22. Kaleb
Kaleb
My knuckles blanch at my death grip around her stupid fucking baseball bat. Seemingly her only source of protection, and she didn’t even have that with her.
What was she thinking?
Icy cold fury slides through my veins as I stride up the porch steps and back into the club. Looks like it’s going to be another sleepless night, because the black cat decided to sneak around a fucking club in the middle of the night and almost get herself killed.
Somehow, it’s fallen on my shoulders to teach the girl a lesson.
I might have pushed the front door a little too hard, because Maddison and Roxanne both jump as the thing smashes against the wall.
Seeing the defeated slump in her shoulders and the open cuts that I didn’t put there makes me grateful Kai didn’t kill the fucker. Now I get to watch the life drain from his eyes.
I’ll make sure he’s a pissing, snivelling, begging mess by the time he takes his last breath. Dying like the incel fucking loser that he is.
It’s almost like I blacked out riding to the penthouse apartment to retrieve the black cat’s weapon, and now that I’m here, I can barely form words.
“Let’s go,” I mutter to her, fingers aching to slide over the fresh blood on her legs and the palms of her hands.
Her eyes spring to mine, the colour of an icy pool, red-rimmed from tears.
“W... what?” she whispers.
My teeth grit. She looks as if she expects me to explain myself. I’m not going to.
“We’re leaving.”
Her eyes slide to Maddison, nervousness shining there.
Good. She should be nervous.
Maddison opens her mouth, and I turn my glare onto her, and her teeth close with a clink. Even Ash doesn’t ask questions. They know me well enough to know I don’t do things without a cause.
When I turn my focus back onto Roxanne, with her mussed-up hair and torn-up shirt, she swallows, grimacing when she pushes off the stool. Her slippered feet connect with the ground, and every movement looks like it causes her pain. Something rough stirs low in my stomach.
I fucking crush the feeling.
This isn’t about her. It’s about my brother. The girl has become a liability, proven by the fact that she wandered around in the shadows of this place in nothing but an oversized T-shirt. Tonight is proof of everything I’ve thought about her from the beginning.
If Ash and Kai had arrived any later, there wouldn’t be anything worthwhile to salvage of the girl.
And Kai would never fucking recover.
And there lies the fucking problem.
She limps towards me, refusing to ask for help despite the way her steps falter, like the stubborn little thing she is.
For a split second, I think about closing the distance between us. My hand moves before I can stop it, so I curl it into a fist instead.
She needs to learn because Kai won’t be there every time she makes a stupid decision. And neither will I.
“You know where to go,” I growl, low enough for just her to hear.
She nods, a little whimper falling past her pouty lips. She makes her way through the front door, wrapping her arms around her body as the icy air hits us both.
I don’t comfort her. I won’t.
Remaining just a step behind her, I follow her as she leads the way to the abandoned factory building, also known as my torture chamber. The same one I strapped her to a St. Andrew’s Cross and unravelled her sweet little mind.
Her next step lands funny on the gravel, and her ankle twists. Before I know what I’m doing, I’m reaching for her, stopping her from colliding with the ground.
“Fuck,” I mutter, scooping up her small body and wrapping it around mine.
Timidly she wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.
My muscles are so stiff they feel like they are about to snap.
“Take this,” I growl, shoving the baseball bat into her hand.
With sharp claws, she wraps her fingers around the worn handle, clutching it tight in her grip.
“Thanks for getting Kitty for me,” she breathes, voice broken.
Kitty. She named her fucking bat Kitty. This night...
I ignore her, marching to where my brother waits. I kick the door open, and the beautiful whimper of a terrified man soothes something inside me.
I make it three paces before crouching, trying to set her back on her feet. She doesn’t let go. Instead, her arms close tighter around my neck and her legs squeeze around my waist.
A quiet, panicked sound escapes her, and she presses herself closer, burying her face against my shoulder. My entire body freezes.
“Black Cat...”
The way her warm breath lands on my neck has my brows drawing tight. She’s... holding me like I’m the safe one. Like I didn’t just carve a blade into her skin hours ago. Like I don’t bring men into this very building and strip away their souls before I strip away their bodies.
Nausea swirls in my stomach. I don’t like it.
“Black Cat,” I say, firmer this time. “It’s time to let go.”
Her grip only tightens, a shiver rolling through her soft body against mine. She’s scared. But not of me.
Stupid fucking girl.
With all my strength, I find her wrists and untangle them from my neck and ease her from my body. Finally able to breathe now that she isn’t clinging to me like a saviour.
