“Smoke?” Boss asked and walked up to me to hand me a half-finished cigarette.
I shook my head as I stared at Henry. He was groaning softly, barely hanging on. But I wasn’t finished just yet. I wasn’t done delivering the pain this fucker deserved.
Oh, I’d done a beating on Henry all right, done a fucking number on his pathetic ass. I’d been working on him for the past half hour, slowly chipping away at the arrogance, his pseudo-power, until he was nothing more than the bag of meat sitting before me.
The fucker, who looked nearly dead, had his arms tied behind him, his feet secured to two legs of the chair.
The bastard looked about ready to pass out, so I tipped my chin in Shyne’s direction and watched as the man went and got some smelling salt. I wanted him awake for the rest of this shit.
When Henry sputtered back to full consciousness, I grinned and stepped closer to him, now standing a few feet from where he sat, staring down at him as he looked up at me. His face was a mess, broken nose, swollen and split lips, a tooth missing. Hell, he looked like the fresh meat the butcher had in the display case on Sunday mornings.
I reached behind me and pulled the hunting knife out of my back pocket, letting the light catch the shiny metal, grinning as he widened his eyes.
“F—F—” Henry sputtered, his lips so busted to hell he could barely speak.
I leaned in close so we could look right in each other’s eyes, although both of his were nearly swollen shut. “What was that, Henry boy?”
“F—Fuck. You.”
I ginned wider and straightened, looking at the other men in the room, and started laughing. They followed suit. “This asshole has some balls on him. That’s for fucking sure.”
Renner came up to me with a bottle of vodka. This wasn’t for drinking though. I poured that alcohol over Henry, hearing him scream as the liquor covered his open wounds, hurting like a bitch.
I wanted this to last all fucking night, if I was being honest. But I knew this had to come to an end. I wanted to end this. I wanted to go back to Poppy.
I wanted to love her and finally tell her she never had to worry again.
And so I leaned in real fucking close, so the asshole could see the calm before the storm. “This is for her mom.” I plunged the blade into his side. He grunted in pain. “This is for all the shit you put Poppy through.” I pulled the blade out and stabbed him in the other side. He started coughing up blood, splatters of the red, viscous fluid covering my neck and white T-shirt. “And this, you motherfucker… this is for the girl I love.” I stood and brought that blade right across his throat, slicing it open, watching as he struggled, trying to get away, trying to gasp for breath.
Henry widened his eyes as much as he could, given how swollen they were, and as he stared at me, pleading without being able to say anything, all I did was stand there and watch him die.
And when it was done, we all stood there in silence, no one moving or breathing. The silence that filled the room was deafening, but there was also this release that seemed to fill me, to know what I’d done was for the best. This wasn’t the first time I’d killed a man. This wouldn’t be the last time either. But this moment felt different. Taking this life meant more than just vengeance or anything like that.
I did this out of love.
“Let’s get this fucker out of here. Have the prospect come out here and clean up the blood and piss. Have them get rid of the rest of the shit too.” Although this was private property and we had the cops in our pocket, I sure as fuck didn’t want or need incriminating evidence just lying around. Weapons used, the rope and damn chair Henry was currently using. Yeah, all that shit had to be destroyed.
“You got it,” Shyne said and pulled out his phone to make the call.
I stared at Henry’s lifeless form strapped to the chair, the overhead light flickering because it was on its last leg, just like this fucker had been seconds before. I untied the ropes that bound his arms and legs, took a step back as he slumped to the blood-splattered concrete floor, and felt pride at the knowledge the prick was finally gone, that I could go back and tell Poppy she didn’t ever have to worry again.
Shyne and Boss grabbed one of Henry’s arms each and dragged him out of the warehouse, tossing the body in the back of the van. And then we all climbed in, everyone silent as Shyne drove us to a strip of property owned by the city, acreage that was a wilderness preserve.