Detached.
Crush
The first thing I knew when I woke up was that my shoulder fucking hurt, and the second thing I knew was that I couldn’t move. I opened my left eye, my right eye giving a protest of pain.Swollen shut, I realized. I was on my back, spread eagle and arms out, wrists and ankles shackled down.
I lifted my head, looking around. It was dark—there were no windows—and I could just barely make out the door. The basement of the Chinatown warehouse, if my estimation was correct. It was a familiar space, but not a position that I had ever found myself in. Usually, I was on the other side of the shackles.
This was the same room I had tortured Callie in—and my heart raced at being on the other side. And if I knew who my tormentor would be, it wasn’t going to be as easy as I had been on Callie. King was ruthless, especially to traitors. My head was pounding from the exertion of keeping it up, and I laid back down with a sigh.
Fuck.
The events of however long ago replayed in my mind, and I tried to figure out what was missing in the old memory bank. The conversation with Prince, sure. That was clear enough. Brianna called—said she had been stressed with work. I volunteered to come over, smitten as ever with the woman.And I walked right into the trap, I groaned. But thinking back to the phone call, she did sound tense. At the time, I thought it was stress, but then when she ran out to the balcony and King followed her—
That son of a bitch, I thought.If he hurt her, if he had a gun to her head, I will rip him limb by limb.
Brianna’s scream pounded in my head on stereo. She was put up to this, a puppet of King’s will. The vision of his hand around her mouth had me seeing red. But the slap he dealt her for whatever reason other than he could had my blood boiling. She was my woman, and I was supposed to protect her. She wasn’t helpless, and I knew her hands had been metaphorically tied. But as hard as she fought against him that day—I could fight against him too, and just as hard, today.
I heard footsteps and the door opened, and I had to shut my eyes against the sudden intrusion of light. I couldn’t count how many people had come in, which left me at a rather stark disadvantage. The door shut, closing out the light, and I opened my eyes. Not that it helped—my right eye was still useless. I could make out at least two people, and the stark white suit of King was hard to miss. That made a total of three.
There was the sound of scuffling feet, and then suddenly, a heavy boot came down on my left hand. The one that I now recalled being already crushed to smithereens. I let out a roar of pain; red slashes burst across my eyes. I opened them, seeing King in his full height above me, a shit-eating grin on his face. His dark eyes looked almost demonic in the low light.
“Did you honestly think I’d be stupid enough not to watch even the closest people to me at all times?” he growled. King lifted his boot and kicked my ribs—hard. King rarely acted out so violently. “What was your plan, huh?”
“Didn’t…have…one,” I managed, clenching my teeth to keep my mind off of the pain.
“Bullshit!” he roared.He’s full of it, I thought.He doesn’t know more than the basics. And how much has King gotten from people by just sounding like he held all the cards?“When I ask a question, I want the truth! Now tell me, what was your plan?”
I ground out, “I didn’t have one, asshole.”
King put a heavy boot on my left shoulder and applied pressure. I bit my lip until I tasted blood. He trained us to keep quiet during interrogations—guess that was biting King in the ass now. Not that there was much for me to even reveal in the first place. I had an idea, nothing more. But no matter how many versions of that truth I told him, he wasn’t satisfied.
“Do I need to call up that woman of yours?” King sneered finally. He paused, a wicked smile on his face. “Better yet, maybe I should tell you all the plans I have for her. Tell me, Crush, what’s she like? Does she taste as sweet as she looks?”
“I will fucking kill you,” I growled, looking at him in the eye. “Do not touch her.”
King laughed a hollow chuckle. “And what if I already have?”
I struggled against the restraints. No matter what—King was a dead man. He smirked, giving me a swift kick to the cock in frustration. I stopped struggling, the blow taking me by surprise. I took a deep breath, pain igniting my whole body. I gave King a death glare, breathing through clenched teeth.Like a fucking dog, I thought.His whole face was marred by anger and paranoia. He was done with me; that much was clear.
“Pathetic,” King spat. He made his way to the door and opened it to let in the light. I squinted again, but I tried my best to keep my eye on him. There was an outline of a person, and I could make out just a little bit of blond hair. King turned to Prince. “You want to prove your loyalty? Finish the job. Get information out of him or kill him.”
The door slammed, leaving Prince and me in the room alone. After a beat, I heard his heavy footsteps as they came beside my head. He cocked the gun, and I could barely make out his form. I closed my eyes and waited. If he was going to kill me, I knew he’d make it a quick and easy death. But I had a feeling that Prince wouldn’t kill me, and I had hoped I was right.
“Fucking tell me!” he yelled, the sound of his deep voice so aggressive had me a little on edge. He knelt down, but he had the gun in his holster. He gave me a knowing nod and continued, “I swear to God, Crush. I will fucking end you. You think you can just threaten my father and get away with it? He’s right; you’re such a fucking coward.”
Prince quickly took the cuffs off my wrists, and there was a clanging as the metal hit the floor. He did the same thing to my ankles, reaching his hand out to help me up. I grabbed it with my right hand, and he helped me up to my feet. I managed to open my right eye a bit, trying to see Prince in his entirety. He took out the gun again and fired a round into the concrete floor. I let out a roar of pain, and Prince smirked at my playing along with his little gimmick.
“You’re gonna face me down like the coward you are,” Prince seethed. “And I want to know who your allies are. How many men did you turn?”
“I’m not telling you shit,” I seethed, trying to sound in pain, which wasn’t hard. I was in pain, just not from being shot by Prince. But I figured King was listening outside, or at least had some monitor on the room. “You’re such a little bitch like your father.”
“Jesus Christ, dude, damn,” Prince whispered low, changing the gears. His eyes were wide, not with panic but with concern. “I need a plan.”
“Make something up. You’re better at it than me,” I shrugged with my good shoulder.
“You’re going to need to get the fuck out of here,” Prince nodded. “Don’t come back. Not for me, not for the chick. Nobody.”
“Read you loud and clear,” I said quietly. I tried to think of the position of where we were. The warehouse in Chinatown. That was easy enough to form in my mind’s eye. “The alley? Is it daytime or nighttime?”
