Page 106 of Malice and Surrender
My hand twitched and flexed around the bottle at the mention of the nickname Jim had called Raine. I imagined wrapping my hand around his throat as I nodded and imitated taking another swig.
“You talk to Dave much?”
Jim squirmed in his seat, which told me he had.
“Not in some time,” Jim said, and looked away. So Dave had warned him that I was out. Good to know. “You?”
“I saw him the other day. We ran into one another at a gas station. It was kinda fucked seeing him again. He was real aggressive. I mean, sure, I was fucking his wife, but it was over eleven years ago, man, and I paid my dues. Let it go already.” I wanted to sound like I was being transparent, lull Jim in a little more. “He looked like shit. I would’ve placed a bet that he just crawled out of a dumpster. What the hell has he been up to?”
Jim’s shoulders relaxed. He was obviously waiting to see if Dave had said anything about him. The more loose-lipped I could keep Jim, the better. I had no qualms about torture, and Jim would find that out, but I wanted him to have just enough rope to hang himself with first.
“His old lady left him a couple of years back, and she’s been dragging him through the mud with the divorce.”
I snickered, and Jim’s brows rose in question. “I just find it funny. I mean, I was fucking Irene back in the day. You’d think that once Dave knew that, he would’ve left her long before now,” I said, and Jim’s hand stilled, the beer halfway to his mouth. I gave him a crooked smile. “What? Did you think I didn’t know Dave found out and wanted to punish me?”
Jim swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he did.
“Why do you look so freaked out, Jim? I mean, it’s not like you had anything to do with me going to prison, right?” I drew out the last word and cocked my brow in his direction.
I loved this part of the game. I didn’t get to do it often. Most of my interactions with those that I hunted were get in and get out, but make it as messy as possible. You’d think messy was easier than neat and clean, but that was a misconception. It was far harder to make things look like a slasher film and keep your DNA out of the shit. Knifes slipped, and blood was all over everything. It was actually a pain in my ass.
“No, no, of course not. I just thought you’d be a lot more pissed,” Jim said, stumbling over his words.
He didn’t know the half of it. Pissed was like saying I was mildly annoyed. I tilted my head and stared Jim in the eyes. “Why exactly would I be pissed, Jim? What did I have to be pissed about?” I asked, allowing my web to close around him.
“Um…I…ah…I just meant that…” Whatever Jim was about to say was interrupted by his phone ringing on the coffee table and making him jump.
We both looked at the phone and saw Dave’s name. As Jim reached for the phone, I pulled my gun and pointed it at him.
“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.” I allowed the full extent of my anger to shine through, and the man winced as I glared into his eyes. “Sit the fuck back.”
Jim raised his hand in the air and slowly slid back into the recliner. “Kai, my man, I don’t know what you’ve been told, but I swear to you on my mama’s grave that I didn’t have anything to do with you going to prison.”
I smiled at him. “Splitting hairs, I see. How convenient that you can actually tell the truth and lie all at the same time.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” He smiled, but the worry in his eyes was evident.
“Tell me, Jim. How does it feel to be invaded? To have the place you thought was safe turn into a jail? Or for the person you thought you knew to hurt you and rip your life away?” I leaned forward and let my forearms rest on my knees as the gun dangled between my legs.
Sweat was traveling in a steady stream down the side of Jim’s face. The moisture showed on his upper lip as his body produced adrenaline and screamed to run, but he knew he couldn’t.
“Tell me, Jim, was getting the chance to rape Raine worth your life,” I asked, my voice coming out as a growl as I focused all my hatred on this man, someone I had trusted, someone Raine had trusted. Someone who was going to die. I’d trusted this man around Raine; a mistake I wouldn’t make twice.
“He forced me to,” Jim blurted, then bolted for the door and the rifle he had sitting beside it. He reminded me of a mouse that finally got its tail free from the trap, only to realize there was still a cat. Unfortunately for Jim, I was the cat waiting. Lifting my gun, I fired and got him in the back of the thigh. He yelled as he crashed to the floor in a blubbering heap.
Rolling out my shoulders, I slowly stood as Jim’s phone rang again. “Apparently, Dave’s worried about you. Isn’t that sweet? Did you know your ‘friend’ had already given you up?”
Jim gripped his leg as he rolled around on the floor like a turtle on its back. His continuous begging for forgiveness was getting old quick.
Picking up his phone, I marched over, and before he knew what was happening, I held it in front of his face, and the thing unlocked. God bless modern technology.
“Please don’t hurt me, please.”
“Why shouldn’t I? Dave already told me that you were the one who came up with the plan to get even with me. That it was all your idea to rape Raine,” I said, once more lying my ass off.
“No, no, that’s not true,” he said as I flicked through his contacts and photos. I sent everything useful to the burner phone I’d purchased for this occasion and laid the phone on the tiny dining table. “I’ll tell you what happened. Just please don’t kill me.”
I tapped my chin with the gun and watched the blood pool around Jim’s leg. Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed a hand towel and tossed it at Jim. “Tie off your wound and tell me the truth. And, Jim, don’t fucking lie to me, or I’ll blow your kneecap off next.”
