Jookie tapped the empty air between us, a holographic space forming as a glowing number one materialized, along with a bright red statement:

Under the lettering was a bright green button that said "TRUTH" and a red button that said, "LIE."

My eyes flickered away from the words to his eyes, absorbing the false purpleness of them. This was easy. His real eyes were a smoky gray, so this statement was a lie.

I tapped the red button with a giant grin plastered on my face. Instantly, a beeping alarm wailed throughout the small room, digging into my eardrums like a needle on skin, as red dots danced on the walls and floor.

All the commotion — the lights and noise — rubbed at my brain like sandpaper on a seashell, overloading my senses. My eyes blurred, and my head throbbed, and I panted and closed my eyes, trying to breathe.

The alarm continued for a few moments more, and I gasped when it was over, everything part of my body tense.

Jookie gave me a shit-eating grin. "Wrong answer, my little peach."

"Couldn't you just say that?" I massaged my temples, still trying to catch my breath. "Why you guys gotta be extra with all the noise and shit? And how was I wrong?"

He tapped his eyelid. "These are my real eyes."

"No, they're not. Your real eyes are gray."

He pursed his lips, eyes dancing like dandelion petals in the wind. "Yes, but I never said anything about my eye color. I said eye as in eyeball."

"You tricky fucker," I whispered, knowing I should've analyzed the question more before answering. He did the same trick with our first challenge where we had to find the "biggest" body part.

Betinia's smart ass caught on to his trick almost immediately back then, but I was in charge now, and I would figure out his tricks on my own. And I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Jookie snapped his fingers, and Rucker shouted, "Holy shit."

Head snapping to the window, my eyes enlarged at the sight of the long, thick saws retreating into the cement walls, only to be replaced by bigger ones.

Nine buzz saws popped out of the ground like whack a mole, jagged edges spinning in the watery sludge, creating thousands of air bubbles as they extended upwards, casting a shadow on Rucker's hard face.

"What the hell is that," I said, watching the seven-foot saws tower over Rucker from all sides. They were fucking huge.

"Oh, I also forgot to mention that when you get one wrong, something bad happens to Rucker," Jookie said, cheeks widening. "It won't be anything deadly until you get five wrong. Since this was your first loss, we went easy on him and only made the saws bigger."

"Bigger? They look like fucking mountains!"

"The old ones would cut him in half, these will make him into chili," Jookie said, licking his lips. "Beautiful, aren't they?"

The giant saw directly in front of Rucker zoomed in close, splashing gallons of water on his body before stopping about five inches away from his junk, blade rumbling in place.

Rucker hopped back, shaking the water from his face. "Ah, I feel the air on my balls — it's too close."

"I only got one wrong, they shouldn't be that close to him," I said through clenched teeth. "Stop fucking with him."

Jookie grinned at me. "Drop your pants then, my delicious peach."

"Huh?" I jerked back when he pulled a weapon from the front of his jeans. It was a short-curved dagger, the blade the color of mixed, crushed crayons.

"Every time you get a wrong answer, I get to give you a lash, and you have to take off a piece of clothing, remember?" His tone was husky and wet.

I closed my eyes and sucked my teeth as I stood. My hands paused at the waistband of my wet sweatpants when I realized I was wearing three pairs of panties.

Oh shit. "Uh, how about I take off my t-shirt instead?" I offered with a bright smile.

"Drop'em." He motioned to my pants with the knife, as his predatory gaze watched me like a kitty stalking a mouse. "Do you need help?" he asked when he saw me hesitate.

"No," I snapped, clutching my sweatpants. Why the hell did I care what he thought? Maybe he'll think it's weird and steer clear of me from now on.

Exhaling, I pulled at the drawstring, and my pants dropped to my ankles, as I peered up at the ceiling, whistling to myself.

"Why are you wearing three pairs of panties?" Rucker asked from the window, voice laced in confusion as the water coming through the cracked wall sped up. "Oh, do you have a bladder problem—"

"No, I don't have bladder problems, and shouldn't you be more worried about your balls getting popped by those saws than my panty choice?" I snapped, putting my hands over my crotch. Thankfully, I was at least wearing cute cheekies, and not Walmart grannies. "And I didn't comment on your small package, so don't comment on mine."

"Hey! Mine isn't small, it's cold in here," Rucker said, looking down. "Look, it's getting bigger—"

"I really don't need to see it," I said, looking at the ceiling again.