Her pouty bottom lip trembles, but she grips that baseball bat with all her strength.
If she weren’t the bane of my existence right now, she’d look fucking sexy.
Right on cue, the man rattles his shackles, and Roxanne’s attention turns to him.
His wrists are shackled together, suspended by a chain that hangs from the ceiling. One eye is already swollen shut and his lip bleeds.
Her hand flies to her mouth, wide eyes stuck on the man. “Harrison,” she gasps.
My hands fist at the way she says his name. I don’t care if he terrifies her. She shouldn’t be saying his name.
Kai waits in the shadows, and I don’t think she’s even realised he’s here.
Questions sparkle in her eyes as she turns to me.
One of my brows rises, waiting for her to spit it out.
Her eyes flick from Harrison to me, and I see that mind whirring.
“What am I doing here?” she whispers.
With a hand on her lower back, I lead her closer to the man hanging by chains.
“Fucking bitch,” he spits. “Isaac is going to fucking gut you for this.”
Instead of the fear that I’m expecting to see on her face, her eyes narrow. She spins the bat in her hand, as if she’s done it a thousand times.
“He may,” she starts, a small grin curving on her lips. “But from what I know about this psycho over here,” she points the bat in my direction, “you’re about to face a much worse ending.”
His eyes flare, turning to me. I pay him no attention.
“Not quite, Black Cat,” I murmur. A line forms between her brows as she looks over at me. “You’re going to deliver that worse ending.”
The way her mouth pops open, forming a perfect O, makes me want to smile. Makes me want to fist my cock and shove it in that sweet little hole. I force my lips into a straight line.
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
In the dark space, our eyes lock. I watch the emotions play out on her pretty face like a slideshow. Shock. Indecisiveness. Doubt. But then I see something much more interesting. Hunger. Hunger for the revenge that she deserves.
“But I don’t know how...” she glances back at Harrison.
Lie.
I saw the face of the man she beat to a pulp. When Kai told me about it, my blood ran south and my balls grew heavy. Watching it in person would be a wet fucking dream.
“I’ll show you.”
This time I grin. If there is anything I’m good at, it’s killing people. Using all different techniques and weapons. At this point, I consider it an art.
But tonight, tonight is about teaching her ways to avoid what just happened.
I pull her back against my chest and wrap my arms around her, gripping the bat between our hands. If we weren’t all deranged murderers, this would be kind of cute. Like I’m teaching her to play pool or some shit.
“Roxanne, I swear to fuck. Let me go,” Harrison snarls.
But we aren’t playing pool. I can’t wait until she beats the arrogance out of him, and he starts begging. It will be a mission not to come in my pants like a damn teenager at the sight of it.
“Look at him, Black Cat,” I whisper in her ear.
She shivers as if I’m whispering sweet nothings, not murder instructions. God, she’s just as fucked as we are.
The tiny scars on her wrists flash into my mind.
Just like us.
Ours.
The thought makes me tense, and I push it far away. This is no place for these kinds of thoughts.
She steels herself in my grip, lifting her chin to glare at the piece of shit.
I grin against her neck. “Good girl. Now, if he approached you, where would you hit him?”
She inhales deeply before answering. “In the fucking dick.”
God, this woman.
“That’s one place. Another could be his skull, but you know that already, don’t you?”
She puffs her chest out. “Yeah, I do.”
“The problem with going straight for the head is that these men are bigger than you. Taller. Stronger. Their arms might block it and steal the bat. So where else?”
Her back arches, just a fraction, and the round globes of her ass rub against my hardening cock.
A grunt vibrates through my throat, and I squeeze my hands around her tighter. “Where else, Roxanne?”
Her voice is breathy as she replies. “I... I don’t know.”
Swinging our hands together, I cock the bat back over our shoulders, and swing, mimicking the action. “I want you to aim for the kneecaps. One good swing can shatter the bones, and then the fucker will be at your mercy. He won’t be able to run after you, and then you can finish the job.”
“Oh,” is all she replies.
Using all of my control, I step back from her perfect body, hissing through my teeth. When she turns, my mask is back in place, and I casually cross my arms and cock my head at her.
“Do it.”
Poor girl. She didn’t think I was serious. Her eyes widen, and her head shakes slowly.
“I can’t, Kaleb,” she gasps.
“You can and you will. We are not leaving this room until this fucker is dead. And as much as I want to be the one to do it, I won’t be.”