Chapter 16
Raya – A Week Later
Cale:
I left it a week, kitten, to give you your space, but we need to talk. If you don’t answer me, I’ll have no choice but to put your name in the database. What were you doing with Hayden Gillies on the day Viper was run over?
I chew my bottom lip as I read through the message, trying to keep the light from my phone hidden under my plain black baggy hoodie.
How could he know I saw Hayden when he was only in my presence for five minutes tops before Ivy sent me the SOS?
“If you don’t leave town, then I’ll want you as my wife.”
The soon-to-be-dead man's laughable words echo in my head as I put my phone back in my pocket, and I grip the metal pole in my hand.
I don’t know why Venom cares so much. Okay, I do. He’s Ivy’s brother, and that woman, who was supposed to love and cherish her daughter, sold her to the sicko, all because she wanted to look like a plastic Barbie.
She chose cosmetics over her daughter.
But surely he doesn’t think I’d ever go there? I mean, Ivy is my best friend, even if I’m not really talking to her at the moment, I would never go there with Hayden, even if he were the last man on earth. Not just because he looks like he’s dipped himself into a barrel of grease.
He signed his death warrant when he allowed his men to set a house on fire with kids inside, killing my dad in the process.
My grip tightens on the pole in my hand.
Ivy would be so disappointed in me if she knew what I was doing, if she realized why I distanced myself from her so quickly. I promised her I’d back off on my revenge, but I lied.
I’m a killer, and she doesn’t know I haven’t stopped, no one knows, well except for Lake, and keeping myself from everyone makes it easier to do what I have to, even if it means using the fact Ivy didn’t tell me about Venom and that woman Angel.
I wonder if he cups her baby bump, if he gently kisses her temple…
I swallow hard and shake my head slightly as a door opens, and I quickly move back behind the wall, hearing the voices.
“I swear, I’ll pay double tomorrow, Kenny, I swear, just tell Hayden I’m good for it, he’ll listen to you, you’re his cousin,” a man pleads.
I chew my bottom lip and quickly look around the wall to see a skinny black haired man on his knees, his face bloodied and bruised as he begs for mercy while a stocky, bald man with several tribal tattoos stands over him.
Guess he couldn’t pay them back…
The pole feels hot in my hand as my grip tightens.
I wonder if Lake hates me right now.
Instead of being by her side, trying to help keep Viper in the hospital bed, I’m here about to kill my twelfth man.
Viper woke up after four days, and thankfully, despite being banged up and covered in road rash, he is okay, but he’s itching to get out of the hospital, not that I blame him. I spent three months there, and it was torture.
Though I was there because of my mental health, he nearly died three times.
“Sorry, Bucks, you know Hayden doesn’t work that way, and I won’t lie to my cousin. You either pay up now or pay with your life along with all your loved ones,” a deep voice growls while the skinny guy, Bucks, trembles with fear, his one good eye wide.
“What-what about information instead?” he tries, “Cherri, you know the-the clubwhore at the Dark Angel’s, she’s been fucking the men in your group, to get information for-for Blade…”
I swallow my snort, but big guy doesn’t as he chuckles, “Actually, she’s been giving us information.
How do you think we knew Viper would be at that intersection?
” my eyes widen as he sighs, “Albeit he survived and crazy Kitty most likely didn’t but it was worth a try without losing one of our men. ”
Holy…
Anger spears through me, the need to grab my phone and call Venom pulling me, but I hold off, knowing I need to go through with this first.
I honestly thought it was Ivy and Venom’s mama.
“Good night, Bucks,” Kenny murmurs before he slices a knife across Bucks' neck, and I flinch at the amount of blood that pours as the man tries to stop the bleeding with his hands as he panics before he falls to the floor, choking on his own blood.
Bile rises, but I swallow it down, knowing this won’t be the last time I see something like this.
I need to grow a backbone. Even after all the men I’ve killed, I still squirm at the sight of blood, but I need to get used to it, at least until all the Hyenas are gone and daddy is avenged.
