Easton #3
“As I was thinking of how I wanted to kill that cunt, I was building up to the actual torture, Diesel. There’s a fucking art to what I do.
Finesse fuckheads into thinking they are off the hook, then stab them or shoot them or tell them you’re about to do something gruesome to them.
Don’t do it immediately. Then scale back. ”
“I know how the fuck to torture motherfuckers, Johnnie,” Diesel growled.
“I’ll bet you don’t do it right,” Johnnie grouched, sounding like a petulant child. “I still say she was mine to kill.”
“You heard her,” Diesel said. “Val knocked me the fuck out because I was coming to fuck her up.”
“Yeah, because Outlaw might’ve wanted to kill her himself,” Val said. “And, you, Diesel, went crazy for the wrong fucking reason.”
“Rebel’s my little sister.”
“Okay, fuckhead,” Val said. “It’s a fucking pity you didn’t kill that bitch as Rebel’s big brother.”
“I did, too!”
“Did not,” Val yelled.
“You can agree that I should’ve been the one to kill Charlotte, right, Val?” Johnnie asked.
Val nodded. “Yeah. If Outlaw was here, it would’ve been a toss-up.”
Johnnie nodded bleakly. “I can’t fucking believe Charlotte.”
“Kendall loves Aunt Meggie and Rebel,” Diesel said. “We yank Brooks in the meatshack, show him what that cunt wanted to do, and make him tell Kendall he turned Charlotte over to us.”
“Kendall might not buy that,” Johnnie said. “Charlotte has led Brooks down more than one fucked up path and he’s always tried to protect her. FUCK! Why the fuck did this bitch betray my wife? She died too fucking easy. She needed to be disemboweled. Dismembered. Beheaded.”
“That means you giving her another fucking head,” Val said irritably. “It’s deheaded. The dictionary got it wrong.”
“Write to Merriam Webster,” Diesel said. “Otherwise, drop the argument. We can’t change the fucking definition.”
“We can say the right word,” Val said.
Johnnie brooded over Charlotte’s corpse, ignoring Val. Easton wasn’t sure how Bash felt about the exchange, but if he listened to a lot of what Val said, it was so easy to underestimate him. However, he was a chill dude and a loyal brother. Even when Easton was at the club as a spy, he saw that.
“We have to see if we can revive her,” Johnnie announced. “Let her recover, so I can kill her properly.”
“I thought the club didn’t kill women?” Easton managed to get out.
“There are special exceptions,” Diesel drawled. “You’ll learn.”
Johnnie lifted Charlotte. Half of her fucking face was missing. “Let’s patch her up.”
“Johnnie, you know that bitch fucking dead,” Val said in exasperation. “We can’t revive her so you can kill her again.”
Allowing the corpse to drop to the floor, Johnnie stormed to Diesel. “You had no fucking right.”
“Step the fuck back before I shoot the fuck out of you,” Diesel said.
“Diesel, you’re an arrogant fuckhead. You don’t get to tell me what to do,” Johnnie yelled, wild with bloodlust. No just fucking wild.
He pounded his fist against his chest. “I’m the Veep.
You knew I was coming in here to kill this cunt.
To avenge my wife. My children. I should fucking kill you for overstepping. Always the cock of the walk.”
“Johnnie, shut the fuck up,” Val warned. “The feed still live.”
“I don’t care!”
“Motherfucker, you should care,” Diesel snapped.
“Why? Because you’re Christopher’s son?”
“No!” Val said. “Because that motherfucker insane—” He pointed to Diesel— “and you fucking with him.”
“I fucking know Rebel didn’t fuck all the motherfuckers Charlotte named. Why can’t you give me the benefit of the doubt and believe me?”
Val frowned. “’Cause you’re you, John Boy.”
“Rebel hasn’t slept with any motherfuckers,” Diesel said, livid again. “If she had, they’d already been cockless and headless.” He pointed to Charlotte. “See her? If you open your fucking mouth about Rebel and spout that cunt’s lies, you’ll be in worse shape.”
“Charlotte got it from Beams and Tabitha,” Johnnie said.
“Two bastions of truth, so of course you believe them,” Diesel retorted.
“Tabitha is a lying bitch,” Johnnie said, “but Beams wouldn’t know that.”
“Both those bitches are dead,” Diesel said flatly.
“Nope, nope,” Bash said, shaking his head. “You can’t kill Tabitha. The peace agreement, fuckhead.”
“She’s spreading lies about Rebel and Aunt Meggie,” Diesel said. “If I don’t fucking kill her, Uncle Christopher will. I won’t employ my usual tactic for traitors out of respect to you. How’s that?”
Insane.
“Celia likes her, fuckhead. I already told you that.”
“I agree with Diesel,” Johnnie said. “Christopher isn’t going to spare her no matter who likes her.” His eyes lit up. “And, you can’t kill her, Diesel. You owe me. That’s my kill. You took Charlotte from me.”
“Absolutely not. I’ll scope someone else out for you, but I have to kill Tabitha.”
“Rock, paper, scissors is a good way to decide shit,” Val said. “Scissors beat paper. Paper beats rock. Rock beats scissors.”
Bash’s outrage almost comical. “Are you motherfuckers crazy?”
Easton could easily answer that: fuck, yeah.
“You can’t fucking kill that cunt,” Bash roared. “For the last fucking time, the—”
“Peace agreement,” Diesel and Johnnie chorused.
“Fuck, fine,” Diesel gritted.
“If anyone was deprived of killing that cunt it was me.” Bash nodded to Charlotte’s corpse. “I was supposed to fuck her up. You two motherfuckers were supposed to stay in that fucking room and wait for me to come in.”
“What she said should’ve been an automatic death sentence,” Johnnie flared. “You didn’t need fucking permission to kill that cunt with everything she was saying.”
“It was the fucking deal I made with Christopher, fuckhead,” Bash snapped.
“Since when do you fucking listen to Christopher?” Johnnie barked. “You never fucking listened to me.”
“Did you have anything to say?” Bash said. “Did you fucking acknowledge me as anything other than an enemy? Or treat me as your equal?”
“Did he fucking do that?” Johnnie asked.
“As a matter of fact, he did,” Bash replied.
“And gave us money,” Cleaner added. “Dividends as sons of the founding members.”
“I approved that, you know? He couldn’t have done it without me.”
“Easton, have you ever seen such insane fuckheads?” Bash went on.
Bash was one to talk.
“Fucking pussy,” Diesel snorted, throwing Easton a disgusted look, although he hadn’t responded. “Come on, motherfucker. “I’m ready to roll out.”