Hunter
thirty-nine
RYDER SAID HE’LL be here in an hour.
He spent NYE with his family in NYC, but he sounded more than happy to return to Concord the moment I told him why I needed him.
It’s nice to have a friend more bloodthirsty than I am.
I also called Jamie. It’ll take him a little longer to get here, but he told me he’s coming. I don’t plan on asking him to do the dirty work – that’s more Ryder’s M.O. – but I need someone to watch over Stevie while Ryder and I are gone.
In the meantime, I duct-taped Joe’s legs and hands together. I can’t wait to drive him out in the middle of nowhere and beat the shit out of him. Until then, I’ve been content kicking him in the balls every few minutes.
The muffled screams coming from his duct-taped mouth bring a smile to my face every time. He’s never going to be able to use his dick again. He’s also not going to live to see tomorrow’s sunrise, so that point is moot.
All the kicking makes me thirsty.
I check in on Stevie to find she’s fast asleep, then head to the kitchen. They only have Diet Coke in the fridge, but it’ll do. Back in Stevie’s bedroom, I take a seat on Stevie’s desk chair and watch Joe. He hasn’t moved an inch. He looks utterly defeated. Let’s see if he actually is.
I rip the duct tape off his mouth.
To my surprise, he doesn’t unleash with a stream of profanity or start screaming at the top of his lungs. He groans and presses his face into the carpet, eyes closed. Maybe he is defeated. I probably would be if someone had been sporadically kicking me in the balls for an hour.
I might feel sorry for him if he wasn’t a predator.
I kick his foot. “Pay attention. How did you know about my deal with Stevie?”
“What deal? I don’t know anything about that.”
“Don’t play dumb, prick. I know you sent that tip to the school paper.”
He eyes me warily. “Tips to the paper are anonymous.”
“Sure. That’s what they tell you. But if they want to find you, they use your IP address.”
Joe’s eyes blaze, nostrils flaring.
I smirk. “Guess you didn’t think that one through.”
“That’s private information. The paper isn’t supposed to give it out to anyone.”
“I can be very persuasive.” I check my watch. Ryder should be here in the next ten minutes. “But you didn’t answer my question. How did you find out about me and Stevie in the first place? Don’t lie. Unless you want another kick to the balls.”
Joe grimaces. For a few seconds, he’s quiet, just staring into the distance with a twisted expression on his face.
“I hacked into her email,” he says in a low voice. He sounds like a man who knows his time is up. “And I saw the contract.” He laughs. “It didn’t surprise me. I pegged Stevie as a slut the moment she came in to interview with me.”
I tell myself to remain calm. “She’s not a slut just because she’s pretty and didn’t want to sleep with you. She never owed you shit. You’re a fucking rapist. How many other young women have you stalked and threatened?”
He eyes me with more hatred than I’ve had directed at me my entire life. Even on the ice, facing off against our biggest rival, wasn’t like this. This fucker is a psychopath.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he rages. “Those sluts deserved it. I’d rape every last bitch on this planet if I could.
Fuck them!” He writhes and wiggles on the ground, fighting against his restraints.
I take a fresh strip of duct tape and slap it over his mouth, then kick him in the balls again. His scream is guttural.
A knock on the front door heralds the arrival of Ryder. He walks in looking feral, hair all messed up, his leather jacket and motorcycle boots making it clear he rode here on his bike.
“Made good time, bro,” I say, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Anything for you, Cap.” He nods toward the bedroom. “What’re we dealing with here?”
I lead him inside Stevie’s bedroom and shut the door. “We’re dealing with trash that needs throwing away.”
Joe struggles to get up to a sitting position, and promptly falls back down. I rip off the duct tape again. “Fuck you!” he shouts. “You’re not gonna do shit to me. My brother’s a cop. He’ll know where I am. He’ll know how to find me. Let me go and I won’t press charges.”
Ryder and I share a look. “Press charges?” I echo. “Against me? My father can buy and sell your entire family. If you want to keep your family safe, I recommend disappearing into the fucking void, willingly.”
Ryder grins, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Listen to the captain, bro, he’s giving you the easiest way out. If it was up to me, I’d find everyone you care about and torture them while you watch.”
“Fuck! You!” Joe thrashes around so hard I think he might dislocate a shoulder.
I turn to Ryder. “You got the stuff?”
His eyes twinkle. “Of course, I do.” He takes out a bottle of chloroform and a strip of gauze, dousing the latter with the former. He stalks toward Joe and pulls his head back, slamming the medicated strip of gauze onto his nose and mouth. Joe struggles for a while, then goes limp.
