Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Fury
“ W e need to find you somewhere to stay,” I mutter. “Let me call Axel.”
“Are you being serious?”
I spin on her, allowing my anger to take over. The fact she’s been exposed to all this is sending me over the edge. I should have stepped in sooner to avoid her getting so involved. “He just killed a man in front of you,” I yell. “He’s not going to let you walk away.”
I head into the kitchen, and she rushes after me. “What do you mean?”
“We need bleach,” I say, ignoring her panic-stricken face. “Clean every surface in here. Get rid of any trace of Logan.”
“What about his body?” she asks, tears filling her eyes. “We should call the police.”
“Don’t you get it?” I snap. “You’re in too deep, Xanthe. Fuck!” I run my fingers through my hair and turn my back on her. “I told you to stay the fuck away from him,” I mutter.
“So, this is my fault?” she cries.
I turn back to her as she swipes angrily at the tears that have escaped and stained her cheeks. “No, it’s just . . .” I groan. “If you’d have listened, we wouldn’t be here now. But we are, so find some bleach and I’ll call Axel.”
I step into the back garden and close the door before dialling my President off my burner phone. He answers on the second ring. “How’s things?”
“Bad. Very bad,” I reply. “Can you get the clean-up here urgently?”
“It’s the middle of the day,” he says. “What’s happened? Fuck, you haven’t ended Donnie, have you?”
I frown. “No, but it might be a possibility very soon.”
“We’ve done some digging, and we’re hearing some bad shit.”
“He ended Logan,” I mutter, “in front of Xanthe.”
“Fuck.”
“He’s lost his mind. We both know it means she can’t walk away.”
“He’ll end her,” says Axel.
“Exactly. He wants her working for him on the weekends, patching up some of the fighters.”
“You have to get her out of there.”
“I plan to.” I stare through the kitchen window just as the front door opens and Chevy walks in. “I gotta go. His man’s just walked in. Hold on with the clean-up.”
“I’ll have a room set up for her.”
I disconnect and head inside. Chevy points to a box, and I already know it contains the shit I use to clean up. “Thought you’d need this.”
“I can’t get rid of a body in the fucking day,” I snap. “I’ll sort it later.”
“Boss insisted I stick around.”
I frown. “Why?”
“To make sure the clean-up goes well.”
“What are you talking about?” I snap. “He’s never been bothered before.”
“She was never involved before,” he replies, and I glance over to where Xanthe is scrubbing the worktop while staring into space.
“She’s not getting involved now,” I hiss, stepping closer.
“You think there’s a choice?” he asks with a smirk. “I’ve lined some bags to stop him . . . leaking out all over the place. I’ll grab them from the car. Get him in those and we’ll take them to the car as soon as it’s dark.”
“This is fucked-up,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“Look, he needs her to do this so she can’t go screaming to the police,” he hisses.
“She’s in shock. She ain’t gonna call anyone,” I snap. “Look at her.”
“I’m following orders,” he says, holding up his hands. “Unless you wanna end up like Logan, I suggest you do the same.”
“He liked Logan,” I say, frowning deeper. “He was pissed when he got hurt and made sure we got him straight here for help.”
Chevy scoffs. “Don’t get it twisted, Fury. He don’t care about anyone . . .” He pauses to look at Xanthe. “Except her,” he says thoughtfully, “and if she doesn’t start catching feelings soon, it’ll be her you’re cutting up next.”
I wait for him to go out to the car before grabbing Xanthe by her upper arms. She startles like she wasn’t aware I was in the room. “Xanth, listen,” I say firmly, “this is really important.”
She blinks a few times and nods. “You have to help me with Logan,” I say, waiting a beat to see if she understands what I’m saying. “Dispose of him,” I add.
She tries to back away, shaking her head vigorously. “Xanth, there’s no choice. Donnie’s sent his hitman to watch us.”
“I can’t,” she says desperately. “I can’t do that.” Her eyes are wide with panic, and she’s still shaking her head.
“I can’t get us out of this, Xanthe,” I say desperately. “Chevy carries a gun, I don’t. My fists won’t protect us from him when he’s come prepared.”
“Oh my god,” she whispers. “I don’t think I can, Reese. Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about him.”
“We don’t have time to talk about it,” I snap. “He’ll be back any second.”
“You don’t understand,” she cries, now beginning to shake uncontrollably. “I can’t.”
“If you don’t, he’s going to put a bullet in you next.”
She covers her face with her hands and sobs. Hard, heavy sobs rack her body, and my heart twists painfully. “I swear, after today, you’ll never see him again. You just have to get through this.”
The front door swings open, and I instantly back away. “Are we ready?” asks Chevy.
I grab the box. “Yep,” I say, heading upstairs.
“And you,” I hear him say to Xanthe.
Upstairs, I dump the box on the floor and open it. I get out the plastic sheet and lay it beside the bed. Xanthe walks in looking pale and exhausted. Her hands are still shaking, and her eyes are red and puffy from her tears.
