Chapter Twenty-Nine
Abel
“Please, man, bring us some food!” Hardhead yells.
“Yeah, water will only get us so far! We’re dying here!” Buzz yells as I open the door to the pit.
“Yeah, that’s the point. When I said you would both die a slow death, this is what I meant.” Grabbing a chair, it scrapes across the floor as I drag it in front of them. “You really shouldn’t have done what you both did to Emily. She was like a sister to me and Capone’s girlfriend.”
“We know, he comes in to remind us everyday.” Hardhead whispers. “I didn’t want to
kill her, and I played no part in her death, but Buzz said he wanted to teach you a lesson for stealing his girl.”
“Shut the fuck up, Hardhead.”
“No, by all means, keep talking.” I urge Hardhead since he’s in a talkative mood today. That doesn’t mean that will save him, but I’ll take all the information I can get.
“Well, she isn’t his girl, but since he couldn't get to her because she’s been stuck under you, he settled for Emily. Wasn’t too hard since she kept going back to that club to meet Capone. He grabbed her, little thang put up one helluva fight too, but he likes to hit women, and she didn’t stand a chance.”
“Her jaw was fractured along with some swelling in her neck from a hit like that.” Rising from my chair as it hits the floor with a thud. “You almost killed her from that hit alone, you piece of shit.” Pulling my fist back, I focus on the anger I have from seeing Emily like that I release it, punching him so hard, I feel his bone crack the moment my fist connects with his face. His head dangles from side to side, leaving him dazed and confused.
“Asswhollllee.” He slurs.
Grabbing a chunk of his dirty blond hair, I get in his face. “You’re lucky I haven't killed you yet, but that’s what you want. You want me to put you out of your misery, but I won’t give it to you that easy. You can last probably another week before you starve to death with the limited amount of water you’ve been given.”
“What about me, I gave you some valuable information.” Hardhead says, sounding hopeful that he’ll be spared.
“It wasn’t that valuable.” Releasing Buzz, I squat down to Hardhead’s level. “Did you fuck her?” Sweat gathers on his brow as he looks at me, trying to mask his features. After a minute or so, he looks away, giving me his answer. “You won’t be spared. Maybe, just fucking maybe if you would have said no… You would have lived. But since you raped her, too-” I can’t even finish what I was going to say as I leave the room.
I take out my phone and call Santiago. “What can I do for you?” He breathes into the phone.
“I need someone that specializes in sodomizing an individual.” A beat or two goes by before he speaks.
“I’ll send him to you.” He snaps, ending the call, and I wait.
“Hey, man, what-what are you doing? Who’d you just call over here?” Hardhead asks, trembling.
“Since you both like to fuck women without their permission, I think it’s only fair you see what it feels like.” I say, clenching my fists, trying not to hit one or both of them. Hardhead starts to cry. He should save those tears for another day. “Tell me, did Emily cry like this while you both took turns with her?” He doesn’t answer. “Fucking tell me or so help me God, I’m going to blow your damn brains out and bathe in them.”
“Yes! Alright! Yes, she cried and begged for us to stop, but he didn’t. He kept saying she shouldn’t have made a fool of him, but it wasn’t her he was talking about.” He snaps his mouth shut a split second later, choosing his words carefully, but nothing could have prepared me for what he said next. “It was your girl.”
That’s it!
I take out all my anger, rage, and pain on Buzz as I slap him over and over until he’s shaken awake. “Hey, fuck face, you back with us?” I ask, looking into his void face.
“Yeah, I’m with you. I heard everything.” He smirks, momentarily recovering. “Do you want to know who else she cried for, tough guy? She cried for you to come and rescue her.” He smiles a toothy smile up at me. “She thought Abel fucking Iverson was really going to save her, but you didn’t. I wrapped my hands around her tiny little neck and snapped it in two. Watching the life and blood drain from her face made me so hard, I had to fuck her a few more times before we strung up our masterpiece for you to see.” He laughs.
