Page 108 of Malice and Surrender
“Frank busted open the door.” His voice was shaking along with the rest of his body.
“Okay, one more question, and we’re going to think of this as the bonus question. If you answer this one to my satisfaction, I’ll let you go.” Jim nodded. “Did she scream? Did she scream when you hurt her?” Tears filled Jim’s eyes. “Did she?” I bellowed, and he jerked.
“Yes,” Jim mumbled under his breath. “She kept begging for you to stop, but I swear I didn’t want to hurt her.”
I didn’t think anything could infuriate me more, but I’d been wrong. To hear confirmation that Raine thought it was me. That she screamed and begged me to stop. That she was terrified out of her mind, snapped the last of my control.
“Well, tonight you’re going to understand that pain, Jim. This is your night of reckoning,” I said, and lined the end of the rifle up with Jim’s asshole.
“No, no, no, please. Please don’t do this!”
He fought the bindings, but he was already weak and secure, so all he was doing was wearing himself down further. The moment he stilled to catch his breath, I struck and shoved the end of the rifle up his ass to the sound of high-pitched shrieking. Jim’s body bowed off the ground as the dry, cold metal penetrated farther up his shitter.
I held the gun still and let the wails die down to rambling that made no sense.
“You know, Jim, the sad thing is that I saw you as family. I thought of you as an uncle and one of the only people I could trust, but you destroyed that. So when you’re on the slide down to meet the devil, I want you to remember that you would’ve been better off dying in that warehouse years ago.”
“But you promised,” he cried.
“So did you. You promised to always be there for me. Do you remember that?” I pulled on the gun until it was almost out of his ass and shoved it back inside. He screamed again, his wails mixed with tears and the stench of regret. “I want you to remember how you hit my knuckles and said I would always be family. How does it feel to be lied to?”
When no logical answer was forthcoming, I shook my head. “I’d say it was a pleasure, but that would be a lie. Thanks for the info, Jim.”
“No, wait. I—”
Bang
The sound of the rifle rang out as I pulled the trigger, and I was shocked when the two recliners were dragged a few inches from the force of the shot before it blew off part of Jim’s head. The bullet exploded out of his skull and hit the far wall. I smirked as I stared at the hair stuck to the shitty wood panel siding before it slid down, leaving a red streak in its wake. Smiling, I glanced at the half-missing face and the remaining eye staring back at me. I’d always wondered what would happen if I did this. This was definitely up there in my most favorites. Heck it might have even taken over the number one spot.
“That was fucking cool. Too bad I didn’t have two of you. I’d love to have tried a different angle.”
The door slammed open, and Roach stepped in, holding his gun out as his eyes searched for a threat before he looked down at the man on the floor. His brows knit together with a mix of disgust and horror in his eyes.
“Dude, that’s fucked up. I’m never helping you again,” Roach grumbled and left, the door slamming closed with a bang. Standing, I stared down at Jim to take in and appreciate this moment before I cleaned up anything I’d touched.
Jim’s phone rang again as I stepped outside, and this time, I hit the answer button.
“Jim? Jim, you there?”
I breathed heavily into the phone.
“Man, seriously, you need to answer. This is no time for your stupid games.”
A wicked grin pulled at my mouth. “I’m coming for you,” I growled low into the phone and hit ‘end.’
Kaivan
I learned very quickly you should never kill a man, go home, and drink like a fish while you lied to yourself about why you did it. I did want revenge for being sent to prison for something that Dave, Frank, and Jim had done, but it wasn’t the driving force.
Raine. I couldn’t stop thinking about Raine, even though I’d sworn her off forever. She was a fucking plague on my mind that was only getting worse. The harder I tried to stop thinking about her, the more I saw her shy smile and the fire burning in her eyes when I pissed her off.
Putting the whiskey bottle to my lips, I took a swig and stared out my living room window. It was dark in the house, and the spirits that haunted this place kept me company. Fuck, maybe I was one of those spirits now.
What did I have to show for my life? My cut was beside me on the couch, and I ran my hand over the soft material, tracing The Lost Souls logo as gently as a lover would. I had nothing besides the club and what I did for them.
Roach, Hollywood, Mannix, and in some strange fucked up way, Wilder, were my family. They were each part of the small circle I’d die for, but there had always been something missing. Someone….
“You look sad,” Wilder said quietly.
