Chapter 76 Kashton
SEVENTY-SIX
KASHTON
Ifill a syringe with adrenaline while a burning cigarette hangs from my mouth. Tossing the vial onto the counter, I walk over and shove it into his chest. His jaw clenches and he throws his head back.
“Once that one starts to wear off. I’ll give you another. And another. As long as it takes. Or until your heart gives out.” Either way. He won’t ever see daylight again. He’ll die down here.
Christopher cries and bows his head. “How long…what takes?”
“Ever heard of flaying?” I hold up the knife in my hand.
His wide eyes go from mine to others in the room as if someone will help him. They won’t. “Now, I will say, I’ve never done this before so we’re going to learn together.”
“You sick bastard,” he screams, fighting the restraints. The adrenaline is coursing through his veins, enhancing his fight or flight.
“From what I do know, there should be some prep work, but I just don’t have the patience for that right now.
” I run the tip of the blade lightly along his leg, and he tenses to not be cut.
“I’ve heard it’s easier to skin someone alive after they’ve sat outside and boiled in the sun.
But we’ll try it this way first. And typically they start with the face.
The point was to get it all off in one go.
But I’m not too worried about how many pieces it takes. ”
“HELP ME!” he screams over the song that I put on repeat. “Please…someone…” He begins to sob.
“Did you help my wife?” I shake my head. “No. You just stood there and watched. My brothers will do the same.”
I walk behind him, and he tries to look over his shoulder, but his arms are tied above his head. I cut along the back of his neck and blood starts to pour down his naked body. “I need some water,” I order to anyone.
Sin walks over to the sink and fills a bucket. He then grabs a cup and brings both over to me. He scoops up some water and pours it over the kid’s back so I can see. “Keep it coming.”
It’s tedious work—skinning someone alive. The hardest part is to not kill them. You don’t want to cut too deep and have them bleeding out. Anytime you put a knife to skin, there’s going to be blood, but there’s an art to it. And I’m not sure I have that gift.
Standing back, I look at the kid hanging from his tied wrists. He’s still conscious. The adrenaline is doing its job.
He’s sobbing uncontrollably and would have blacked out long ago if not for the drugs. Pieces of his flesh are on the floor. I hate to admit I have done a hack job. I was trying to be professional at first, but then just started cutting in no particular pattern.
Tossing the knife into the sink, I run my bloody hands down my shirt. “Hose him down and put him in a cell.”
I’ve done enough for tonight. If he dies, he dies. “Where are the bodies? I want to see them.”
“They’re out back,” Saint answers.
I head to the stairs and storm up a flight to the first floor and then out the back door. I hear everyone following me. Coming to a stop, I see three men piled on top of one another, and I kick the one on top. His body rolls off the other two.
Sighing, I run my bloody hands through my hair. “Fuck,” I shout.
“You know them?” Ryat asks.
Saint is the one who answers. “We went to Barrington with them.”
“These are the guys you beat up at Blackout,” Tyson observes.
“What?” Haidyn looks at me. “That night Ty called us?” he demands. “How did Eve know them?”
I begin to pace. That’s just the thing. “She didn’t.”
My angel was very private with her life. She didn’t go to Barrington. She spent a lot of time in Vegas after she recovered from Dollhouse. When I followed her, she was never with anyone. She didn’t even meet a girlfriend for coffee, let alone go out and party with others.
“Are you sure?” It’s Saint who digs.
“I’m positive,” I snap. “The night Haidyn and I went to the cathedral to pick up a Lord, she was there. From that night on, I was following her night and day. I’m telling you, she didn’t know them.” She barely had any contacts in her phone other than me, Bill, and Adam.
“But you got into a fight with them because of her…”
“She never even looked their way at Blackout,” I interrupt Haidyn. “I walked over to Eve, had a conversation and then I returned to the table, and they…pissed me off. I beat the shit out of them. That was that.”
“Then they knew of her,” Ryat suggests.
“But how?” Haidyn snaps.
“Where are their phones?” I hold my hand out.
“They didn’t have any on them,” Sin answers.
“Give me their wallets,” I bark.
“Didn’t have those either.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient?” I say through clenched teeth. “Goddammit.”
I make my way back to the morgue. My feet are heavy and my stomach is in my throat. The adrenaline is officially wearing off, and it’s like a plane falling from the sky that’s going to crash and explode. Coming up to the door, I take a second before I have the strength to shove it open.
