Page 89 of Wrath

“You ready to tell me?” I take the flame away from his face and give him a chance to speak.

“You will never see her again.” He narrows his eyes and adds fuel to my aggression. So, I put the torch back against his face and take pleasure in the sound of his pain.

“Wrath.” I feel Raze pulling back on my arm. “C’mon, we don’t want him passing out yet.” I listen to my prez, and place the torch back down, admiring the mess I’ve made of the right side of his face. The flesh is hanging from his cheekbone and bubbling from the heat.

“Tell me where the fuck she is!” I grab a screwdriver from the holdall and use brute fuckin’ force to jab it between his ribs, twisting the handle but keeping it impaled.

I’d undeniably take pleasure in his howls of pain, and the way his body shakes from the shock if the answer to my question weren’t so important.

“I tol… told ya. You’ll ne…ver sss-ee her a…gain,” he manages, starting to lose consciousness. But it doesn’t panic me, I know from the injuries he’s sustained that he’ll come back around and when he does, I’ll be here waiting to give him a whole new version of fuckin’ Hell.

“Don’t underestimate me, whatever you did with her, I will find her.” The side of his face that's still functional manages to lift and still resembles that evil smile.

I don’t… think so.” He shows he’s resilient when he starts to laugh. “Willow’s dead.” His words come out soft and slow as if he wants them to last in my head forever, and they cause an instant stab of pain, that slams me in the chest. His eyes roll back in his head as the fucker passes out on me, and I quickly get shoved out the way when Tawk rushes over and picks him up off the floor by his shirt.

“Wake up!” He slams Cliff’s limp body against the wall as I stand back up on my feet and back away. I can’t have heard him right, Willow can’t be dead. I’d know if my sister was fuckin’ dead.

“Wake the fuck up!” Tawk keeps shaking him, he’s losing control rapidly and it takes both Raze and Dev to drag him away from my father’s unconscious body.

“She ain’t dead.He’s a liar!” he screams. “She can’t be dead. Don’t believe it. Don’t youdarebelieve that, Wrath.” He looks over to me as Dev forces him into the corner to calm him down.

Raze kneels down to check Cliff’s vitals as I back further away and he must find a pulse because he looks up to give me a nod of approval.

“She’s not dead. She’s not dead,” Tawk keeps chanting in the corner, fighting against Dev to get free. When he eventually lets up, he drops to his knees like he’s praying and starts chanting in a language I can’t understand. I look down at my father and wanna kick his fuckin’ head off his shoulders. How could he have done that to his own child?

“Wrath, you need to calm yourself down.” Raze must know I’m a breath away from losing it because he steps up to me, grabbing my face and forcing me to look at him. “Look at me, focus on what I’m sayin’. When you take his life, you want him to feel every last bit of it drain out, don’t put him outta his misery too soon.”

“She can’t be dead,” I repeat what Tawk keeps saying as I look back over to him. He’s stopped chanting and is silent now, his hands gripping his long, black hair as he slides down the wall. I’ve never seen a man break like that before. He ain’t ashamed to show his tears, and as he looks up at the ceiling and yells out his native words with pure fury and anger, I swear I feel the floor shake beneath me.

“Get him outta here!” I shout out to Dev, seeing Tawk so wild with hurt is making me wonder why I’ve suddenly stopped feeling any of my own.

Maybe I’m blocking it out because I can’t deal with it. I learned from the ten years I spent trying to get over Eden, that emotions can be locked away. I switched out hurt for hate and I’ve carried that with me all this time. And all that hate was for one person, the man lying in front of me now.

Ruck moves from the door, giving me a sympathetic nod as he helps Dev lift Tawk up off the floor and drag him away. He’s not yelling anymore, and he puts up no fight as they remove himfrom the room. I see the dead in his eyes when he locks ‘em with mine, it’s the same kinda dead I’d been feeling until my girl stepped inside my clubhouse and punched me in the face.

“Come on.” Raze slaps me on the back. “I got smellin’ salts in the bag, let's bring this fucker back around and really make him suffer.

“Quick, I don’t know if they’ve followed me.” I jump out of Peyton’s car and rush to get into the passenger seat of Laura’s.

“What the hell happened?” She looks at the bent out-of-shape hood in shock and reminds me that I now owe Peyton a car.

“Just start the engine and head for the fight.” I check the wing mirror nervously. I can only imagine how furious my brother will be when he realizes I’ve left. Not to mention, the fact I almost ran over one of his prospects. Laura wastes no time in getting us away, and her wheels screech loudly as she takes off

“So, what have you got for me? It better be good because I’ve just got myself into some real trouble to hear it.”

Laura’s eyes keep flicking up at the rearview mirror. She looks petrified and I hate that I’ve put her in this position.

“Laura, I need to know what dirt you have on your brother.” I need her to start talking, and when she remains silent I start paying attention to the direction she’s heading in and get confused.

“The fight is back that way, why are you heading for–”

“I’m sorry.” My friend turns her head to look at me, and as guilt fills her eyes, I feel something sharp jab into my neck.

“I’m sorry, Eden. I promise it won’t hurt you. This is all for your own good.” She tells me through her tears as her face turns into a blur and the lights on the road start to flicker. I feel myself drifting off and battle so hard to stay awake, but everything is black now and all I can hear are those same words over and over again.

“I’m sorry.”

“I told you not to use that, she’s been out far too long.” I hear a female voice, one that even in my groggy state I know belongs to Mark’s mom, Trisha.

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