Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aven
With the way she trotted off, she either needed a lavatory very badly, or she’s already planning to sneak away to see her secret lover. Odd as it sounds, I’m more disheartened by the second prospect, which makes no sense. I cannae be jealous of me.
But that’s the long and short of it. Aye, I’ve gone and made googly eyes at her all day.
After what she shared with me last night, I couldn’t help it.
Then I’ve been a proper gentleman all afternoon.
After what she told me about her ma, I couldn’t help it.
That moment was more precious to me than when she let me make her come.
Because she opened up to me.
The hard me.
The gruff, asshole me.
She opened up to a brick wall, and that takes a level of courage I can’t help but admire. And desire. After hearing her story, I want to help her fill in the blanks until she’s satisfied. If she’s never satisfied, I want to keep trying for the rest of my natural life.
God, I’m fucked.
The phone buzzes in my pocket, and I nearly scream from the shock, despite expecting this. With a sigh, I pull the tiny cell from its hiding place and read the message from Quinn.
Sorry about earlier and the lack of response. I can’t text when my guard is on duty. Everything is fine now, though.
Hearing her refer to me as her guard hasn’t bothered me before, but now that she’s talking to another guy, it feels very dismissive. Like I’m just some object in her life. Why would she withhold my name from him?
Why does it matter, dumbass? You are the other guy!
Oh. Right.
Before I can type a response, the phone buzzes again.
Speaking of my guard, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.
I hold my breath as I wait to see what she’ll say about me.
I’m pretty sure he has a thing for me. How do you feel about that?
She’s pretty sure I have a thing for her? Ach, the lass has lost her mind. It’s been the other way round, and I just happened to get caught up in it myself. A man can only deny a siren’s song for so long when she keeps singing so prettily.
If you’re uncomfortable with that, I’ll tell him to stop.
Like hell she will! The lass can try, but I’ll just chase her harder.
I really don’t want to damage… whatever this is.
I finally realize I’ve just been standing here having an argument with myself while the wee girl worries in a bathroom stall. There’s no reason for me to be jealous of her feelings for another man when I’m both of them, and I’ve got to remember that.
Even so, it won’t hurt to push her toward me just a bit. The real me.
I’m not the possessive type. If you want to explore something with him as well, you have my blessing.
I hit send, even though the entire message is a lie. She’d have the opposite of my blessing if this were really coming from me, as I’m a very possessive man when I want someone all to myself.
Really? And you’ll still meet me tonight?
Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
I’m still staring down at the tiny screen, waiting for a reply, when Quinn appears behind me. Before she can spot the familiar device, I shove it into my pocket and offer her a smile.
“All good, lass?”
“Better than good,” she says with a cheeky smirk. “Now, where is this torture practice you’ve set up for me?”
I motion for her to keep moving past the seating area and into the performance space. My brain is still back at the bathrooms, though. I’m still reading those messages and wondering what they might mean.
As we step into the center ring, a spotlight clicks on overhead and brightens the space. I shield my eyes and look toward the control box.
“Thanks, pal,” I say to Gary.
He grins and gives me a thumbs-up. Jim sent him ahead to set things up for us, and I can only hope he’s done as I’ve asked.
Gary’s not the brightest man I’ve met, and he’s been even less so since he took that bonk to the noggin on the pirate ship.
Still, he’s a good bloke, and he’s the sort I’d share a beer with if I were the sort to share a beer.
Beneath our feet, the sawdust begins to vibrate. Quinn grips my arms to steady herself as heavy-duty chain-link fencing rises from the floor circling the center ring, caging us within. The zoo-grade fences click into place with a groan once they’ve reached their full height.
Just tall enough to contain a tiger.
Gary hurries from the control box and disappears into the backstage area.
Moments later, the red curtains part as he appears again, pushing a wheelchair toward us.
The man in the chair screams and tosses his head from side to side as he tries to tip over.
Gary just grits his teeth and keeps pushing.
“See his yellow jumpsuit?” I say to Quinn.
She nods. “He’s an animal abuser.”
“Aye, lass. That he is.” I grin to myself.
She’s a quick study, that one. “He ran a little roadside zoo in the Midwest. Well, he ran it until Jim discovered how he’d been keeping the poor beasts.
He’d remove the monkeys’ teeth so that tourists could pose with them without being bitten.