"See? All eight and a half inches—" Rucker started in a triumph tone.

"Just stop," I interrupted, shaking my head.

Jookie stood, as I sat down again. "I know why you're wearing three," he said, voice teasing.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I'm anemic. I get cold easy."

He stepped closer to me, bringing the sweet aroma of spicy mint and burnt stars with him. "No, you get off on pain and torture, so when you thought you were going to kill Gmie and Demo, you tripled up."

The tip of his dagger trailed up the top of my bare thigh, making me shiver as his heated eyes locked with mine. It moved lower, the sharpness raking down my inner thigh to my pelvis. "Killing makes you horny."

He dug the tip in deep, not enough to bleed, but enough to give me a glimpse of pain. I sighed, pleasure sweeping up my stomach, as my mind whirled with hatred for my body for betraying me.

I lurched away from him. "Just stop messing with me, and fucking cut me already."

In one swift movement, he slammed me against the back of the leather chair before sliding between my thighs, my left leg resting on his shoulder.

He stared up at me through half-hooded eyes and took his tongue and ran it across my inner thigh to my knee, causing me to bite down hard on my cheek. "You taste really sweet." And then, he sliced where his tongue had been, creating the most delicious pain-pleasure combo I ever felt.

It took every ounce of my resolve to not purr like a pussy.

"One," he whispered, watching a thin trail of blood seep from the wound before retreating.

I stared at the ceiling, trying to contemplate the world at the moment as the inside of my mouth thumped in pain.

"You good?" Jookie asked, dark humor coloring his tone.

I wiped the blood away with my sleeve and closed my legs. "Just give me the next one."

He laughed as the next statement materialized between us:

I wrinkled my forehead, trying to see what they were trying to get at, besides the two obvious ones.

Jookie rolled his eyes. "You really are thinking too much," he said, licking his lips. "You should at least know this about me."

Going with my gut instinct, I tapped the "TRUTH" button, and the room blinked bright green, a soft ping going off.

Jookie clapped. "Correct."

"Yeah, the one thing I do know about you is that you're a pervert."

"Because I love to eat peaches?" He gave me a wolfish grin.

I refused to let my mind go there and stole a look at Rucker instead. The saws had backed up a few inches, and I saw him sag in relief.

Okay, one down and four more to go.

"Next statement," Jookie said, bringing my eyes back to the middle.

Devil? I glanced at Jookie, and he grinned at me, but his eyes looked lifeless. Did this statement bring up bad memories for him?

"You got daddy issues?"

"No worse than your mommy issues," he said with a shrug.

Touché. Ignoring him, I went back to the statement, reading it over again. It must be like the first one, so wouldn't that make it true? But no one's father was literally the devil, but you could think they were the devil, but that still didn't make them the devil.

So, which was it? Maybe they wanted me to go with truth to trick me, thinking I would follow the pattern of the first question, and it's really a lie? Or maybe I'm overthinking everything?

"One minute left to choose," Jookie said as the numbers started to countdown over the statement.

Crossing my fingers, I picked lie, and the alarm went off again.

"Wrong again," Jookie said, getting up with his dagger.

"Betinia," Rucker hollered at me like a banshee.

"I can't focus with you screaming at me."

"Then stop getting them wrong," he said before biting his bottom lip and wincing. The chains tied around his arms, neck, chest and stomach began to sizzle with smoke and turn bright orange. The fiery metal ate at his exposed flesh, leaving chain-link designs behind as the front saw continued to bob back and forth near his dick like a yoyo.

Rucker gritted his teeth, muscles flexing repeatedly as the metal continued to burn brightly against him. He panted through it, closing his eyes.

I slapped the table, as the heated chains continued burning away flesh like cheese on an open flame. "That's enough."

"Is it?" Jookie asked, rolling his eyes and snapping his fingers.

The chain went silver again, smoke still circling the atmosphere around him. Rucker flinched at the sudden change, eyes narrowing on the bobbing saw in front of him. "Stay away from my babies," he whispered.

He just literally got fried alive, and he only cared about his balls? "Are balls really that important?" I asked.

"Yes," Rucker and Jookie said in unison.

"The chains just ate through your skin," I said, pointing to the scorched marks on his tummy, seeing some exposed tissue and blood.