Taking a silent deep breath, I clutch the pole tighter and, as quietly as I can, I move from my hiding spot.
“Ah, so the killer emerges,” Kenny says as he wipes away his knife.
I don’t flinch. I'm not so shocked that he knew I was here. He’s apparently the enforcer of their little gang, but I’m not scared of him, and I know he’s about to freeze, which I can and will use to my advantage.
“Yes, she does,” I say coldly, causing him to spin around quickly, shock written all over his face, and I don’t hesitate.
I lift the pole high and swing hard, hitting his head.
He grunts and falls to the floor, and I don’t pause, already knowing the consequences if I do.
I scream out and begin to thrash, and he quickly grips my hair, lifts my head, and then suddenly pain hits me hard as he smashes my head against the concrete, and dizziness consumes me when he does it two more times for good measure, and I feel a crunch in my nose.
Trying to breathe through the pain despite only being able to taste blood, I go to kick out again, but instead I gasp out a scream as sharp, shooting pains spread through my spine as something sharp drags down my back.
I begin to tremble, my eyes blacking out, the pain too much to handle, before my head is smashed again against the concrete.
My fight is gone, my body hurting too much to move as it goes numb before I feel my jeans and panties move past my ankles. I know what is about to happen.
My spine tingles, the scars on my back a permanent reminder of my mistake that day but I ignore it like always when I remember what happened and I swing my pole again and hit Kenny again hard causing his body to go limp on the concrete next to Bucks’ body and to ensure he’s definitely dead, I hit him again and again before stepping back as I breathe heavily and look at yet another dead body.
Kenny’s brown eyes are open wide, blood pouring from his head, the same blood that is now stained on my metal pole.
Speaking up, I knew would distract him because he thought their killer was a male and I smirk, despite the itching that is consuming me like always after a kill.
None of their little gang thinks a girl can hurt them, and that will be their downfall.
“See you in hell, jackass!” I spit before I spin on my heels and rush out of the alleyway they’ve now dubbed their new hole in the wall to sell their gear or, as Kenny decided, to kill someone ten minutes out of the Dark Angel’s territory, needing to scrub my body.
An hour later, I close my eyes as I drop my head, allowing the shower to wash away the blood.
If I open my eyes, I know I’ll see red, I always see red, even if no blood gets on me, the red blinds my vision and I know it’s guilt consuming me for what I’d just done and sometimes, if they plead, I see their ghost for a few days which is when I’ll throw myself into work and school.
How can I feel guilt for ridding this world of their evil, of ridding the men who killed my dad?
Some are just looking for a place to belong, they didn’t kill daddy, the little voice whispers, and I flinch, hating that it comes out at times like this, times I’m struggling with what I’ve just done.
“You’ve got a heart of gold, kitten.”
Venom’s words echo from a week ago, and my tears fall because of how wrong they really are.
I did have a heart of gold when my father was alive, and my crush on Venom was the most daring thing I’d ever done in my life.
Since losing Daddy, I’ve slowly lost myself in my revenge, and I don’t know how to climb out of the ditch I’ve dug, not that I want to.
I’ve got Hayden right where I want him.
His sole focus is on me and the more I prance around so to speak, the more furious he gets and that is what I need right now, especially since I tried to stay off his radar until I knew I was strong enough to destroy him.
But the more Venom imbeds himself in my life, something he has never done before, the more the teenage me is crying for me to hold onto that even if it is a ploy to get me out of his sisters life or at least that’s why I think he is.
I slowly lift my head to the water, allowing it to run down my face, before I turn around and lean against the shower wall. Then, ever so slowly, I slide down the wall, not once opening my eyes as my tears get washed away with the water, hiding my pain and my shame.
Pushing Ivy away, the girls, even Venom, is for the best. The more I kill, the more I lose myself and the person I was, and when Hayden’s time comes, it won’t be pretty on both sides. I know I’ll suffer before he dies and that I’ll be unrecognizable.
Those are the consequences I’m willing to live with, even if it means I’m alone.