Jimmy removed his foot from between Ben’s shoulders, and he was dragged to his feet the same way he’d been hauled from the car. The driver, another linebacker sized man, joined them in their walk.
Logan took out his key card to the apartment.
Jacob clenched his eyes shut.
“Now, Jakey boy, I don’t have all day.” Logan laughed. “Well, I do, but I don’t want to waste it out here.” Pure glee stretched over Logan’s face.
Ben twisted in Jimmy’s grip, breaking free. He blocked Logan’s path.
For a moment, Logan’s bravado dimmed. Then Jimmy closed a meaty hand over Ben’s shoulder and jerked him around. A hard shove sent him in the direction of the sidewalk. Another tossed him into the wall. Before he could straighten up, the gunman had his grip on the back of Ben’s neck, pinning him against the brick. The rough edges sandpapered his cheek.
A door lock beeped, and a latch clicked.
Ben was yanked off the wall and shoved into the room, behind Jacob.
Mike closed and locked the door behind them.
Logan went over to the counter where a collection of liquor huddled on the cheap Formica. He waved an empty glass at Jake. “Want a drink, Jakey? Jack? Vodka. Oh, I know, how about a little H? You never say no to your favorite flavor.”
Shivers wracked Jacob’s frame as he lifted his chin. “No.”
“Awww—come on. You’re gonna make me feel bad.”
“I…” Jacob’s breath hitched. “I haven’t used in a while. If I take any, I might pass out, then…” He shrugged.
“Wouldn’t be the first time I fucked you while you were dead to the world.”
Jacob glanced at Ben. Shame contorted his features. If only Ben could tell Jacob he had nothing to be ashamed of.
But Ben couldn’t be sure Jacob would believe him. The echo of Ben’s cruelty rose up. In fact, there was no reason for Jacob to believe him. Even if Ben meant it.
Logan waved at the sofa. “Go ahead and sit, Mr. Corbin. Make yourself at home.”
The fuck you was on the tip of Ben’s tongue, but he feared the one who’d reap Logan’s anger would be Jacob.
Jimmy nudged Ben with the muzzle of his gun. “Mr. Hues said, sit down.”
Ben perched himself on the edge of the sofa. Jacob started to follow.
“Not you.” Logan motioned for Jacob to come closer. He did, each step heavy and unsure. As if pushing his way through knee-deep mud rather than empty space.
Logan held a glass out to Jacob. He took it. The man glared at him until he drank.
Logan finished pouring his own drink into a tumbler. “You want a drink, Mr. Corbin? ’Cause with your attitude it could very well be your last. My customers like spunk, but you, you’re just trouble waiting to happen. And I don’t need that kind of rep. Although…” Logan took a sip. “It’s been a while since Mike there had the pleasure of breaking in new meat.”
Mike’s expression remained blank.
Yet it was nothing like Marcel. Where Mike held a natural air of cruelty, a particular light of viciousness in his eyes, Marcel had been a void.
“What do you think, Mike? You up for the challenge? ’Cause I’m pretty sure this one knows how to hit. Not like Jakey.” Logan patted Jacob’s cheek. “He’s all docile and well trained. At least Franky did something right.”
“Let him go.” Jacob spoke so softly, Ben thought he’d imagined it. “You’ve got what you wanted. Just let Ben go.” No, not soft, broken.
Tremors of rage traveled down Ben’s arms.
“Well, well, appears you have some new spark.” Logan gripped Jacob’s chin hard enough to dimple. “And you seemed to have acquired a bit of arrogance too, thinking this is about you.” Logan went back to his drink. “Don’t worry, it won’t last.” He leered at Ben over the edge. “Nope, you’re just a bonus, Jakey. The real cash cow is your friend.”
And why would Logan give a shit about Ben?
“You don’t even know me.”
“Nope, but don’t worry, after Mike has worn out that ass of yours, you and me will get to know each other really well.”
Nausea threatened to crawl up Ben’s throat.
“See, I don’t need to know you, Mr. Corbin. You’re more of a, let’s say, business investment for one of my newly acquired stockholders.”
“Someone’s paying you?”