Ryder discards the gauze in a small plastic bag. He has the most diabolical grin on his face when he looks at me. “Man, I did not know I’d be starting off the new year with such a bang.” He enfolds me in a tight hug. “I love you.”
I clap him on the back. “I’m not trying to fan the flames of your bloodthirstiness, but this asshole’s gotta go.”
“Of course, he fucking does. What’s the plan?”
“First, we shove this piece of shit into the trunk of my car.”
Ryder nods, adding, “Then we drive him out to the woods.”
“I want to leave him tied up and bury him alive.”
Ryder’s eyebrows climb halfway up his forehead. “Holy shit. A man after my own heart.”
“That’s what I want to do, but not what might be possible. It’s been getting colder and colder. It’ll be hard to dig into the frozen ground. Maybe even impossible.”
“Nah,” Ryder says, eyes sparkling with malice. “I have some holes dug up in random places.”
When I quirk a brow, he shrugs. “What? You gotta be prepared.”
“How many people did you have planned for an early grave?”
He puts a hand over his heart, and solemnly says. “I haven’t killed a single person this year.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, no shit. It’s the first day of the new year.”
“You gotta begin as you mean to go on.”
I give him a look. “Where the hell did you hear that?”
“I don’t know. Oprah?”
I shake my head, holding back a laugh. “Soon as Jamie gets here, we’ll set the plan into motion.”
As soon as I say those words, there’s a knock on the front door. I let Jamie in, giving him a one-armed hug. I hope he’s ready for what he’s about to see. Jamie doesn’t get his hands dirty if he can help it. He’s the most stable and even keeled of the three of us.
He walks into Stevie’s bedroom and lets out a low whistle. “Well, what do we have here?”
“Ryder and I will take care of this douchebag. I need you to stay with Stevie. She’s asleep in the living room. When she wakes up, can you assure her everything is fine and then take her to my place?”
“Of course, Cap. Whatever you need, I’m here.”
“Thanks, man. I owe you.”
He nods, still staring at Joe’s unconscious figure on the floor. “So, what’re you two psychos gonna do?”
“We have a plan,” Ryder says, in a tone that says end of discussion.
Jamie glances at him then at me then back at Joe. “I didn’t see a thing.” With that, he turns around and goes to Stevie’s side.
Ryder eyes me. “You ready?”
“Let’s fucking go.”
TWO HOURS LATER, we’re deep in the woods behind Ryder’s family’s estate.
We dumped Joe’s body in a cart Ryder had in the garage and rolled him into the forest. Vast improvement over having to carry his dead weight the whole way. Coach would kill us if we got injured before a game. And the fucker’s at least 200 pounds.
He’s still unconscious, but Ryder has the chloroform-soaked gauze ready to go in case Joe wakes up.
“Still trying to figure out why you dug a bunch of graves on your own property,” I say as we near our destination.
“It’s only four or five of them, relax. It’s not a whole cemetery’s worth.”
“Okay. Why though?”
“Sometimes I gotta do some dirty shit for my dad, alright? Enough questions.”
“Got it.”
After what feels like forever of dragging Joe over roots and uneven ground, Ryder signals for us to stop. “It’s over there,” he says, pointing. I don’t see anything until he flashes his flashlight over the area. A dark green tarp covers what I assume is the grave. A mound of dirt is beside it.
Ryder cuts me a look. “Here’s the easy part. We dump him in there and shovel the dirt over him. Nobody will ever find him. Plus, it’s forecast to snow tomorrow.”
“You’re a maniac.”
“Hey, you’re welcome.”
I grin. “I owe you my firstborn child.”
“Keep it. I’d rather babysit occasionally, but I don’t want an infant in my life. Ever.”
I snort. “Whatever you want, man.”
It doesn’t take long to do everything. Maybe 20-30 minutes later, Joe is six feet under, still duct-taped and restrained. Ryder pats the covered grave with the back of the shovel a few times. But once snow comes to cover it, I’m not going to worry about whether we did a good job of covering it up.
I don’t even care. Rapists deserve to die. He tried to kill the love of my life. I’m not sparing him another thought as long as I live.
“You good?” Ryder asks.
“Never better.”
“I know you don’t, but I need a fucking drink.”
“I gotta get home to Stevie.”
“Yeah, you do that. See you at practice in two days.”
We walk back to Ryder’s childhood home and take off in separate cars. I can’t wait to see Stevie and hold her tight in my arms and go to sleep.