Page 188 of Steel

“Crux, boots,” I order, moving away and dropping the knife back on the cart.

Grabbing the pliers, I twirl them around as I stroll back over to him with a whistle. “Wake him up.”

He comes awake with a jerk, his eyes bouncing around the warehouse then down to his naked body. He glances back at me with a smirk on his puffy, bruised lips. “Looks like a party, boys.”

Crow chuckles. “For us.”

“Where’s Killer hidin’?” I ask, stepping up to him, my fingers opening and closing the pliers.

“You’re wasting your time, man,” he tells me seriously. “I’m not gonna tell you shit about him.”

I snatch a handful of his hair, holding him in place. Crow covers the lower part of his face with his hand, placing his fingers so his thumb and index finger set right where his jawbones connect. When he pushes in, Cookie’s mouth pops open wide enough for me to get the pliers in and grab the first tooth. As soon as I have a good hold, I yank the tooth out then toss it onto the floor.

“Where’s Killer?”

When Crow releases his mouth, Cookie spits a mouthful of blood near my boots then says, “Probably fucking your mom.”

Crow grabs him again, and we start over with another tooth, pulling out multiple this round.

Around and around we go with him giving us nothing more than taunts to rile us up.

His teeth, fingernails, and toenails are gone, and his skin is flayed open. No matter what I do, nothing makes him flip on his president. If I didn’t hate his fucking guts so badly, I’d admire that kind of loyalty.

“Tell me,” he croaks, his words slurred, “does your woman’s pussy taste as good as she looks? I’d like to shove my face down there and try—”

His words are cut off with a grunt when I jam a screwdriver into his side. When he laughs, blood dribbles from his mouth and down his chin. “Killer has some buyers who’d love that little girl of yours. She’ll go for a pret—”

Red mists my face.

“Well, that’s one way to shut him up,” Crow remarks, staring at the screwdriver sticking out of Cookie’s ear.

“Goddammit,” I roar, disappointed that I let him goad me into it.

“We’ll get him, brother,” Crow says, placing his hand on my shoulder.

Tweek, Chimera, and Jagger are working hard to find anything digital on him as much as Emmy Lou and Willow are. It’s taking longer than normal, which leads us to believe that Killer also has a hacker in his club who’s helping keep him hidden.

“Get this cleaned up,” I order Crux.

This was fucking useless. We didn’t get anything except a damn mess.

I miss Steel.

It’s hard to fathom missing someone you see every day and are around constantly, but here I am.

Steel’s here, but he’s not. There’s been so much going on over the last few months that even when he’s here, the problems still have a hold of him.

It’s one of the reasons I wanted to keep what happened with Heather a secret. More than that, there’s still a part that’s scared to say anything because what if he doesn’t believe me? What if he takes her side? I don’t know where that would leave us. I do, but I don’t like thinking about it. I have hope that he knows me enough to know I’d never do anything that would hurt Lyric. Or him, for that matter.

Since the attack, I get texts randomly threatening me and everyone I love. With each one that comes through, my heart gets heavier with the choice weighing on me.

Lyric is still safe for now. I check on her anytime I can throughout her day.

Steel’s Bronco blowing up was a warning that my time is running out.

Me or everyone else.

I’m just so thankful no one was caught in the blast. It would have been too much on my soul.

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