Page 49 of Loch
“She’s awake,” he said, his voice as dark as his eyes. He didn’t take his eyes off of Lance as he spoke.
I nodded, feeling torn. I hated that I wasn’t there with her. I hated the man I had become. I hated the man hanging in front of me. But I believed I was where she needed me to be. There were too many questions I wanted to ask Brand. I needed to know how she was. I was desperate to know everything. But I held my tongue.
“She laughed,” Brand said after a moment of silence. I cut my eyes over at him. Had he gone to see her? Of course, he had. I couldn’t think of a single thing that would keep him from going to her as soon as he knew. Something dug at me in the back of my head and a dull ache filled my heart. “This didn’t break her.” He pinned me with a hard look and I wondered if he was trying to tell me more.
I swallowed hard. Brand’s eyes seemed to be screaming at me what an asshole I was for not being there with her. But it was done and I couldn’t take back. So I said nothing in response. My silence only seemed to spur his anger.
“Time to wake up, fucker,” he said in a tone that was so calm it was scary. He walked up to Lance with slow, heavy steps. He slapped Lance’s face just enough to make him stir. A low groan escaped his bloodied lips.
Lance’s eye cracked open as he tried to lift his head. I sat back and watched. Brand had anger to get out and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to stop him.
I sat there and watched as Brand work over Lance’s body like a heavy bag for a good twenty minutes. Hell, it could have been longer. Time seemed to be nonexistent in this death dungeon. When his bare knuckles were raw and split open, he stopped. He grabbed the back of Lance’s head and pulled it back so he was looking into Brand’s eyes. By this time they were swollen shut to the point that there was only a sliver of one that opened. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth and I wondered if he was starting to bleed internally. This wouldn’t last much longer.
“Did you hear that, fucker?” Brand’s voice had a dark, humorous edge to it. It almost made me flinch. Almost. If I hadn’t seen the shit that I had my whole life, it would have. Brand’s face was a breath away from Lance’s. “You didn’t break her.” With that he let Lance’s head drop back down and walked off and out of the basement, leaving me in silence again.
I sat there for a while, watching Lance’s limp body swing back and forth. I knew his shoulders were dislocated. The skin was long gone from his wrists where they were bound. Somehow, it still wasn’t enough. I took a deep breath in knowing this was it. It was the end. He had no more screams to give. He had nothing left to say. Not that I gave a fuck to hear it anyway.
Diesel, Cal, Bocca, Axe, and Tank came down the stairs not long after Brand left. I was still on the stool clenching the knife tight. They circled around me and I stood up.
“Call Mr. Clean,” I said to no one in particular. “Rot in hell,” I whispered into Lance’s ear. I pulled my gun out and pressed it into his forehead, pushing his head back so that my face was that last thing he would see. I pulled the trigger without hesitation, staring into the slit of his eye the whole time.
I dropped the gun to the floor and walked out of the basement without so much as a glance back. The clang of the metal hitting the hard concrete echoed off the bare walls. The sound made the whole thing feel ominous and final.
I went to my room and stripped out of my clothes, making sure to double wrap them in garbage bags. I washed all the blood and guts off, watching as the water turned from red to pink to clear.
It was done. But it felt far from over.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Reagan
“Let’s get you outta this joint, Snow White.” Brand’s voice filled the room as he pushed open the door to my hospital room and strolled in. He was wearing a smile but there was something different in his eyes. I couldn’t tell exactly what, but he seemed a little darker. Less the happy, shy guy I was used to. I shook off the strange feeling that something was wrong. I shot him a grumpy glare, to which he threw his head back and laughed at.
“Don’t you mean Fiona?” I deadpanned.
“Like the ogre?” His face screwed up. “No. Not even close. Your ears are nicely human shaped.” Okay, that was funny. I laughed and shook my head, then abruptly stopped because it hurt to do.
I was so sick of looking at those bland hospital walls. Earlier in the day, they unhooked my IV and I was able to get up and move around a little. I still didn’t have enough energy to take a shower, though. I did manage to get dressed with the help of Nan. The doctor came in hours ago and went over all the aftercare shit. The damn nurse showed up twenty minutes ago with my discharge papers. I wondered what the hell took so long. I was ready to run from this place like a gazelle sprinting from a lion.
Brand tried to help me into the wheelchair. He held up his hands in surrender when I threatened to bite him. I may have taken me close to five minutes to get into the thing, but I did it by myself. Nan had all my stuff packed up and we all left together with a nurse pushing me.
I wasn’t surprised to see that car that Nate had bought me out front. I sighed on the inside wishing he was the one driving it. But it sat there, empty, like my heart was starting to feel. Brand opened the back door as Nan slipped into the front passenger’s side. I was tired again and gave up the fight when he tried to help me into the car. I felt like a useless blob as he pulled me into his arms and chest. He was a good sport and didn’t even laugh at me as he lowered me down and buckled me in.
Brand drove all the way back to Nan’s house. The drive was quiet. I spent most of the time with my head pressed against the window. The featureless landscape went by in a blur. I could feel Brand’s eyes on me in the rearview mirror from time to time, but I ignored him.
We pulled up to the house and I couldn’t even bring myself to look at the front door. I started to feel anxious at the thought of even going back in there. I would have to walk up those same stairs where it happened. I would have to go into my room where it all started. Before I knew it, silent tears were streaming down my face. Brand and Nan were talking to each other, but I could feel their eyes on me. I heard Brand tell her to go ahead in. I sensed her hesitation before she got out.
I closed my eyes hoping it would stop the flashbacks, but it only made them more vivid. Before I knew it, warm arms wrapped around my shoulders. I crashed into Brand’s chest and he held me with a tenderness I knew was because of how mangled I was. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t tell me it would be okay. He simply held me and let me cry.
“I can take you somewhere else if you want,” he said after awhile. I shook my head against his chest.
“I don’t have anywhere to go. This is my home.” The thing was, it may not have really been my home, but it was the closest place that had ever felt like one. My sadness turned to anger. I was angry thathehad taken that feeling and security away.
“I’ll find you a place. Just tell me what you want to do.” There was a softness to his voice that I had never heard before. I took in a deep breath, hoping it would make me brave. Then I sat up as straight as I could and looked at him.
“I can do this. I won’t let what he did ruin this, too,” I said. He gave me a nod of understanding and helped me out of the car.
I made it into the house. I stood there frozen at the bottom of the stairs to the second floor. Brand had one arm wrapped around my waist and the other holding my hand to steady me.
