Trouble in Hell (Hell Night 1)

Unlacing his fingers, he sits up in his seat and places his hands flat against the surface. “The baby she just had was the result of her rape.”

As soon as the words leave his lips, I kick the chair I was sitting in moments ago. It skids across the room and slams into a filing cabinet. It takes everything in me to not destroy everything within reaching distance. Anger, hot and blinding, leaves me shaking. My nails bite into my palms and sweat beads on my forehead. The need to maim and abolish tenses my muscles.

“Where is he?” I grit out, barely suppressing the madness wanting to consume me.

“Pike County Jail until he can be transferred to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.”

His answer only pisses me off even more, because that means I can’t get my hands on him, and that’s one thing I desperately fucking want.

“Go through the records. See who we can use.” I hate that I won’t get to put him down with my own hands, but it’ll satisfy me enough.

“Already on it.”

“How long did he get?”

His eyes narrow and the pulse at his temple jumps. “Twenty years.”

“Un-fuckin’-believable,” I snarl.

That right there is why my brothers and I do what we do. If the justice system won’t do their job, we’ll do it for them. The bastard should rot in prison until he takes his last breath, feeling the tortures of being made bitch to some thug. In cases such as this though, where the perp gets off with a shit sentence, carving slices out of the bastard is even better. It placates a darkness inside my brothers and me, something that formed from the tortures of our childhood and grew over the years, along with our need for vengeance.

I pin blazing eyes on JW. “Make sure the fucker pays. I want his death slow and painful.”

His silent nod is all I need to know that he’ll get it done. My only regret is I won’t get to see the life leave his eyes.

HOURS LATER, I’M BACK in my office making notes in a patient’s file when my phone rings. Without looking at the screen, I answer.

“Doctor Trayce.”

“What is this I heard about you seeing the new woman in town?” Mae asks, accusation lacing her voice.

I clench my teeth together. “Where in the hell did you hear that?”

“Watch the language,” she snaps, and I grimace like a twelve-year-old being reprimanded, even though she can’t see my remorse. After my muttered “sorry”, she continues. “I ran into Jenny at the store. She kept gushing about the new baby. She also let slip that you’re seeing his mother.”

I’m going to strangle Judge if he doesn’t put a muzzle on his woman.

“I’m not seeing her,” I bite out, trying my damndest to still be respectful to the only woman I consider my mother.

“Jenny seems to think otherwise.”

“Well, she’s wrong.”

“Since it looks like she’s going to be here for a time, I want to meet her. Bring her by for dinner tomorrow night.”

“Mae,” I sigh and rub my temple. “There’s nothing going on between her and I, so there’s no reason for you to meet her.”

She huffs out a breath. “I’ll be the judge of that. Besides, she’s been in town for a while. It’s time I met her, don’t you think?”

“No.” The growled word slips past my lips. “I don’t think. Even if there were something going on, nothing could come of it. Have you forgotten where we live and what we do here? That’s not something most people will approve of. Added to that, she’s leaving soon.”

“You bring that girl to my house tomorrow evening, Trouble,” she demands adamantly, not giving in.

My fist slams down on the desk, knocking over a cup of pens.

There’s no damn way I’m getting out of this. When Mae wants something, with the amount of respect I have for the woman, she gets it.

“Fine,” I grumble. “I’ll see if she feels up to dinner.” I pray like hell she’s not. “She just had a baby not long ago, so I can’t promise anything.”