Page 50 of Crave

“Like this?” I take one and poke it into the soft underarm of the unconscious man.

He groans and turns his head.

“Maybe another?” I slide another skewer into outside of his thigh.

Then the other arm. Through the fatty parts of his belly.

“What are you doing?” Jax grins.

“It’s like, shishka-puncture. Right? Acupuncture is the needles?” I tilt my head as I push another poker through the calf of the very awake man.

“Yea, you’re correct. But that’s usually therapeutic. He looks like a pin cushion,” Jax chuckles.

The clown without his makeup groans again. “You’re psychotic.”

I take one of the sharp tools and carve a star into his chest. “Lara taught me something recently.” I move closer so I can talk in a whisper. “She showed me my birth chart. You know, the thing that says the planets and the signs?”

His dark eyes fix on me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“My sun is Scorpio, and moon Sagittarius.” I proclaim loud enough that Jax can hear me too.

Picking up another prod, I shove it between the bones of his wrist until it sticks out the other side. “According to her, I am unhinged. But on the bright side, we can blame your death on the fucking moon. Stop moving, you’re getting blood on my shoes.”

The spikes sticking out of him make a crinkling sound when he twitches and they hit each other.

“He looks like a porcupine. How many more of those things do you have?” Jax sits on the counter opposite of the clown and uses one of the stainless rods to pick at his teeth.

I glance at the floor. “There’s still tons of them. I could make him look like a tin man.”

Droplets of blood funnel from the protruding ends and drip down my pants.

Fuck. Onto my new sneakers.

I can fix that.

Kicking them off, the round skewers roll under my feet. “Time for the last round, funny man.” I get into the face of the man, pushing his chin up so he can see me.

“Please,” he gasps. “Just kill me.”

“I can make it fast. Tell me where my Lara is.” I curl my finger inside the loop of one of the metal pokers and twist it in a wide circle so it digs into the meat of his chest.

He grits jaw, sweat dripping down his face and jowls to mix with the seeping fluids at every puncture.

“Fine,” he grunts. “She’s at the old bottling factory on Nineteenth. Go in through the back,” he wheezes.

Jax clicks his tongue piercing. “Whatcha gonna do?” His heels bounce off of the dusty cabinet.

Opening drawers reveals what I’m looking for. A long steak knife is perfect.

Holding it over the pale man’s heart, I get close to him again. “You should have stuck with balloon animals, you worthless fuck.” Driving it as hard as I can between the ribs, his body jerks back and forth on the ties, spraying me with a thousand droplets of sweat encased blood.

“Dude.” Jax leans back with a frown. “You’re disgusting.” He points vaguely at his own cheek.

I drag my palm over my forehead and look at the crimson sheen covering it.

“I don’t care. Let’s go find Lara. Can you call Nikolai and Mikhail?” I don’t want to touch my phone. I just want to go.

“They’re tied up on a weapon’s drop. Nikolai said they’re on their way, but they’re at least an hour out.” He hops down and holds the door open for me.

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