The larger animals were forced to perform, and when they wouldn’t—or couldn’t—he’d use intense pain and starvation as a motivator. ”
“Stop,” Quinn whispers. “I don’t want to hear anything else.”
I nod, because I don’t want to say anything else. I may be heartless where my fellow man is concerned, but I have a genuine affection for animals. My early yearning for blood never involved helpless creatures. Always humans.
Always the creatures who are more heartless than I.
Gary opens the gate and wheels the man to the center of the ring, where Quinn and I stand. The man looks up at us, terrified.
“What’s going on here? I demand to know why I’m being held hostage!” He pulls against his arm restraints with a grunt. “You can’t keep me caged like this!”
“This is an interrogation,” I tell the man before I turn to Quinn. “The first time Jim visited this piece of shit, he discovered a very neglected shack at the back of the property. Inside that shack was an even more neglected cockatoo that Jim hoped would help Kenny feel more comfortable.”
“There’s nothing wrong with keeping the bird in a different building,” the man says with a roll of his eyes. “It did nothing but scream from sunup to sundown.”
I backhand the idiot in the chair, which sends the entire thing tumbling over. When I’ve righted it again, I grip either arm and lean into his ugly face. “You can’t take a social being and shove it in a box by itself and expect it to remain silent. You’re proof enough of that.”
The man closes his mouth. Wise decision. I’m about three seconds from killing him myself, and then Quinn would miss out on all the fun.
“Bring out the tools,” I say to Gary, and he hurries off to retrieve a selection of torture devices. I can’t wait to see what Quinn picks first.
Minutes later, he rolls a table into the ring. Quinn glances up at me, and I motion for her to make her selection. She nibbles her bottom lip and moves down the line, touching everything with her delicate fingers at least once. Finally, she settles on a whip.
“Aye, good choice,” I say with a nod. “Why’d you pick it?”
“If we want to extract information, we’ll need to keep him around for as long as possible.” She raises a hammer. “If I just whack him in the head with this, we’ll never get anything out of him.”
I bend lower and place my mouth beside her ear so that the asshole can’t hear me. “Don’t think about the kill. Think about different ways of inflicting pain. Sometimes death is a final act of kindness on our parts.”
She considers this, then swaps the whip for the hammer. My dick is already getting hard before she takes the first swing to his shin.
“I thought you’d go for the fingers!” I shout over his screams. I can’t remember the last time I smiled so widely. “You’re brilliant.”
“It just came to me,” she says. “I thought about how bad it hurts to get whacked in the shin, and voilà!”
“Aren’t you supposed to ask questions?” the man wheezes through cries of pain. “Isn’t that what an interrogation is? You ask questions, and if I don’t answer, then I get tortured?”
“Oh, shit,” Quinn says with a giggle. “Guess I forgot that part. What are we trying to find out?”
I turn to Quinn. “The bird. When Jim arrived to seize the animals, the bird was no longer present. Despite scouring the property, the poor cockatoo was nowhere to be found.”
“And no one thought to just ask me?” the man screams.
I shrug. “This seemed more fun.”
“The bird is at my cousin’s place in Texas. I’ll give you the address if you’ll just let me go.”
“Way to suck the fun out of my day.” Quinn’s shoulders drop.
“Don’t lose heart yet, lass. I’m sure he knows something that he doesn’t want us to know.” I pluck a golf club from the table and toss it to her. “You’ve got a pretty good swing, if I remember correctly.”
She tests the weight in her hand before drawing back and whacking his other shin. A glorious howl springs out of him, and tears stream down his cheeks.
“Oh, shit,” Quinn says with a giggle. “Forgot to ask a question again. Hmm . . . tell us your darkest secret.”
“I slept with my brother’s wife. Twice.” The man gulps and peers up at Quinn through tear-filled eyes. “When I was sixteen, I set a trash can on fire and burned down the neighbor’s barn. It was an accident, and no one got hurt, but I never told anyone.”
Quinn sighs and tosses the golf club to the floor. “It won’t be this simple with Desmond. This is pointless.”
I take her shoulders in my hands and look down at her. “Hey, no getting discouraged now. Let’s finish him off and try another one.”
“What’s the point? These men are wimps.” She motions to the whimpering man who likely sports two broken tibias. “If I want to know what it’s like to really work something out of someone, you’ll need to provide someone who’s a little more . . . hardened.”
I sigh and nod. The girl is right.
“Get Ashwin ready,” I shout toward Gary.