Chapter 19 Chaos
Chaos
There’s only one thing that is a close second to the pleasure of sex, and that’s walking into the Shack and seeing someone tied to the chair in the center, still untouched. Ready to be broken and bled.
It has my blood pumping. My fists clenching. My heartbeat hammering between my temples.
Ghost looks even angrier beside me, as if that’s possible.
But they slipped through his security grid last night, and he’s been beating himself up about it ever since.
Apparently, whoever breached the compound had tech better than ours, which is really fucking rare.
It means they’re backed by money. Lots of it.
I walk to the center of the room and stop in front of the guy I’ve been told goes by the name Elijah.
Venom managed to get that much out of him without having to inflict too much pain.
And once he did, he followed Steel’s order not to do anything else to him last night. He wanted us all to be here for this.
“You fucked up.” I jab the handle of my knife under Elijah’s chin, forcing him to look up at me.
“Prez is already in a bad fucking mood lately with his old lady having a rough pregnancy. And you decide to storm his fucking compound and kill our brothers?” I shake my head, the excitement in my grin offering nothing but the promise of pain.
“You should have begged your own men to end it before they left you.”
His jaw clenches as he tries not to show fear, but it bleeds through his gaze. This isn’t going to go well for him, and he knows it.
“Chaos.” Steel steps through the door to the Shack.
I glance over at him. “Just making my introductions.”
Leaving Elijah in his piss and fear, I walk to meet my brothers by the wall of instruments. Steel is at the center, deciding which one to choose. Usually, he sticks to his fists because he likes the personal touch. But today, he’s angry. And when he’s angry, he enjoys getting creative.
Legacy, Havoc, and Ghost stand at one side of Steel, while Soul and I are at the other. It’s just the ranked members for this, while the rest of our brothers prepare for Wick and Mayhem’s funerals tomorrow.
Soul leans in while we wait for Steel to choose how he’s going to make Elijah suffer. “How much of my house am I going to have to disinfect after last night?”
“All of it.” I grin, and he grimaces. “Don’t pretend to give a shit. You’re never there.”
“You’re right about that.” He chuckles, not actually caring as he turns to Steel. “What’s it going to be, Prez?”
A hundred blades hang on the wall in front of us, and Steel reaches for a clear plastic bag.
“No. Wait.” Elijah starts squirming against the chains as Steel circles behind him.
“I told you. Short temper lately.” I grin, crossing my arms over my chest as Steel slides the bag over Elijah’s head and tightens it at his neck.
Elijah starts wiggling harder, but he can’t break free with how he’s tied down.
The bag sucks into his mouth as he searches for air.
His screams are muted by the suffocation as his eyes bug out.
He’s bright red when Steel rips the bag off his head.
Still choking for air as Steel grabs his hair and holds his head back.
Havoc walks over and pours water over Elijah’s face, forcing him to choke down water as he tries to catch his breath.
Desperation is a satisfying sound. Almost as beautiful as Willa’s pretty moans when she finally gives in. There’s something peaceful about having someone submit.
Elijah is still choking for air when Steel seals the bag over his head again. His nails dig into the arms of the chair so hard that one chips. He kicks against the chains. And this time, when the bag is gone, and Havoc pours water over him, he starts to vomit it back up.
Steel releases his head, and Havoc stands out of the way as Elijah pukes all over himself. His jeans are wet from water and piss, and it’s starting to smell.
It probably should bother me. But I grew up in butcher houses and shoveling horse shit. I was there when my stepdad brought guys to the barn out back and made them disappear. I’ve seen and done things that would make even a sick man’s stomach turn.
Mine doesn’t so much as clench.
I watch as Steel repeats the process again and again. Still not asking a single question.
He’s pissed about the brothers we’ll be putting in the ground tomorrow.
He’s stressed about the Feds who won’t get off our backs.
But most of all, he’s scared for his family. For Tempe and Austin. For everything being out of his control lately.
Elijah passes out, and Steel rounds the chair, smashing his fist into his cheek to wake him up.
“Who sent you to my clubhouse?” Steel finally asks, losing his patience.
“They didn’t—”
Steel grabs him by the throat and holds out a hand, so I offer him my knife. He spins it around, shoving it through Elijah’s shoulder.
“Lie to me, and we start over from the beginning.” He pulls the knife free, and blood spills down Elijah’s chest.
“We were hired.”
“By who?”
“Some guy that owns a casino.”
“Zane?”
He nods.
My teeth grit as I look over at Soul. We assumed Zane was behind this after we found out how expensive the equipment was that bypassed Ghost’s security grid, but to hear it still pisses me off. Taking out the Iron Sinners wasn’t enough. Zane wants to eliminate all competition in Vegas.
