Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Pennsylvania
Lorcan’s people weren’t very creative. I thought when I’d seen the table of gadgets, they would attempt to use those.
But nope, for the last fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, it’d been all face punches, a few to the gut.
Not much else could be done while sitting down.
I was sure their knuckles had to be hurting.
I was fine. It was getting harder to see due to swelling, but all in all I was just hoping Gideon would show up and end my boredom.
“Fucking hell,” one of the guys said as he shook out his hand.
“Getting tired?” I tried to smile, but my face wasn’t letting me… Must be swollen, too.
“You’re a tough one, aren’t you?” Lorcan approached, gripped my chin, and yanked my head back. “You’ll scream eventually.” He motioned behind himself. “I’m recording all this. It’ll be gift wrapped to your body when Gideon finds you.”
“At least you can be sure no one will duplicate your present, right?”
He glared. “Let’s get you on the hook, shall we?”
“Sounds fun.”
He released my face, and I was untied and hoisted up. My arms were raised above my head and after a series of clinks and clanks, I was hanging, my toes brushing against the floor.
“You can take a punch, I’ll give you that. But what if I slice you up? Cut off pieces of you and maybe I put you in a bunch of boxes? Gideon will be unwrapping for days.”
“How…giving of you.” It was hard to breathe in this position, and my nose was beginning to clog.
“Maybe it’s some sorta kink, Boss,” one of Lorcan’s men, a big burly guy, said.
“Hmm.” Lorcan picked up a scalpel. “Is that it, Penn? You’re actually enjoying this?” With a flick of his wrist, he sliced across my chest. Blood seeped through slowly, then flowed. “Not even a flinch…interesting.”
“Maybe bones?” A thin man picked up a hammer. “Could be surface stuff. But bones, he’s sure to scream.”
The time I’d broken my arm, I wouldn’t have known unless Tenny had told me I had, so I knew this was going to disappoint them greatly.
Lorcan took the hammer and passed it to the burly man. “Burke here has a mean swing; I’ll have him do it. What do you think?”
“Whatever makes you happy.” Were my words slurring?
I closed my eyes, exhaustion pressing against my brain. Sleep seemed like a good idea. I felt the pressure from the hammer and heard the crunch, but I was just tired. So very tired.
“What the hell?” Burke gasped and dropped the hammer. “He’s some kind of freak.”
I angled my head enough to see the expression on Lorcan’s face. I tried to laugh at his dumbfounded face but started coughing.
I remembered a time Tenny was teaching me what to look for that would tell me I was in danger.
“Remember, Penn, if you’re feeling dizzy, nauseous, if it’s hard to breathe, and your vision is fuzzy, these are signs you need medical attention. If you’re actively bleeding, assess it. Is it a paper cut or something worse? You must take it seriously.”
I was fairly certain this wasn’t a paper cut and that I was, in fact, actively bleeding. Dizzy, nausea, trouble breathing, fuzzy vision. Yup, all checked. I was in trouble, that was for sure.
I heard a buzz followed by the door opening. “Boss, we got a problem. Len reported he saw men pulling up into the marina. Looks like Gideon’s people.”
“Ha,” I shouted and promptly coughed.
Lorcan glared at me…I think he did, anyway. “Were you able to get word to where you were?”
“Mayyyybeee…hey, can I have a glass of water?”
“Boss!” The man who’d entered shouted. “You gotta get out of here.”
“Out of here? You’re on a boat, Gideon’s already here, you’re fucked.” I wanted to laugh and enjoy the moment, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be conscious much longer.
“The hatch in the floor. Callan had it installed, leads to the bow. There’s a sealed door, use the key card. There’s a speedboat there, but we’re on shore, so you may only need to swim.” Burke tried to lead Lorcan away.
“You want me to run?” He yanked his arm free. “I have men!”
Another guy shoved his phone in Lorcan’s face. “He’s taken them out already. Lorcan, he’s not fucking around. He gets in this room, and you die—we can’t defend against his numbers.”
Lorcan looked at me and stepped close. “I’ll deal with Gideon another day.
But in the meantime, might as well leave him with a present.
” He reached over to the left—I thought it was the left, anyway.
He lifted what appeared to be a tactical knife up to my face.
“Too bad I won’t get to see his reaction.
” His arm shifted and my body jolted back.
I dropped my head and sure enough the tactical knife was now sticking out of my gut, more blood was flowing, an impressive pool forming below me.
“Boss!” was the last thing I heard before I slipped into darkness.
“Penny, dear boy.”
I opened my eyes. I was at Sunshine House, in the kitchen. A pile of green beans was in front of me, and to my right Tenny was grinning at me.
“You gonna help me snap these?”
Was I dreaming? Was I dead?
“Uh, yeah.” I started to work, filling the bowl while listening to Tenny hum. Something about this moment was familiar.
“Penn, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
I looked up from my task. Her hair was in a bun, her lips painted a light pink, and she was wearing a yellow sundress. Her warm, brown skin glistened and I could smell the coconut lotion she always wore. Yeah, this was a memory.
“What is it, Tenny?” I was speaking, but it was also like I was observing at the same time.
I was sixteen, it was summer, and Tenny and I were making dinner like we so often did. There was nothing special about that day except for what she wanted to tell me.
“I know it’s hard for you, but I want you to make me a promise.”
I dropped some beans into the bowl and cocked my head. “Make you a promise before hearing what you want? That sounds like a bad idea.”
She laughed. Oh, how I loved her laugh. It was like wind chimes. “Funny. But okay, you hear me out, then.”
“Sure.”
“I want you to promise me that you’ll make roots somewhere once you’re all grown up.”
“Roots? Like family?”
She nodded. “A place that makes your heart feel warm, where you smile more than you frown. Give people a chance. Who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love.
” She reached over and took my hand in hers.
“I want so much for you to fall in love. Build a life for yourself. That’s everything you’ve always wanted. ”
“But when I leave here, I’m gonna be with you. You’re my roots, Tenny.”
She squeezed my hand and let go. “I won’t be around forever, sweet boy. And I love that you want to be my family and you are, right here.” She patted her chest where her heart was. “But these roots, they have to be yours. If it happens to be in this town, that’s great. You know you have love here.”
“Why you telling me this?”
“Because I can. Now you promise me you’ll find happiness, love, and you’ll plant roots so deep nobody will be able to tear them up. Promise me, or I won’t make my peanut butter pie.”
My eyes widened. “You play dirty.”
“I sure do.”
I stared at her. I remembered how serious she was, that this promise meant something to her. I hadn’t realized at that moment that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. It would be her first time. She’d spend the next four years fighting an uphill battle that would eventually take her from me.
“Okay, Tenny, I promise.”
“That’s my boy. Now…peanut-butter pie.”
I hadn’t kept that promise to Tenny. I’d actively run, kept running. Roots weren’t something I’d wanted. I hadn’t wanted to feel the loss I had when she’d left me. And yet, I was starting to plant them with Gideon. Oh, Gideon…shit. Was I going to die and never fulfill my promise to her?
She’d hunt me down in heaven and re-kill me. I hoped I would survive.