Page 31 of Cruel Games

“Because,” she said, her voice a little too happy, too sing-songy. “I plan to kill you all tonight.” Suddenly, she was blocking the light for me, and as I felt my shoulders begin to leave the floor, she bent over at the waist, her face inches from mine. “After all, an eye for eye and all that.” Her face hardened, and the smile died on her lips, everything about her aura turning blacker than my soul. “But I’ll be taking interest for the two you stole from me.”

She pressed a button in her hand, and the chains stopped again, my whole body hanging in the air now, head at about her waist level, the metal links of the restraints digging into my body in a most unpleasant way. I had to bite my tongue hard enough to taste blood to keep from making a snide comment about her choice in height.

“Welcome to the party, boys. I’ll be your host.” She paraded in a circle, tilting the lights downward so that it bathed her like a silhouette. “I don’t think we’ve formally met, but you all knew my father.”

She lifted a bat from the table, swinging it wildly in my direction. The sickeningthudit made as it connected with my torso brought tears to my eyes. She turned it on Coyote next, and I heard a painfulcrunchas she brought it down across his back. The wood undoubtedly carried that force through his ribcage like a painful reverberation, like a xylophone with no music. But he didn’t even wince, just closed his eyes and sucked in a breath of air. Enraged, she turned on her heel and marched over to Dingo and brought the damn thing down on one of his shoulders. He wasn’t as strong as the two of us; he didn’t do pain well. So when he cried out, it stung a little inside.

“I’m Ivy Cullough. And I’ll be your tour guide as I lead you into your final resting place.”

The bat swung at me again, stopping just a hair away from the tip of my nose. If I’d been a weaker man, there’d be piss running down my leg—or up it, I suppose.

“Hell.”

THIRTEEN

IVY

They didn’t understandthe severity of the situation they found themselves in. I didn’t think they really grasped the seriousness of this whole shebang.

So I hit them a few times with the bat to wake them up.

There. Now we’re all having fun.

“Why us?” Dingo asked calmly, his voice steady and surprisingly calm for a man who was strapped down to a steel table. “What did we ever do to you?”

He hadn’t seen me yet. Not really. So I did him a favor and used the tip of the bat in my hand to angle the light to point less at him and more at me. Now, the whole room could see who was swinging this bat at them.

Like I expected, he squinted a little, trying to place me. “You’re—I saw you at the club the night I was?—”

Understanding dawned on him suddenly, and I chuckled as those big brown eyes widened into giant saucers. “That’s right, Dingo. The night you were drugged.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“Such a smart dog you are,” I teased, patting his head like one would an affectionate puppy. When he jerked his head away, as far as his restraints would allow, I snarled and let my fingers tangle in his hair, yanking his gaze back to mine as I got nose-to-nose with the fucker. “Now, now, you filthy mutt, let’s not be acting up. If you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll kill you first.”

My eyes slipped casually to Jackal, who was turning slightly red from his upside-down position. I’d have to drop him eventually, or he’d die before I could have any fun. I didn’t plan to let him off easily. After what he did to my father, he needed to suffer the most.

“Leave him alone,” Jackal growled, and I had to stifle a giggle at his self-sacrificing gallantry. “If you let us loose now, we won’t kill you. Maybe.”

“Killme?”Oh, the boy was brazen, I’dgive him that. “I hardly think you’re in a position to be making demands, now, are you, Jackal?”

I ditched the bat, the sound of the wood echoing on the concrete as it clattered to a stop at my feet. Smiling again, I waltzed over to the table of my tools of torture, taking a moment to select something that would hurt, but not maim. Since I was starting with Dingo, I wanted to start easy. I didn’t want to give away all my best moves before I got to the main course.

No, that I’d save for Jackal.

I opted for my little taser, the bright pink thing sitting unassumingly at the edge of the layout, almost like a tease. I turned to Dingo, bright little tool in hand. “How do you feel about tasers, Dingo?”

I watched the Adam’s apple in his throat bob as he swallowed his apprehension and fear, though you could never quite hide it completely. I was really good at reading people. And you could always see it in their eyes. It was like a silent tell. Unavoidable, obvious, and very much visible to someone who knew where to look.

He was afraid of me, but he wanted me to think he wasn’t.

The tells were in the way his hands clutched the legs of the table, though contorting his wrists that way had to hurt. In the way his whole body tensed as I approached him, my hand up where he could keep his eyes on the weapon I wielded.

The whites of his eyes flashed in my direction, and then he turned to Jackal, shaking his head almost imperceptibly.

What are you up to, Dingo?

“Leave him the fuck alone, man,” Jackal spat, but I didn’t pay him any attention as his chains rattled in a futile attempt at escape.

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