Page 59 of Protector

“I wonder if she’ll cry when I break her in…”

My nostrils flared, and she watched in silence as I began pacing the room. “Motherfucker!” I growled. “I’m gonna rip his dick off and force it down his throat. Then, I’ll move onto his hands—one digit at a time.”

“It should be me—”

“Absofuckinglutely not,” I bit out. “Ain’t lettin’ him breathe the same air as you ever again. Call Molly, tell her you need to be picked up.” I crossed my arms over my chest, signaling the end of our discussion.

Her mouth fell open. “Don’t you treat me like a little girl! It’s too late. I’ve seen your world, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t forget it.”

Lust flooded my veins as I thought of all the ways I could prolong death, keeping the gangbanger alive for as long as I saw fit. It didn’t matter which god he prayed to, by the time I was done with him, he’d be begging for my forgiveness… for my mercy.

“Maybe you’ve forgotten, but you don’t make the rules, darlin’. You’re lucky I’ve got work to do, or I’d be takin’ a hand to your ass and haulin’ you out of here myself. What do you say to that?”

“What do I say?” she spluttered. “Go to hell, Grey! That’s what I say to that! You can’t just lock me away like I’m helpless!”

I absolutely could and would if it came to it. No one would ever touch her or my girls again. She began working her panties back up over her hips, but not before I saw the wetness clinging to the inside of her thighs.

My girl still wanted me.

The real me.

That was all I needed to know. The rest was just details.

Chapter Twelve

Grey: 2005

Istepped into the dark room with a wide grin. “You know what today is,amigo?”

Manny watched me with bulging eyes from the wall he was propped up against, arms tied up behind his back. A rope ran from his bound wrists and up over a metal beam near the ceiling, keeping him tethered like a leash. It must’ve been a bitch trying to find a comfortable position. If I had to guess, I’d say he wasn’t getting much rest.

“C’mon,” I prodded. “Don’t get shy on me now. No guesses? Fine, I’ll tell you. It’s the first day of spring! You believe that shit? Time flies when you’re having’ fun though, right? How long have we been doin’ this now—three months?”

When he stayed silent, I kicked him with the toe of my boot before tugging the rope, hoisting his body up into the air. His arms hung suspended behind his back, transferring all of his weight to his shoulder sockets. He groaned and expelled a stream of snot from his nose before fighting to take a breath.

“You remember what this is called,amigo? No?” I loosened my hold on the rope, letting him drop a few inches, before stopping him with a sudden yank.

“Sss-tttt—”

“Ssss-tttt… the fuck you tryin’ to say? We been over this. Strappado. Shit, can you imagine if I didn’t watch the History Channel? I’d be runnin’ out of ideas on ways to keep you entertained,hombre.”

Manny lifted his head to stare at me, the hatred rolling off of him in waves. In all honesty, I hadn’t meant to keep him alive as long as I had. No matter what I did to him, he was never going to give up Hawk or Cobra.

I knew that; and yet, I forced him to stay alive.

When he refused to eat or drink, we brought our club doctor, Eli, in and hooked him up to an IV. He’d been on the verge of death more times than I could count, but there was just something that held me back and kept me from sending him to the Reaper.

“Now…” I wound the rope around a hook on the wall, securing him in the air, before retrieving a CD from my bag and popping it into the player. “Let’s play a little game. You tell me where your buddies are, and I’ll…” I paused and lit up a cigarette, leaving him to dangle while I decided his fate.

Initially, I thought that it’d get old, but anytime I found myself ready to give up or thinking that maybe I’d gone too far, I imagined my girl’s broken body.

The monster inside of me had been well fed for months, and I slept better than I had in years.

I took a long drag. “How about this? You tell me what I want to know, and I won’t cut off another tattoo.”

Somber music filled the space, and I exhaled a stream of smoke toward his face with a smirk. “I told you how I ended up with this music, right?”

He bucked against his restraints but stayed quiet.

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