by S. K. Lessly
The veins in my neck pulsed as rage continued to flow like lava at hearing this son of a bitch talk about my woman as if he was intimately familiar with her.
However, ever the poker player, I continued to look at him as if his words meant nothing. I also kept quiet allowing Noah to dig his own grave and what a grave he was digging.
“Look,” he said soberly. “Emily and her band of murderers are gunning for you all. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t struck yet. Don’t trust anyone. Perchenko has eyes and ears everywhere.”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” I said to him, finally finding my voice. “Is that it?”
Noah smiled. “No. Do you think you can send that chocolate beauty back here? I think she and I had a connection. After all, she did touch me in places I can't ever forget. Plus, I wouldn’t mind getting close to that ass of hers. Got damn her juicy fat ass is what wet dreams are made for. And those tits of hers,” Noah gripped his dick and squeezed. “I wouldn’t mind fucking them and her face. She has a fuckable face too; you know what I mean? Nah, I want the prize. I bet her pussy tastes like hon—”
I couldn’t take it anymore. Before he got the last part of his fucked up sentence out, I was on him, my hand wrapped around his throat, squeezing the life out of him.
It felt good.
It felt right.
This son of a bitch deserved this. He deserved everything that was coming to him. I saw him scratching at my wrist, trying to reach my face. I didn’t like that, so I lifted him up by his neck and slammed him onto the unforgiving, concrete floor. He hit hard, his eyes rolling in the back of his head but I didn’t stop. I kept squeezing, feeling the life leave his eyes.
That’s when I felt someone’s forearm wrap around my neck and pull me back. I wasn’t registering what was happening. I wanted to kill the fucker in my grasp more than anything I had ever wanted to do in my life.
“Shit! What the hell, Shane?” I heard Josh’s voice in my ear. It was faint, but I heard him. I ignored him then, out of nowhere my grip on Noah’s throat lessened. In fact, my arms felt limp as they fell away from Noah’s body and thudded against my own. Suddenly, a force pushed me back and I landed on my ass, an angry Josh looming over me. He was yelling something, but I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying to me.
I shifted my eyes to the limp body of Noah’s and studied him. His chest was moving up and down, signaling he was still alive, the piece of cow shit. What happened to my arms? I looked at the offending objects wondering what in the hell. They were tingling now and I was at least able to make a fist. The feeling was coming back. I looked up at my brother with a questioning look and he narrowed his eyes at me. His mouth started moving and I watched his mouth to catch what he was saying.
“You crazy fuck. What in the hell was that? I stepped away from the screens for two seconds to take a call and I come back to you choking the shit out of him. What happened?”
I opened my mouth to respond but no sound came out. I was off kilter trying to get my shit in order. My brother stretched out his hand and I lifted my arm, feeling back, and clasped his. He pulled me up at the same time I heard groaning from the man behind him.
“What happened, Shane?”
Coughing ensued from Noah and my eyes went to him. He was rubbing his neck, and trying to clear his throat. He shot daggers at me but remained quiet.
“Shane!” Josh grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him. “What the fuck, brother? Since when do you let someone get the better of you?”
I blinked and shook my head. I pulled a breath into my lungs and got myself in check. I stepped out of my brother’s hold and narrowed my eyes on Noah.
I waited for him to rise to his feet before I stepped up to him. Josh grabbed my arm to stop me and I shook him off. “I’m not going to hurt the piece of shit.”
I met Noah’s eyes showing him exactly how lucky he was and letting him know, without words, I would kill him.
Noah got the hint and stepped back from me until he hit the wall behind him. He looked at me for a long moment then Josh and shook his head.
“You people are crazy you know that? I’m trying to help you out, trying to look out for you and your people and this is the shit I get.”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Josh asked him, his hands resting on his hips. I remained silent waiting, hoping.
Noah looked back at me then concentrated on Josh. “Look, I gave you guys some good information. I’m warning you about Perchenko and Emily. As I said, they’re gunning for you. I know more than you think. Keep that mutha fucker away from me. I’ve looked out for you. You should be thanking me. I saved her.”
Josh moved closer to him and folded his arms in front of his chest.
“Saved who? What the fuck are you talking about?”
Noah took a few deep breaths, coughing for a few seconds before he got himself together. “You got some water?” he asked rubbing his neck again.
“You’ll get it when you tell me what you know. Quit stalling and spill it.”
Noah closed his eyes for a moment then looked warily at Josh. “You have to understand, I needed to do it. It was for her own good. She came in that room running her mouth, saying shit she had no business saying. I had no choice. I didn’t like it, but—”
“Whoa, what the fuck are you talking about? Who are you talking about?”
Warily he looked from me back to my brother. He breathed out a sigh and readied himself.
