“There were some runners. Grinder and Boner went to playtag.” He says the word tag like he can’t quite believe he’s saying it before shaking his head. “And we have a rule about not killing women, so she gets to go free.” He turns his stare toward the woman, who has calmed down a little now, but she’s still hysterical and pissing me off with the stupid noise.
“Harold…oh, baby, nooo…monsters…” More wailing.
“Shade, you good, brother?” Hoops finally stands and steps toward Shade, whose breathing has begun to even out as he slowly raises his head and nods.
“There’s one more.” Shade closes his eyes and leans into Hoops for a brief moment. It’s cute as hell, but blink and you’d miss it because Shade is now glaring at the woman. “Where is he?”
Still wailing like a banshee, she glances around the room before she finally clocks me. Her eyes widen and everything stops, the silence suddenly deafening as I grin. Slow and wide.
“Y-you!” Her boney finger points or waves around at me. I think she’s aiming for a point, but her trembling is turning it into a weird waggy finger thing.
“Spence, go and stand beside my brother. You’re his shadow for a few minutes.” While I speak, my eyes remain on hers.
“And what if I protest?” Sledge feigns offense.
“You won’t.” I blow him a kiss, but my gaze doesn’t falter, and I hear Spence huff a laugh from behind me before he moves over to Sledge at the kitchen table.
Hopping forward, I crouch down in front of the woman and twirl the hammer in one hand. I feel like an Avenger because my leg with the dodgy knee is straight out to one side and my wrench hand is on the floor to help my balance.
“My friend, Shade, asked you a question.” I tilt my head and raise my brows in expectation.
If her eyes were any wider they’d be popping out. Quite comical, really.
“Ah man, we shoulda brought Ninja and Bandit, then I could be all cool and be like ‘rat’s got your tongue’.” I laugh at the image and I hear Spence chuckling quietly, too, but the others…I have no idea because my attention is focused on this woman.
She is responsible for what happened to me, and what happened to Shade…which was way worse. So if Shade saysthere’s one more person and she can help, then she will motherfucking help.
“Please…I’m sor-s-sorry…”
“I’m going to speak slowly because dumb cunts like you find it difficult to understand. So…where. Is. He?” I have no clue who “he” is, but Shade seems certain and I’m going with it.
She shakes her head and tries to back further into the cupboards behind her.
“Who?”
“Are you an owl now?” I mimic the way she’s shaking her head and laugh. “Hoo. Hoo.”
“Vic.” Shade’s voice is deep, growly, and if my vagina didn’t only get wet for Grinder, I’d definitely jump on that.
“There ya go. Vic. Is that your daddy? Did he leave you behind? Aww. Poor baby. So, let’s try again, shall we?” I stroke the wrench down the side of her face. “Where. Is. Vic?” I back off a little and sit on my arse, because my Avenger pose is beginning to make my core ache…and that’s already bruised from the beating I took this morning.
“I-I-I…I…”
“I-I-I…” I mock. “For fuck sake. Do you know where he is or not?”
The way she shakes her head in response and the look in her eyes makes me believe her. I’m good at sniffing out liars and this woman isn’t one…not in this moment, anyway.
“Fine.” She’s pissing me off with her whimpers and shit. And it was her stupid jealousy over her bodyguard that started all this crap, sooo…
Twirling the hammer one more time, I thrust the claw side into the side of her head and the spray of her blood goes fucking everywhere. I pull it back and go again, then…ohmygod…one of her eyeballs actually pops out and I laugh.
I’m a little curious why her dad left her behind. After all of this, he just left her here? But mostly I don’t give a fuck.
When I’m done, I look around at the others. All four of them are wearing amused smirks on their faces and I’ve never felt more at home. Although, Grinder being here would make it fucking perfection.
“What? You said you had rules, but I’m not beholden to those rules…” I hold up my least bloody arm and grin. “One of you southern men gonna help a girl up?”
Shade steps forward and supports me, lending me his strength to stand so I don’t have to put pressure on my fucked knee.