Page 95 of Hate So Deep

“Think he’s lying Franks?” I ask and Hayden’s lips curl into a deadly smile.

Shit.

He’s so fucking menacing that even I pause as he says, “Oh, he’s lying. Pricks like you can’t get it up unless they’re drugged. Am I right, prick?

Danny’s eyes roll and I chuckle when he says, “I promise.”

“Your promise means shit to me,” I mutter. “What about yourbro?”

I sneer the last word and Danny blinks one eye open, the only good eye because the other is swollen closed before saying, “Huh?”

“Oh yeah. You know exactly what I’m talking about.” I nudge him with my shoe for good measure, immune to his broken sob when it hits one of his particularly brutal bruises.

A little pain is the least of what he deserves for luring Lauren into a trap.

I can’t kill him. I can’t but goddamn I really want to end his miserable existence.

“It-It was all Buck,” he wheezes, and Hayden stands from the wall.

“What about the filthy fucker?” he snarls, and I whip around.

Maybe I shouldn’t have brought him. Ramie will never forgive me if he doesn’t come home and this shit is still too raw considering how dirty Buck actually was.

Fuck.

While Danny pants for breath, I grab a piece of metal lying on the floor and test its weight before eyeing Danny who’s crying silently a foot away.

“Look at me,” I say, and when he glances up, his eyes wide, I swing the rusty metal around. “You tell me who those two fuckers are, and I’ll let you live. Understand?”

He opens his mouth, but no sound emerges, and I cock my head, placing my hand behind my ear.

“I can’t hear you.”

“T-Toro and his brother.”

“Where? Where can I find them?” I ask and Danny shakes his head.

When I raise the bar, he mumbles, “I don’t know. They came to me. I don’tknow!”

I’m still tempted to beat the life out of this fucker, but I’m derailed from the madness when Hayden claps my shoulder and says, “He’s done, bro.”

With a sigh, I throw the bar to the ground and lean over Danny to say, “If you touch a single piece of hair on Lauren Stark's head and I have to come back here you’re dead. Got me?”

Danny nods his eyes bright with tears and easing away, I tap his back before we step toward the door where I pause to say, “If you’re a smart one, which I’m betting you’re not, you’ll get the fuck out of town for a while. Looking at you hurts my eyes, and I don’t like for my eyes to burn.”

Although Danny doesn’t answer, I assume from his sniffling little sob that he agrees, and we walk away. I know it’s highly likely that the little asshole will turn me in, but I don’t fucking care. I did what I did, and I don’t regret it because if you mess with mine, you mess with me.

Chapter 37

THEN

Lauren

The chilly air sends a shiver down my spine as Caro, and I walk up to the porch. It’s been several months since I attended a party here and the reason why is obvious.

Cory must know Dirk because nine times out of ten, if I’m going to run into the asshole, it’s here.

I heard through the grapevine, i.e., my half-brother Colt, that Dirk is out of town though, which means I’m in the clear.

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