Page 129 of Beneath the Surface

I grin, anticipation thrumming through my insides. “Me neither.”

Walking up to the door, I knock on it with my fist, before standing back and raising my leg, kicking it off the hinges. Perks of having a large frame.

“Knock, knock. Anybody home?” I yell.

A young woman pops up from the couch, her eyes half lidded and glossy, her body wavering as she tries to focus on Chase and me before landing on the broken door.

“Hi.” I smile wide, my heart smacking against my ribs. “Your man around?” I ask, twisting my body.

“You the cops?” Her words are slurred.

“I’m the person your bullshit boyfriend pissed off. Where is he?”

She scratches her head. “I dunno who you’re talkin’ about.”

Chase grunts before power walking down the hallway. My chest seizes in panic, knowing he isn’t armed, and chances are that Darryl is. I start to follow, but my eyes glance back at who I assume is Amy, noticing the fresh blood on her hands, and the needle next to her on the floor. My stomach drops, knowing that at one time, this was my Lily.

Yelling comes from a back room, and I rush down the hall, my heart twisting in my chest. I find Chase, his fist in Darryl’s face, his hand wrapped around his throat as he pins him against the wall.

“You think you can fuck with my sister, and I wouldn’t come to fuck you up? You think I’d just let you go?” He slams his fist forward again, smashing into Darryl’s nose, blood spurting from his nostrils and spattering across Chase’s knuckles. “I’ve been waitingyearsfor this.”

Walking closer, I pull Chase back. He releases him, and Darryl falls to the floor in a heap, his hands coming up to cover his face.

I crouch down next to him, pulling the gun from my holster and tipping up his chin with the barrel, his eyes unfocused and hazy.High as a fucking kite.

“Darryl,” I croon.

“What do you fuckers want?” he spits.

My eyes gleam, my chest burning with the rage I’ve been biting back until now. “It seems you’re confused.” I turn toward Chase who’s rubbing his busted knuckles. “Does he seem confused to you?” I ask.

Chase smirks. “Yeah, he does.”

“Yeah,” I repeat. “You see, youmustbe confused, thinking that I’m here to answer any of your fucking questions.” Removing the barrel from under his chin, I bring it back, slamming it across the side of his face, the crack sending a rush of satisfaction through my veins.

Darryl screams, whipping to the side, a chipped tooth flying out of his mouth, and landing on the ground next to me.

“Doesn’t feel so good when it happens to you, does it?” I lean in close, my hand grasping his head by his greasy hair, wrenching his neck up and back until it’s bent at a ninety-degree angle. “You think you could touch her and I’d let you walk away?” I slam him face-first into the ground.

The carpet muffles his groan of pain. He rolls on his back and grins, his teeth stained red. “You talkin’ about Lily? I shoulda fucked her ‘fore I killed her.”

“Don’t say her name, you piece of shit,” Chase seethes, coming forward and planting his boot into Darryl’s side. He yelps, curling in on himself.

He coughs, spitting up blood, a maniacal laugh piercing through the air.

This guy is so gone he’s barely human.

“Maybe next time I’ll catch that bastard kid. She ever have it?”

Rage floods through my insides, and my vision goes black. Gripping him by the nape of his neck, I hoist him up and shove him into the wall, my gun to his temple, and my forearm against his throat. “You wanna test me, motherfucker? Is that it?”

His eyes widen, his hands scratching against my arm as I press it against his windpipe, feeling it crush under the pressure. His mouth opens, gasping for air, his eyes bulging from their sockets. I push harder, enjoying watching the life drain from his eyes. His face turns pallid, blue rimming his mouth from lack of oxygen, and I’m gone. Determined to wipe this piece of shit from the planet so he can never reach them. So he can’t even take a fucking breath to try and say their names.

A hand grips my shoulder tight and jerks, snapping me out of the haze. I turn, Darryl dropping to the ground, wheezing and clutching his throat, whimpers leaving his pathetic mouth.

“Don’t kill him,” Chase says.

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to calm the storm raging inside of me.

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