“You’re out of shape, brother.” He grinned.
“Fuck you,” I replied, even though he was right. “Fuck you and fuck him and fuck the Vipers.” I kicked the legs of the chair Solomon was sitting on and he fell sideways, still unconscious. “Motherfucker,” I grunted, dragging the chair upright again.
Battle placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we take a break for tonight?”
“No,” I snapped.
“Ain’t no point in getting yourself an injury.”
I stared down at Solomon, tied to a chair, blood, sweat, and piss surrounding him, face barely recognizable. It wasn’t enough. His death wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would be enough.
“What is it with you and this guy?” Battle asked before lighting a cigarette like we were on a work break. “He really got that far under your skin?”
My skin? No. Her skin—Penny’s, yes. He’d gotten under her skin and she still wasn’t quite over what he did to her. She’d never told me what happened, but I’d gotten the gist of it. Made me sick to my stomach to know that her own dad had handed her over to that animal.
Razuuk was next on my list.
I’d always thought of myself as a monster. Even wore that badge with pride. But I’d come to realize that compared to Solomon, I was a fucking pussycat.
The door to the basement swung open and Hardy, Butch, and Gauge stepped inside. Hardy’s gaze fell to Solomon, a circle of smoke surrounding him as he puffed on his cigar.
“You done?” he asked.
“He still breathin’?” I asked.
“Looks that way.”
“Then I’m not done,” I snapped.
He blew out some more smoke. “Move this shit along. We’ve got business to take care of and you’ve been on this for too long already.”
I huffed out a heavy breath. “He almost killed my woman.”
Hardy pulled the cigar from his mouth and looked over at me. “Your woman? I don’t see no woman around here. No woman in your bed, no woman on your bike. In fact, I don’t see no woman anywhere near you or that flaccid cock between your legs.”
Gauge shifted uncomfortably, his brows pulling in. “We got a meeting in the church in thirty, brothers.”
“We’ll be there,” Battle replied.
“You need some help?” Butch asked, taking a step forward, his gaze on Solomon. “Nothing worse than a man who beats a woman. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand in this fuck’s disposal.”
I looked down at Solomon. He was beginning to wake back up, though I was certain that he was going to be wishing that he hadn’t very fucking soon. He lifted his head, a pained groan coming from his mouth. His eyes met mine, and just like every other time he’d woken up, he forced a smile to his face.
“Can still taste her,” he slurred, his fat tongue darting out to wet his lips.
Rage burned hot like liquid fire in my veins and I slid the brass knuckles back on. “By all means, brother, the more the merrier.”
It had been my job within the club to get information—especially information that people didn’t wanna give up. I knew how to keep a man on the brink of life and death for months at a time, and that was what I intended to do with him. I wanted him to suffer. I wanted his pain to last for months, years even. I wanted him to know, every time he took a breath, that it was because I was letting him breathe. And eventually he’d fear every fucking breath he took because he wouldn’t know when it would be his last.
Butch came to stand next to me, staring down at Solomon. Man was never making it out of there alive.
Butch crouched down next to him, looking up into his face. “Fuck, my brothers really messed you up.”
Solomon sneered, spitting blood between his broken teeth. “Pussies, both of ’em.”
Butch laughed and looked up at me. “You been going easy on him?”
“That was Battle. He’s turned into a pussy since he hooked up with his woman,” I teased.
