Chapter Twenty Six
Leighton
"You ready for this?" I asked Joey.
"Yep," he replied, checking his gun before holstering it under his jacket.
We'd spent the day dealing with our teams and re-establishing the chain of command, not that it took much. Our men had taken care of business as if we'd been there the whole time we hid out in the cabin. But that meant Joey and I had time to discuss our plans for the vet.
The doctor who dealt with Rich's abscessed wound had made it pretty clear the only way that could have happened so fast was if the wound had been tampered with in the first place. None of us had been allowed back when the vet patched Rich back together after the manor assault, so it seemed pretty obvious he was the cause. While Joey handled business at one of his warehouses, I'd posted myself up in his office and called the vet's receptionist, Tisha. The petite brunette was waiting for us at the back entrance of the office when we pulled into the lot.
"The kennels are empty like you asked. Robert is in his office finishing up his notes for the day." Tisha's nose crinkled in disgust as she said the vet's name. "Make sure that bastard knows I had a hand in this. I can't fucking believe he tried to fuck this up for all of us. The extra you guys pay us pays for me to have in-home health take care of my grandmother, so I don't have to put her in a home."
"You did good, Tisha." Joey said with a polite smile. "You can rest assured that you will still be taken care of, but you need to get out of here so we can get to work, yeah?"
Tisha nodded and murmured something I didn't quite catch before she made a beeline for her car and was gone.
"Let's see if Bob is still taking walk-ins." I chuckled as I moved to open the door and held it open for Joey, motioning for him to go ahead. "Age before beauty."
"I'm younger than you." Joey rolled his eyes and moved past me; I eased the door shut with a small click so we wouldn't be announced before we were ready to be.
We made our way to the back office in near silence. The door was open already, revealing Robert hunched over his desk, scribbling notes into an open file. Joey strolled into the room, and I followed behind him, slamming the door. Robert jumped, his head snapping up from his paperwork, his eyes wide as they landed on us.
"You scared me half to death." He scolded. "But it's good to see you boys. I hope Rich is recovered."
I snorted. "Yeah, big man is doing just fine." I said, letting a manic grin spread across my face.
"Well, since you two are standing here, clearly fine, I think it's safe to assume you brought Craig for me to patch up this time." Robert smiled weakly, standing from his desk and moving as if to slip past me for the door. "I'll just grab some supplies and you can meet me in room one."
Joey put a hand out and shoved the man backwards. "Not so fast there, Bob."
The vet stumbled back, slamming into his desk fear and worry warring for dominance on his face.
"Yeah, Bob. We need to discuss a few things."
The man struggled to school his features and regain his composure, his voice cracking slightly when he spoke. "What can I help you boys with? Anything you need, you know I've got you covered."
"Aww, damn it. I forgot my bag." I sighed. "You wanna get him situated while I gather some stuff up?" I asked Joey, ignoring the vet.
Joey nodded at me, and I jerked open the office door and skipped down the hall. I could hear Robert struggling against Joey behind me, and the loud grunt from Joey hitting him in the gut as I made it to the back entrance. Not wanting to miss any of the fun, I ran to the SUV we'd taken off our men when we got back into Sacona and snatched my black duffle from the back. By the time I made it to the exam room where Joey had taken the vet, it was clear I'd missed something entertaining from the growing wet spot on Robert's crotch.
"Man, you weren't supposed to start without me." I whined, dropping the duffle bag in the plastic chair against the wall of the room.
Joey shrugged, turning to look at me. "You didn't miss much, Bobby-boy here is just a little bitch. But I'm guessing that's not new information for anyone."
"He pissed himself, man, I can see it. You can't tell me you didn't do at least a little something to cause that." I scoffed, unzipping the bag and digging around for the rope to tie up Robert.
"Listen, I had to control the slimy bastard somehow, and you left the bag. All I did was put my gun in his mouth and tell him to behave. I didn't even hurt him yet!"
"Eww, you let him get his nasty germs on your gun." I grimaced, finally finding the rope and pulling it from the bag. "Hey, why does this look like Craig's? Did you steal it from his room?"
Joey rolled his eyes at me. "Of course, I didn't steal it from him. What do you take me for? I told him I needed some rope, and he's so annoyed from his day following Rich around that he told me to just take what I need and get out."
"Well, for starters, I take you for a criminal." I snickered.
"P-p-p-please, what is this about?" Robert chose that moment to open his mouth. "Whatever it is, I'm sure we can make it right."
"We'll get to you in a fucking second." Joey snapped, hitting him upside his head with his gun. "You wanna tie him up or do you want me to? And another thing, I might be a criminal, but I wouldn't steal from family."
"Yeah, yeah. You go ahead and tie him up," I said, passing Joey the rope. "You know how to knot Craig's fancy shit better than I do."
