“I didn’t know she was Venom. I try to stay as far away as possible, and she got me into it. Convinced me to try it one night, but she didn’t say it was Venom Dust.”
What the actual fuck? “What the hell did you think you were taking?”
“She said it was liquid X.”
Okay, he got got because he’s a moron. “You thought she was injecting you with liquid ecstasy?”
“Yeah!”
“Liquid X has nothing to do with ecstasy, Tommy. Liquid X is a date rape drug. No wonder she conned you. You were willing to take GHB.”
His eyes widen. “What?”
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter. At what point did you realize it wasn’t what you thought?”
“When she turned around to fuck me in reverse cowgirl. I saw her tat and realized I was riding the snake bite. It was downhill from there.”
Kicking him in the ribs, I growl. “You could’ve fucking come to us!” I shout. “We would have gotten you detoxed. We would’ve gotten revenge for you!”
“I didn’t want you to think less of me,” he cries, his hands holding his side.
“Less than I do right fucking now?” I ask and can’t help but laugh. “You look like a fucking drugged-out deadbeat. All you need is a car on blocks in the front lawn, and you’ll really complete this picture you have going here.”
Squeezing his eyes shut, he braces for another kick, but I don’t. It’s too easy. And not nearly satisfying enough.
“What kind of tattoos are you giving now? You’re higher than the fucking sky.”
He sniffles and shakes his head. “It’s bad. I know. I’ll walk away. Come back to Deadshot. I’ll figure out how to fix this.”
Shaking my head, I let out a long breath. “No, it’s too late, Tommy. There’s no coming back from this.”
“I’m still loyal to the Daredevils. I ain’t told them shit. I swear!”
“You don’t know shit to tell them,” I say. “We’re more careful than they are, and when they realize they wasted their time trying to turn you for information you don’t have, they’re going to kill you.”
He begins to pant as he looks up at me with wide eyes from the ground. So fucking pathetic. It’s like kicking a puppy. Exceptthis puppy is hopped up on drugs and betrayed us worse than a simple bite.
“Are you… Are you going to kill me?”
I want to. There’s a rage inside of me begging for blood because I need some type of release, but I can’t. No matter what, Tommy was family. It’s not up to me to kill him. But it doesn’t mean I have to let him off easy.
“No.”
Sighing in relief, he relaxes on the floor with his eyes closed. I take the opportunity, and I lift my foot and stomp the heel of my boot into his right hand. His fingers break, and the cracks are drowned out by his screams.
“What the fuck?” he shouts, punching my thigh as I grind my boot on his hand, making sure he can’t use it anytime soon. “Fuck, Zep, that fucking hurts!”
I pull back my foot and smile at him as he holds his crushed hand. “Wasn’t supposed to fucking tickle. Good luck paying them back. Not sure how you’re gonna work with a broken hand.”
“Fuck you!” he cries.
Nodding toward the items on the counter, I shrug. “Don’t want you doing anything stupid like overdosing on their shit, so I already trashed everything.”
“Zep! That’s like four grand!”
“Probably should’ve thought about how we’d react to our best artist turning his back on us. Don’t worry about trying to come back to Deadshot. We don’t need washed-up artists. We’ve already filled your spot.”
“Fuck you, Zep!”