What he’s doing won’t work. I’ll admit, it’s pretty tempting to take my knife out and jab him in his jugular, but I don’t. After Santiago’s men are done with him, I doubt he’ll last a day.
“You might want to get comfortable, because we’re gonna be here for a while.” I flop back down in my chair, waiting for Santiago’s guy to come and assist.
Minutes go by before I see a guy dressed in all black walking towards me. “I’m Carlos, Santiago said you were in need of a particular skill?”
“That I am. My two pals over here like to rape women,” I motion between Buzz and Hardhead, “and they need to learn that that’s not okay.” Scolding them like I’m their parent.
“Say less. Do you want to stay here for this or what?”
“Mind if I bring a friend?” He nods no, so I walk and grab Capone to come down and witness this.
“So, I hear you two have been some bad boys.” He cackles, taking things out of the bag he brought and letting them drop to the floor. “Do you know what happens to boys that take things that don’t belong to them? Their hands get broken, if not cut the fuck off.” He yells when I hear the zing of a blade, followed by screaming.
“You fucking asshole! You cut off my hand!” Buzz screams, hopping around in his seat as blood squirts from his severed hand.
“I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson, pezzo di merda.” Carlos grunts, swiping the blade across Buzz’s other hand.” Buzz screams while Carlos laughs, licking Buzz’s blood from his blade.
A katana blade to be exact.
The curved, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long grip to wrap both hands around glistens under the light, shining bright with blood.
“Just fucking kill me!” His screams fill the room, echoing off the walls, bringing me a fraction of satisfaction, but it’s still not enough.
“I hear you like to take things that don’t belong to you, and that you like to stick your piccolo cazzo in places it doesn't belong.” Carlos asks, circling around Buzz like the caged animal he is. “Answer me!”
“Yes! I fucking do! Please, just end this.” Buzz begs.
Carlos throws his head back and begins to laugh. “I saw her body, and can only imagine what you did to her, and I’m going to make you wish you’d never done that.” He cuts the rope binding Buzz’s hands while kicking the chair out from under him.
He’s too weak to do anything but moan and groan from the cold floor. Carlos quickly jerks him up and tosses him face down on the table in the center of the room. I know what’s about to happen, and I’m not sure if I want to be a witness to it or not.
Carlos begins cutting Buzz’s clothes off, exposing his naked body. “Hey, man, wh-what are you doing?”
“Showing you how she felt as you stole her innocence.” Buzz begins to fight, but he’s no match for Carlos who outweighs him by a hundred and fifty pounds.
“No! You can’t do that!” He squirms, trying to move away, but it’s no use. He’s gonna get what he deserves.
“I can’t do this? What makes it okay for you to do it, huh, maiale? That’s what’s wrong with boys these days, you don’t know how to be fucking men, and you can’t handle being told no. I’m the teacher, and by the end of this lesson… You’ll learn that no means mother fucking no!” He grunts, shoving the end of a baton up his ass.
Where the fuck did that come from, I’ll never know, nor will I ask.
“Oh God, oh God, make him stop, please!” Buzz screams a blood-curdling scream.
“God has turned his back on you because you did not repent. I am your God now.” His torture goes on for what seems like hours.
Unable to take much more, I leave Carlos there, with the biggest smile on his face as he continues. At first, Capone just stood off to the side, watching, but soon after, he also joined in with Carlos.
Just as I make it back to my office, my phone starts to ring. Reaching in my pocket, I pull it out to see Ivy’s name flash across the screen.
“Marrone Dolce, what’s wrong?”
Her frantic voice leaks into my ears, “Abel, I think the baby’s coming.” That is not what I expected to hear.
“Where are you?”
“Home. I-I think my water broke.” She sniffs, and I can tell she’s been crying.
“Don’t cry, Marrone Dolce, I’m on my way. Is anyone there with you?”
“No, I’m home alone. Foxy and Ginger left maybe thirty minutes ago, I tried calling her but she’s not answering. I tried calling Cam and Travis, but it goes straight to voicemail. I left messages, but Abel, I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there in less than five minutes.” I promise, plugging one of my air pods in my ear so I can stay on the phone with her. “Stay with me.”