While Joey went to work tying up Robert, I started pulling our tools from the duffle bag and laying them out on the counter. Glancing at the vet, I decided he wasn't scared enough by the things we'd brought, so I started tearing open the drawers and cabinets looking for the tools of his trade.
"Man, why do you have a mini potato shooter? What the hell do you use this thing for?" I asked, holding up a random piece of veterinary equipment I'd found in the cabinet.
The doc just whimpered as Joey was tying him to the chair, we'd sat him in. I turned around and raised a brow expectantly. Joey hit him upside the head again.
"He asked you a fucking question, Bob. I suggest you answer the man," Joey growled.
"I-it's a balling gun for giving medication to livestock. Sometimes, I make house calls outside of town." Robert blubbered.
"Well, that's boring." I sighed, tossing the thing aside. "I was hoping you'd have the good tools in here, but whatever. We'll make do with what we have."
"Please, why are you doing this?" the man cried.
Ignoring him, I ran my fingers along the knives and other tools I'd laid out, taking my time deciding which one to start with. After a few passes, I settled on a small, silver switchblade. Grabbing it, I turned to face Robert, his face paling at the feral grin I wore as I advanced.
"Before we forget, Trisha said to let you know she helped. She's a good egg, that one." I laughed before stabbing the blade into his thigh. "Start asking the questions, little brother."
"There's really only a couple that are important. And I'd suggest you think real hard about whether or not you're being honest with us." Joey said slowly, his voice dropping into that false calm he took on when he worked. "Who put you up to it, and what exactly did you do?"
"What– I don't know what you're talking about!" Robert stammered.
"Oooh, wrong answer Bobby-boy. Try again." I laughed, pulling the knife out of his thigh, twisting it as I did, and handed it to Joey. "Your turn!" I said cheerfully.
Joey considered him for a moment, before dragging the blade across the man's bicep in a shallow stinging cut.
"Please," Robert cried. "I don't know what you're talking about. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me."
"You think he's dumb or just forgetful?" I mused, moving over to the counter to grab a pair of pliers.
"I think he thinks we're dumb. Honestly, it'd save us all a lot of time if you just started talking."
"Oh, but I like doing it this way. It's a lot more fun." I cackled, grabbing the tip of the nail on his index finger with my pliers and pulling hard enough to tear it from the nailbed.
Robert screamed in pain, but still played dumb when we asked him our questions again. Realizing he was going to let us play with him, we set to work. Joey made shallow cuts along the man's arms, eventually grabbing a pair of scissors to cut away his bloodied polo shirt and start on his chest. I focused on ripping out each fingernail one by one, before moving on to taking his fingers one knuckle at a time as I hummed random jingles to myself. Every so often, we'd ask our questions again, and each time Robert only begged us to stop hurting him.
"Wow, tough nut to crack this one." I snickered, positioning my custom cigar cutter over his remaining thumb. "Kinda weird for a guy who pissed himself over a gun."
"Maybe he likes it." Joey huffed, dragging his blade across the man's collarbone.
"Oh! I might have a solution for that!" I grinned, using my cigar cutter to take off his thumb before bouncing over to the duffle bag and grabbing my mini torch. Moving back to Robert, I turned the torch on and held it to his bleeding nub. "Man, why does burning flesh smell like food? It's making me hungry."
"I mean, it does kind of smell like burgers on the grill." Joey chuckled.
"Bah dah bah dah dah," I started another jingle kicking off in my head. "I'm in love with her." The new ending I'd given the jingle caused me to jolt fully upright and freeze. "Huh."
Joey paused his work and turned to look at me before he started laughing. "Just figure it out, huh?"
I turned my head slowly to look at Joey, my eyes wide. "I don't know what to do with that. Should I call her right now?"
Joey chuckled, his face softening in amusement. "She doesn't have a phone, Leighton. And… maybe telling her about it while we're working. Do you think that's how she'd want to hear it?" He said slowly as if he was going to let me piece it together.
"I mean she was into you working Colin over, so maybe?" I shrugged.
"That was a physical thing, L, fueled by adrenaline. I wouldn't tell her I loved her after a torture session. It deserves… a little something more than that."
"If you boys will just tell me what you want to–" Robert whimpered, his voice broken.
"Hold on a fucking second. Can't you see we're having a serious conversation here, Bob ?" Joey snapped, flicking the man in the ear.
"You haven't told her. I know you haven't. There wasn't really a lot to do at the cabin besides eavesdrop. Az is the only one that's told her, so maybe I should ask him for advice." I said, picking up the conversation like we hadn't just been rudely interrupted.
"What? When did– No, that makes sense. Let me guess, they were fighting?" Joey smirked.
"They're always fighting, so yeah. But Az just put it out there like it was nothing. Meanwhile, I've been having daily heart attacks that none of you have taken seriously." I paused, frowning. "Well, I guess they weren't heart attacks after all and I can stop taking aspirin, but still. I don't know how to do this shit, man."
