9. Raining Blood #2
Debra looked at her daughter, alarmed. “Deja, are you in trouble?”
“N-no,” Deja said quickly. “It’s um… paparazzi. They’ve figured out where I am, and I’m trying to throw them off to focus on my work.”
Jared looked at Deja suspiciously before glancing at Jax. “Regardless of what’s goin’ on, I trust you will keep my daughter safe.”
“With my life,” Jax said without hesitation. Jared nodded while Deja smothered her daughter with kisses and hugged her mother. Holding Chloe, Jax looked into his daughter’s blue eyes. “I’ll be back for you, bana-phrionnsa…” He kissed her forehead before reluctantly handing her to Jared.
Stepping out of the house, Deja sharply exhaled, unsure how she’d be able to handle being away from her daughter. “How can we be sure Reapers won’t attack again?” she asked, following Jax back to the car.
Holding the door open for Deja, Jax held his phone to his ear. “Big Daddy J. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Esme answered.
“I’m in the Atlanta area. I need you to assign your best security to Deja’s family. Use government surveillance,” Jax ordered.
Esme dramatically gasped. “You’re giving me permission… to break Society rules?”
“Yes.”
“Done. Can I speak to Deja?”
“We’re busy,” Jax said curtly as Deja rolled her eyes.
“Bossy, as usual. I hope you guys haven’t let your male rage destroy her pussy,” Esme teased.
“They have!” Deja shouted.
“My poor girl!”
“Goodbye, Esme,” Jax said, hanging up.
As they pulled up to a rundown warehouse on an isolated side of town, Deja felt a burning heat bubbling in her stomach. She felt both eager and anxious. “Stay in the car,” Jax said, getting out.
“What? No! I’m coming with you,” she said, following him.
Jax stopped and turned to face her. “We’re not chatting, Deja. The plan is to torture and kill.”
“Yeah, I know…”
Raising a curious brow, Jax grabbed her hand and led her towards the warehouse.
From the moment they stepped through the door, she could smell the strong odor of urine, vomit, and blood.
Her hand flew to her nose to suppress the smell.
She could hear the men talking before she spotted Caleb and Keith packing up a dismembered body while Ian was wrists-deep in a man’s torso.
Caleb glanced to the side when he heard the door. “You brought her?!”
“I asked to come,” Deja said before Jax could respond.
The three men looked at her, startled as she approached the table and stared at the dead body. She glanced at Ian, who was staring at her, surprised. “Did you get the information you needed from him?” she asked. “About who’s targeting my family?”
Ian blinked at her. “...not enough…”
Deja bit her lip. “What do we do now?”
Ian suddenly smiled as he snapped the band of his bloody glove. “We’re just getting started, sweetheart.”
As Keith carried the last remaining survivor of their onslaught over his shoulder, he glanced at Deja leaning against the counter, her eyes watching him.
Instead of tying the man up as he had done with the other, Keith stared at Deja as he tossed a hook over the ceiling pipe and shoved it into the man’s spine as he screamed.
Keith saw Deja’s eyes widen and her jaw tense as her fingers dug into the wood. Licking his lips, Keith playfully pushed the man as he swung from the hook, blood dripping down his back.
“Are you showing off for her?” Jax’s voice echoed from the back of the room. Deja glanced over her shoulder and saw Jax lingering like a dark shadow in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest. His sharp blue eyes watching her.
“Not often my baby gets to watch me work,” Keith grinned. Caleb snorted while Ian shook his head with a grin.
“Will you teach me?” Deja asked suddenly, surprising them.
Ian considered her carefully. “Come here…” he said, holding out his hand. Deja stepped forward, taking Ian’s hand before he pulled her towards the table. “Choose one,” Ian ordered, standing behind her.
She felt Ian’s lips caress her shoulder as she glanced at the sharp, bloody objects. She picked up the boxcutter. Caleb raised a brow. “Boxcutters are messy…” Caleb said. Deja looked at Caleb while sliding the blade up. Caleb smirked, amused. “...well, alright, you fucking tease…”
“When you’re pulling information from someone, the key is to enact enough pain that it’s unbearable, but not too much that it will kill them,” Ian said, taking her hand.
Jax tilted his head as he watched his brother instruct Deja as if he were a professor and she were his student. Jax was intrigued by how intently she listened. As if she were studying for an exam.
Her body was tense and anxious. And she was uncomfortable causing their victim physical harm, especially when he pleaded for his life. Her empathy was a handicap.
“Don’t let him psych you out, baby,” Keith said, shoving the hook deeper inside the man’s back as he howled in agony. But Deja wasn’t quite there yet. She backed up anxiously until she bumped into Caleb behind her as he grabbed her shoulders.
“Don’t feel sorry for him…” Caleb said, trying to soothe her.
