Page 131 of The First Cut
Driller sneers. “You sucking his dick now, Byte? Knew you always wanted my patch.”
“Someone needs to clean up your fucking mess. And you don’t get to talk to me about sucking dick when you’ve spent years on your knees taking it up the ass from Khan. You might play dumb, but I know you’re not. Everyone here thinks Khan was the mastermind, dragging you along for the ride because you had your nose so far up his ass. I call bullshit. You knew what he was doing from the start and probably even egged him on. Hell, I bet you volunteered to take Freya. We all know you get your rocks off raping girls.”
“Fuck you!” Driller spits. “Lola’s a whore. She wanted it. She spread her legs and welcomed me into her pussy.”
I step forward and punch him in the face, feeling his nose crack as it erupts with blood. “She’s far from a whore. She had no fucking interest in you because, unlike the rest of us, she saw through your bullshit right from the start. She never wanted you, and that pissed you off. You had plans to entice her away from Havoc so you could lord it all over him, and like fuck would you let something like consent interfere with that. You’re pathetic and weak. You don’t deserve to wear our colors. You never did. Strip him, boys,” I order and step back as brothers descend on him, using knives to cut his clothes from his body. He kicks and fights, but there's nothing he can do with his hands restrained like they are.
I eye the club emblem on his chest—the reaper with his scythe and the dark raven feathers protruding from his back.
“Most people would take a blow torch and burn this off,” I tell him as I pull a scalpel from my pocket, trailing the tip of it across the ink. “Nothing quite like the smell of burning flesh to make you realize how badly you’ve fucked up. But I’m not like most people. You know me, Driller. You know what I’m capable of.”
“Just do it. We all know you’re going to kill me. Because if you let me go, I’ll just keep coming back.”
I grin a feral grin as I stab the blade into the skin just above his tattoo. “Now, why would I kill you before I’ve had a chance to play with you? I promised Lola I’d make it hurt. And I won’t break my promises.”
“Hold him steady,” I order Mud and Meek, who step up to grip him tightly.
Once they have him pinned in place, I use the scalpel to cut the tattoo from his body. His scream fuels my hunger to make him hurt, to make him bleed. When I’m finished, I hold up the skin I peeled from his body and show him.
“Look at that. I didn’t even damage the tattoo. I think I’ll frame it. That way, Lola can look at it every day and know you died as you lived, like a pathetic fucking loser.”
I turn and hold out the skin to Snoopy, who grimaces. He takes it from me as I turn back to Driller. His chest is now coated in blood, which makes me want to play some more.
“Grab his leg, Byte. I want to see Lola’s handiwork.”
He does as I ask, narrowly missing getting kicked in his face. He wraps both arms around Driller’s knee and calf and holds the leg up for me to inspect.
I take in the slash at the back of his heels and grin. “You know it turns me on knowing my old lady did this to you? Bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?”
I dig my fingernails into the wound, making him squeal.
“What I don’t like, is knowing the only way she could have struck you here was because you’d taken your boots off. And the only reason you’d take your books off is so you could sneak up on her like the pussy you are. She did a good job, though, right, Byte?”
“Not bad. Bet it hurts like a motherfucker.”
“Not half as bad as this will.”
Using the scalpel, I cut through the tendon, severing it completely and making Driller scream once more.
I nod for Byte to drop his leg. “Grab the other one.”
We repeat the process, though Driller struggles more, knowing what to expect. But it does him no good.
By the time I’m finished, the ground is covered in blood. “What next?” I tap my finger against my chin.
“I say, go for the fucker’s eyes. Lola can hardly see out of hers, so it seems fair to me,” Elmo says.
“Good idea.” I step closer as Mud and Meek adjust their hold on him so his head is locked in place.
“I’m going to give her a good life, you know. I’ll give her as many babies as she’ll let me.”
He spits at me, the bloody phlegm hitting my cut. “It won’t replace the baby I kicked out of her.” He grins, but I can see the fear in his eyes.
“You think if you push me hard enough, I’ll end you now. Sorry Driller, this shit is my kind of heaven. But now that you’ve reminded me exactly what you’re capable of, punching you until you can’t see doesn’t seem enough. Plus, I don’t want to fuck up my hands. Lola likes them too much. I think I’ll just cut your eyes out instead.”
“Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you all. You think you know everything, but I bet you don’t. You all stand here acting like you’re better than me. But you all treated her like shit, and you know it. She was so alone.” He laughs with an edge of hysteria. “She tried to run, you know. So I broke her legs and left her to lay in her own shit for days, knowing none of you would check on her. Bitch never tried to leave after that.”
It feels as if the whole room sucks in a collective breath. I knew he’d broken her legs. She’d told me, after all. But I didn’t know the rest. And judging from the wave of hostility swamping the room, neither did they.
