Page 13 of Jase
It was a lie and we both knew it, but he didn’t care to continue arguing. He reached forward, unzipping the bag. At the stacks of cash, his expression transitioned from angry to greedy. He picked up a stack, sliding his thumb down the one-hundred-dollar bills. When he was satisfied, he picked up another, and another. His smile grew by the second, but so did mine.
Tightly, I gripped around the handle of my knife. How I’d already pulled it free, I didn’t know. That aching desperation called, singing violently in my ears. Blood. I wanted his pouring free of him like rain. Spraying and running a river over my gloves. My hands would have been nice, but I was willing to sacrifice my needs to have him dead.
“This’ll work.” He nodded, shifting as he zipped up the bag. When he stood, his eyes were level with my chin. His stare met mine.He was unaware until his expression said ‘he suddenly was’.His eyes went wide, and heat spilled over my wrist: warm, wet. Gargling and raspy gasps filled the space, and his hands flew to his throat. I grabbed the front of his hair, pushing the blade deeper into the side of his neck. Blood poured over his lips. The horrified, silent scream in his gaze drew back the side of my mouth as I jerked my knife free and plunged it into his throat again. And again.
“If only I was your devil for the night. I’d make you suffer so much more than this. Ihatethat I can’t.”
His legs buckled as his mouth stretched wider. Weight pitched backwards, and I pulled my knife free letting him crumble to the ground as he gasped like a fish out of water. Lowering, I pulled off my mask, showing him my face. David was raking down his neck, barely holding on to life as he stared up at me.
“Can you feel it? Do you feel their fear?”
Leaves scattered, sticking to his blood-soaked hand as he went to roll. The action ended just as fast as he came jolting back to hold over the wounds.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me. I know you do. I can see how terrified you are. Just so you know—”
Pressure tugged against my belt from Kody so hard, I nearly fell back. My teeth ground through rage as I stared down. I didn’t want this to end so soon. I wanted to take my time with this piece of shit.
“I’m going to take good care of her. I’m going to fix what you broke.”
My hand lunged forward stabbing into his chest as he convulsed and let out a wispy cry. Once. Twice.Over and over.Each micro-movement fed me visions of Kody’s beatings. They drove me to nearly punch my fist through David’s cratered, shredded chest. A deep grunt left me as I reared up, slicing open his throat. More warmth. More wetness. It fountained over my gloved hand, but I didn’t get to enjoy it as my concern over Kody grew. I grabbed his lifeless body, throwing it off to the side, amongst the trees. No grave. There wasn’t time for that. I didn’t care whether he’d be found or not. All my focus was on the one reason I was here. On the one person I couldn’t get out of my head since I’d seen her.
Chapter 6
Kody
“She’s lucky. No. I think it’s mostly cuts and bruising. She has a shitload of stitches over her body. Her hand was shattered pretty good. They have some device-thing around it, keeping the pins in place. She was in surgery almost all night. She’s been sleeping a lot since then.”A pause.“Yeah, she woke up a little to talk to them, but she wasn’t able to tell the detectives much. She could barely stay awake enough to speak. The only thing she said was the man who took her, tortured her, and then gave her to another man who dropped her off at a gas station. They called her an ambulance. No one really knows anything.”Another pause.“Yeah, exactly. She’s lucky as hell. I’ve got to go, she’s stirring. I will, okay, bye.”
“Don’t…tell me Greg…wants me back to work already.” I groaned, wincing at the light. Each word was hard to speak. I felt like it was taking an eternity to finish the sentence. My head was throbbing; my throat ached. I attempted to smile as my best friend leaned in for a hug.
“He’s worried about you. Everyone at the office is. How are you feeling? Any better?”
A straw was put to my lips, and I greedily took a drink of the water as I tried to recall the last day or two. Everything was a blur.
“On a scale from being hit by a train…to a fist…I’m a bus. My entire body aches. How bad is it?”
Silence. Had she not understood me? I was talking pretty slow, and I was slurring.
“Tiffany?”
Her head shook, and she couldn’t hide the tears filling her eyes.
“This is a shitty comparison, but remember that time we got really drunk and you passed out on my balcony, and then spent the night throwing up?”
“Day one. I went to work and got no sleep. Partied with you again the next day. And the next. Got sick almost every night.” I stopped, trying to find strength to continue. “You know I rarely drink anymore, and that’s why. It was the worst week of my life. Is it that bad?”
She winced. “I think this takes the cake, babygirl. You look like you went on a five-year bender.”
“It feels like it.” I hit the button, lifting the top of the bed. I almost cried out as the pain crept through the medication. “Truthfully. How bad is it? Do you have a mirror?”
Her hand rose to cover her mouth through the hesitation. Her dark skin was paler than normal, and her full lips were hiding behind her fingers as she refused to meet my eyes.
“Tiff?”
“Maybe we should wait a few days.” She sniffled, reaching out to grab my good hand. For the first time, I took in what I could see. Ireallylooked. My broken hand looked like something out of a horror movie. There was a large contraption around it with countless pins pushing through the skin. Bandages nearly wrapped my entire forearm and bicep above it. My good arm wasn’t without bandages as well. From the colors I could see peeking out from the gown’s sleeve, it didn’t look real. I let go of her hand, reaching for the gauze.
“Kody, don’t.”
“I have to see.”
