Chapter Thirty-Two
Ash
We didn’t bother dragging it out in the end.
Blaze was too excited about burning the place down, and even though Cal had said we shouldn’t, I took photos of that fucking wall, making sure I could enlarge it enough to read names, because someone needed to know who his fucking victims were.
I took a set of them, and sent them to the cloud, removing them from the device itself, because it felt fucking dirty even having them on there.
The asshole was crying behind me, which felt like the least he should do, under the twisted circumstances. Blaze was outside gathering up his kit, and hopefully making sure Cal and the kid, Ren, were safe out in the car.
“Gonna gut you like a fucking fish,” Ethan hissed at unclefucker, while I rolled my eyes.
“Dude, what happened to you?”
“Your sister,” he shot back, smirking at me.
“You used to be normal.”
“Being a normie fucking sucks, man. This is so much better. I mean, look, we’re doing a public service here. I just wish we could ram something up his ass, just to make it as biblical as possible.”
I was about to get a migraine from all the eyerolling this asshole was making me do.
“We’re not doing that. We just need to kill him, so either bleed him out, or tie him down so Blaze can burn him alive. Hey, that would be the biblical death. Like hellfire. Did I tell you I wanted to dress as the devil for this? Cal wouldn’t let me.” Was I pouting? Probably.
“Filth! Blasphemer!”
He grunted when Ethan kicked him in the ribs, while I dug my phone out of my pocket as it started to buzz with a call.
“Hey, dad,” I said as I answered it, watching Ethan as he crouched over the bastard and made some kind of threats involving the knife, since he was trying to illustrate his words with the movements.
“How’s it going, kid? You need backup? Scanners are clear, so nobody called for help that we can hear.” Thank fuck for that. The possibility of this monster surviving was even more disturbing than Ethan’s behaviour right now.
“Good. Hey, what the hell did you guys and Em do to Ethan? He’s disturbing even me right now.”
Dad Gray laughed, murmuring something to my other parents.
“About time fuckhead stepped up, and showed us who he’s meant to be. All that other shit was just bravado, innit.”
Seriously, stop making me eyeroll, everyone here was trying to kill my fucking eyes with this crap.
“He’s covered in blood, and looking to add another layer right now.”
“Good on him. Tell him I almost approve, but he’s got a way to go yet.”
“No, but we’re about to torch this place, and we’ll head off after that.”
Dad Gray groaned, and I knew the idea of the fire was getting to him, and he probably wanted to join us for that. Actually, why the hell was I keeping them away? This guy dying was the priority, but why shouldn’t they enjoy the rest of it?
“Wanna bring marshmallows?” I returned to Ethan’s side after the call ended.
“I think dad Gray likes you.”
He snorted, standing up and kicking unclefucker in the face accidentally on purpose.
“He’s a prick, but I kinda like him too. So, gut this fucker, or watch him burn? Both sound fun, and I’m torn.”
“You didn’t get to kill the bitch. You gonna get pissy if you don’t make this kill?”
Blaze ran back into the room, his face practically fucking glowing with excitement.
“Dad says he’s coming to join the fun, so I’m leaving some of the firestarting for him. Been a while, and I know he misses it.”
Yeah. My firestarter family. Suddenly all I really cared about though was my man out there, waiting in the car for this shit to be over. For his horrors to, not be over as such, but to start being righted.
“Ethan, you didn’t kill him yet?”
Ethan barked out a laugh and dropped back down over the man, giving Blaze the side eye, before he manoeuvred the struggling man, and sliced through the side of his throat.
Blaze cursed as arterial spray hit him in the face, and Ethan burst out laughing.
“You shoulda moved, man.” Karma’s a bitch. Blaze smacked the back of Ethan’s head as he stepped away from the dying man, stomping on his junk in the process. The soon-to-be-corpse tried to yell out in pain, but just made a choking sound instead.
“Let’s go burn shit up!” Blaze yelled, as I cast a last look around the fucking horrifying room, and shuddered. Yeah. Time to let it all burn.
Cal
When another car turned up, I thought for sure we were screwed.
Who the hell else would be turning up here right now?
There was murder and all kinds of shit going on in there.
Ash and his fucking insane family had dragged me into this stuff, and now…
oh wait. Just as I was trying to get Ren to hide in the footwell, I recognised the lanky bastard getting out of the car.
He ran straight towards the compound, and after him, his partners, Dory and Wilma, left the car, and followed at a slower pace.
“Who are they? Will they hurt us?” Well, damn, what the hell was the right answer? They were the Cross family, so it could probably go either way, but I hoped not.
“They’re Ash’s parents. They’re probably here to help him.” Gray had run in there like he was on fire, so hopefully that didn’t mean anyone was hurt. Against my better judgement, I opened the door and slipped out of the car, calling out to Dory, although I called him Mr Cross.
“Hey kid. You’re not up for a little murder?”
Wilma sighed, moving away from Dory and towards me. Her pale hair was pulled away from her face, and hell, even I could appreciate her beauty, although clearly women weren’t my preference.
“Are you okay, Callum? Are my sons okay?”
Dory laughed, pointing to the door of the building, as Gray and Blaze ran outside, whooping and cheering as the doorway erupted in flames behind them.
“Wait. Where the fuck is Ash?” I started to run for the door they’d just set on fire, and strong arms caught me, dragging me away.
“Where is he?! ASH!”
“Yeah?”
He appeared from the side of the building, just as his dad and brother released me, and Wilma hissed a bunch of curses at her husbands. Thank fuck he was okay.
“Ash, for fuck’s sake! I thought you were stuck in there!”
“Hey, you think I’m such a shit dad that I’d leave my son inside a burning building,” Gray demanded, but I ignored him, cupping Ash’s face in both hands.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded, taking a deep breath before that usual grin reappeared on his face, even though it was a little shakier and less confident than normal.
“Yeah, baby, he’s dead, and the place is going down to hell with him.”
“It was my revenge. He let me get splashed with blood first,” Ethan was saying behind us, laughing like he’d just had the best time ever.
“Ash?”
“Yeah, you okay? This was a big deal for you. He’s gone now, he can’t ever hurt you again.”
I nodded, resting my forehead against his, because that wasn’t what I’d been about to say.
“Yeah. I’m glad he’s gone. But look, there was something else I wanted to say. It’s important.”
Ash’s eyes widened and he pulled back so he could focus on me.
“Don’t fucking break up with me now. I’ll hunt you to the fucking ends of the earth, and drag you back kicking and screaming. Don’t try me, Cal. Don’t fucking try.” I couldn’t help grinning at him.
“I was gonna say your family is fucking insane, but I’m going to reword it. You and your family are insane, but I’m not going anywhere. I couldn’t now.”
“We brought marshmallows,” Gray yelled, and Ash started chuckling, shaking his head.
“You’re right, we fucking are, but I can’t imagine being a normie. It just seems weird. Laws, rules, why the fuck should we bother?”
I glanced at the car, at Ren, whose eyes were wide and excited, as he watched the compound burning to the ground, both palms pressed against the car window.
“Look, about Ren…”
Ash turned and caught a glimpse of the enthralled kid, grinning widely.
“We’ll make a Cross of him yet.”
“What?”
He smacked my ass as he headed for the rest of his family. “He’s coming home with us. That’s what you were gonna say, and I’m down. As long as he doesn’t get in the way of us fucking.”
He joined his family to toast marshmallows over a burning pile of wood that had been stored close enough to the building to catch fire too. In my opinion they were too close to the fire, but they were the experts, so who was I to argue?
I grabbed the car door and pulled it open.
“You want marshmallows with those crazy fuckers, Ren?”