Chapter 33 #2
"You're my dear brother, but you're not the ones I was talking about missing." Parker pushed away from the table. "And you'd be lying if you said you didn't miss them either."
Grey remained silent, apparently agreeing with Parker.
"What do you say? Want to question him?" Parker asked as he walked to the door. Grey pushed out of his chair and joined him.
The guys and I exchanged looks, but none of us seemed to know the right answer. It was Lake who made the decision.
"No." There was a moment of hesitation as something passed between Parker and Lake. "I trust you."
"Scary," Grey grunted but Parker ignored him, beaming.
"Perfect. We'll take care of it and leave Donnie to you. Don't wait too long to address the crowd a few hours away. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot." Parker was halfway out the door when he glanced back. “We can consider this the second favor you owe me.”
With a wink and a grin, he and Grey left, the door closing softly behind them.
From the second I met Amorette, I knew he wasn’t going to be a problem. In a weird way, he was also growing on me.
Not Lake though from his nonsensical grumbling as he dropped his forehead on my back.
"That was fucking wild." Joaquin blew some of the hair out of his face as he started shuffling his cards again.
"I'm wired and exhausted all at the same time. I say we close the club for renovations and reopen in a few weeks." Kim glanced at each of us. "It's not like we need the money."
"Sounds good to me," Atlas mumbled as he walked over to Joaquin, massaging his shoulders. "Here's your phone, Beasty.” He tossed it to me.
The screen was cracked, but otherwise it worked. How did so much happen when my phone hadn’t even had the time to die?
Desiree's name popped up.
Desiree: Here
"She's outside the offices. Let's take her to Donnie, and then we can get the bodies dropped somewhere." I slid off Lake's lap but froze. "What will you do with them?"
"Call one of the clean up crews." Lake held my hips as he stood up. His head dropped as he stared at the floor for an intense amount of time. “Hold that thought,” he drawled. “I might have an idea.”
Atlas and Joaquin helped Kim into a wheelchair left by the doctor. It was like the guy kept a hospital supply closet in his van. I shook my head.
Together we walked to the Gray Room, Desiree falling in line beside us as we went.
"What's wrong?" she asked, wringing her hands. We hadn’t talked about her being at Snatched or the fight in the hall, but Joaquin had filled me in.
I was just glad she was okay after getting caught up in our bullshit.
"Donnie is here." I kept my voice low in case any of the dancers had hung around.
Her eyes widened as all the color drained from her face.
I stopped, pulling her hands into mine. "He's not going to hurt you. He never will again."
She pulled in a shuddering breath. "Okay. You're right. Okay."
We resumed walking and when we reached the Gray Room, Guy was standing guard.
I sucked in a sharp breath. He’d washed the blood away and changed his clothes, but it didn’t hide the deep cut on his cheek or the swollen, red skin around it. His left arm was also in a sling.
"He's ready for you." He stepped out of the way, dipping his head in greeting to Desiree, his gaze lingering on her face.
Did he know why she wanted to see Donnie?
Desiree swiped her hands down her pants, swallowing several times.
"Desiree." I touched her shoulder, and her gaze darted back to me. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
"No, I want to." Her face firmed up. "I need to. After everything, I think I have to if I'm ever going to stop the nightmares."
"Wait." Guy stepped forward, holding a knife and tapping the gun on his waist. "Pick your poison," he said softly.
She raised her hand, hesitating on which one to pick before taking the knife. "I know it's messier but guns scare me," she said, like she had to explain herself.
I nodded encouragingly. Whatever she wanted to do worked for me. The boys and I stepped in behind her, not willing to let her face that asshole alone.
Donnie was in the same chair Desiree had sat in not so long ago, but the table was pushed to the side.
No one had cleaned him up, except to put tourniquets on his hands and feet.
I couldn’t see his feet, but his hands were swollen to the point they appeared water-logged and the skin was a pallid gray.
That wasn’t even taking into account the mangled flesh from the bullet wounds.
I winced, pressing against my stomach to stop the rolling.
Somehow, despite the pain and blood loss, he found the energy to be spitting mad.
"You don't know who you're fucking with. All it's going to take is one of the men to figure out where I am, and they'll come get me!" He didn't spare Desiree a glance, locking his eyes, or eye, on Lake. The other was swollen shut.
"Where are the suitcases?" I whispered.
"Guy stashed them in a secure location after the detectives searched the place," Lake whispered, turning his head so he spoke into my ear. "We couldn't keep them here, and after I decided I wasn't the idiot dickhead I used to be, I wanted them gone."
"Good call." I reached for his hand, threading my fingers through his.
"Look at me, you crusty cum bucket." Desiree pulled her shoulders back.
"Gaping fucking whore!" Donnie lobbed a bloody loogie at the ground.
"That’s what you’ve called me a hundred times, but I'm not the one swollen and bloody from a good pounding."
Atlas choked down a laugh as Kim looked scandalized, and Joaquin covered his mouth with his hand.
I couldn't hold in my snort, but it died quickly when the humor wore off. That was what this ass did to her. Beat her and made her bleed, and then called her names.
She didn't waste any time as she slammed the knife into his arm and dragged it down.
“Useless sack of tits! I can’t even look at you, you disgusting pig.” Her mouth pulled into a frown as tears streaked down her face.
He screamed, bucking against the ties holding him to the chair, but he wasn't going anywhere. She did the same to his other arm.
“Your ass is too flat. Lay off the pasta. Treat me like the god I am!” Desiree screamed so hard her body shook from the force.
His legs were next and she didn’t stop until his flesh pushed through the fabric of his pants.
“Don’t cry like a little bitch. I didn’t hurt you that bad.”
She saved his dick for last, stabbing his crotch, pulling until his pants ripped. He cried as he tried and failed to twist away from her.
“Your brother’s dick was bigger than yours!” Cocking back her arm, she stabbed his sad penis until I was pretty sure chunks of it fell to the ground.
“Ouch, on both fronts,” Joaquin muttered as he tipped his head back to avoid looking at the scene. I didn’t blame him, I didn’t want to see this either, but at the same time, Desiree deserved the support.
His face was beet red as sweat poured down his temple.
“Open wider, you nasty-ass cunt.” She used the knife to saw his cheeks open until his jaw dangled.
There was no fight left in him, and he’d long since stopped crying. Donnie had lost too much blood until he was just…gone.
When I thought she was done, she started all over again, literally tearing the man to shreds.
By the time we walked out, we had a new Desiree on our hands, and I was so fucking proud of her for taking her power back.
Unfortunately, we were leaving a scrap pile of a man for Guy to take care of. From how his eyes burned when he passed us, I didn’t think he minded.