to make the deal?”

Jess’s eyes found Jackie’s, and she shook her head back and forth, but the words that tumbled from her mouth were vastly different. “I love you, sis, but I don’t want to die. I’ll do it.”

“What?” Jackie squealed, her eyes wide as her fighting reached new heights. Abel grinned and unfastened Jess’s straps.

“This is a twist I didn’t see coming,” Abel exclaimed as he handed over the power tool. “Just for that, I’m going to fuck you again.”

I noticed how he conveniently left out the part about whether she’d be alive to enjoy it this time, but you never really knew with my brother. Like the girl was walking the plank on a ship, Jess slowly marched up behind her sister, with Abel following close behind.

“No, no, no, don’t do this, Jess!”

Jackie thrashed in the leather bindings, and I sat a little closer to the end of my seat. Jackie’s face had warped into an interesting combination of disbelief and terror.

Tears streamed down Jess’s cheeks, her face now a mask of determination as her hand inched closer to Jackie’s backside despite how badly it was shaking.

“Do it. It’s the only way,” Abel encouraged, his eyes fixated on the spot where the drill was pointed as Jackie continued begging her sister not to do this.