Joey leaned against the chair Robert was tied to, resting his elbow on the man's head. "L, we told you it wasn't a heart attack. Why were you taking aspirin? God, you're goofy." He said with a grin. "And as for how to do this… it doesn't come with a manual, my guy."
Remembering the mini-torch I was still holding against Robert's nub; I pulled it back and studied the flame for a second. "Be better if it did," I sighed, waving the torch around as if to gesture to myself. "I mean, have you met me? Killing, maiming, that I can do, no problem. But up until recently I was pretty sure I didn't have any kind of feelings at all. Now…"
"Well, you'd be the only one who thought you couldn't feel. But… I get that it's easier sometimes not to. Honestly, it's been a world of adjustment for all of us in our own ways, I guess." Joey paused, considering some thought in his head for a while. "So, when you think about telling her you love her, what do you imagine you're doing?"
I considered his question for a minute, letting my mind mull it over, before it settled on one image, and I grinned. "Well, in a perfect world, we'd be torturing someone together. Maybe hookup in their blood after."
Joey rolled his eyes. "L… bro. No. Does anything about Victoria say that she'd be into that?"
"Dude, you saw her kick my sister's ass. Ma petit may like to pretend she's an angel but there's a reason for that démone." I shrugged.
"I know. There's something in her that's a bit… vicious. But even still, she's not… how do I say this? She's not a sadist, L. That's all your wheelhouse. You wanna tell her you love her, you gotta meet her on her court."
"Damn it, thinking about her vicious streak gave me a boner." I grumbled, reaching down to adjust myself. "Now I'm in love with her and horny. "
Joey threw his head back and laughed. "Well, I'm sure you'll think of something to–"
"Please, no!" Robert wailed. "I'll tell you everything, just please, don't let him…"
It was obvious what the man was insinuating, but the fact that he was finally willing to talk led me to letting it slide. Instead, I leaned into his assumption, grabbing my crotch roughly and taking a few steps toward him as I grinned maniacally.
"You already know what we want. We've asked you so many times I've lost count." Joey said coldly, stepping away from the man so I could crowd his space.
"Fine, okay, fine. But please, keep that psycho away from me!" Robert wailed. I raised my hands and stepped back before motioning for the man to continue. "Trey Prescott sent his goons after my family. Said you boys were going down, but if any of you showed up here alive, to end you or else. I didn't have a choice." the man sobbed, fat, ugly tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Poor little Bobby-boy, don't you know you always have a choice?" I cooed, waggling a finger at him. "Unfortunately for you, you chose wrong."
"Tsk, tsk, Bob… You could have told us that someone was leveraging your family against you. How long have you worked for us? You know we would have kept you and your family safe. We take care of our own." Joey said, if you didn't know him it might have sounded like he was remorseful. I knew better.
"I did the only thing I could think to do! Rich is a strong man, I knew he'd stand a chance, but I had to do something. So, I used soiled equipment when I patched him up. It wasn't something I thought would actually work, but it was enough to get them off my back." Robert said in a rush, trying to justify his actions. "Please, I just want to keep my family safe."
"Oh, I'm sure your family will be just fine." Joey said slowly. "But when you said goodbye to them this morning before you left, I hope you made it count."
"Should have come to us, Bob." I sighed, parroting what Joey had already said once as I stepped away from the vet. "But you tried to kill his brother, so my hands are tied. Nobody can help you now."
Robert, sensing that our time with him was coming to a close, started to struggle against his bonds and scream at us. It was always amusing to watch a person go through all the stages of grief right at the end of a torture session, trying everything from anger to bargaining. Bobby-boy here was no exception.
We let him thrash about like a fish out of water for a few moments before I saw Joey shift out of the corner of my eye. The sharp pop of his silenced pistol sounded just a split second before Bob stopped moving, blood trickling down his face from the entry wound.
"Fucking coward…" Joey murmured as he holstered his weapon.
We didn't bother moving the body, leaving it tied in the chair we'd put him in as we gathered our gear up and slipped from the building to grab the gasoline cans from the back of the SUV. Joey took one end of the building while I took the other and we systematically doused the whole place before meeting outside.
"You wanna light this bitch up, little brother?" I asked.
"Would be my pleasure." Joey grinned, lighting a pack of matches and tossing it down onto the gasoline fuse we'd poured ourselves. We watched to make sure the building caught like we wanted it to before turning back to the SUV. As we got in the car, Joey looked at me with a grin. "Also, really L? I didn't figure you'd be willing to go that far for the info."
"Dude, I wasn't gonna actually do it. What do you take me for?" I huffed.
"A criminal, L." Joey said, and we both burst into laughter as we pulled away from the inferno that had been the vet's office.