Chapter 28
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
PHOENIX
I woke strapped to a table, and my instant reaction was to pull on the restraints. Rope burned against my wrists.
Rope.
I could work with rope.
My head was fucking killing me, though, and I felt a little dizzy. Looking around told me I was currently in the room alone—it looked like some maintenance room where they’d dragged in a metal table and a chair. Hanging on the doorknob were my dog tags.
Fuck.
The last thing I remembered was following the assholes to some solar powered truck, and they’d mentioned bringing me back to Morris. It struck a nerve, but before I could do anything, there was the smash of metal against the back of my skull .
It was probably smart.
They were right in assuming I’d swerve the fucking vehicle off the road when I realized Aubrey wasn’t in it.
The only reason I’d followed them at all was because I needed to get to him.
If Cutter was right and he’d gone to the station…
if they had him… I’d been too caught up on that possibility to think things through.
All I could see was the wrecked look on his face when he was telling me about his past.
All I could think about was the sound of his voice when he said he’d been held down and treated like an animal by a man named Morris. Cutter had mentioned a man with burn scars…
Speak of the devil…
“I’ve waited entirely too long for this.
” A voice came from the doorway as it swung inward.
“Imagine how good it felt when I finally got away from those fucking scientists out west and made my way here, only to find Aubrey had someone he loved . I thought I could play with him. Maybe pick off his little family one at a time… but you raiders are like roaches. You just. Don’t. Die.”
I sized up the monster Aubrey had told me about. The burns weren’t just on his face; they covered at least half his body. It was no wonder he’d waited so long. What kind of medical shit did they have to do to keep him alive ?
And what the fuck was he doing, saying Aubrey loved me?
“Fuck off,” I snarled, and he narrowed his eyes. Morris stalked across the room, digging his fingers into my jaw and forcing me to look at him.
“I could take out your tongue now and give it to him when he gets here. I left some men behind. They’ll probably be bringing him along any minute now. I sent them to that little camp of yours.”
The corner of my mouth pulled into a smirk. “They’re probably dead, then.”
“Aubrey wouldn’t?—”
“I mean, I’m sure Aubrey would, but Blythe and Zero would gut them before they ever got that far.”
And I hoped… fuck, I hoped Aubrey was still on the edge of the resort, that he didn’t have to see this until it was over. I wanted to bring him this asshole’s head.
He didn’t have to see it while it was still moving.
I’d feed him his heart. I’d?—
“I fucked him, you know.” He purred the confession, like the memory was still warm in his chest. If I had any doubt who he was, it was gone… and he was a dead man talking. “I held him down and I raped him. He cried like a little bitch when I did. Did you see the scar I left on his back?”
The low, angry laugh that tore from my chest made him pause, and I glared at him from my prone position on the table like I already had my hands around his throat.
“Aubrey doesn’t cry. You’re full of shit. Though it is kind of serendipitous that you’re here. I didn’t think I’d get a chance to prove to him so soon that I’m the best person for him.”
“You—”
“I told him I’d kill you if I had the chance. And look, here you are.” He seemed so shocked by the confidence in my tone, especially when I was tied down to a table. He’d only tied me, though—it wasn’t like they were chains.
I could get up.
I could get out of this.
I could do exactly what I’d said I was going to do and tear his fucking throat out. After I found Aubrey and absolutely tore him apart for running off the way he had, I’d tell him what I’d done.
For him.
Fuck. I needed to find Aubrey.
Morris finally barked out a laugh. “You don’t believe me?
How about this?” He pulled a wicked looking knife from a strap on his thigh and slid it beneath my shirt.
The sound of fabric ripping and the cool air hitting my skin made me snarl.
He brought his hand up again, tracing my lips.
His eyes followed the motion, and I could see it there in his gaze—he got off on this shit.
“I could show you exactly what I did to him. We can see if you cry too.”
Fucking asshole. I opened my mouth and jerked my head forward, catching the tips of two of his fingers between my teeth and biting down.
There was a crunching sound and a scream. A shock of coppery heat washed down my throat as Morris pulled back, and I grinned with bloody lips before spitting the tips of his fingers out on the floor.
“Usually I swallow… but you taste like shit, Morris.”
He snarled when he sprang forward, and the feel of his knife biting into my chest was worth the look of pain on his face, worth the way his fingers on his other hand were bleeding. He dragged the blade down in an exact mirror of what he’d done to Aubrey.
Fuck, now we had matching scars, didn’t we?
I could bring that back to him too when I brought him Morris’s head.
Was that a good way to confess that you loved someone? With the head of the man who’d torn their world apart? I was pretty sure the fury in my chest, the way I wanted to obliterate the asshole who climbed on top of me with a knife in his hand… that meant I loved Aubrey.
Now I just had to get out of here so I could tell him.