I promised him when we came here that everything would be okay, that they would take care of us and that I’d always take care of him.
But it’s not okay. It’s never been okay. Within a month of moving here the beatings started. We’d been here for two years when he figured out what was going on. Fucking six years old and my little brother asked me if our aunt and uncle were hurting me. I tried to play it down, tried to pass it off as nothing, but even at six he wasn’t fucking stupid. And the day he saw them throw me down the stairs because I was late home from school was the day he stopped talking. To them, at least. The only time he opens his mouth in this house is when he thinks they won’t be able to hear him, or at night when his nightmares plague his sleep.
They threatened to beat the words out of him one night. That was the only night I’ve stood up to them. I paid for it, but they left him alone after that.
Chapter Two
I watch as the blood drips from the wounds on his arms. I’d gently sliced fifteen one-inch cuts along each arm after we strung him up on the cross.
It’s not that kind of cross, we’re not religious men. This was built by our brothers before us in the aid of torture and retribution. To make those who hurt us pay.
And this fucker right here deserves to pay. He helped kidnap and torture my VP’s woman.
She’s still healing from the shit that these guys put her through. This fucker though, he’s just a pawn, there to do the bidding of his brothers. And he’ll pay for doing that bidding.
Sure, I get off on this shit, but I’m really enjoying making this lousy piece of shit pay, and I can’t fucking wait to capture the rest of his MC and get some revenge. Taking out the Poisoned Devils will always be one of our aims, but our main focus isn’t on hunting those fuckers down—Snake is the fucker we really want. The pain he’ll endure won’t be at my hand though, that pleasure lies with Wrath.
I’ll never understand why he would turn his back on the brothers he’s called family for the last twenty years. I’ll never understand how he could betray us, betray the club.
Anger ticks away inside of me, and I take a small step forward. I see the loser on the cross visibly shiver. It’s not from the cold though.
That is solid fear.
He knows what I’m capable of, he knows the kind of end that awaits him.
He begged for a quick death as we strung him up to the cross, cried, pleaded with us, hoping that his tears would spark something in us. He was right, it did, but it wasn’t quite what he was hoping for.
The moment he started crying, my brothers and I, all we saw was a coward, one who chose to hurt an innocent woman. A coward who did nothing to help when she begged for mercy, when she begged for them to stop.
His tears earned him two solid punches from eleven men. We then stripped him naked and threw a bucket of ice-cold water over him before leaving him to stew on his own fear for nearly twenty-four hours. Four days we’ve had him here; four whole days this little bitch has been whining and begging.
I pull my arm back and slam my fist into his stomach. He sucks in a breath before coughing and casting his eyes toward my face.
“Please,” he begs again.
I blow out a small half laugh. “How many times did she beg him to stop? How many times did you stand there and watch Snake beat and rape that woman?” He closes his eyes and drops his head.
“You have a right to look ashamed of yourself, what you—”
“I’m sorry, I was just following orders. I’m new, I do as I’m told. Please let me go. I’ll stay here, I’ll work for you guys, just don’t hurt me anymore.”
I can’t believe my fucking ears. “You’re kidding, right?” I ask him, stunned. But this fucker just shakes his head at me.
“No, please…” he starts again, but I swing, punching him in the left-hand side of his jaw with such force I hear his bone crack.
“You are one slimy motherfucker. You’d turn your back on your own club to save your own skin? Do you really think we would want someone in our club we couldn’t trust? Do you really think that we’d allow you to breathe the same fucking air as her?
“You don’t deserve to live. I’m not fucking done with you yet, but I promise you, before you die, you will know what pain and fear really fucking feel like.” I pull my arm back and swing at the side of his head, hitting him so hard it knocks him out.
I need to get out of this basement, I need some fucking air.
Leaving him hanging there, I storm out, slamming the door behind me, marching up the stairs and heading around the front of the building to head into the main room of the clubhouse.
As I step through the main door, my eardrums are blessed with the sound of ACDC, ‘Highway to Hell’playing. I turn my neck from side to side, cracking it, trying to ease the impending headache I feel building.
As I make my way over to the bar, I signal for the Prospect to grab me a beer. I climb onto the stool when Nitro slides onto the one next to me.
The Prospect places two bottles of beer on the counter and then immediately moves to the other side of the bar.
