Chapter 32
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Flyboy
I stand at the dungeon doors, clenching my fist as adrenaline slithers its way through my veins. Mouth Peace shifts next to me, catching my attention. I watch as he bounces from one foot to the other foot.
“You good, brother?” I question him.
“Just trying to stay loose.” The look of pure anticipation in his eyes is eerie.
Note to self, stay on that man’s good side. My phone vibrates with a notification. I reach into my pocket and pull it out to find a text from Torch, letting me know that the packages have been acquired and they’re on their way back to the clubhouse.
“Look alive, boys! The packages are enroute,” I shout, letting Mouth Peace, Wesson, and Coin know to be ready.
“About fucking time. I didn’t think it would take them that long,” Wesson grumbles, standing straight from the wall.
“You never know, maybe they decided to play a little cat and mouse.” Coin shrugs, digging dirt from under his nails with a pocket knife. “I mean, fuck, we’ve been playing the game for months at this point.”
“That sounds about right with them having Smith and Pretty Boy in tow,” I tell them as the back door bangs open.
We turn to see our first special guest being dragged through the door. The eyes of the man that should’ve protected Riley from all the nasty shit in the world, land on me. I make sure that what he sees is the monster, created by Uncle Sam during time of war staring back at him. The malice he sees radiating off me causes his pupils to explode, taking over all the color and turning them black. I tilt my head, watching him, allowing my true intentions to show through. This man is going to die, and no matter what, it’s not going to be quick.
“Welcome to your own personal hell.” Mouth Peace viciously smiles. “We’re ecstatic to have you here.”
“You stupid motherfuckers, who do you think you are? Do you have any fucking idea who we are?” The man with eyes that mirror Riley's yells as Smith pushes him through the door.
“You know they don’t fucking care who we are. Shut the fuck up!” the older man snarls, watching all of us closely.
Pretty Boy punches the man in the stomach, causing his feet to collapse out from under him. I smirk, knowing it’s only a small piece of what they did to my woman. Slowly, we make our way down the hall to the room where the gurneys are set up. Riley’s brother starts fighting Torch, and Razor’s hold on him. Turning back to them, I punch the man in the face, being sure to hit the place that would cause him to pass out. He goes limp in their arms, and they continue to drag Riley’s brother down the hall. I push the door open to the one large room in the basement, revealing the two gurneys.
“What the fuck, Flyboy?” Razor questions, looking surprised.
“It’s all a part of the plan. Just get them up and on them. There are straps to go around their wrists, upper arms, thighs, ankles, and over their chest,” I advise them.
When the older man is brought through the door, fear finally takes a hold of him. The man starts fighting in Pretty Boy and Smith’s holds.
“You’ve lost your fucking minds if you think I’m going to allow you to strap me down. Just fucking kill me now!” the older man screams.
Mouth Peace slowly makes his way over to the man, stating, “That fear that’s coursing through you is only a fraction of what you put Riley, and who knows how many other women through. Now, we’re going to teach you what that kind of fear is really about.”
When he reaches him, his hand snaps out so fast, that it’s like a snake, grabbing him around his throat and choking off any rebuttal. “You’re going to shut the fuck up and get on that bed. If not, I’m going to cut your fucking tongue out and then knock you out so that when you wake up, you’re strapped to that bed without a tongue. You get one choice.”
The man starts turning purple before nodding. Mouth Peace lets him go, patting him on the cheek as he steps aside to allow the three men to pass him. Pretty Boy and Smith lay him out on the gurney as I step up, getting Riley’s brother ready so I can begin the activities. Pulling a knife out, I slice his shirt open just as he comes to.
He starts fighting the binds holding him down.
“You’re all fucking dead. My father is going to come for me. You stupid fucks have no idea what the fuck you’ve done!” Riley’s brother screams.
Turning away from him, I put on a pair of gloves and pick up a sheet of heart monitor leads.
“Do you really think, that after everything that you’ve done, that we’d really care what you’ve got to say?” I mumble as I place the leads.
“Are you assholes fucking serious? This is over a piece of ass? Not one, but two fucking whores that aren’t good for anything but the holes on their body?” the stupid fucker sneers.
Before I can say anything, Pretty Boy is on the man, unleashing blow after blow. The hits are landing anywhere he can reach. I let that go on for a few moments before waving for a brother to pull him off the man. Coin comes up, wrapping a hand around his chest, pulling him away, whispering in his ear so that no one can hear.
“So, that’s what’s about to happen?” the other man asks.
Turning, I go over to him cutting his shirt like I did Riley’s brother. “What exactly do you think is about to happen?”
“You boys are about to beat the shit out of us until we either tell you the information you want, or we die,” he states, so matter-a-factly that I wonder if this isn’t the first time he’s been here.
“You’re here because you’ve done unscrupulous things, and it’s time to pay the penance for those past sins.” I shrug as if it’s no big deal.
I place the heart monitor pads on his chest and connect the leads. Once they’re connected, I place the oxygen monitor on his finger and the blood pressure cuff on his arm. Reaching over, I switch on the screen that will give me all the information I need to make this plan move forward. After about ten minutes, I’ll have a good baseline so I know exactly how far I can allow things to go. Pretty Boy must not have broken Riley’s brother’s jaw, because as soon as he is awake again, he is back spewing shit.
“You stupid asshole, you broke my fucking nose all over what? Riley is damaged goods, and the bitch that got shot was nothing more than in the motherfucking way. Just give us back what we came for and we'll be out of your territory immediately.”
