Page 163 of Moth to a Flame

“Mmmm! Mmmm!” Lester howls into the gag once I spread one butt cheek to the side.

Landon kicks his teeth in, and it lands him the response we’ve been looking for.

More.

Screams.

That, and blood coating the gag.

“Mmmm!”

“I’d tell you don’t scream or else I’d kill you,” Landon repeats one of the things this fucker told me the night he raped me. “No. I won’t say that. I quite enjoy watching you suffer. Talk about a 4D experience.”

“My love, you’re so funny.” I tilt my head up and pucker my lips, waiting for a kiss.

Leaning in without me having to say a word, he gives it to me. “Back to work. Get your hands dirty for me, princess. I want you filthy when I fuck you later.”

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. The second the serrated knife makes contact with the top of Lester’s asshole, his screams change. They become gurgled, strangled.

“He’s puking,” Landon broadcasts what I can’t see from back here. His attention is back on me a second later, his hand stroking my hair. “Good job. You’re doing so well. Yeah, now the bottom and sides.”

With his guidance and my sick sense of revenge, I cut open Lester’s rim. Blood gushes out and coats my fingers.

“Gaped and lubed.” I stand up, wiping my hands on my leggings. We’ll burn our clothes later. No evidence, no crime. “He’s ready for you.”

Landon groans, his need for me pours out of him. When he cuts his gaze to Lester’s face, he tsks.

“Knocked out.” He reaches behind me, swiping the syringe from the counter. “Let’s hope that pitstop was worth it.”

One kick and Lester’s on his side. Landon pushes the needle into his heart and presses the plunger until there’s no liquid left inside the syringe.

The second Lester comes back alive, he gasps for air.

By the scream that follows, it’s obvious he wishes he didn’t.

So?

Nothing.

With his boot, Landon flips Lester back on his stomach. He disposes of the syringe, grips my jaw possessively, and bends to give me a mind-numbing, soul-crushing kiss.

“My turn,” he whispers into my mouth, his forehead pressing against mine. “This isn’t the revenge you’re owed. For those hours you were with him by yourself. For screaming in your sleep. The haunting nightmares. The waking moments you’ve spent fearing someone might attack you. You deserve so much better than this.”

“This is more than I could’ve asked for.” Tears cascade down my cheeks. Happy tears. Relieved tears. “More than I could’ve ever hoped for. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

A stern nod, and he pushes away from me. I get out of his way, and Landon moves to stand between Lester’s legs.

Who’s still screaming, by the way.

“I, Landon Sterling, hereby sentence you, Lester Burkes, to this.” A nauseating sound of tearing and squelching rips through the air when Landon shoves the spiked bat inside Lester’s ass. “You’ve been found guilty of…”

He twists his head to the side as he forces his weapon of choice in and out of Lester. Looks at me. I revel at how red shines on every spike. How the blood coats the wood of the bat. There are brown chunks there, too, and pieces of his insides.

Sweet.

Butterflies accost my belly as I listen to his pain and misery.

The feeling of righteousness is a heady one.

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