Logan drained his glass and made himself another. “Finish your drink, Jakey. It’s not good manners to waste a man’s liquor. Or maybe we’ll start now with an etiquette refresher.”
Jacob flinched and tipped up his glass, grimacing with every swallow.
“That’s better.” Logan nodded. “Yeah, Mr. Corbin. I’m getting paid. And honestly, I expected things to be a little more difficult. But you’ve turned out to be the easiest money I ever earned.”
Ben could think of only one person. “Yvette.”
Logan paused with his glass half raised to his lips. “Maybe.”
“And you really think you’re going to walk away from this?”
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s not like anyone’s gonna come looking for you. And if they did, they wouldn’t know where to start. Or maybe you think that old man is big and bad as Jacob likes to pretend.” He nudged Jacob with his elbow. “Go ahead, Jakey. Flash your Bat-signal, see if he comes shuffling in with his walker.” Logan laughed, and his two gorillas joined in.
“Marcel won’t have to kill you. Yvette will. You have no idea who you’re dealing with. She’s not going to pay you. She’ll burn you alive.”
Logan huffed.
“I’ve seen what she’s capable of. She killed someone I knew because I didn’t kill who she told me to.”
“You?” Logan slapped his knee. “She wanted you to kill someone? Do you even know which end of a gun the bullet comes out of?”
Ben curled his lip. “You should know, seeing how you shit yourself when I pointed one at you.”
The heavy tumbler in Logan’s hand fractured the lamplight.
Pain detonated inside Ben’s skull with the pop of glass, and fire bled down his cheek. The room turned crimson, and the floor punched him in the shoulder. He rolled. Hazy figures hovered over him. They moved their mouths, but a continuous ringing drowned everything out.
Four people. One struggling, yelling. Someone Ben knew. He blinked, trying to clear the haze.
“…a goddamned towel.” Logan’s anger rose up from behind the fog.
Ben rolled to his side and pushed up on his elbow. Copper and whiskey flavored his tongue.
A shadow broke away and dropped beside Ben. Warm hands cradled his face.
“Look at me, Ben.”
He blinked. Jacob hovered behind a veil of red fog. He wiped Ben’s face with the hem of his shirt, clearing some of it away.
Jacob grimaced. His touch brushed over Ben’s temple, and a sharp sting bit his scalp. Jacob held a shard of glass pinched between his fingers. A new flow of hot liquid slid over Ben’s cheek. Jacob took off his shirt and waded it up. He pressed it against the side of Ben’s head.
Logan glared down at them with a towel wrapped around his hand.
“Get away from him.”
Ben got his arm raised enough to hold the shirt. “Go.”
Jacob stood and backed away. He must not have moved fast enough because Logan shoved him.
He jabbed a finger at Jimmy. “Take them both to the back room and call Norma. She’s a nurse, she can stitch this up.” He kicked Ben in the side. “I’m gonna really enjoy fucking you up, I just want you to know that.”
Ben was yanked off the ground. He tried to walk to keep from being dragged, but his legs didn’t want to go where he willed them.
Carpet raked against his heels. One of his tennis shoes came off. The glaring light of the small living area dimmed. He fought back the urge to vomit. A door clicked. Air stirred.
Then he headed toward the ground again. He bounced against the edge of a mattress and crumpled to the floor.
�
�Ben.” Jacob, but it was too dark to see more than a shadowy form. The pressure of the shirt against the side of Ben’s head returned. “Can I turn on a light?”
“Yeah—” Ben hardly recognized his own voice.
The dimness winked out, and Ben clenched his eyes shut against the sudden flash of fire.
Jacob returned. “Can you sit up? I need to check and see how bad it is.”
“Don’t think it matters. Not like there’s anything you can do.”
Jacob’s expression threatened to shatter.
Ben propped up on his elbow. Jacob gripped his arm and helped him lean against the bed. “I’m so sorry.”
“This isn’t your fault.” Ben winced against the rising throb in his temple.
Jacob smiled a little. “Here.” He brushed Ben’s hold away from the shirt and moved it aside. Even with Jacob’s light touch, the pain flared.
Ben hissed.
“Sorry.” Jacob dabbed the shirt against the side of Ben’s head. “I don’t see any more glass. The cut needs stitches.”