“Remember, this man attacked your family.” Deja watched Caleb walk around her before removing his switchblade and slicing one of the man’s fingers clean off.
He cried out in pain as Keith grabbed a lighter and burned the flesh until it stopped bleeding.
“Don’t want him to bleed out just yet,” Keith smirked at Deja.
Deja watched Ian, Caleb, and Keith take turns on their victim, pulling the information they needed. And as she watched them enact the most grotesque violence, tearing this man to shreds, she couldn’t understand why she felt… turned on.
From the way Keith broke bone until it split through skin to the way Ian sliced layers of skin from muscle as if he were peeling an apple, Deja was disturbed by the arousal that slicked her thighs. Her pussy throbbed. Her nipples ached. Her fingers dug into the table. When was she ever into this?
“It’s her turn,” Jax’s voice suddenly echoed. Deja almost forgot he was still watching her from behind. She wondered if he knew what this was doing to her.
“We already have what we need,” Caleb said.
Jax tilted his head back. “Let her finish him off.”
Deja looked at Jax as he approached her. “You told me that you spent the past 20 years placating others at a detriment to yourself to avoid the angry, aggressive stereotype that defined your experience on this disgraceful, pathetic planet,” Jax said.
She stared up at him as Jax gently grabbed her chin. “There’s no judgment among Reapers, Deja. You are the judgment. Now fucking rage!”
There was a time when that crazed look in his eye terrified her. This time… it inspired her.
Clutching the boxcutter in her hand, Deja approached the bleeding man. Her breathing escalated as she stared at his bloodied face. “Just do it already, you fucking bitch,” he sneered.
Keith instinctively flipped his blade between his fingers, but Deja was already shoving the boxcutter into his torso.
Ripping out the blade, she sliced him again and again as blood splattered her face, her clothes, her hands.
She was completely covered. Slicing with a boxcutter was a different sensation than when she stabbed the landlord with a kitchen knife.
The boxcutter sliced through flesh like butter as blood rained her masterpiece on the floor.
Jax tilted his head back, a smirk of pride teasing the corners of his mouth. As Ian watched Deja finally slice her victim’s throat, crimson blood painting her beautiful dark-brown skin, he hardened with excitement at the thought of demolishing her pussy.
Breathing heavily, Deja stepped back away from the swinging lump of flesh before Keith abruptly grabbed her face and slammed his lips into hers.
“Holy fucking Roselyn!” Keith groaned, aggressively grabbing her ass as he lifted her onto his waist, blood smearing between their bodies.
“That was the hottest fucking- You sexy little- Goddamn- Fuck!”
“Keith!” Jax snapped, pulling him off.
Deja laughed as she stumbled backward before Caleb caught her. “Fucking psychopath,” Caleb smirked.
Deja chuckled. “He’s not that bad.”
“Mmm. I was talking about you…” Caleb grinned, pinching her waist.
“Hey!” she gasped, slapping his shoulder as Caleb snickered.
“Get rid of the body,” Jax ordered while taking Deja’s boxcutter. “Burn this shit down. We’ll take Deja back to the hotel and head out.”
“Whoa! Whoa!” she said, stepping in front of Jax. “I’m going with you.”
Jax laughed. “No. You’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” she snapped.
“You’ve had your fun. But playtime is over,” Jax said, sidestepping her again. But Deja shoved him backward until Jax glared down at her. “We’re not doing this again, Deja. Don’t make me tie you up.”
“I’ll fucking bite you if you try,” she threatened.
“You can bite me,” Keith smiled.
“Shut up, Keith!” Jax and Deja said simultaneously. Caleb snorted as Ian shook his head.
“Just let her come, Jax,” Ian sighed.
“Yeah, Daddy…” Deja said with her hands on her hips as she smirked up at Jax. “...just let me cum…”
Jax’s gaze darkened with hunger as his jaw tensed. “Well, fuck… me…” Ian said, surprised.
“See, no. She’s not playing fair anymore. Keep her ass at the hotel,” Caleb snorted.
“I love this game! Let’s bring her!” Keith said, unhooking the corpse.
Jax could tell Deja was testing him. She knew she had him wrapped around her finger. That he would do anything for her. That he was completely at her mercy. And even as he towered over her. Stronger. Bigger. Scarier… The look in her deep brown eyes brought him to his knees.
“...fine…” he muttered reluctantly.
“Do I really need to wear this?” she asked, holding up a tiny leather skirt.
“It’s a grunge backhouse rave. You need to blend in,” Keith said, slipping on a sleeveless hoodie.
“Okay, get out so I can get dressed,” she said.
“Baby girl, I’ve seen you naked so many times that your pussy is forever ingrained in my brain like a shrine I worship-”