An Angel's Vice

Chapter 36 - Power of Prayer

Two days later - Somewhere in Mexico

Candy clutches her stomach in agony, writhing from the intense pain of cramping, triggering the kind of nausea she'd gotten in the past for drinking way too much. It's the kind of nausea you wouldn't get from a stomachache alone, but if that stomachache was combined with the first day of a woman's period. The effect was dizzying and an appetite killer. She had screamed and cried as loud as she could for hours, with little medical attention, and no one to properly check on her. One person did—a cowboy with a shotgun slung over his shoulder—but it was just to see if she was still alive, hadn't hurt herself, and wasn't bleeding on the floor to signify troubles with the baby. Once he saw that she was just experiencing pain, he said nothing and simply walked back out of the room, returning to his post with the volume on the radio turned louder to drown out her sounds of agony.

Candy was given necessary medications to take for the baby's health, so that was her only form of insurance. She has no access to a doctor—not yet. She receives three unchanging meals a day: oatmeal and a banana, broccoli with eggs, brown rice and beans. She doesn't get generous portions, and if she happens to throw up the food for any reason, then she will have to starve until the next meal comes. If she wants to bathe, she can use the gallon of water and rag provided to her. Pooping is for the hole in the ground, and peeing or vomiting is for the paint bucket next to the hole. She had no choice but to convince herself that all of this is better than nothing.

But this is no way to live. And she regrets all the times she took for granted how good she's had it her whole life until this point.

She's sweating from the pain, her legs restless as she sits on her cot, kicking the blanket and clutching the pillow 'til her knuckles are white. It comes and goes in waves, but the relief isn't longer than the hurting. She's moaning and crying with her face turned to the dusty tunnel wall next to her, praying that this would end for her sooner than later. She doesn't know if Lauren is coming for her, and if she is then she doesn't know if Lauren will make it. She doesn't have much faith in her salvation anymore.

The door to this room suddenly opens and Candy stops herself from openly showing that she is experiencing terrible pain, prepared for her father to step in and spend time with her. But it isn't Alejandro, it is another man—one of the other cowboys that work on this ranch. If he's carrying a gun, it isn't visible on him. He doesn't physically seem predatory or mean like the others do. The cowboy offers Candy a quiet 'hello' and keeps looking over his shoulder as though he isn't supposed to be here, and he's worried he'll get caught. He's carrying three items with him: a heating pad, a bottle of painkillers, and a to-go cup of hot tea.

"Señorita Cabello?" he says, apprehensively approaching Candy's cage, holding up those items for her to take a good look at. "Estos son para ti." (These are for you.)

Candy is immediately skeptical. She squints and side-eyes him, glances at what she desperately needs right now, but doesn't trust it. She doesn't move from her cot. He becomes frustrated and starts to panic, urging her to hurry up and take what he has, expressing that they don't have much time. Candy slowly crawls out of "bed" and takes unhurried steps toward the cage door, sizing him up. He opens the slot to her cell that gives her access to receive things, and waits until she's there to give them to her. But just as she's reaching out, he pulls back and gives her a certain look she's seen before about thousands of times. Candy's stomach turns.

"Si me chupas la verga, te daré esto," he propositions her, leaving the items on the floor to unbuckle his jeans. He lowers his jeans down a little and takes his dick out, holding it in front of her, expecting her to be desperate enough to go for it. (If you suck my dick, I will give these to you.)