Chapter 14
Carnage
“Are you sure I can’t talk you into taking me along with you?”
Rue is sitting on the edge of the bed, kicking his legs like he’s asking to go to the store with me, not to kill the man who abused him.
“I’m very certain.” I tug my t-shirt over my head. “You’re safest here, and that’s what matters.”
He nods, biting his bottom lip and looking far too tempting. We spent the day sleeping and cuddling, and even though I want to taste him again, I want to finish the situation with Leon before we go further. It feels like it’ll be a fresh start for Rue and I want to give him that.
“You’ll come home safely though. You promised.”
I smile at that. Home. Of course it’s my home, but him maybe thinking of it as his too warms my heart.
He feels safe here. I’m not naive enough to think he’ll stay for good, nor should he.
He’s got a whole life to live and explore his many possibilities.
I like him, but I’m not a long-term option. Never have been.
“I’ll be back safely.” I lean in and kiss his forehead. “Don’t worry about me.”
“I’ll just be here watching movies with Colson. Do you think we can go watch him dance sometime? He said it’s not stripping. It’s like fancy dancing.”
“Burlesque. It’s an art form.”
“So we can go?”
“Sure. I’ll take you to Segreto. It’s a nice place.”
He kicks his feet happily. “Maybe I could get a job there. I don’t know how to dance or anything, but I could be a server.”
That idea makes the hair on the back of my neck prickle.
“I’m not sure you’d like that. It’s a nice place but…
” But what? What is making me hesitant? Rue is an adult, and he can do whatever he wants.
If Specter can be cool with Colson dancing there, why would I have any reason to care what Rue does? It’s not like he’s my man.
“But?” Rue asks.
“I don’t know what I was gonna say. You can do whatever you want.”
He tilts his head. “Are you mad?”
“Of course not.” I sit in the armchair and tug on my boots. “Why would I be?”
“I don’t know. You just seem… I don’t know, annoyed or something.”
Exhaling slowly, I twist my head left and right to stretch my neck. “I’m not. Sorry. Just focused on what I need to do tonight so you can get on with your life.”
I avoid his eyes. I need to remember that my role in his life is temporary.
“Okay, Carnage,” he says softly. “I appreciate what you’re doing to help me.”
“I know you do.” I let myself look up and immediately wish I hadn’t when I get sucked in by his pretty gaze. He looks so sad and worried and I want to make all those bad feelings go away.
“Tonight will be your fresh start, okay?”
He nods, dragging his bottom lip into his mouth again. I want to tug it away and tell him to be gentle with all his delicate features, but that seems weird and probably overbearing. He doesn’t need another pushy man in his life.
“I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?”
“Okay.”
I leave the room before I’m tempted not to. What the fuck is going on in my head? Whatever it is, I need to push it down and focus on the task at hand: Making Leon sorry he was ever born.
Once I make my way downstairs, I’m joined by Stealth, Boone, and Wraith. We gather in the rec room with the rest of my brothers except Phantom. He’s out dealing with his own target, but promised to check in when he’s done and join us if needed.
I’m hoping this is gonna be easy and quick, but I get the feeling it’s not. Something about Leon rubs me wrong, like he’s not being straightforward at all. Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll actually believe I’m going to hand Rue over to him.
Whisper looks up from his computer. We picked him to be the Rue decoy as he’s the closest in height and build.
He’s wearing a gray hoodie, and with the hood up, you can’t see that his hair is darker and he’s considerably older, though he looks great for his age.
He could easily pass for being in his late twenties or early thirties instead of pushing forty.
He says it’s because he’s never smoked, but I think it’s just good genetics.
There’s a knock at the door that makes all of us turn in that direction, then I hear Colson say he’ll get it.
Seconds later, Bellamy’s soft southern lilt reaches us, and my eyes immediately shift to Stealth.
His expression remains neutral, but I catch the subtle tick of his jaw.
I can’t read the emotion attached to it though. Is he jealous? Annoyed?