I take hold of Logan and roll him from the bed. He lands with a deafening thud, and Xanthe immediately slams her hands over her mouth and turns away slightly. “You’re a nurse,” says Chevy from the doorway. “You’ve seen bodies before.”
“Fuck you,” she mutters.
He grins and steps farther into the room before taking a seat in the rocking chair in the corner. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
I catch Xanthe’s eye and give my head a slight shake, warning her to ignore him. He’s trying to rile her, and I’m sure he’d love nothing more than to end her so his boss’s attention is back to where it should be.
I hand Xanthe a set of goggles. I never use them, but I sense she might want to cover up as much as possible. I shrug from my kutte and lay it at the end of the bed before dropping to my knees beside the body and grabbing a saw. “What are you doing?” she asks, backing away until she hits the wall.
“Don’t look at it like a body,” I mutter, not meeting her eyes. I place the saw down and use a pair of scissors to cut away Logan’s shirt. “Pretend it’s a lump of meat.”
Xanthe gags, covering her mouth with her hands. “This can’t be happening.”
“Some people strip down to their underwear,” Chevy suggests with a grin. “Less mess.”
“Are you suggesting I do that?” she snaps.
He shrugs. “If you want to, that’s cool.”
“She’s not fucking stripping off,” I snap.
I grab the saw and begin cutting at Logan’s elbow. Chevy’s mobile rings and he stands. “I gotta take this,” he says as he leaves the room.
Xanthe crouches down and hisses, “Why are you looking so comfortable doing this?”
“Let’s just get the job done so I can get you out of here,” I whisper.
“You’ve done this before,” she accuses.
“That’s what you want to discuss right now?” I snap. “My body count?”
She gasps. “There’s a body count?”
“Look, Xanth, I know you have questions—of course, you do—but now isn’t the time. So, let’s get this bagged up so we can leave.”
“And then what?” she asks.
“And then I’ll answer all your questions.”
“Promise?”
“I swear it.”
She gives a stiff nod and grabs the nearest bag, holding it open so I can drop in the lower arm.
Xanthe
I’ve touched dead bodies before, as it’s part of my job. And there, in the hospital, I can shut it off. Maybe it’s something I learned to do without even realising it. It’s not like anyone pulled me to one side when I was training and offered me words of wisdom—it just came as part and parcel. But as I watch Fury cut off each part from Logan’s body, I want to scream. There’s a rage burning deep inside me that is desperately trying to get out. How did I even get here?
Chevy comes back in. “Did you remove his fingertips?” he asks, holding the phone to his chest.
Fury gives a frustrated sigh. “No. Aren’t we doing the usual?”
“He said remove them,” he replies, shrugging. He leaves again, and Fury reaches into the tool bag to retrieve a pair of pliers.
“What’s the usual?” I ask. He glances up then pulls the lower limb from the bag and proceeds to snip off Logan’s fingertips, letting them fall carelessly onto the plastic sheet. “Reese?” I push.
“Burning the body,” he mutters.
“And if they’re not burning him, how will they get rid of him?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know, Xanthe, it’s not my job to ask questions.”
“But it’s your job to cut people up into bits?” My voice wavers with emotion. How did he end up here? My Reese. Sweet, kind, Reese. The boy who kissed my knees when I fell and comforted me when my parents got to be too much.
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Xanthe. This isn’t exactly my job. I don’t do this part. But, yeah, I end lives. That’s part of my job.”
“What happened to you?” I whisper, allowing more tears to trail down my cheeks.
“To make me so cold?” he asks with a sneer. “Maybe I was always like this.”
I shake my head. “No, you weren’t.”
He scoffs, “Because you knew me so well?”
“Yes.”
He laughs, but it’s cold and empty as he hacks off the upper arm. “You knew what I wanted you to know.”
“That’s not true.”
He drops the saw and pushes to his feet, getting in my face. “I wanted your parents to like me, Xanth. I wanted to stay in one fucking place for once because I was so damn tired of being moved from one home to the next, no one ever taking the time to bother getting to know me because all they cared about was the money they made from fostering a kid like me. So, I put on a front where I pretended to be kind and thoughtful. I was being the kid everyone needed me to be so I could be loved. Turns out, that didn’t fucking work, so I learned the hard way that no matter what you do or say, you can’t escape your past. You can’t pretend you weren’t abandoned over and over until it eats you away inside.” He’s so angry, his face is red, and spittle flies from his mouth. “So, no, Xanthe, you didn’t fucking know me at all.” He drops back to his knees and continues to saw through bone.
I turn and run from the room. I can’t take another second acting like everything he’s doing in there is normal. Even if it is in his world.
Chevy looks up in surprise as I shove past him and go into my bedroom, locking the door. I lean against it, sliding down until my backside hits the floor. I pull my knees to my chest and rest my forehead against them.
He’s lying. What we had was special. He wasn’t pretending when he was with me. I know it.
I lie on my side, closing my eyes. I need all this to just go away now.
