I knew as soon as he saw it. He yelled, “What the hell?” and turned to me, a horrified expression on his face.
“Surprise, motherfucker,” I calmly said before knocking him out with one punch to the face.
Frowning, I looked down at the pile of shit on the floor. “He always did have a glass jaw.” I was at least hoping for some type of fight.
I heard heavy footsteps behind me as they scraped across the worn wood of the cabin. I didn’t turn around.
“Most pricks like him do,” Rick remarked, glancing over my shoulder at Jack.
I looked up and met the eyes of Cohen as he sat tied up, cloth stuffed in his mouth, nose bleeding and eye swelling.
“Let’s play a little game, shall we?”
Pushing the door closed, I locked it.
Cohen’s eyes fell to the doorknob, the fearful expression on his face increasing as I turned the lock.
“Don’t worry, you had no hope of walking out of here alive anyway,” I stated, moving closer to Cohen.
I patiently waited for one of Rick’s employees to drag Jack’s unconscious body over to the couch, tie his hands behind his back, and gag him as well.
“You have the smelling salts?” I questioned Rick.
“Sure do.” He pulled a packet of the salt from the pocket of his jeans, tore it open, and waved it under Jack’s nose.
A few seconds later, Jack’s eyes were blinking open as he shook his head. He tried to speak and that was the moment he remembered where he was. He also realized that he too—just like his cousin—had been bound and gagged.
“Shh, shh, shh,” I hushed. “Don’t try to speak. I can’t stand the sound of your voice. It makes me sick.”
Methodically, I removed the leather bomber jacket I’d worn and tossed it onto the armchair to my right. Sitting down on the wooden coffee table, I faced the two idiots who really thought they were smarter than me.
“You know, they say two heads are better than one. But in your case …” I looked between the two of them. “Didn’t I say don’t fucking speak? Look what happened to Cohen when he tried to talk after I’d told him not to.”
Rick came over and abruptly turned Cohen’s head so his left side profile could be seen by Jack.
Muffled screams sounded as soon as Jack saw the bloody stump that was once Cohen’s left ear.
“He couldn’t listen, so obviously his ear was useless to him.” I shrugged and Rick let go of Cohen who fell back against the sofa, somewhere between consciousness and fainting. “Don’t you dare fucking faint on me now, Cohen. The fun is just beginning. Besides, we’ve got plenty of smelling salts to keep both of you awake.”
“So …” I began as I stood, “before we really begin, do you gentlemen have anything you’d like to say?”
I nodded my head in the direction of one of Rick’s men who then removed the gags from Jack and Cohen’s mouths.
“What that hell are you doing, man? We’re fucking friends!” Jack screamed, terror reflecting in his eyes.
I moved to stand in front of him, crouching low so he could see the gleam of disdain in my eyes. “Friends? Were wefriends,Jack? Is that what the fuck we were?”
“Yes!”
“Really? So afriendplots with his father behind my back to topple my family’s legacy and business? A friend schemes with his family to try and take everything I have?” I moved on Jack, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, bringing our faces nose to nose. “Does a fuckingfriendlie about another man’s wife to his fucking face because he was pissed she wouldn’t let him into her fucking bed?” I released Jack’s shirt only to curl my right hand into a fist and land another blow across his nose. I didn’t even flinch when blood squirted out, landing on my face and shirt.
I stepped back, taking a handkerchief that was offered to me by one of Rick’s men to wipe the blood from my face.
“Don’t ever tell me we were friends. My wife turned you down in college. You were pissed that the pretty rich boy charm every other woman fell for didn’t work with her.” I crouched low again. “It wasn’t that she wasn’t good enough for you. She’s too good for you and you knew it.” I threw the handkerchief against his chest.
“And you used your son of a bitch cousin as part of your little scheme.” I moved over to Cohen, ignoring Jack’s moans of pain as the gag was stuffed back into his mouth.
“T-this was all h-his fault,” Cohen stammered out, obviously not looking for anymore trouble.
