Page 182 of Never Die for a Sinner
“What the fuck?” he slurs, still drunk off his fucking rocker from where Christian found him in the alleyway.
I have a feeling he’ll be sobering up pretty damn quickly when he gets a look at what’s waiting for him below.
“Good morning, princess,” I greet, letting him sway from the rope attached to the tall tree overhead. “Sleep well?”
“You’re that whore’s boyfriend?”
“Wrong choice of words, bud,” Christian chuckles darkly, stalking over to the other end of the rope.
It’s a pulley system. The more he lowers his side, the higher mine goes. The opposite is also true, but a whole hell of a lot more fun.
“Oh, I’m a whole lot more than that.” Kneeling beside him, I allow him to get a good look at my face. The one that’s going to make him pay for all the shit he did to my girl. “Do you know why we’re here, Dale?”
“That little fucking bitch,” he spits, his face getting redder and redder by the second. “I promise she’s making shit up. I just wanted to help her.”
“Well, in that case, we should probably let him go.” I look to Christian, who shrugs. “What do you think?”
“I think we should figure out if he’s lying first. Can’t be too sure nowadays. A criminal’s word doesn’t really mean as much as it used to.”
“Good point.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you? You going to kill me? Over a fucking lie?”
“Is it a lie, Dale? I saw you chasing my girl. She was terrified.”
I nod once to Christian, who lets the rope go slack just a hair, dropping Dale an inch with a harsh lurch.
Dale gasps, flailing, though his arms are tied behind his back, so it’s really not much use.
“That looks uncomfortable, Dale.”
“Let me down from here. I did my fucking time.”
“You did time for drug paraphernalia.” His eyes widen the slightest bit. “Oh, yes. I went through your file. Petty burglary. Sexual assault when you were younger. Pretty much the bottom of the barrel as far as citizens go.”
He has the audacity to spit, and it lands on the side of my face.
“You don’t know shit about me.”
Gripping his shirt, I wipe the spit off my face and stand.
—Then I punch him in the dick.
Dale cries out in pain, his screams echoing in the clearing around us.
“You can scream all you want. No one will hear you. Even if they did, I’m not sure anyone would care.”
“What are you going to do to me? I’ve got a family, you know. They need me.”
“They survived without you for nearly ten years. I’m sure your absence would be a blessing for them.” I stand back from the large pit in the ground that Dale’s dangling over. Dangly Dale. Seems like a fitting nickname. “As for what I’m going to do to you? Well, I’d rather show you.”
Dale opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can, the sound of a metallic door sliding open from the pit below silences him.
Dale’s eyes go wide at the man who stalks into the clearing.
And then they nearly fall out of his head when he looks below and sees the big ass grizzly bear pacing around beneath him.
“Dale, I want you to meet Smokey. He hates men.”