“Won’t need them after I bleed to death.”
“You’re not going to bleed to death. It’s a scalp wound: they bleed a lot and always look worse than they are.”
“What about looks worse than it feels?”
Jacob held Ben’s chin. The lamp on the bedside table threw a halo around Jacob’s head. “Don’t close your eyes, I’m trying to see what your pupils look like.”
Ben struggled against the glare searing his brain.
Jacob furrowed his brow.
“Bad, huh?”
“I don’t know. This light isn’t exactly the best.”
“What are you looking for?”
“If your pupils are the same or if they’re not contracting fully or equally.”
“I thought they did that with one of those…” Ben tapped his thumb against an invisible pen in his hand. “Flashlight things.”
“Shitty lamp light’s the best I can do.” Jacob glanced at the heavy curtains over the window. “Think you can stand up long enough to get closer to the window. I might be able to see better.”
Considering how painful the lamplight had been. Ben was pretty sure his skull would split. “No, no, just…” Fatigue weighed him down. “Maybe later, everything hurts too much right now.”
Jacob let Ben go and sat beside him.
The drum beating in Ben’s skull moved to the back of his eyes.
“Here.” Jacob pulled a pillow off the bed and put it over his thigh. “I’ll wake you up every few minutes.”
Ben wanted to argue, but it made his head hurt. He obeyed, and Jacob held the shirt to Ben’s temple.
“I mean it. This isn’t your fault.” Ben was the one dumb enough to fall for Yvette’s lie. The idiot who toppled the first domino.
“Yeah. Maybe. But I feel like it is.” Jacob petted Ben’s chest.
“Why?” Ben fought to keep his eyes open.
“Because of the things I’ve done. The relationship I had with Franky, his people…Logan.” Jacob dropped his head back against the side of the mattress.
“You didn’t have anything with that asshole. You were forced. That’s not the same.”
Jacob rolled a look down.
“I should be the one apologizing. For everything I said, thought, did. For this.” The light continued to hammer at Ben’s nerves. He gave in and closed his eyes. “And I am sorry.” He put his hand over Jacob’s, where it rested against Ben’s sternum. “I wish I could make it up to you.” But Ben wasn’t sure he would live long enough for Jacob to even forgive him.
If he could.
3
The door to the room opened, startling Jacob awake. How he’d fallen asleep to begin with, he had no idea.
Mike walked over and grabbed Ben by his arm and yanked him up.
“No, wait…” Jacob stood, and Mike immediately shoved him back. Jacob stumbled, his hip connecting with the end table. The lamp bolted to the top, barely shuddered.
Logan walked in. A neat gauze bandaged wrapped his right hand. “Put him on the bed.”
The gunman did, and Logan walked over to where Ben lay squinting against the light. Some of the confusion left his expression. Logan reached for him, and Ben threw out a punch, but it was slow, and Logan evaded it.
“Hold him down.”
Jacob got to his feet again. He tried to get in between Mike and Ben but was promptly tossed away.
“Hey, easy with him. I don’t need the merchandise damaged.” Logan removed a single cc syringe from his jacket pocket.
Jacob was all too familiar with those size syringes. Ben widened his eyes, and Mike wrapped his arms around him, pinning him in place. “Get the fuck away from me with that.”
“Trust me, you want this.”
“Please, Logan, don’t. Don’t.” If only Jacob could do more than beg.
“What? You used to like this stuff. Made you feel good. Since your friend here has a little knot on his head, I figured he’d want to feel good too.”
“He’s got a concussion. The last thing he needs is to be sedated.”
“Yeah, we’ll see. A few shots of this, and he’ll be begging to suck dick.”
“You’ll kill him.” It wasn’t a lie, but it didn’t mean the man would believe Jacob.
“Oh, shut the fuck up, Jakey, and quit talking like you ever graduated college. You didn’t even graduate high school.” He turned back to Ben. “This usually goes down much nicer in a vein, but seeing you aren’t exactly cooperative, yet, we’ll do it the sissy way.” Logan jabbed the needle into Ben’s shoulder and pushed the plunger down.
“Fuck, fuck…” Ben strained in Mike’s hold.
