Chapter 19
Jules
T his fucker’s eyeball is taking a little longer than I expected to come out. I mean usually those things pop right out, but either this guy has the strongest ocular muscles known to man, or I didn’t break his orbital bone enough when I punched him with the knuckle dusters. Doesn’t matter, one way or another he’s losing an eye.
I drop the bloodied dessert spoon on the tray Pops placed on the table for dirty tools, and pick up a scalpel. One of the prisoners starts to sob so I give him a quick slash along his cheek to shut him up. I have serious shit to do. I lean over my victim, grinning into his good eye, as I grip the left side of his face, holding him still as I slowly let the scalpel descend into the corner of his eye socket. The door is thrown open, bouncing off the wall, stopping me from going any further.
Turning to look over my shoulder I see Vi, my woman, my Firecracker, standing in the doorway, looking like a fucking Valkyrie. Her gaze travels the room, taking in the men, and woman, all in various stages of relaxation, leaning against walls or on the couch. Her gaze comes to a stop on me, my hand poised, blood covering the front of my shirt and my hands. She surveys the situation, her eyes glancing over the four men lined up, tied to metal chairs, positioned over the grate in the floor. All have severe facial injuries and one is on the verge of losing an eye.
I brace myself. Now is the moment that she realizes that I am exactly what people think I am. Cold. Unfeeling. An asshole. Instead she steps closer, one step, then another, until she’s standing in front of the men, hands on hips, exactly like her mother did an hour ago.
“Which one of you filthy assholes bit my boob?” she seethes, her balled fists shaking with fury.
“Oh oh! Pick me! I can answer that!” Dayz waves her hand in the air and comes rushing around to stand between Vi and me. “Jules told me about the bite so I took photos of it while you were asleep. Then Pops made dental impressions of these guys’ mouths. The winner isssssss-” Dayz points to all the men in a Meeny Miny Moe fashion before stopping at the guy still sobbing even after I gave him a warning. “This crybaby!”
Pops’ leans between two of the prisoners, the crier to his left, my guy to his right. He holds up the dental impression he made. “Hello,” he says, using the plaster teeth as a puppet.
Vi stares at him before slowly turning to look at my sister. “You took photos of my boob while I was asleep?” She looks both confused and fucking livid.
“Yup. You’re welcome.” Dayz says before flouncing off to continue lubing up her Pear of Despair or whatever the hell she called it.
Vi turns her stunned face toward me, and I wait for her to lose it. In fact, I’m sure everyone in this room is waiting for the same thing. Roman has even moved closer to the action, so to speak. She’s quiet for a long time, a very long time. The only sound in the room is the snivelling of the men tied to chairs and the squelchy sound of lube being applied. Vi stares at me, for so long in such silence that I start to worry that the one woman I can actually picture myself with is going to find me fucking repulsive. Nerves swirl in my stomach and I feel nauseous at the thought that I could be losing the one person who makes me want to be a better man. A man who shares who he is. A man that can love one single woman with his whole being.
“There’s probably a shard of orbital bone holding his eye in place,” she says in a hoarse voice.
What the fuck? I open my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing comes out.
“You’re trying to remove his eye, right?” I nod, still stunned at the situation. She steps closer, looking down at the guy about to become a Cyclops. “The orbital bone is smashed in. Chances are there’s a shard keeping the eyeball in place. Here.”
She moves slightly, placing her small, soft hands over my hand holding his head, and the side of his face. She presses outward, as if stretching his face, tugging the broken bones away from the eye socket. With a little grunt that makes my cock thicken, she lets go, stepping back out of my space, making me feel cold and empty.
“Try now.”
I eye her suspiciously, not wanting to do anything that will make her look at me in a different light. I hesitate, unsure what to do next. Looking up I catch my sister’s steady stare. She gives me a small smile and a little nod. She wants me to test Vi. A soft hand lands on my cheek, and I lean closer, soaking up the contact in case this is the last time Vi touches me .
“I won’t think any differently of you if you do this. But I may think differently of you if you don’t.”
“What?” I grunt out, because clearly I’ve gone back to being mute Jules.
“I’ve always known that you,” she stares at me for a moment, before looking around, “all of you, do bad things for the greater good. I’m not an idiot. And neither is my brother.”
“Whoops, my bad,” Dayz says under her breath.
Vi turns back to look me in the eye, her thumb running across my stubble. “Tonight you saved those kids, those women and me. These men don’t deserve to live. They kidnap and rape and do evil shit. You can not only stop it, but you can make them suffer.”
I swallow, my throat thick. I know now what Dayz feels for Rhodie. What Tav feels for Blanche. They’ve found people who have seen their darkness and instead of being disgusted they embrace it, they embrace what we are and what we do. My gaze shifts around the room, the looks on the men’s faces are that of acceptance for Vi. Fucking beautiful, brave, easy to irritate Vi.
She takes my hand, and guides it where it needs to be. The orbital bone now no longer impedes my access to the side of the eyeball, allowing me to pop it out, leaving it to hang down the face of the guard who has done unspeakable things to people. His screams rend the air and are the perfect soundtrack as I cup Vi’s face, lean in and gently press my lips to hers. I hold right there, breathing her in, her scent, her taste, her feel until there’s nothing left of this world but her and I.
She deepens the kiss slightly, her tongue tasting mine in a lazy duel, sipping from each other until we have to come up for air .
“Well done, brother. Now, can we please get on with the fucking interrogation?” Marx grumbles.
“In just a minute, please, Mr President,” Vi says, holding up a finger. “Chewy, what do you have that’ll leave a nasty bite mark on someone?”
