1
REAPER
“Come on, please? All I want is some water.”
A grin slid across my face as Wes begged me for hydration.
“Hey, I know you’re out there. Just answer me, for fuck’s sake.”
I slammed my fist against the door. “Shut up, or I start the tickles again.”
“Tickles?” Viper asked.
I chuckled as I watched him shlep down the steps. “Had a bit of fun last night. Apparently, Wessy-boy here hates being tickled.”
Viper paused. “You tickled him ‘til he pissed, didn’t you?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I just want some god damn water!” Wes exclaimed.
It was Viper’s turn to slam his fist into the door. “Then, shut the fuck up and stop pissing yourself long enough to stay hydrated.”
The man had folded like a sheet of paper the second he had been alone in that room, sitting in his own fucking waste. It was a record for our crew. One of the easiest interrogations we had ever done still required a beatdown for about four hours before the man sang like a fucking canary.
Wes only lasted three hours behind that door, and we didn’t even have to lay a finger on him.
“Pussy,” I murmured.
“You’re damn right about that,” Viper said as he took up his station on the other side of the locked door.
I cracked my neck. “How’s Lila doing?”
He nodded slowly, his eyes locked with the hallway wall in front of us. “She’s hanging in there. Shaken up, but I was able to take her mind off things for a while last night.”
“’Atta, boy.”
“You put your hands on her?” Wes growled.
Viper’s smile was immaculate. “And she moaned out my name as if I were a God she was giving praise to.”
“You son of a bitch!” Wes shrieked.
I fell apart in laughter as the man shifted around on the floor. The sound of his suit against that cheap, scratchy-ass carpet made me wonder if he was wiggling around like a worm or trying to accordion himself onto his knees like a caterpillar. Either way, the image in my head was perfection, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Shut up! Shut. The Fuck. Up!” Wes bellowed.
Viper whipped around and slammed his steel-toed boot into the door. “Reaper may like torturing you with tickles, but I’ll torture you with a god damn piece of hot iron if you don’t shut the hell up.”
And just like that, Wes fell silent once more.
“I take it you’ve got it from here?” I asked.
Viper nodded. “Fangs’ coming down to watch with me this morning, so you’re free to go. He said he’d be down here after he finished his morning shit.”
I searched his face. “You sure you’re all right?”
He shot me a look that told me everything I needed to know. No, he wasn’t all right. He had to still be worried about Lila’s well-being, and it killed me. Worrying over someone like that zapped the energy right out of someone, and we needed Viper to be on top of his game.
