Page 26 of Broken Surrender
For a moment, I considered letting him live. Why was I here? He was such an insignificant piece of trash. What was he going to do to Lena, now that she was living in Opulent Gates, now that there’s no way he could get to her?
Nothing.
And Lena was nothing to me. She was disposable. A sacrifice to get me past the initiation. I didn’t care if she lived or died. And this piece of trash? Thisworm?What he did or didn’t do shouldn’t have mattered to me either.
But I had to protect what was mine, and he had hurt her.
I pissed, then washed my hands. I stalled in the back of the home. A black-and-white photograph hanging on the wall caught my eye: Lena, her cheeks puffy and smooth, smiling into the camera lens, excited by life. Happy at the man on the other side of the lens.
My scalp prickled with heat. I had never seen her smile like that. Was it me, or had she been robbed of those emotions?
I suppose it didn’t matter.
The worm appeared at my side. “Who’s this?” I asked, gesturing to the picture.
“My ex,” he said. “A whore, if you ask me.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “Does she suck dick real nice?”
The worm grinned. “You like what you see?”
I clenched my jaw, forcing a smile. “You’re damn right I do.”
“Hell yeah.” He smacked my back. “I can loan her out to you. Cheap too. Hundred bucks.”
“No kidding?” I asked. “She’s a prostitute?”
“She’ll do anything I tell her to.” He wet his lips, grinning. “Especially if I tell her I need the money. Trust me.”
I paused, rubbing my fingers together. The pizza spices filled the air, covering the stench of piss. “Hundred bucks? That’s it?” I asked. “Pretty little thing like her?”
“She’s always desperate for it.” He grabbed his balls. “You know what I mean?”
“What about her ass?” I questioned. “I’ve always wanted to try that. And if I’m going to pay for it, that’s the hole I want.”
The worm leaned on the wall. “You just gotta be ready for her feistiness. She likes that whole dominant fantasy, you know? She’ll say ‘no’ and act like she doesn’t want it, but inside, she’s dripping.” He laughed hard, and I laughed too, cracking my knuckles at my side, my eyes focused on him.
“What happened to you two?” I asked.
“She left me for some rich guy,” he sighed. “We had been dating since high school and she dumps me for some rich dude out of the blue. Disappears like I meant nothing. I’m telling you,anythingfor money.” He shook his head. “I’ll tell you what. Add a fifty and we’ll call it good for the backdoor party.”
As far as I could tell, Lena didn’t care about money. She had left the worm for other reasons, ones he was too stupid to understand.
“A hundred and fifty to fuck your ex-girlfriend’s ass,” I said.
“It’s a steal.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, balling my fists. “Why don’t I just fuck you in the ass, and we call it even?”
He stepped back. “What the hell, man? Are you gay or something?”
“What? You don’t like it either?” I stepped closer and he swung at me, and I flattened him against the wall, holding my arm against his neck. “I’m sure you’ll be more hysterical than Lena was.”
“Wait.” His eyes flickered across me. “How do you know Milly’s name?”
“Because she’smine.”
I stabbed him in the neck, the blood squirting out to the side, then gutted him as many times as I could before he crashed into the floor. He twitched on the ground, his eyes empty. Lena had let not one, buttwomen take advantage of her. Perhaps both of them hinted at a better life they could give her, but both of them had abused her.