Dayz grins wide, moving to lift Chomper out of his stroller. “This do?”
Violet
I hesitate for a moment. Am I really going to do this? Use an alligator to maim a man? Looking down at my chest my anger rises again. Yes, yes I fucking am going to do that. And I’m going to do worse. Now that I’m back to my senses and not kiss drunk on Jules’ lips, which by the way are fucking heavenly, and I will be revisiting that as well as trying to figure out whether me entering something with him is a trauma response or not, I reach my hands out for Chewy’s baby.
“Be a good boy and do what the nice lady tells you,” Chewy says, cooing at the gator dressed in a freaking argyle vest.
My hands run over his scaly body, marvelling at the texture of him, his belly soft on my thumbs as I grip him by the underarms, as you would a toddler. He’s surprisingly a lot heavier than I expected. He’s a small gator, with funny feet that make it hard for him to walk, and a pronounced underbite, but I’ve been warned a few times that he does like to chew on things so he’ll be perfect for what I have in mind .
“Jules, can you please strip the biter of his shirt?”
“Sure thing Firecracker.” He presses a gentle kiss to my temple, then using the scalpel in his hand slices down the middle of the guy’s shirt, not even worried when he slices too deep, causing his chest to bleed.
Chomper must smell the metallic tang because he starts to gnash his teeth, large head swaying this way and that, trying to pick up the scent. I gently place Chomper on the biters lap, the man struggling this way and that, trying to buck the little gator off, however Chomper holds fast. Besides, there’s not enough time to dislodge him before Chomper lunges forward and snaps at the guard’s chest, latching on in the perfect spot, right where my bite mark is. Excitement rushes through me and I grin, catching the Jules’ eye, who smirks back. Chewy looks excited as well, cooing words of encouragement to her baby.
Jules sidles up next to me, his large, rough hand wrapping around my smaller one. “We can get out of here if you like? You’ve had a huge day, let me take care of you.” He gazes down at me and for the first time I can see there are no walls up. No road blocks, no hiding his feelings, he’s open and it’s breathtaking.
I look toward Chomper and the men lined up, then back at Jules who is gazing down at me like I’m his whole world. Me. Violet Elena Ximena Davies. The woman that pushes his buttons to get a rise out of him. The woman that sometimes refuses to do as he asks. The woman that has been ignoring the feelings he stirs up. He squeezes my hand and I decide I need to speak my truth.
“Can we stay? I want to help.”
“And how are you going to help, exactly?” Nat’s Ol Man Savage gruffly asks.
I turn to face the MC, hands on hips because for some reason that’s where they like to rest when I’m being challenged. “I’m a nurse. Between me and Dr. Han- I mean, Switch, we can keep these guys alive for as long as we want.”
The MC brothers stare at me, then turn to Switch. “How come you’ve never offered that?” one of them whines. I think it’s Rider.
“Because I figured there was no point, Chewy was going to get rid of ‘em anyways,” he shrugs.
“Yeah but we could have had more fun with them!” Rider argues. “I’m on Vi’s side.” he says, turning to Marx.
Marx gives me a chin lift and I clap my hands, then turn, beaming up at Jules.
“Let’s get this party started then,” he says with a grin. I find I quite like putting that smile on his face.
* * *
“OK, maybe I was wrong, maybe I prefer Switch not keeping these guys alive,” Rider says from his corner where he’s standing, his face turned to the side not watching, but not not watching either.
“You said you wanted this,” I remind him, as I push a little adrenaline into this guy’s veins. I’m not too sure which guard this is given that his face is so battered, but it doesn’t really matter. Also, I have no idea how or why Chewy has adrenaline, but whatever. I’m a nanny now, I have no professional laws to uphold .
“I said I wanted them to be around longer so we could have fun with them! Not watch their gaping assholes get even more gapey!”
I glance down at the man Chewy has tied to a table, and yes, his asshole is a little gape-y.
I shrug at Rider, “Sorry, not sorry.”
And I’m not. These men tortured and tormented women and children for some bitch out there making money hand over fist. They have to pay. All of them. I’m on hand for this and I’ll be on hand again as soon as we get this Candice Rogers woman. No way am I missing that little party.
There’s a gross wet sound followed by a muffled screech and I turn just in time to see the body fluid covered metal pear enter Gapey’s mouth. I wince a little, then flick the blood pressure cuff to “on” and check his vitals. I keep an eye on them as Chewy cranks the pear open wide, while Rhodie interrogates the poor bastards left to watch what will happen to them next. Well, not the one whose eyes are swollen shut but the other two. Although the biter doesn’t look like he has much left in him after Chomper went to town. Looking at all four men I realize that none of them are looking all that great and this could well be over soon.
The monitor starts to frantically beep, sounding like a 90’s rave, so I turn to Chewy with my brows raised.
“Let him go, we got enough outta him,” she waves dismissively.
“I think we got enough out of all of them.” Marx says, “Wrap this up Chewy, it’s late.”
Chewy gives him a salute then goes back to her cupboard, looking for what, I don’t know. A warm hand runs over my shoulders, giving one a little squeeze, drawing a moan out of me as the tight muscles relax a little.
“You’ve had a massive fucking day, Firecracker, lets get you to bed,” Jules says quietly in my ear.
Now that these guards have paid the ultimate price, my adrenaline and anger have ebbed away, leaving me exhausted. How Jules knows this, I have no idea, but for once I’m going to listen to him without a fight.
“OK, Jules, take me to bed.”