And now, he’s raised the stakes. Breached our compound and killed our men on our land.
Zane came for us, and now we’re coming for him.
“Changed my mind,” Steel says, grabbing the bag from his pocket again and circling the chair.
“Wait—”
Steel doesn’t listen. He secures the bag around Elijah’s throat and makes him struggle until he almost blacks out this time. There’s no pause as he rips it off, and Havoc pours water over him until he nearly drowns.
When he vomits now, only water comes out. There’s nothing left to heave.
Ghost steps forward for the second round of questions, and Steel doesn’t let go of Elijah’s head, like he wants him to remember the risk of not answering honestly.
Not that the truth will do him any good right now.
“How did you know how to break through our system?” Ghost asks, his tone deathly cold.
“I didn’t. That was Liam’s job.”
“How did he know what to do?”
“We had plans. A grid or something. I don’t remember what he called it. We were told where to enter. They said some guy named Reyes helped with it.”
Reyes.
Fuck, I never want to hear that name again.
He was the nephew of the Iron Sinners president, and he infiltrated our club, pretending to prospect and stealing secrets. We put both him and his uncle in the ground, but clearly, they aren’t done fucking with us.
Ghost looks at Steel. “The system’s been upgraded since then.”
“They had enough.”
“Looks like we’re redoing it completely.” Ghost steps forward and grabs Elijah’s wrist. He holds it down while bending all four fingers back, breaking them. The sound of bones snapping fills the shed. Only then do Ghost’s shoulders relax.
Steel nods, and Ghost steps back.
“Anyone else?” Steel offers.
Havoc, Ghost, and Legacy take their turns cutting and peeling flesh. It’s a long afternoon of blood and waterboarding. I sit back with Soul, like we usually do in situations like this, letting the guys have their fun. We’ll get him last, and we’ll be the ones to reap his soul.
We watch as they toy with him, until he’s missing an eye, a few fingers, a foot. Until his face is a bloody mess, and he can barely breathe or stay conscious.
Only then does Steel step back, covered in blood. But there’s peace in his eyes for the first time in months. He needed this.
“You good?”
Steel nods, wiping his hands on his dirty pants. “Clean this up so we can prepare to bury our brothers tomorrow.”
I nod, stepping forward with Soul. As fun as it is to torture someone, that’s not what really gets me going.
I want to see the life leave their eyes.
I want to be the one to do it. Soul is like me in that way.
We get sent on the missions that make most other brothers squirm.
There isn’t much we can’t stomach. If that makes me a bad guy, so be it.
There is no heaven for me at the end of this.
It’s why I’ll worship these moments with Willa. She’s the only peace I’m going to get before I burn alongside the men I set at the feet of the devil.
Steel hands me my hunting knife, and I grab Elijah’s wrist, looking him in the eyes. I shove it down, severing his hand while he spits blood.
“You took something that’s ours,” I remind him as I steal back that pound of flesh.
We all pay that way eventually; I just make sure it happens.
Elijah is bleeding too much to last any longer, so we stop wasting time, and I circle behind him.
The rest of my brothers stand by the door with their arms crossed, watching, waiting for this to be done. Part of me wishes it would never end. Our brothers deserved better than to die on our land. Elijah should have to suffer longer.
“You got in over your head.” I pull Elijah’s hair back as Soul drags the hose over. “Let’s remind you just how much.”
Elijah’s one eye widens as much as it can when Soul holds the hose right at his mouth, angling it so it’s going to fill his throat and nose. There’s no escaping, even though he fights against my grip so hard that I pull out some of his hair.
I hold him steady, preparing him for his death.
We do this on special occasions. When someone pisses us off enough to deserve it. After all, it’s a bit ironic, drowning in the middle of the Vegas desert. It’s a painful way to go.
Legacy walks over to the spout and turns it, letting the water fill the hose. It gurgles, drowned out only by Elijah’s cries.
The first spurt of water hits Elijah’s mouth, and he starts begging. But it’s quickly drowned out when that small splash turns to a steady stream.
It fills his mouth and nose. But he can’t shake free. He can’t do anything but drink it down. Breathe it in.
I hope it burns.
He struggles in my hold as he chokes and drowns. I feel no guilt as I hold Elijah’s hair and force him to take the full force of the water. I feel no guilt. No mercy. I offer retribution for my brothers who died because of him and his men.
For the club.
For Willa.
I hope he suffers. I hope he burns in hell. Even if I know at some point, I’ll be burning right beside him.