"That's just pain, I can get through that," Rucker said, watching the saws around him move a few inches closer. "My balls are a part of my soul."

"Could you live without your tits?" Jookie asked.

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Not having to wear a bra would be amazing."

"I can help you with that," Jookie said with a smile, and then without giving me time to even flinch, he sliced at my chest, the tip grazing the space between my boobs.

"You fuck—" I started in a nasty tone, touching my chest, but I stopped when I realized that I wasn't bleeding. But my bra had been cut down the middle.

"You're welcome," he said with a glint in his eyes, the lifelessness from before now gone.

I started to curse him out, but he held up the knife. "I'm just following the rules," he said, pointing at my chest. "And you're not."

Glowering, I kept my shirt on while trying to take off the ruined bra. It was hard, but I did it, throwing it on the floor with my sweatpants. "I still don't understand how I got that last one wrong. You're telling me your mother fucked a red dicked man?"

"Maybe when she was on her period," he said with a shrug. "But people called my father the devil — thus he is the devil since that is his name."

I slapped the table. "You guys are cheating. If I would've picked truth, you guys would've told me it was wrong too. This is rigged. You want me to lose."

"Do we?"

"Yes, and since the audience is clearly betting on this, I think it would be fair if they saw the real answers."

Again, I was opening my big mouth and probably getting the creators angry at me, but I didn't care. If this would help me save Rucker, then so be it.

Jookie paused, like he was listening to his earpiece, and then smiled. "Viewers, since some of you have commented on the fairness of the game, we have now placed all future statements, along with the correct answers on the screen for your enjoyment. Please continue to follow along with us."

A small win for me. At least I now knew they weren't completely cheating anymore, and I had a chance of winning.

A television came down from the ceiling on the right, teetering with comments from the viewers. Some still talked about the fairness of the game, but many of them talked about wanting me to lose. Great.

Jookie looked at me. "Feel better now?"

"Not in the slightest, but let's get on with it," I said and sighed. "Give me the next statement." Fuck the viewers.

"Not before my lash," Jookie said, getting up again. I refused to look at him as he positioned himself on the floor again, cutting another line next to the last one that was still bleeding, ignoring the savage tingling crawling up my stomach.

"Next one," Jookie said while getting up, his heated gaze still locked on me.

"Not directly?" I narrowed my eyes. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It is what it is," Jookie said with a shrug.

"How do you not murder someone directly?" I asked myself. You don't. Unless you get someone else to do it, which meant it was still murder, but you didn't directly do it.

Would Jookie murder his grandmother? I could believe it. And would he get someone else to do it? Nah, not the way he loved blood and killing. He would've murdered her himself.

I hit the lie button, and everything went red again.

Rucker made a tiny noise, and I booked it to the window. Both his arms had huge nails sticking through it, red liquid dripping from the pointy tip to the chair, slithering against the leather until it dropped into the clear water. A few seconds later, the metal pieces extracted, leaving quarter-size holes behind in his skin, as another popped between his legs, right next to his junk.

Rucker tried to hop back. "The tip nicked my babies — my snickerdoodle puffs."

Jookie and I looked at each other before looking back at Rucker.

"Snickerdoodle," I started.

"Puffs?" Jookie finished.

"Don't judge me," Rucker snapped, eyeing the giant nail between his legs.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about your bleeding arms than your ballies?"

"No! My snickerdoodle puffs and my baby Spock come before anything."

"You did not name your dick baby Spock."

"Yes, I did, and you better save him," Rucker said through pants, his resolve slipping as he looked at his damaged arms. He quickly looked away, focusing on the moving saw in front of him.

That's when it clicked. The way he dealt with pain was by not acknowledging it and thinking about something else. Earlier, the burning chains must've hurt like a bitch, but he focused on yelling at me and worrying about his balls to get through it. He did the same with the nails.

Thick streams of bright blood dribbled from his forearm wounds, slipping into the water, turning it a murky brown. The holes looked raggedy and rough, and Rucker just panted, balling his fists, never showing weakness.

"I will," I said with a promise, even though I was starting to think that I wouldn't be able to keep it. I just kept getting them wrong, and I didn't know why. The statements made sense either way, and I was going with my gut instinct, but somehow, I was still failing.

At this rate, Rucker would die, and the thought of that made my brain hurt. I couldn't lose him.

Please don't let me lose him.

♟♙♟