He sneered at her. “No one you’d know. Those dumbass bikers don’t have a fucking clue who I am either.”
Adrenaline flooded her body, and keeping still became harder. Her concentration was split between listening to Specs 2.0 and fighting the urge to twist against her bonds. “I just remember your name and that you’re good with organization. Otherwise, they’re not the only ones who don’t have a clue.”
His smile widened, and icy fingers trailed down her spine. “I can’t blame you. This is shit that happened before your time.”
A faint trembling in her belly threatened to explode.Keep it together, Sabrina!“Care to share? I’m rather curious about why I’m here.”
A groan from the other side of the room interrupted their conversation. “For fuck’s sake, I need another pill!”
Specs rolled his eyes. “My brother.” He leaned in close, as if to impart a secret, and Sabrina cringed away. “Don’t go anywhere.”
She craned her neck to see where Specs moved. She had a sliver of vision to see another man lying across the corner of a small couch that had seen better days. He was on his back with a large pad of towels around his middle. What did that mean for bullets? Were they still inside him? “He needs a hospital.”
“Fuck that. The shot grazed through his side. He’s not pissing blood, so’s nothing major was hit. All he needs is painkillers and antibiotics. We’re not taking any chances that the Knights will find us. Not ’til we’re through.”
“Through with what?”
“Taking vengeance.”
The man on the couch coughed and yelled in pain. “Goddammit, I need another fucking pill!”
Specs muttered and rolled his eyes. “Hold your horses.” He picked up a plastic baggie with a rainbow of tablets, selected a few, and handed them to the writhing man. “You need to lay off these for a while or else you’re gonna run out. These were hard as hell to score.”
Sabrina strained her eyes as she watched the man pop the pills into his mouth and chew them with sharp, crunching movements.Ugh! I bet that tastes awful!“What did the Knights do to you that you have to take vengeance?”
Specs handed his brother a bottle of water. “Not just the Knights. They’re the ones at the top of the chain, and we’re building up to them. No, it’s revenge for our sister.”
Sister?Sabrina clenched her fists as her body started twitching from her on-edge nerves. “I don’t understand.”
Specs strode back over to the bed. “I think you probably should have a better picture to get why this is happening to you.” He pulled a pocketknife from the back of his jeans and flicked it open. Sabrina’s heart pounded, fear sweat breaking out across her body.
“Our sister used to dance at Attic, under the name Candy Sweet. She used to beat me and Billy up regularly when we were growing up. Gave our parents such grief that when she left the house at eighteen, they were ready for her to get out. A real piece of work. I’m surprised she never got pregnant in high school.”
Sabrina didn’t know how to respond. What did one say to a brother talking about his sister in such a negative way? Especially when he just said he practically hated her growing up.
Specs tested the blade against his thumb. “We heard from her a few times over the years, but mostly to tell us when people fucked with her. About how those two gay coffee shop owners barred her from their place and how the local corner store banned her.”
He huffed a laugh. “The bookstore owner asked her to leave and not come back. The shoe repair guy was the worst. He fixed her heels a few times and she always paid him, but the one time she didn’t have money, he refused, even after she offered a blow job instead.”
The man on the couch moaned, and Specs snarled at him. “Shut the fuck up, Billy. I’m sick of hearing your fucking whining.”
“Fuck you!”
No lost love between these two,Sabrina thought as Specs picked up an ashtray and chucked it at his brother. The glass hit its mark, and Billy cried out in pain.
“The truth is, Candy brought shit on herself. She’d be the one to start fights between her boyfriends at school and laugh it up when they beat each other to a pulp,” Specs continued. “I bet she mouthed off one too many times at the coffee shop and shoplifted regularly at the corner store. I don’t know about the book place, but I’m not surprised about the shoe repair guy. I’d rather have the money, too, instead of getting sucked off.”
He stopped playing with his knife and looked Sabrina directly in the eye. “Candy was a slut and a bitch who cared nothing for no one. She used people as long as she benefitted from it, and when she no longer did, she’d cut them loose with no remorse.”
“What does that have to do with the spa? What did Cicely do to her?”
Specs grinned evilly. “Nothing. We just needed you.”
The trembling got worse, and she tightened every muscle she had, pulling at the bonds holding her down. Even though it was futile, she gave in to the need to fight. “Why? What does any of this have to do with me?”
In one motion, Specs grabbed the top of her shirt and jammed the knife through it, ripping it open from top to bottom. Sabrina let out a startled scream as the tip of the blade grazed her stomach. Specs brushed his fingers over her opened skin.
“She was still my sister. My beautiful, fucked-up Candy Sweet, and I loved her so much.” His voice cracked as he began to cry.
