Chapter 44
Road
The compulsion inside me grows more unforgiving with each stride down the hill. Clyde’s presence makes me feel like we’re a two man army, but while I can hear each of his steps, every single sound is muted, as if my ears were full of wax. Someone waves at me in passing, but while they open their mouth, saying something, all my thoughts are on the man poisoning this entire community with his presence. The unsettled feeling I had after that conversation earlier today? I could have let that go, but not everything else I just found out. I need to see this bastard suffer, and so does Clyde.
I will get Prophet to grab Isaac and bring him into the clubhouse. With the party going on, nobody will hear him scream. I will make him confess something , and then he will be mine. There is no place for rapists in Vulture Hollow.
So many emotions tangle inside me as I approach the fire, scanning the crowd for Isaac. Fury, the need to keep Clyde safe, a thirst for vengeance all battle inside me. It’s hard to keep my head cool when the image of a fresh-faced young Clyde keeps popping into my head. I met him not long after. Even with that don’t-fuck-with-me look in his eyes, he was so boyish still. I imagine that grown-ass man punching him to the ground, getting on top of him… and I can barely see through the wrath clouding my eyes. I’m hungry for his blood like a dog salivating in front of a juicy steak.
That’s when I spot Isaac’s grinning face. He’s having a beer and laughing about something with one of the women working in the caves, without a care in the world .
Something inside me cracks, and I head straight for him, all of my plans forgotten. The flames dance over wood, reaching toward the dark sky, but all I can think of when I walk past their warm presence is that I want Isaac to burn forever. I hope Hell does exist, because if it does not, then there is no justice in the world. There’s a steel pipe the guys have been using to move around bits of wood at the bottom of the bonfire, and I collect it on the way, pleased with how sturdy and heavy it feels. Like a good crowbar.
I’m almost there when Isaac turns his face toward me and grins. “There they are, Road, Clyde, come j—”
He doesn’t fucking deserve to say Clyde’s name.
I slam his head with the pipe so hard for a moment I’m worried it’s over, that I caved in his skull, and he won’t even need to fear me. But as he falls to his knees, dropping the beer bottle to grab his bleeding scalp, I kick him down and bring the pipe to his ribs.
Screams erupt around us, but in my mind it’s just me, Isaac, and Clyde at the periphery of my vision. I want Clyde to see Isaac begging and crying.
“Why?” Isaac cries out, trying to save himself from the blows to his ribs with his hand. I break his arm with a satisfying crack of bone, and he repeats his fucking question. How can he ask? Did he do this kind of thing to more people?
The commotion around us grows, someone else yelling for me to stop, but they don’t dare approach me. Good, because I’m a loose cannon right now.
“You. Know. Why!” I growl in a way that doesn’t even sound like me. It’s as if a new creature manifested inside me and took over. With the fire roaring behind my back, I feel like an ancient god, delivering justice. In a flash, his eyes widen, their whites so very pale in the bloodstained face. He disgusts me. I don’t care if he still doesn’t know Clyde has been his victim once, because there will be no mercy whether he knows the real reason for my attack or not.
My head spins as if it’s my bones being broken. Somehow Isaac still has the strength to use this opportunity and bolt. With a roar on my lips, I take a wide swing, and as the pipe clashes with his flank, he loses balance and falls into the bonfire.
The wood folds under his weight, and sparks explode all over as shadows retreat farther away from me—from us—some even shouting for help. But all I care about are the flames dancing over Isaac’s hair, the scream he utters as his hands and knees dig into burning embers .
I’ve been burned. I know how much he’s suffering, but nothing could ever be enough for this cockroach.
My lip curls when I see him drop in an attempt to roll over the ground and extinguish the flames. Isaac is a thrashing heap of burning flesh between me and Clyde. I meet my man’s ice-blue gaze just as he pours liquor over Isaac and steps back to let the mayhem unfold. The explosion of light brightens his features, giving them an otherworldly glow. Beautiful as Lucifer himself.
I want to kiss his lips so bad, but we’re not yet done. Tall figures are closing in on us, but I’m watching Isaac flop around like a dying fish. It’s only when he slows that I swing the pipe straight at his temple.
He stills, and I exhale, staring at the way his head now bends inwards.
I take a deep breath of smoke-scented air just as someone tackles me to the ground, yelling if I’ve lost my mind. I think it’s Martin, but I don’t fight him. My job is done. I look to the side, over the sizzling corpse, to make sure Harvey doesn’t manhandle Clyde too hard. We knew this would be coming, and he’s a tough guy. I don’t need to protect him from little scuffles.
Once we’re both cuffed and dragged up to our knees, he even throws me one of those cocky smirks I love so much, and my chest feels lighter. I’m like a dog eager to please its master. If only I could now curl up with my head in his lap too.
Isaac’s death won’t mend the past, but I’m already feeling relief in the present.
“What the actual fuck?” Prophet roars, and Martin tightens his hold on me, as if he expects me to attack our prez next.
“He deserved it,” I say, meeting Prophet’s eyes. I know I’m throwing a lot of shit in his lap lately, but I have a lifetime to make up for it if he lets me.
Prophet scoffs. “Fuck this. Rooster! Get them out of here!” he yells and points to a bunch of onlookers. “This is not how we do things, Road! You will be explaining this, and you will be judged! You are not above our laws!” His gaze glides over Clyde as if he’s the bane of his existence.
“He didn’t do anything,” I say but Prophet’s shaking his head.
“Other than throwing vodka at a burning man. Are you going to claim he thought it was water?”
That was exactly what I wanted, but that ship has sailed .
Harvey’s kneeling by the charred remains, his features twisted. “This all started when Turner came here!”
I shake my head but hold Prophet’s gaze, trying to communicate without words.
I should have waited and spoken with him first, shouldn’t I? Too bad seeing Isaac made me lose my shit before I could approach my prez. “I’ll explain everything. But not here.”
Prophet takes a deep breath and scans the scene with resignation, but then waves his hand our way like a benevolent king sparing our lives. “Take them to the cell.”