“Okay, oh fuck!” She yells.
“Ivy, what’s wrong?”
“I think that was a contraction.”
“How long have you been feeling that? How far apart are they?”
“I have no idea, Abel. I’m not one of those women that took any classes or read any books on birth or motherhood. I’m literally winging the shit outta this shit.” She barks.
“Don’t get smart now, Marrone Dolce, I know you’re in pain but your ass can still take a spanking.”
“You bet it can, it’s about to help me push a baby out, so I think I can handle it.”
“Oh, that mouth of yours is real disrespectful right now, huh? Tell you what, I’ll let it slide, for now, because you’re about to have my bambina. But after she’s here and you’re feeling better, I’ll give you two weeks, your ass is mine.” The way she sucks in air, she knows I’m not playing. “I see I have your attention, now open the door, I’m here.”
Hanging up, I park my bike and rush inside to her. I find her, hunched over the island in the kitchen, standing in a pool of water. “I’m sorry, Abel.”
“What are you apologizing for? Talking smart or the water on the floor? Because fuck the mess, my baby is coming.”
“Oh, well that’s all I was apologizing for then.” She smirks, through the pain. “Fuck, fuckkity, fuck.”
“Yeah, that mouth of yours will be put to good use after the baby gets here.” I say, scooping her into my arms.
“Be careful.”
“Have I ever hurt you by doing this?” She silently nods no. “Then there’s no need for you to worry. Let’s get you to the hospital.”
After I load her into the SUV, we take off.
The drive there takes less than ten minutes since I’m breezing through every caution light that tries to stop me. The whole way there, her hand is snuggly tucked in mine.
Every now and again she squeezes when the pain hits her, telling me the contractions seem to be far apart. I’m going off how far in between she squeezes my hand.
Pulling up to the emergency entrance, I throw the car in park and hop out. Rushing to her side, I scoop her back in my arms and carry her inside.
“My wife is in labor, we need a wheelchair and some assistance.” I say in a rush to the first person in a uniform I see.
“Okay, sir, right this way.” She says as someone magically appears with a wheelchair. Placing her down, the male nurse pushes her while we follow close behind. “We’ll need you to fill out paperwork, but that can be done later. Is she allergic to anything, on any kind of medicine we should know about?”
“Not allergic to anything, but she’s on glucocorticoids. She was diagnosed with sickle cell a couple of months ago.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. We’ll take good care of her. We need to know the name of her OB/GYN so we-”
“Abel Iverson, nice to meet you.”
“You’re… Her doctor?” She asks, looking me up and down in total disbelief.
“I know, it’s hard to believe someone full of tattoos and this much leather can be a doctor, right?”
“No, I meant because you look like you belong to a motorcycle gang or something.”
“The Anarchy Saints.”
“Wicked, my brother is in one, but I haven’t spoken to him in so long, I have no idea who he’s with.”
“It happens, what’s his name?”
“Jeremy Daigle, but he goes by some stupid ass nickname that I don’t even care to remember. Enough about that, let’s get your wife situated. You need to suit up and get ready to deliver your baby.” She says. I hear the words coming from her mouth, but I can’t get past the fact that she said her brother is in a motorcycle club and goes by a nickname. Some of us do, but not everyone, and I’ll have to find out who he is.
“Yes, I’ll need a labor and delivery nurse or two. Once she’s dressed and ready for me, I’ll check to see how far she’s dilated. The contractions seem to be about ten minutes or so apart, but her water has already broken.”
“Yes, doctor. You go get ready, I’ll meet you there.” She says.
“Hey, what’s your name?” With everything going on, I forgot to ask sooner.
“It’s Sadie.” She smiles. At first, it appeared to be friendly. When she goes to turn away, it falters, making me wonder what that’s about.
I don’t have time to worry about it right now. I turn just in time to see them wheel my Marrone Dolce away, not giving her so much as a goodbye because this is just an I’ll see you later.