“You wouldn’t take the three. So that presented a problem.” Cruz nodded to Tommy. “Hence why your ass is sittin’ right there.”
“You think I’m gonna tell you anything after this shit? Fuck no. You all can rot in Hell.” Tommy glared at Cruz who struck him hard in the face, the sound of broken bone crunching.
Blood ran down Tommy’s face. His nose was totally broken.
“You fuckin’ dick! What are you thinkin’! We had a motherfuckin’ deal!” he screamed at Cruz.
“The deal has changed. You tell us what we want to know, you leave. You don’t, you die right here. I don’t give a fuck either way.” Cruz turned to Rhys. “Clean?”
Rhys’ eyes lifted up in response to Cruz. “Yeah.”
Cruz turned back to Tommy. “Do you know what that means, Tommy?”
Tommy glared. “That, that motherfucker,” he nodded to Rhys, “stopped takin’ fuckin’ steroids.”
To this Rhys actually chuckled. “Bitch, I don’t need drugs to look this fuckin’ good.”
This was so out of character for Rhys that I and most of the people in the room started chuckling. Damn Maize was rubbing off on him a bit. And here I thought it was the other way around.
“Fuck you,” Tommy spat, and Cruz kicked his shin with his steel-toed boot. Tommy screamed out in pain.
“You don’t seem to have a very high pain tolerance, Tommy, and as much as I’d love to get my hands dirty, I have a room of men who are hungry.”
Tommy’s eyes skated around the room to all of us. Only then was a flicker of fear that he tried to erase.
Cooper went over to the two large red toolboxes that were kept in the space. He pulled out a pliers, clamps, a hammer and zip ties. Had to admit I was curious what he was thinking. He always had an angle.
This was only my second time down here, first with an actual captive. I was intrigued.
And this was the part of Ravage I’d shield Katie from. Always. Me, I had no qualms with it at all. He had information. We needed it. He wouldn’t give it. So we beat it out of him.
Easy.
Simple.
Ravage.
Cooper called Deke over. “You wanna do it?”
Deke held out his hand, and without a word Cooper put the pliers in his hand. He walked calmly, as if he were at the grocery store, to Tommy.
“What the fuck are you gonna do with those?”
Again, Deke didn’t say anything. He grabbed Tommy’s hand, clamped the pliers to his middle finger and pulled the nail completely away from Tommy’s body. Tommy screamed in pain. As if that was the worst amount of pain he’d been in. He hadn’t seen anything yet. This was small potatoes.
Tommy yelled out every curse word in the book.
Deke didn’t wait and pulled out Tommy’s ring fingernail, only to have Tommy screaming again. Then Deke pulled out the pinky.
“Fuck, man. See if he’ll talk,” Cooper said, chuckling. Deke shrugged and stepped back. Tommy had tears mixing with the blood running down his face. He wasn’t hurt that bad … yet.
One thing for sure was no way Tommy would hack being a Marine. We’d eat him up on the first fucking day.
“Who is it?” Cruz asked.
“Fuck you!” Tommy said, spittle flying to the ground. He was either stupid or … never mind, just stupid.
“I’m up,” Nox said, grabbing the hammer and slamming it into Tommy’s shin. Bones crunched under the blow, causing Tommy to scream harder. Nox didn’t wait and took the hand that Deke worked on and swung at the man’s elbow.
A man never got used to the sound of crunching bones.
Tommy wailed louder, and at this rate he was going to lose his voice before we got anything out of him.
Buzz and Cooper took their turns, choosing to use their fists.
Tommy’s head hung as blood dripped to the floor. There was a grate there and a hose to clean the place when we were done. I knew that would be Micah and my job later.
GT grabbed Tommy’s hair and flung his head back with a pop. “Now. What do you know?”
Tommy’s eyes met mine, and he smiled. Yes, fucking smiled.
Brow raised, I waited.
“It’s him,” Tommy said, directing it at me. All eyes fell upon me as the air in the already damp room thickened.
The men I wanted to call brothers all looked at me with spite and anger. What the fuck was going on?
26
KATIE
I was beyond exhausted. Work was killer. After missing a couple of days it was like my body reverted into laying on the couch mode. My feet were screaming at me wanting relief desperately.
Both my sisters had moved in the other side of the duplex where Breanna and Ashley lived. They were having a tough time adjusting, but I made it a conscious effort to go over there at some point during the day.
Thank goodness I already went today before work, because I wouldn’t have made it.
Grabbing all of my things out of the break room, I said my goodbyes. I’d already counted the money and handed it off to Doreen, another cashier.
Dryerson was picking me up tonight. Thank God for small miracles. I didn’t think I’d be the best driver right now.
“Hey, wait,” Danny said, and I heaved out a deep breath. He just had to be working my shift today. A double whammy. No thank you. I was seriously over this. I would talking to Mrs. Brashers tomorrow.
Either he’d leave, or I would be going to look for another job. I didn’t feel comfortable around him. Just like now this ghost of a chill ran up my spine.
I stopped. I really needed to get over this manner thing that had been etched into my brain since I was born. “What?”
“It was really good workin’ with you today.”
Since for me it was not, I just nodded and gave a small smile. I made to move around him to get outside. Dryerson was probably at the front door waiting for me.
Danny stepped in my path. “Why are you in such a hurry? I’m on break.”
“Good for you. I’m tired and want to go home,” I snapped back, surprising myself. Maybe I was getting back to my old self.
“You don’t have to be a bitch,” Danny snarled.
“Look, I’m late. I have to go.”
I turned away and swore I heard, “Don’t’ worry, I’ll see you soon.”
Shaking it off, I made my way outside. Micah’s SUV sat there, which was strange. Dryerson said he was picking me up for a ride. Even tired as all get out, I wanted that ride.
Opening the passenger side door, I hopped up, sitting my bottom in the seat and greeted, “Hey.”
“Hey, Wild Kat,” he replied back as I closed the door and buckled up. I loved it when he called me that.
I reached over and clicked my seatbelt on. “Why do you have Micah’s SUV? Thought we were riding?”
He kept his eyes on the road but answered, “Had business to attend to.”
Okay, Mr. Vague. But that was part of this life, so I sucked in a deep breath then put my head back on the seat.
“Today was killer. You’d think it was the day before Thanksgiving or something. My line never stopped all day.”
He didn’t respond, so I kept going. “Danny met me before I left. I wasn’t gonna tell you but thought I should. He’s not taking your warnings well.”