Page 105 of Ruined

“Promise me one thing,” I whisper.

“P—please, don’t kill me,” Miguel begs.

“I won’t, just gotta promise me one thing.”

“Don’t pass out.” Grabbing his jaw, I force the tongs into his mouth, gripping his tongue. Yanking the stupid thing out, I twist the knob of the blow torch. “Please don’t pass out,” I say with a devilish smile. Miguel tries to pull his tongue back into his mouth, but he doesn’t realize it’s only making it worse.

Holding the tongs, I drag the blow torch over his tongue, breathing in that beautiful burning flesh smell. Henry ripped her apart, as he let Miguel burn half her tongue. I’m just—

“Fuck!” Jace curses behind me.

Pulling the blow torch back, I let go of his tongue, swinging around. The last person I expect to be standing there is Blake. She’s so beautiful. Standing there in her sleep shorts and one of Jace’s shirts.

“Sunshine.” Jace's long legs stride over until he’s standing in front of her, cupping Blake’s cheeks.

I barely make it to the table, setting the blow torch down. All I can think about is getting to her side.

“What are you two doing?” she asks, peering around Jace’s arm.

“Business,” I mutter, trying to block her view of Miguel. But I never thought to make sure she was okay with it, and I sure as shit didn’t think about what would happen if she walked in on it.

“Don’t give me that shit,” Blake hisses, her voice shaking as she tries to hold her ground.

“Sunshine, he’s just business, we’ll be done soon.”

Blake steps back, cocking a brow at Jace.

“So, business?”

“Yes,” I tell her just as Jace says, “Of course.”

“So, because he's business,” she says pointing to Miguel behind us. “That means I’m just business too.”

Jace snaps his head towards me, frowning. I share the same expression, only she can’t see it.

“How… Blake we’ve been over this—”

“If that’s who I think it is tied up from…a damn meat hook, then it’s not business, it’s personal. So, tell me, is it personal or is it business?”

I shift on my feet, hating that we got caught with our hand in the cookie jar.

“It’s personal,” I find myself muttering.

Blake nods, and taking a deep breath, she moves between Jace and I, going to Miguel.

“Blake,” I growl.

“Don’t Blake me,” my girl hisses back. It will never not amaze me that she was never afraid of me. “Is this where you guys have been fucking off to?”

I bite my lip, peering over at Jace. I’ll let him handle this, he’s better at words. But from the look he’s giving me, he’s thinking the same thing.

“That and other things.” I blow out a breath.

Blake stops a few feet from Miguel, cocking her head to the side as she studies him. Jace and I stand behind her, waiting to see what Blake is going to do.

“How’d you guys find him?” she mumbles.

“After you told us what happened we hired some men to hunt the rest of them down,” Jace answers, not skipping a beat.

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