I wake with a start, instantly groaning as I uncurl myself, realising I’m still on the floor. I push to sit up, looking around in bewilderment. It’s dark outside, which means I must have been asleep for the last few hours.
A knock on the door startles me, and I realise that’s what woke me. “Xanthe, come out. We have to leave.”
I push to my feet and unlock the door. Fury is pacing with worry etched on his face. He exhales in relief when he lays eyes on me then places his hands on my face. I instantly pull back, causing his hands to fall to his sides. His words hurt me, and he can’t pretend he didn’t say them.
He sighs again, this time placing his hands on his hips. I note he’s changed his clothes. “You need to pack a bag.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the clubhouse.”
“I can’t hide forever. What if he comes there to find me?”
“He won’t. He doesn’t know we know one another, and I left with Chevy earlier, so as far as they know, you’re here in your bedroom.”
“Where’s Logan?” I ask, shuddering as images assault my brain.
He goes to the spare room and pushes the door open. I step closer, looking inside. It’s clean, like he was never there. “All gone.”
“From the house maybe, but not from here,” I mutter, tapping my head.
“Yeah, that takes a while to fade.”
“What time is it?” I ask.
He checks his watch. “Six.”
“I need to see my mum.” He begins to shake his head. “I have to. I always go for dinner on Wednesday, and she’s expecting me. I can’t cancel half an hour before I’m meant to be there.”
“I don’t want to leave your side,” he admits, staring at the ground. It’s another glimpse of his vulnerability. A reminder that I do know him, despite what he’d said.
“Then come with me.”
“She won’t want to see me,” he mutters.
“She might surprise you,” I reply, going back into my room and rummaging through my drawers until I find a pair of jeans and a jumper. I change quickly before taking a bag from under my bed and packing for a few nights.
Once I have what I think I’ll need, we head out. Fury makes sure the coast is clear as we get into the car he drives for Donnie, one I’ve been in many times. I shudder, realising how utterly stupid I’ve been.
I tap my mum’s address into Fury’s phone satnav and then pull out my mobile and call my mum, ignoring Fury’s curious glance as he drives. “Hi, Mum,” I say the minute she answers. “Is there room for one more?”
“You know I always cook for an army,” she jokes. “Are you bringing Jorja?”
“No, it’s a surprise,” I say, forcing myself to sound like I’m happy.
“Oh, does this mean it’s a man? Is it the one you told me about?” She sounds excited, and now, I feel like a shit because I don’t know if she’s going to be happy to see Fury. Not after what he’s told me.
“No, it’s not him. You know this guy. We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Once I disconnect, I tuck my phone away and rest my head against the window. I have a thumping headache, and I’m so tired despite having slept uncomfortably on the floor for a few hours.
“I know it all seems like a lot right now,” says Fury gently, “but I swear it’ll get better.”
“When?”
“I don’t know,” he mutters.
“Then don’t make stupid promises,” I snap, and we fall into silence for the rest of the journey.
He stops two streets away from Mum’s place, telling me he’s not sure if Donnie’s vehicles are tracked. I twist in my seat and take a deep breath. “I have to act normal in front of my mum,” I say. “She knows me well, and she’ll sense I’m upset about something, so I’m going to say I broke up with Donnie and pretend I’m devastated.”
“You told her about him?” he asks, and I see in his eyes it bothers him.
“Yes.”
“And now you’re going to act heartbroken,” he mutters bitterly.
“Yes, and then I’m going to say you turned up at the hospital today.”
He scoffs. “And you thought you’d invite me to dinner?”
“Yes. She knows how upset I was when you left. She’d fully expect me to welcome you home, where I always knew you belonged.” He rolls his eyes and gets out the car. I sigh and then follow. “You have to lose the attitude before we go in there,” I snap.
“She knows how it went down in the end,” I snap. “Me and her, we both sat at that table whilst your dad told me I was gonna leave. I promised to stay away.”
“That was years ago. Besides, you showed up at the hospital. You weren’t to know I’d be there. She’ll assume I’ve been my usual persistent self and forced you into this.”
“You have,” he mutters.
I march off towards her house, leaving him to trail behind me.
Mum greets me in the usual way, wrapping me tightly in her arms. Only this time, I recognise the second she spots Fury because she stiffens slightly, and I think I hear a slight gasp. She releases me, her eyes firmly fixed past me and on him. “Surprise,” I say with forced enthusiasm. “Look who I ran into.”
“Reese,” she almost whispers.
“Hey, Dianna. How are you?” His voice is off. It sounds empty of emotion, and for the first time, I think about how hard this might be for him. But it’s too late now, so I smile wide.
“He was at the hospital.”
“Are you hurt?” she asks, moving past me to him, where she holds him at arm’s length and scans him with her eyes. I feel a warmness spread through my heart watching how she checks him over, like he never left her sight. He towers over her small frame, but it doesn’t seem to bother her as she reaches up to cup his cheek. “You’ve grown into a big, strong lad,” she comments. “I knew you would. Now, come inside. Let’s eat and you can tell me everything.”