Page 7 of Sweet Touch of Venom

I’m angry because that was my bidding to do. My pain to cause, and some other motherfucker got off on it. The idea of the man receiving joy from it made me livid, instead of walking off, I punched his already destroyed body until the carved letter on him tore even wider; the skin peeling off and slapping to the ground. And then, after, of course, I called my clean-up crew before flailing the massacre.

But yes, I guess we can call it acoincidence.

The voice on the other end speaks so loud, I bet he’s spitting into the damn phone. Tractor lets out a huff, running his hand down his face, hard enough to nearly snap his jaw. Moving the phone from his ear, he taps it, and now Henley’s shaky voice is on speaker.

“It probably was.” Henley pauses, and you can hear him gulp. Fuck, I almost laughed from his fear. It’s so goddamn amusing.

“Poison,” he finishes.

Tractor laughs loudly, attempting to hide the quiver in his thunderous boast. He’s not fooling me, I can tell in the way sweat lines on his forehead and his hand trembles while wiping it.

“He’s not worried about us.”

“The man extracts kidnappers and kills them in cold blood. I knew we shouldn’t have done that job—” My ears peek out, waiting for the name.

“Shut the fuck up, Henley. What’s done is done, and we got paid well, while Victor got what he wanted. Even if he didn’t get the blueprints. If Poison wants me, then why hasn’t he come for me? He’s a scared pussy.”

“Don’t say that, man. Maybe the rich kid Ronan hired a hit out on us.”

“Ronan is another pussy that won’t do anything. He’s sitting up high somewhere in the mountains, scared shitless after the beating we put on them—especially after Victor killed his friend.” He laughs out again, and this time it feels a little too confident.

I’m basking in his bravery. Not knowing, Poison and Ronan are the same man—and I’m here for blood.

God, it’s fucking cathartic.

A crooked grin dances on my cheek with a twitch, my heart races with the resistance to cracking my knuckles. Goddamn, just one crack would ease the anxiousness.

He cackles again. “Fuck him and whoever?—”

Having enough of his amusing memory session, I step out of the corner. “And whoever?” I keep my voice low.

I nearly laugh from the way his phone drops and his beady eyes bulge so wide they could fall out. I would’ve just put them right back in his sockets, only to yank them back out again.

He swallows, his body collapses back onto the seat as he shakes from unrelenting fear. “What the hell?”

“Tractor, who’s that! What’s going on?” the man on the other end yells and screams.

“Someone who’s coming for you, too,” I speak up, my tone serious and menacing. I can practically hear a gasp, and then the phone call ends. I look back at the large man on the couch.

I step closer, clenching my fist. All these years and here I am. In the flesh, renewed and no longer that weak boy strapped to a chair next to his best friend.

“You were going to say something after, ‘fuck him and whoever’.” I stroll to him threatening, a snarl curling on the left side of my top lip where the healed slash lays. The part wherehepunched me at with his ring, causing it to split completely. Itnever actually healed properly, it just left a noticeable slit there where it looks like someone took a knife and sliced it.

“I-I.” he stutters, sweat building more on top of his bald head.

I reach out for the little coffee table that seems like it can be easily broken with one kick. “You know, the funny thing is I thought I heard you say something like ‘Poison is a scared pussy.’”

Tractor swallows.

“Do you remember who I am?” I began walking around the table, which is approximately three steps before I’m towering over him like death with his scythe.

His head shakes, peering up at me, sinking further in the couch. I admit I look different. My hair is not short and faded but out and wavy, my body is larger and stronger, not weak and lean like before, and I have grown a scruff. Before, I only had chin hair. And who can forget the many slices on my chest and the one residing on my lip?

“I must say, I’m very offended, since you were just talking about me.” I let out another low chuckle, although nothing was funny.

“Look man, whatever happened, it was just business.”

I nod slowly as if I understand the reasoning. “Just business.”

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