Stomping my way over to the side of the gurney, getting into his face, I growl, “There is no returning anything to you. Riley is not yours. She isn’t just some possession to hand over. That woman is mine.”
Riley’s brother shocks me when he bursts out laughing. “You want her ? She is used up and broken. She can’t even have kids. She’s fucking useless.”
His words are like a punch to my soul. Riley isn’t broken, used up, or even slightly damaged. She is perfect, and everything I could’ve ever asked for. These men don’t deserve a quick trip to hell, no, we’re going to make this long and slow.
“I guess sloppy seconds is what I like. Now, I hope you enjoy this slow train to hell. The amount of fear and distress will never compare to what she felt when you did anything but protect her.” I lash out, being sure to apply pressure to points I know will cause him great pain.
Once I’ve got Riley’s brother all connected to the monitors, I turn and walk back to the older man, getting ready to start his I.V. Once it’s started, I start some fluids. I go back to her brother to do the very same thing. Just as I slide the needle into his arm, he starts trying to thrash and scream any and everything he can to try and break free. In less than twenty minutes, I’ve got both men strapped and I.V.s started when I step back to steady myself.
“You got this, man? I can do this, so you don’t have to be the one who does it,” Mouth Peace states in a near whisper as we start getting needles and doses together for the next part of my plan.
“I’ve got this,” I announce. “Let’s get it fucking done and over with so I can get back to my woman so she doesn’t have to worry ever again.”
The door to the room opens, and in steps one of the two prospects that went on the retrieval mission. He comes through the door, breathing heavily.
“What the fuck are you doing? We left your ass at the fucking gate,” Razor snaps, not pleased to see him.
“It’s ummm… It’s Vixen, she’s having pains. I didn’t know what else to do,” he says, tripping over his words.
Torch looks around the room trying to figure out what he needs to do.
“I’ve got this. What we’ve got planned next won’t take all of us. Torch, Razor, you guys go,” I tell them, knowing that if anything happens to Vixen, Torch will not just lose it but burn us all down, and the only that can hold him steady, is Razor.
They rush through the door, leaving it open and stomping up the stairs. The sound of the door at the top bangs closed but doesn’t sound quite right. That thought doesn’t take root in my mind until exactly eight minutes later, when everything that I believed is rocked on its foundation.
Riley’s brother starts up his screaming and yelling about anything and everything that he can find. Walking over to the man, I stick the needle into his I.V. slowly placing the needle in and pushing the meds into it. Riley’s brother stops spewing shit and starts fighting the bonds that hold him.
“The meds inside the syringe are a mix of drugs that cause the heart to slow to the point your body goes into a panic. You’ll feel like you can’t breathe, your brain will stutter due to lack of oxygen. Your muscles will start to seize.” I lean closer to him so he cannot miss the next part. “Then when you think that you might just die, I’ll restart it, and we’ll do this over and over until your heart doesn’t restart.”
“No, no, no! You can’t fucking do that.” The old man beside us begs.
“And why the fuck not? You terrorized and did god awful things to Riley. Why shouldn’t you feel the same amount of fear and anxiety she did? Tell me how you don’t deserve this?” I demand as I plunge the dose of meds into his I.V.
“You really are a sadistic asshole. Remind me that pissing you two fuckers off is not on my to-do list.” Coin shudders, standing against the wall.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Mouth Peace’s sing-song voice reverberates off the walls as he continues bouncing on his toes.
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs doesn’t register as not being right until the gasp at the door brings all our attention to it. My eyes land on a wide-eyed, Riley. Panic slams into me as the heart monitors start blaring, letting us know that the two men on the gurneys have heart rates that are getting dangerously low. The men start to jerk in panic, gasping for air.
Riley takes a small step in, the look on her face unreadable. I watch her, not believing that she is there. Just as the tone in the alarm changes, it jolts me into action.
“Mouth Peace, grab her. Coin, you get the paddles for Riley’s brother. Wesson, grab them for the old man.” Reaching for the two syringes, I go first to Riley’s brother and plunge the meds into his I.V., at the same time, I yell at Coin, “Place the paddles on his chest and hit him.”
I move over to the older man and do the same thing, giving out the same instructions. Just like that, their heart rate and oxygen levels even out, becoming normal. Slowly, I make my way over to Mouth Peace and Riley, being sure to move slowly so I don’t spook her. I take her from Mouth Peace’s hold, placing her face into my chest.
“Riley, baby, why are you down here?” I murmur, doing my best not to sound angry.
“They're taking Vixen to the hospital, and the door they came out from was open. I heard your voices, so I thought I’d come tell you what was going on. I didn’t know. I’m sorry,” she says, so softly that I nearly miss it.
“What do we have here? Is that the stupid bitch that’s the cause of all my misery since the day she was born?” Riley's brother coughs.
Riley picks her head up from my chest, a look in her eyes which is not one that I’ve ever seen from her. She goes to take a step away from me, but I hold her tight.
“Don’t. Just go back upstairs and let me handle this.” I try to guide her out of the room and away from the scene at hand.
“Why is he here? Flyboy, tell me what’s going on,” she demands in a way that makes my hair stand on end.
“It’s club business,” I tell her, matter-of-factly.
My world tilts, and pride bursts in my chest when she pulls herself out of my hold.
“Fuck you, and your club business. Start talking and tell me what the fuck my waking fucking nightmare is doing in my home!” Riley screams.
For the first time since I’ve known her, and since all of this started, she loses the control she holds so tight on her emotions.