Colson, Bellamy, and Rue enter the room, pausing to look at all of us.
“Movie night,” Colson announces.
A few seconds later, Shadow walks in. He sort of smiles but it’s filled with tension.
“Rue is safe with us,” Shadow says, scratching at the thick stubble on his chin. Apparently he’s growing a beard or something since I’ve never seen him with that much hair on his face. “I’ll be here.”
“You’re joining movie night?” Ghost asks, clearly astonished.
“Yes,” Shadow says, his gaze shifting to Stealth, whose expression softens. He actually looks pleased. Oh-kay.
Colson grins, while Bellamy blushes. Rue is staring at his feet. He’s probably nervous about tonight, but I’ll prove he didn’t need to be in just a few hours from now.
“Alright, we should head out,” I announce. “Don’t want to be late.”
Whisper follows me to the car while the rest of our brothers split into different vehicles. We’ll head in first, and if all goes well, Leon will think it’s just me and Rue. Then we’ll unleash hell.
We head out to the old quarry, a desolate place that I know has seen its share of dead bodies. No one comes out of here for good reasons, and it’s not like the cops patrol this far out. It’s the perfect place to leave some dead gangsters.
When we arrive, it’s quiet and pitch black except for our headlights. I look around the deserted grounds. There don’t seem to be any good places for people to be hiding. My brothers are a way down the road behind a row of abandoned buildings.
I’m about to get pissed off when the sound of gravel crunching reaches me and I turn around to see a dark colored vehicle approaching, headlights off.
“Get ready,” I murmur to Whisper, who adopts a nervous stance.
The car comes to a stop across from us, maintaining a safe distance.
Two men get out, and even in the glow from our headlights, I can barely make out their faces.
One guy is a massive black dude with a bald head and shoulders so wide I wonder how he fit in the car.
The other guy is tall and skinny, with a hood up over his hair.
Is that Leon? In the dark, it’s hard to tell if he’s the same guy I saw at Redlight or not, but it must be him.
“Where’s Rue?” the man asks. It’s gotta be Leon.
“Leon?”
“I said where’s Rue?”
“Right here.” I grab Whisper’s arm and tug him closer to me. “Where’s the money and the guys you promised?”
The black man lifts a duffel bug, unzipping it and showing what appears to be money. Then he opens the back door of the beat-up SUV, pulls two men out, and shoves them to the ground. When the headlights hit them, I cringe. If they’re both eighteen, I’d be amazed.
“Send Rue over,” Leon says.
“Meet in the middle,” I counter. “You get Rue and I get the goods.”
The two men have a brief conversation, then Leon nods. “Meet in the middle.”
I become aware of my brothers creeping silently behind me. It’s dark enough that I doubt Leon can even detect the motion, and the headlights are facing the opposite way.
“We got you, Carn,” Stealth whispers, suddenly right behind me.
Gripping Whisper’s arm, I approach slowly, on guard to see if Leon or his muscle try to pull anything. Good thing too, because before I make it five steps, a bunch of guys jump from the shadows. Guess I was wrong about that.
One of them rushes us in an attempt to get to Whisper, but he’ll deal with it. Whisper doesn’t hesitate to pull out his knife and slash the man’s neck.
“What the fuck!” Leon yells as my brothers pour from the darkness.
I stalk toward Leon, ready to break his fucking neck, noticing Boone moving around the chaos with his phone recording the whole thing.
Leon turns to run, but I’m on him, grabbing the back of his shirt and slamming him to the ground.
I flip him over then straddle him, pummeling his face with my fists.
I have to trust that my brothers are looking out for the two innocents in this mess as the thump of bullets hitting flesh fills the night air.
“You sick motherfucker,” I growl, unleashing all my rage on him.
He tries to block my punches, groaning in pain and trying to buck me off him, but that’s not gonna happen. I slip into that dark place I go to sometimes, letting all my anger flow through me to my victim, losing myself in the sound of his bones breaking and skin tearing.
