Chapter 2 #5
To the right of me, Stubbs and British hung from a meat rack, naked, bound by rope and duct tape, exposed and raw just the way I preferred them.
When it came to me, I didn’t give a fuck about a muthafucka dying with decency.
If it made it to this level, I no longer looked at the person as human.
I truly didn’t give a fuck. When Big G gave me the green light, I too was stripped of everything that made me human.
I was a fucking animal. Calculated and precise still but without the soul He gave me. Soulless, callous and cold.
I wrapped one arm around Jada, pulled her closer and pressed my lips against her sweaty forehead. In my arms, the trembling eased up. She went to lay her head on my chest, but I stepped back, to take in our guests.
Pivoting, I turned, clasped my hands in front of me and gazed up at Stubbs. The look on his face was priceless. Would sit with me until morning. Not in a haunting way but in a way that gave me satisfaction. I wanted it to be the last thing I saw before I slept.
He was disrespectful. Threatening. Tough. Thought he had it all figured out. Just to end up here, dangling, on the edge of the cliff of life.
After staring at him for a good twenty seconds, I shifted my eyes over at British, eyes fixed on that blonde wig. The blonde wig that belonged to my bitch. She wanted it so bad, she could die in it. It was hers. For life.
Looking away from her, I put my eyes on the steel tray, covered in tools, to the left of me.
Scalpel, mallet, razor blades, a couple of syringes and a few miscellaneous items I probably wouldn’t use.
There were only three I was actually interested in.
Zeke had added the others just in case. Probably because I hadn’t used them in a nice ass minute.
Tonight, though malicious, would be simple.
I was tired. Drained. Hadn’t slept in hours.
“What are we going to do?” Jada whispered.
I didn’t say anything. Ran my fingers over the handle of the scalpel before picking it up.
Stepping forward, I stood in front of Stubbs.
Locked eyes with him, reached up, and snatched the duct tape from his mouth.
He screamed. A deep, dark scream that came from the bottom of his soul.
He could scream as loud and for as long as he wanted to.
There wasn’t another human for at least five, ten miles.
Richards Meat Shop rested in a deserted area of Brickhaven.
More deserted than the area around the potato chip factory.
It was a dead zone around this bitch. Ten, fifteen years ago, it wasn’t.
Buyers came through, buying all of the houses in the area.
Tried to gentrify it. Got to building big ass houses and shit that no one paid for.
It was a bust. No one wanted to move to Brickhaven, MI, no matter how affordable the new builds were.
Nothing good came out of here. So, there were a lot of unfinished properties in the area.
Stripped of all metal, water heaters, and furnaces.
Completely gutted. That was the first and last time they tried to gentrify the trenches.
I stood with my hands clasped in front of me, eyes locked on Stubbs’s listening to his screams. When I fell asleep tonight, with the look of his eyes in my mind, his screams would reside there too.
And when I did finally close my eyes to rest, it would be with a smile on my face because I’d won.
I loved winning. Nothing gave me more satisfaction than that. Not even pussy.
“Pl—please,” he pled. “I—I’m sorry. It—it was her idea, bro. I swear to God. We—we needed pape for moms’ funeral and—”
“Ask God for forgiveness,” I interrupted.
“Huh—”
“God. Seek forgiveness,” I said, clenching down on my teeth. “Don’t waste precious time on begging. Talk to God.”
Because his words were falling on deaf ears.
I didn’t have shit for him. Stubbs’ was dead the minute the thought to get off on me crossed his mind.
I was sure something told him to pivot. I was sure that there was a little voice in the back of his mind that told him to go the other way.
Something that told him to do something safer.
Like hold a fundraiser, call a couple of churches.
Solo was generous—he would’ve helped him.
And if not Solo, maybe James down at God’s Temple down on Burt Rd.
Church might’ve been on the smaller side, but they would’ve looked out just because it was them they went to and not Solo’s church.
Hell yeah, mafuckas were in competition.
How that work though? People of faith, moving like that.
Look at me though.
There wasn’t a perfect soul out this bitch and with that God was perfectly okay.
“Pick a nut,” I said through gritted teeth, inching in closer to Stubbs.
“Wha—what?”
“Pick. A. Nut,” I repeated, before turning a bit, signaling for Jada to step forward.