My boots come to a stop once I step inside the cold, sterile room. I don’t know what I expected to see—her sitting up and laughing? Her saying, “Surprise. I got you”?—but none of that happens.
Instead, she lies under a fresh white sheet, and she’s been cleaned. You can see every bruise on her exposed neck where she was choked with the belt that I saw on the video.
I’ve never felt this way. So helpless. Useless. I had one job when I made her my Lady, and I failed.
“I’ll leave you be. Please let me know if I can do anything for you,” Devin says as he starts to leave the room.
“May I hold her?” I ask, trying to swallow the knot in my throat. I keep my back to him. When he doesn’t answer, I add, “I can shower.” I’m still covered in blood and pieces of skin. Devin spent the time cleaning her. I don’t want to get my angel dirty.
I hear the door softly close, and then I see him out of the corner of my eye standing next to me. He sighs heavily before he says, “It’s been hours. Rigor mortis has started to set in, Kashton. I’m afraid—”
“I understand,” I interrupt him.
I’ve been around dead bodies all my life. I’m not thinking clearly about Eve’s. I just wanted to sit in the chair and hold my wife, but that is no longer an option. Even in death, she continues slipping away from me.
I spent too much time skinning that bastard alive.
“Let me know if you need me.” He turns and exits the room, and I numbly walk over to the sink.
I wash my hands and arms, along with my face and neck, trying to clean as much as possible without having to leave her to shower.
I remove my T-shirt, boots, and jeans, stripping down to nothing but my boxer briefs.
Drying off, I walk back over to her and lift the sheet. I take her left hand in mine and run my fingers over her wedding ring. Her skin is so cold. It feels almost fake.
Flashbacks of our wedding night play in my mind like a movie.
“Thanks, man,” I tell Sin, giving him a handshake hug before he climbs into the helicopter.
“No problem. It was my honor.” He nods, and I step off the helipad, watching him take off while the wind from the rotor almost blows me off the edge of Hooke’s yacht.
I spot my wife standing with her back to me, looking over the dark ocean. Making my way to her, I place my hand on the small of her back, and she turns to face me with a smile on her face and wraps her arms around my neck.
“What do you want to do, Mrs. Pierce?” I watch her body to see how she reacts to having my last name. I expect a look of disgust. Maybe regret. But instead, she pushes into me and smiles.
I promise to make you happy, angel.
“Let’s go skinny-dipping.”
“Want me to teach you how to swim?” Hooke’s yacht has a pool and a hot tub. I’ll spend all night in the water with her if that’s what she wants to do.
Smiling, she laughs softly. “I’ve learned how to swim since I was last on a yacht, Kash.”
Of course she has. “Are you just trying to get me naked?” I arch a brow.
My wife giggles. “Maybe…” Trailing off, she bites her bottom lip. “Or you could teach me how to dive.”
“Well, you’re in luck. I am the best diver you’ve ever met.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Kashton.” Haidyn’s voice fills the room as he enters, cutting off my memory.
I look up at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears that cloud my vision from falling.
“Leave me alone, Haidyn.” Taking a shaky breath, I add, “I…I need a second. Please.” I know she’s his sister, and he deserves to tell her goodbye too, but I need her right now.
I just want to be by her side. Alone. I know how this works.
Devin will come to me once I leave this room.
He’ll want to take the next steps—embalming and burying her.
I don’t want to think about that. Once she’s in the ground, I’ll be visiting a grave, not my wife.
The last bit of her existence will be gone. Forever.
When the door shuts, I lean over and kiss her cheeks with trembling lips. “I love you, angel.” My other hand comes up and runs through her freshly washed bleached-blond strands, and I make one final promise to my wife. “I’ll see you soon.”
Lords don’t believe in heaven and hell. And I know that even if they did exist, I’d be sent to hell. Where I’d burn. Rightfully so. I earned that.
But another life? I will hold out hope that that’s a possibility. And if so, I’ll find her sooner than I did in this one. No matter what. We were meant to love one another. In this life or another. Death will not keep me from her.
I crawl onto the cold metal slab and lie with her, pretending she’s just sleeping. She’ll wake up any second and tell me that she loves me. That she’s sorry. And if I’m really lucky, she’ll knock me out with her right hook.