It’s fucking music to me.
“You’ll never hurt anyone again, fucker,” I growl. “Boone, get over here!”
Grabbing Leon by the collar of his t-shirt, I lift him slightly off the ground, leaning in close. “Apologize to Rue, you fucking piece of shit.”
But Leon isn’t capable of that anymore. I’ve clearly broken his jaw, and his nose is flattened, making it difficult for him to breathe, much less speak. Fuck. I went too far before I got the apology.
Boone hovers over me with his phone pointed at the man. Hopefully this will be enough satisfaction for Rue.
“Sorry, babe,” I say to Boone’s phone. “Guess he can’t talk anymore, but I can assure you he’s sorry for what he did and how he treated you.”
I pull my knife at that point and finish him off by slashing his throat. Thick blood flows from his wound, and I delight in listening to his gasping before he falls silent, lifeless. One less predator in the world tonight.
I get to my feet, brush the quarry dirt from my knees, and stretch my neck from side to side.
“All done?” I ask Boone.
He nods. “Except cleanup.”
“Toss them in the quarry pit. They’ll be skeletons before anyone notices.”
“Get their wallets,” Whisper says. “Remove their IDs.”
I turn around to see Nimble and Wraith talking to the two men we rescued by my car. At least we got a few innocents out of trouble tonight.
“Carnage.” Specter waves me over.
I join him, looking down at the bullet-riddled body at my feet.
“Look at this.” He lifts the man’s left arm up, showing off a shamrock tattoo that looks pretty fresh.
“Okay?”
“Dude, remember the hate crime we stopped? That guy said the gang slash wannabe Mafia members had shamrock tattoos.”
“Oh yeah. Think this is related?”
“I don’t know, but he sure as fuck doesn’t look like he’s celebrating his Irish heritage.”
I know Irish people can have a variety of features and traits, but this guy looks closer to Italian or Greek than Irish.
“It could be a coincidence.”
“Hey, guys.” Wraith drags a body over. “Look at this.”
Sure enough, the dead guy has a shamrock tattoo on his left wrist.
“Second one I’ve found tonight,” Wraith says. “Same location—left wrist.”
“Still think it’s a coincidence?” Specter teases.
“We have to tell Shadow about this. Whoever Leon is working with might be the connection to this growing Mafia. If they’re gonna be trafficking people, the boss will want to know.”
“Absolutely,” Stealth says.
We finish tossing the bodies in the pit, seven in all, and I’m feeling pretty good that at least Leon is out of Rue’s life for good.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say, flexing my hand. I’m gonna feel the soreness come morning. Maybe I need to start using more tools than my fists, especially when I get super pissed off like I did tonight. To me, this was personal, but I could still make it fun with some weapons.
By the time we pull up at Crestvale House, the adrenaline has worn off and my hand hurts, but it was worth it.
I’m excited to tell Rue that Leon is dead, we saved two guys who were eighteen and nineteen respectively, dropped them off at a shelter for men that works with victims like this, and all in all, had a productive night.
I shuffle into the house, excited to see Rue’s face. We find him, Colson, Pax, and Shadow in the rec room, one of the Batman movies playing on the TV. Rue hops up as soon as he sees me. It looks like he’s going to rush over, but he hesitates, offering a tight smile instead.
“So? Is it done?”
I nod. “It’s done. Boone?”
Boone walks over to us and pulls up the video he took. “Be warned; it’s pretty graphic. Carnage is ruthless when he’s protecting someone or something he cares about.”
Rue’s gaze lingers on mine for a second, but then he nods, straightening his shoulders. “I’m ready.”
Boone hits play and we all watch the violence play out, but I quickly shift to look at Rue to see his reaction. I hope he’s happy, relieved. Proud. Fuck. I hope he’s proud of me.
Instead, I watch his face fall and his cheeks turn a splotchy red.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
He looks up at me, his skin paling. “That’s not Leon.”
Fuck.