Page 102 of Pin-up Girl

James’ face turned bright red as he backed up, now very aware we were about to change his life.

“I paid for that, following all the rules set by Infinity. That’s the right of everyone in the organization. You can’t possibly be upset about that.” He words started to blend together from talking so fast.

Milo came all the way inside and closed the door. “But it does bother us. It bothers us that there are people in the world who would so carelessly take what wasn’t theirs. Paying for it doesn’t make it right. And more importantly, you took something from someone who meanseverythingto us.”

He stomped like some kind of errant child. “Onlywematter! The members of Infinity. Everyone else is just a means to an end. You can’t tell me you won’t take advantage once the auctions open to you? Hell, you’re probably only a year away from being able to participate.”

Was that supposed to excite us? This bastard was scum, just like everyone else we’d ever associated with.

I was done with the confession. James was too entitled and superior to ever admit he was wrong or even be capable of feeling remorse. It was time to get what we came for.

Stepping forward, I cocked my arm and punched that motherfucker right in the face. The wireframe glasses cracked right along with his nose. He stumbled backward on a wail, clutching his face as if that would stop the bleeding. It wouldn’t.

“Jules, we weren’t done yet.” Milo sounded disappointed.

I held up my left hand and signed,Yes, we are. In the words of Elise, he’s a dickass.He found his balance again, then I caught him on the chin with an uppercut. Satisfaction swelled inside me as he landed against the wall and slid down. James curled up in the floor, hugging his knees to his chest and hiding his face.

What a fucking pussy. He wasn’t even going to fight back.

Emmett shrugged like he’d had enough talking too. He strode forward and delivered a swift kick to his ribs.

“Fuck, fine.” Milo joined in too. He got in two strikes before I held up a hand. Emmett and Milo stopped, and I grabbed James’ collar and pulled him to a standing position. It was sickeningly easy to maneuver him in front of me so Milo and Emmet had access to his full body.

This guy, he had no fight in him at all. It was sucking some of my enjoyment out of the whole experience.

Regardless, we fucked his shit up in the span of ten minutes. When he was close to passing out, I found Old Faithful on my belt and handed it over to Milo.

He grinned as he pulled it out of the sheath. “Damn, Jules. I hadn’t even thought of this. It’s a sort of poetic justice isn’t it?”

“Fuck yeah!” Emmett whooped, ripping James’ shirt right down the middle. “Perfect! No muscle to tear through. The knife will cut right through his skin like butter.”

James finally seemed to gain a bit of self-preservation, struggling uselessly in my grip. I twisted his arms tighter behind his back, and he stopped moving and started whimpering.

With way too much excitement, Milo carved into his flesh, taking his time, drawing it out as long as possible. By the time he was done, he was grinning like the Joker, and James was sobbing.

I tossed him on the ground, and he immediately tried to curl into a ball. Not letting him get too far, I pinned his shoulder to the ground with my foot. His chest was on compete display, and I had a little tear of pride in my eyes.

Pin-upwas scrawled across his chest, deeper than Elise had gone with Clownface. Oh yeah, this was definitely going to scar.

Milo crouched down by his head. “James?”

He moaned and turned his head away.

“That little cloud-based company you were trying to start? It’s now targeted for a hostile takeover. It’s too bad really. You sunk your entire trust fund into it to make it work, didn’t you?” Anyone listening in would think Milo was sympathetic.

“Why? Fuck, why, you bastards?” James coughed and pulled his broken glasses off of his face.

“Because we’re all just people. Nothing makes you better than anyone else, or gives you the right to treat others like pawns or sex toys. There are consequences to be paid. This is yours.” Milo fisted his hair and slammed his head against the concrete.

That was it, he was out.

We walked out of there with the revenge Elise would never know we took for her. She didn’t see herself as a victim, and I was glad she didn’t. But it didn’t change the fact that in my eyes, Emmett’s, and Milo’s, she experienced something heinous at the hands of the very people we grew up with.

Maybe she didn’t blame us, but we hated we had been a part of the group who’d stolen childhoods like hers.

Especially Milo. Too many times, I’d caught him brooding in repressed fury, all because he hadn’t been there to save her. It was irrational, but none of us were going to be able to move on unless we made the fucker pay. And he would. A destitute life was worse than death for someone like him. And now, he’d never forget the girl he’d taken advantage of.

We showered at Emmett’s place and got dressed in the clean set of clothes we’d brought with us. I wasn’t dirty, even though my hands were a bit scraped up. No, we just needed to wash away the dirt from our old life. Now, I could go home to Elise.

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