Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
But even stronger than those feelings are the ones that make my spine straighten, make my teeth grind together and my hands fist. “He doesn’t need you to take care of him. He has me now.” At least, until I betray him and kill his father.
“Let’s hope you’re right.” A bartender approaches our table, and Cillian’s whole demeanor changes, now with a light smile. Probably because he wouldn’t have come to the table for anyone other than them. “Two beers. Keep them coming all night.”
“Same as always?”
“Yep,” Cillian replies, and the guy disappears.
“What if I don’t like beer?”
“Then you’re hanging out with the wrong people.”
But I’m not. To the marrow of my bones, I know I’m not. Even though it’s only temporary, I belong by Tiernan’s side.
We’re four beers in, when I run my finger in circles over the top of the mug, now allowing myself to make eye contact with him and ask. “Is he okay? Tonight? What if he needs us?”
Cillian frowns, then sits back in the booth, watching me. “Why would he need us? Nothing is going on.”
“I’m not fucking stupid. Don’t treat me like I am.”
He sighs. “He’s fine. Rory’s checked in with me. If they need me, I’ll go.”
“If they need you, I’ll be right there with you. Otherwise, I’ll have to hit you again.”
I’m surprised when Cillian laughs. “You’re not so bad, New Kid. You have a set of balls on you, that’s for sure.”
And though I shouldn’t, I take his words as the compliment he meant them as, feeling, just for a moment, like I belong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Tiernan
“I want to cut his dick off. Can I cut his dick off?” Rory asks.
Michael starts crying, trying to break out of the ropes that have him tied to the chair as he begs to be let free.
I lean against the wall next to my sister. I’ve spent some time playing with Jensen, of course, but I’ve kept close to her most of the time, wanting to make sure she’s okay.
Rory and I beat the shit out of him until he passed out, woke him up again, and now Rory’s playing with him. Torturing isn’t something I’ve done a lot of—Rory or Cil either—but most of what he’s been saying is all talk. What he wants is to get inside Jensen’s head, and he’s doing it. Sometimes fucking with someone’s mind is worse than any pain you can cause them.
“Sure.” I shrug, which makes Jensen scream and cry even more. “That’s what happens when you rape people.” I squeeze Aislin’s hand, then walk over to Jensen. “When you stick your dick where it doesn’t belong, you lose it. You make me sick.” I spit on his face.
“I didn’t touch her! I wasn’t going to touch her. It was a misunderstanding.”
“What was?” I cross my arms. “What did you do?”
His gaze shoots back and forth between Aislin, Rory, and me. He’s bloody and bruised. It stinks like blood in here too, but we’ve done well confining it to the plastic rolled out beneath the chair.
“Tell me what you did, and I’ll let you keep your dick.”
He wails, and I can’t pretend my stomach isn’t twisted up. Doing this shit always fucks with my head. There’s still that human part of me that knows this is wrong, that knows I should hate this more than I do, the part of me that knows he has family who will grieve him, and I hate that for them, but he doesn’t deserve to be here either. If anyone deserves to die, it’s him.
I hold out my hand, and Rory gives me his knife. I draw circles on Jensen’s boxer-covered groin with the tip. “What did you do? Tell me, or I let him cut off your cock.”
“Fuck…it was dumb, all right? I don’t know why I did it!”
“Did what?” I need to hear him say it.
He’s bawling, his words all jumbled with his tears when he says, “I put something in her drink.”
“What?”
Snot runs down his face and into his mouth. “Roofy. I fucking roofied her, okay? I swear I won’t do it again. Just please don’t—”
I drop the knife and punch him in the face, cutting off his words. “You think you can put your hands on my fucking sister! You’re going to suffer for this. You’re going to go through so much pain, you’re going to beg me to kill you.” I kick him in the chest, and his chair falls over.
“No,” Aislin’s soft voice comes from behind me. There’s resolve to it, that don’t-fuck-with-me tone that says she means business, but there’s pain in it too.
“No what? We can’t back out now. That’s not how this works, Ash.”
“I know. I just…I want it to be done. I want it to be over. I just want to kill him.”
“Ash…” Rory starts.