Chapter 51 #3
“Did you hear that, Joe? This bitch is truly crazy.”
Rue simply tilts her head a few degrees to the left and continues to stare at him. Fuck me, she’s channeling Pell’s unnatural stillness. It stops his laughter short and even has the hairs on my arms standing at attention.
“Crazy,” she says in a measured tone, “would be coming here unprepared. And Lester? I’m not crazy.”
Timms’s amusement vanishes, and he snatches the gun from his shorts.
What a shame. I was hoping he’d shoot his balls off.
“Hold her,” he snaps at me, gesturing with that fucking gun.
I want no part of this, but at the same time, I’m desperate to touch her again. I set my left hand on her shoulder and curl my right one around the nape of her neck, avoiding the scars on her shoulder and the fading bruises on her throat.
We’ll get through this, baby.
“I’m all ears.” Timms flings his arms out. “Please, tell us your big plan.”
She’s on her knees, her chin lifted in defiance. She’s never been more powerful.
“The prosecutor who replaced Greg knows the case against your ex-wife is bullshit, and your amateur frame job’s going to crumble faster than your hairline did.” She looks meaningfully at his stubbled dome, and if I wasn’t so scared for her, I’d be hard as fucking steel right now.
“My… my amateur…” A vein starts to throb at his temple. “There was nothing amateur about…” He’s too furious to realize he’s implicating himself.
“Sure, Les,” she says in full Marcia Brady mode. “You did great. That’s why I’ve built a full packet of information detailing all your fuckups when you killed Paul Franklin. It gets sent to the lawyer and every news outlet in town if I’m not back home by sunrise today.”
He gets in her face to shout, “I don’t believe you!” His gun stays at his side, but it’s far too close to her, and I’m sure my fingers are painful on her good shoulder as I fight to keep myself in check.
Rue doesn’t react. Not to me and not to him.
“That’s the beauty. You don’t have to believe me.
It’ll happen. And that’s not even the best part.
” She puts on a show of fighting against my hold to lean forward and mock-whisper, “It’s going to destroy your legacy.
All those men like this loser”—she jerks her head at me—“will find out that you’re even more of a pathetic cuck than they’re saying you are. ”
She tosses a glance over her shoulder.
“Ask your brother. He knows. Officer Timms couldn’t control his wife.
Lost a dick-measuring contest to her new boyfriend.
Got slapped around by the lady lawyer who let Angie go free.
” She shakes her head. “My god, imagine what your precious Philosopher Kings will say about you by the time I’m done. ”
Timms has gone from red-faced to pale, his knuckles white around the gun.
“Or maybe I’m making it all up.” She shrugs. “Who can say when you’re dealing with a crazy woman?” she says in a spooky voice, wiggling her fingers.
Timms is pacing the room now, but he stops to look at his new best friend Joe, a question on his face.
I incline my head sadly, reluctantly. Joe hates acknowledging that this is, in fact, the chatter around some parts of the forum.
Yes, some of it’s been spurred on by Fi’s anonymous accounts, but plenty of it’s authentic.
Timms shuffles to the couch and collapses with his gun on his knee and his phone in his hand.
“Watch her,” he bites out. Then he spends an agonizing five minutes scrolling, muttering, cursing, issuing threats to no one, and generally working himself into a terrifying lather, given he’s the only one of us in the room with a firearm.
Rue scoots back so her feet are tucked between mine. It’s as close as we can get while we wait.
Finally, Timms throws his phone aside with a growl and advances on Rue, his gun outstretched.
“I don’t care about your lies,” he seethes. “You’re dead, bitch.”
“Hey, brother.” Joe’s getting nervous. “Is this worth the risk? If she’s got stuff a prosecutor could use—”
“Stay out of this,” Rue snaps, and Joe, too, is in love with this woman who whips back around to glare at the man threatening to end her life.
“You never suspected I killed Navarro. You won’t ever find Greg’s body.
That’s my superpower, Lester. I decide what gets found and when.
And I’ve already decided what gets found about you. ”
“Oh? What’s that?” Timms tries to stay cool, but his jaw is tense, his forehead damp with sweat. She’s the smallest person in the room, being held in a submissive position by two big men and a gun, yet she’s the one in charge.
“Big, bad Officer Timms accidentally killed his replacement, then panicked and blamed it on the woman who did the replacing—and he couldn’t even get that to stick.” She gives a tinkling laugh. “Pretty pathetic, if you ask me.”
God, my baby’s smart.
“You want to talk about pathetic, you used-up slut?” Rage twists his face until he claws it back under control. Then he turns to me with a horrible smile. “You recognize her, right? From the video?”
Fuck.
“What video?” My thumb strokes Rue’s back when she stiffens. It’s the only bit of comfort I can offer her, delivered at the one point of contact Timms can’t see.
“Oh, she’s a star, man. Sucks that it got deleted from the forum a couple of months ago. Goddamn glitch,” he mutters.
“I’m the glitch, motherfucker,” Felicity hisses into our ears. I expect Pell to shush her, but after her outburst, there’s nothing else.
Timms crosses to stand directly in front of Rue, his dick at eye level in those floppy shorts as he pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Good news,” he says. “I saved it to my phone before it disappeared. It’s so rewatchable.” His words are for me, but his eyes are on her. “You won’t believe how good she looks when she’s getting face-fucked.”
“You’re disgusting,” Rue snarls, lunging forward and snapping her teeth with enough force that Timms skitters himself and his sad little dick out of biting range. I don’t have to make a show of hauling her back; she’s fighting like hell to reach him even though I’m restraining her.
Timms ignores her as he swipes through his phone. “Here we go. You’re gonna love it, man.”
He holds his phone up enticingly.
“No, I…”
I can’t bear this.
“I don’t go to those parts of the forum,” I say stiffly. It’s what his stepbrother said before we killed him, and for fuck’s sake, please let Timms leave it at that.
He doesn’t, of course.
“You owe it to yourself, brother.” He holds the phone out to me again.
Joe needs to watch. Joe would leap at the chance to watch.
“Yeah, okay. If it’s as good as you say it is.” I let Rue go, risking the lightest brush of my finger along her neck as I walk around her to stand next to Timms, frantically calculating how to get her through this with the least amount of damage.
Joe would make it hurt.
“I want her to watch me watch it,” I force out.
Timms’s face splits into a grin. “Fucking sick, bro. Do it.”
He hands me his phone—fingerprints, fuck—but when he doesn’t move from my side, I raise my brows.
“Did you want to be standing next to me when I get a boner?”
He lifts his hands. “You’re right. Sorry, man.” He shuffles backward to lean against the wall behind me. “Enjoy.”
I position myself so I’m between the woman I love and the monster at my back.
“Eyes on me, killer.”
She lifts her gaze to my face, her expression blank.
If she can bear it, so can I.
I love you. I hate this. I won’t look down. I won’t watch.
I hit play.
Tinny sounds pour from the speaker, but I don’t let myself hear them, and I don’t look at the screen.
I keep my eyes on her. She keeps her eyes on me.
It’s silent on the other end of our earpieces, but Rue knows they’re listening. She also knows men outside of our trusted circle have done far more than listen.
I keep my eyes on her. She keeps her eyes on me.
Joe can’t believe he’s watching this in front of her. Joe’s enjoying her humiliation on this video. I will fucking kill the man chuckling behind me.
“Pretty hot, right?” Timms asks in a buddy-buddy voice.
I keep my eyes on her. She keeps her eyes on me.
“Yeah,” I say softly. “She is.” I turn to face him. “And you’re fucked.”