She hesitated but she joined me.
“I want you to pick, baby doll. Since he can’t seem to,” I said, wearing a smirk.
“Huh?”
Mafuckas were deaf today, huh? I turned and faced her. “J.”
“What?” She asked, timid.
“Pick a fuckin’ nut,” I told her.
Her shoulder raised and fell. “I don’t want to, Exodus.”
I stood behind her and leaned in closer to her ear. Lifting my hand, I handed her the scalpel. “Pick a nut for me, gorgeous.”
Delicately, I kissed the side of her face. The side with the scar on it, to remind her of what they’d done. Trembling again, she took the scalpel from my hand.
I gripped her hand, steadying it. Locking eyes with her, I said, “Listen. Don’t overthink it. Pick a nut and be good with it. Move swiftly. You got it.” I let her hand go, leveling it with his nuts.
Her eyes filled with tears. “But X… I don’t want to.”
I clenched down on my teeth, nostrils flaring. “I don’t give a fuck. Do what you gotta do before I string yo’ ass up there with them.”
Her eyes widened. “Wha—
I flicked the tip of my nose. “You know how I feel about repeating myself, baby doll.” Lightly, I gave her a shove, and she stumbled a little forward. She looked between me and Stubbs, scared.
I stepped back, crossed my arms over my chest and waited.
I didn’t lie. I would string her dumb ass up there with them.
Jada inconvenienced me. I hated inconveniences.
Shit blew me for real. I would string her up there, cut her limb from limb and sleep peacefully tonight.
Why? Because Big G gave me the green light, of course.
There were no limits. No morals. No heart. No conscience.
I didn’t want Jada to think for one second that we were here out of love.
This was about control. This was about delivering a message.
Not just to British and Stubbs, but to her dumb ass too.
More for her than it was for them. Because soon, they would be the dearly departed.
Jada was lucky I was blessing her with the ability to live after this.
I lost sleep. I used resources. I put my life on the line.
My freedom. That came with a hefty price tag.
She just didn't know it. Not before today she didn’t.
I prayed to God she understood now. I prayed to God she knew how serious I was about what I told her.
Sit down. Chill. Stay out of the fuckin’ city.
She’d been moving too fuckin’ sloppy and goofy for me lately. I was sick and tired of it.
Stubbs squirmed. Tried to free himself from the chains but it was to no avail.
He was stuck. Helpless. Mine. At my mercy.
At Jada’s for the moment. But… he belonged to me.
Every part of him. The minute he made the dumb decision to cross me, it was up.
He was owned. His life mine to do with what I pleased.
It took her a minute, but Jada eventually picked a nut.
The left one. When her hand came in contact with Stubb’s body, he squirmed more.
The screaming… it commenced. I stood there, arms crossed over my chest, eyes locked on his eyes.
The eyes told a story. They always told a story.
He was horrified. The look of finality weighed heavy behind them.
He knew he was dying. I loved it. To witness it.
The eyes… they told so much. And his told me he had deep regrets.
They moved frantically around his head. Bounced around the room, looking for a way out.
Except there wasn’t one. That gave me chills.
Satisfaction like no other. In that moment, I felt like Big G himself, I was in control of so much shit.
Literally gave me the shivers, high key.
I looked away from him, stepped forward and locked eyes on Jada with that scalpel in her hand.
It shook. She hesitated but she gripped his nut and in one swift movement like I told her to, sliced it.
Slipped the scalpel across its thin skin and blood emerged.
I clenched down on my teeth again and told her to dig.
She looked over at me. I locked eyes with her.
Didn’t say anything. My eyes… they delivered a loud enough message.
She listened.
His screams were deafening. British’s too.
I’d kind of tuned her out. Was too locked in on Stubbs.
Mainly because I hated the way he’d spoken to me before.
That… It bothered me tremendously. The tone of his voice when he talked…
when he threatened to take her finger. That initial phone call.
When he answered it. He was ballsy as hell then, wasn’t he? Today, he was losing them both.
“Off with it, baby doll,” I whispered in Jada’s ear.
She looked over at me. Eyes wide. “Wha—
I scratched my chin. “Come on now, gorgeous. You can hear. Very well. Do that for me. Thank you.”