Page 78 of Our Blood, Our Pain

“I should’ve had a turn too, finished the pathetic loser off. It was fun to watch him cry like a baby,” Jez says, and that’s all the green light I need to get this party started.

“Ivan, take his top off.”

With a huge smile, Ivan grabs one of his knives from his bag and strolls over to Jez and uses the knife to slice through the material of his sweatshirt, ripping it off into pieces, revealing Jez’s naked chest. I want to see the damage caused, for his skin to turn from pale to purple. Jez shivers from the freezing air, but he does a good job in schooling his face like this doesn’t bother him.

I begin the onslaught of beating his body until my muscles ache with overuse. I start with his ribs, my fists connect with the hard flesh, dull thuds mix with the occasional sound of crunching bones. His yells of pain ring out in the large open space like a symphony. I use him as a punchbag, alternating sides until his skin reddens. My hands hurt like a bitch, but I power through. I grunt with every hit, my fists now smashing his face, my goal is to keep going until his face is left in a pulp of mushed flesh and blood.

“Ahhh!” he shouts, when I connect with his mouth. Blood flows like a tap from his nose. The sounds are spectacular. Crunching, wet squelches with every punch, destroying his face.

My arms scream in protest at the exertion. I’m covered in sweat and puffing air like I’ve run a marathon. I remove my shirt in hopes of cooling down, and fall into a steady rhythm.

One-two, one-two, one-two.

I mix the hits between face and body. The shouts of pain have become low whimpers, his body becoming more lax as he slumps, suspended by his arms. Every time my fist connects with his flesh, an image of Kai’s broken body blurs my vision. The hate builds and builds with every blow. I’m angry, I’m pissed. Angry that Kai left, pissed that he lied, seething that he got hurt and I wasn’t there to protect him. Vengeful enough to spill blood in his name.

My arms turn to jelly, exhausted physically, but mentally I’ve barely begun. I’ve no idea how long I’ve been at this, but Jez is unrecognizable. Still alive, though. Barely.

I flex my fingers and wince at the pain in my hands. I don’t think they’re broken, but they’ll definitely be swollen. Turning to look at Zac, I’m almost tempted to challenge him to a fight. The anger and devastation written over his face is almost too much to resist. He has nothing to lose and would probably be a good opponent.

“You’re a fucking monster! I should’ve stabbed that bastard in the neck, bled him like a pig!” Zac yells.

“But you didn’t. You hurt my man, and I’ll hurt you. Nobody touches him but me.”

I wipe the sweat off my brow and look over at Ivan.

“Want to give us a demonstration with your bag of fun?” I say to Ivan.

“Thought you’d never ask,” he says and all but skips over to his case of goodies.

“Now, let me show you my new toy. I had it custom-made in Europe and have been dying to use it,” Ivan says as he removes the tattoo gun from his bag. He even has his own extension cable to run from the socket. I watch him set the gun up and wonder for a moment what’s so special about it as, so far, it just looks like an average tattoo machine.

“What are you gonna do? Tattoo pretty flowers over his body?” Lev says snarkily.

“I could, but I’d prefer to use this,” Ivan says and holds up the needle that you normally attach to the gun. However, this needle is different; it’s shaped similarly to a razor but a lot smaller, and it looks like it could cut through leather with ease. Ivan is one crazy sick fucker to think of this, but I’m down to watch.

“What are you gonna do with it?” I ask.

“So many options, man. We could flay him, cut out sections of his skin, or give him a circumcision.”

“A what?” I ask.

“Circumcision. You know, when they cut off your foreskin.”

“I know what it is, but why?” I say.

“Because it fucking hurts, and it’s fun. Trust me, anything to do with the dick has them screaming, unlike anything you’ve ever heard.”

“That’s an awesome idea. What if he’s already cut?” Lev says.

“Then we’ll do something else. Just watch and enjoy, boys.”

“I should’ve filmed this shit, Aaron would’ve loved it,” Lev mutters to himself.

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Zac wails. Like we’d listen to him.

“Why not? Dicks that are cut are pretty hot,” Ivan says as he finishes assembling his kit.

“You’re not looking so hot, Zac,” I say.

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