“I don’t know what you talking about.”
“Yes, you do,” he cried. “Those niggas in Dallas… what y’all did to them…”
My nerves lit up instantly.
A quick image flashed through my head. Somebody screaming. Music playing loudly over it. Plastic stained red.
Then it disappeared.
The man saw my expression and started sobbing harder. “Please,” he whispered. “They said you peeled one of them niggas skin back layer by layer.”
My eyes drifted toward the toolbox again.
Toward the fillet knife resting beside a pair of pliers.
The man noticed immediately.
“No,” he whispered, panic flooding his voice. “Please…”
Silence swallowed the warehouse after that.
Because the terrifying part wasn’t the accusation.
It was the fact that somewhere deep down, it didn’t sound impossible to me.
I looked toward the toolbox again.
Then back at him.
And for the first time all night, I smiled as I grabbed the knife.
The scream that left his mouth after that barely sounded human.
CHAPTER 12
The blood wouldn’t come off fast enough.
It clung beneath my nails and dried inside the lines of my hands, no matter how hard I scrubbed. Pink water spiraled down the drain while streaks of red still coated my skin.
The heat coming from the faucet had turned wicked minutes ago, but I barely felt it anymore. My mind was still stuck back at the warehouse, and I was still reliving the moment I removed his first layer of flesh.
The thought made my stomach twist into knots of disbelief.
I did that. I really dragged that fillet knife across his skin with horrifying ease while he thrashed against the floor. Blood ran down my wrist as G5 screamed so hard his voice cracked halfway through it.
I could still hear the wet choking sounds he made afterward, and still see strips of flesh uselessly thrown to the side like potato peels.
And the worst part?
My hand never shook once.
I braced myself harder against the sink as nausea crawled up my throat. The metallic smell of blood still clung to me so heavily it felt trapped inside my nose. I swore I could still feel warmth splattering across my face every time I closed my eyes.
Somewhere between his screaming and begging, something inside me had gone quiet.
Focused.
Calm.