A non-intravenous dose would still sedate Ben, but it wouldn’t hit as hard. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t kill him. But there was no telling how bad Ben’s head injury was.
Mike let Ben go, and he rolled off the bed. Jacob caught him. “Easy, I’ve got you.”
Ben glared at Logan, then blinked several times.
“All right, enough, you two love birds. Time to start earning your keep, Jakey.” Logan jerked his chin at the other bed in the room.
Mike seized Jacob by the head of hair and dragged him to his feet.
“Leave him alone.” Ben used the comforter to pull himself to his knees. “Leave…”
“Feeling a little fuzzy there, Mr. Corbin?”
Ben struggled to stand, but the comforter slipped from the bed and he wound up on his ass, then his side. The effect of the drugs playing over his body, tense muscles going slack. Then the rise and fall of his chest slowed.
“He can’t breathe.” Jacob struggled to get back to Ben and was tossed onto the bed.
“He’s fine.” Logan took out his phone and held it up. An LED light struck Jacob from the side. He raised a hand to block the glare, but Mike grabbed him by his arm and pinned him to the bed.
“Let me help him, Logan. Please, he’ll die.”
“And what are you gonna do, Jakey? Doctor him?” Logan laughed.
“CPR, you asshole.”
Logan leaned down until his face filled Jacob’s view. “The only thing that mouth of yours is going to blow is dick.”
Jacob’s heart surged with rage. He bared his teeth and shoved against Mike’s hold.
Logan widened his eyes, but the surprised expression only lasted until Mike shoved Jacob into the mattress with enough force it bowed his spine. The comforter bulged up around his face, threatening to cut off his air.
“I got some people who are really looking forward to meeting you, Jakey. They’re gonna love riding that ass.” He held up his phone, moving it around Jacob. “Give them a teaser before we show them the goods.”
Jacob gasped for air.
“Let him go,” Logan said.
Mike did.
Jacob jerked back and his hip knocked into the AC unit behind the curtains. He turned his shoulder, catching the fabric for a moment, letting in a sliver late afternoon sun from
the parking lot.
“Strip, Jakey.” Logan held up the camera.
“Fuck you.”
“Good to see you eager to get back to work.” The cruel smile Logan wore twisted into viciousness. “Now strip, or I’ll have Mike do it for you. And trust me, you do not want him to do that.”
Jacob balled up his fists.
“Now, bitch!” Logan’s voice bounced off the walls with a sharp ping.
Jacob peeled off his shirt.
Logan smiled. “Much better.”
Jacob kicked off his shoes.
Mike watched him with the eyes of a starving dog.
“Now the rest of it, Jakey. Show me that beautiful ass of yours.” Logan adjusted his dick in his pants.
How could Jacob have forgotten how much Logan used to like watching him undress? If only he could forget what the man liked to do to him afterward.
Jacob’s hands shook, and he fought to work the button open, then the zipper. His jeans crumpled to the floor. Jacob stepped out of them. He started to remove his briefs.
“Wait.” Logan rolled a hand. “Turn around. Want them to get a good look before the final reveal. You know, for suspense.” The man licked his lips. “When I’m done with this, you and me will have some fun, yeah?”
Jacob didn’t think he could hate anyone more than he did Franky, but at that moment, he did. Enough that he would have sold his soul to watch the man die.
Maybe enough to pull the blade across Logan’s neck himself.
Jacob obeyed, turning a circle so Logan could film him.
“Very nice, Jakey. So good. Now…” He waved his bandaged hand. “Take ’em off.”
Jacob slid his underwear down and stood with his hands at his side while Logan raised and lowered the phone.
“Turn around again.”
Jacob did.
Logan nodded at the bedside table. “Open that and get the bottle of lube.”
Jacob swallowed.
“We already had this conversation, Jakey. Get the bottle.”
How appropriate, the half-empty tube sat next to a bible. Jacob took out the lube.
“Over here. Want my customers to see everything you have to offer.”
Jacob walked back to the bed.
“Get them fingers nice and slick. I want three of them in your ass, Jakey. And make it good, like you know, you used to do for me.” Logan reached for the button on his pants but couldn’t seem to get his bandaged hand to work right.
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