Grinning, he walked to the tent where the girls had been led to bathe. He rather enjoyed this part. Thirteen beautiful women stripped naked and made to wash while he watched. His cock stiffened at the thought.
They didn’t notice him, at least not at first. They all stood huddled around Eva, two helping her pull her dress on, others comforting her, one standing away from the group, her gaze sending daggers into the punished girl’s back. He shook his head. Women. She’d just been stripped and beaten publicly and there was already jealousy? He’d never understand the opposite sex.
He turned to find the three large barrels being filled with water. Getting water to the site was a pain in the ass, but he couldn’t exactly auction off the girls when they stank of a barn, and inevitably, every shipment did.
Syn pulled up the chair behind the table he’d use as a desk and whistled them to attention. “Line up facing me.”#p#分页标题#e#
All talking ceased and the girls shuffled to do as he said while he opened a leather bound notebook on the desk, turning to an empty page. He then looked up at the row of beautiful women before him. He liked this part. He liked it much more than he should, but he had no problem with that darker part of himself. He’d come to terms with it the day they had pronounced Laney brain-dead. The same day he and Gabriel both had sworn vengeance.
“Name,” he said, pointing to the first girl with his pen. “First, middle and last.”
“Maria Anna Calvares,” came the trembling voice of the girl.
“Maria.” He looked her over from head to toe. “Lose the dress, Maria.”
She started to cry right away, and Syn shook his head. But what he saw next truly surprised him. Eva stepped forward from the line and folded her arms across her chest.
“If you’d tell us what was going to happen to us, maybe we’d be more cooperative. In case you’re too stupid to realize it, she’s scared, asshole!”
There was a collective intake of breath from the women. One girl reached to pull her back into the line, but Eva shrugged off her hand, staring at Syn even as her legs trembled and her pretty, gray-green eyes widened in anticipation of what he’d do next.
Syn stood, and when he rounded the desk, she took a step back.
“Haven’t heard a woman call my brother an asshole in… well, I believe this may be the first time, actually.” Gabriel stood at the entrance of the tent with a smile on his face. “You have to admit,” he said, walking inside, setting a small jar and a camera on the desk. “It is true, Syn.” Gabriel patted his brother’s back.
“May be true, but it’s also rude.”
“Yes, it is that.”
“Eva, I’m going to forgive that little outburst only if you get your pretty little ass back in line. Unless of course you’d like me not to forgive it? Perhaps you’d like another dozen to top off the whipping which my brother obviously didn’t do a good enough job with?” Syn asked, sending a sideways glance at Gabriel.
She narrowed her eyes, the green darkening. “I just… we just want to know what’s going to happen to us. Please.” She then hastily added, “I don’t mean disrespect.”
“That’s better,” he said, turning to his brother. “Almost sweet, wouldn’t you say?”
“She does seem sweet,” Gabriel said, his eyes on the girl. “Back in line with the others, Evangeline. And this goes for all of you. As Syn said earlier, you’ll address us as Sir and only speak when spoken to. We’ll do it like school. If you have a question, raise your hand. You clear on that, Evangeline? I don’t want to give my brother an excuse to take the birch, or anything else for that matter, to that pretty little ass of yours. I know he’s dying to.”
Syn smiled just a little. This was what he respected so thoroughly about his brother. He could be intensely serious, and was most of the time, he had a soft heart, softer than he himself did, but when push came to shove, he always had your back. He could charm anyone, if he chose to. They both could. It was just that Syn didn’t feel the need to most of the time.
Eva nodded and stepped back in line with the other women.
“Now,” Gabriel said, folding his arms across his chest and looking at the girl with a tilt of his head. “How do you reply respectfully, do you think?”
Syn tried hard not to chuckle as he watched her hands clench into fists, her eyes narrow to slits.
“Yes… sir,” she spat.
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“That’s a good girl. Take note, ladies.” With that, Syn resumed his place behind the makeshift desk and Gabriel pulled up a chair to sit beside him.