“Kenya.”
Josh’s body stiffened and dropped his arms to his sides.
“What the fuck about my wife?”
Noah raised his arms, his palms facing Josh. “Let me explain. You’ll understand why I did what I did. Just give me a minute.”
“You got thirty seconds, motherfucker. Start talking.”
I watched Noah’s body language, his eyes and I had a sick feeling I knew exactly what he was going to say. My anger didn’t subside, if anything it grew.
“Okay, Kenya was there. She came to see me.” Noah’s arms started flailing about as he talked. He even started pacing and talking a mile a minute. I missed some of what he said. I was stuck on him saying that Sweets was here on her own. Where was Misty?
My thought fell away with Noah's next words.
“I gotta tell you, when you two jokers walked in, I thought for sure I was dead, considering what happened. But you have to know, I did it to save her. She came in there running at the mouth about shit she had no business talking about—”
My head now spinning, I held up my hand to stop him from flapping his lips. I was beginning to catch up to what he was saying. “Hold on a second. Wait. What are you talking about? You’re saying Sweets came to see you alone and what? You saved her?”
Noah, clearly annoyed, narrowed his eyes and blew out a frustrated breath. “Yes! That’s what I’m saying. I mean you two should be thanking me, not trying to murder me. I saved her. She was running off at the mouth and I saved her. Isn't that the reason why you’re here? Because of the bruise around her neck?”
And just like that, everything suddenly clicked in my head. From what Emily had said about Sweets wearing the scarf, to him saying that shit about her liking the way he treated her and her being by herself.
I was stunned. I looked at Josh, expecting him to react to his words, but he remained where he was, frozen. I assumed he was processing what Noah was saying to react. I stepped closer and took over, my control nestled back into place.
I looked at Noah and allowed a picture to form in my head. It wasn’t a pretty picture at all.
I said to him, “Sweets came to talk to you about Emily and Perchenko. Your name was on the ONW bank members list.” He nodded, but I continued letting my brain arrange everything in my mind. “Davies kicked Crasse out of the meeting leaving you three alone. The other agent wasn’t there?”
I looked at him expectantly and he just shrugged. “Not sure about the other agent. Oh wait, do you mean the sexy as fuc
k chocolate beauty? Yeah nah, she came later.”
I grew quiet letting that sink in before I went on. “Sweets came to ask you some questions and I’m sure you gave her a hard time.” He shrugged smugly and bit back a smile. Again, I looked at my brother waiting for a reaction but none came. I carried on.
“Then what, the lights must’ve gone out and you…” I paused and let things play out in my head. He said he saved her, but from who? Davies? I thought about that and was about to ask when I stopped. I wasn’t sure what role Misty played in all this. I had no doubt she went to Hell, and she spoke to this low life. Therefore, I gathered that she also talked to Sweets. How else the evidence Sweets had gone to Hell to interview this lowlife was buried? There had been no trace of Sweets' security code being used to enter the site. That wasn’t possible unless someone knew to hide the evidence. Therefore, if Misty was involved, which by the looks of things she was, and Sweets had told her Davies attacked her, then I had no doubt Davies would’ve been six feet under instead of running from us. I knew that as sure as I knew the sweet spot on my woman’s body. Misty wouldn’t have allowed him to breathe if he touched a hair on her head. So, that meant one thing.
Rage surged through my veins and I allowed everything I was feeling to surface on my face. At the same time, Josh started to growl. It was as if he went through the same progressions as I had and came to the same conclusion.
“What the fuck did you do?” I asked on a low growl. I had an idea but I wanted to hear it from him, I needed to hear it, we both did.
“Nothing,” Noah screeched out his eyes wide as saucers. He stepped away from us as he looked from me to Josh. “I told you. I saved her.”
“You saved her?” I questioned, coldly. “How? By wrapping your chains around her neck and choking her?”
Josh was by my side by then, fury rolling off him in tsunami-size waves. However, surprisingly, he didn’t pounce.
He wanted to hear it all just like me.
Noah, realizing the shit he was in, put his hands up pleadingly.
“Hey now, I told you. I had her back. I did. Davies was working with Perchenko. I’d had a feeling for a while, but he confirmed it in the infirmary. I knew the lights going off was the plan, which meant there was another plan, a new one I didn’t know about. I figured it had to do with Sweets. I didn’t want her in the middle of this shit so I decided to help her instead of escaping. Yes, I wrapped my chains around her neck, but it was all a show. I’m telling you. I wasn’t going to kill her. I just wanted to get her away from danger. The chain wasn’t even tight. She just bruises easily. That’s all.” He looked at Josh. “You know that, don’t you?”
That was it. Josh was heading for him, but I stopped him. And no, it wasn’t because I was saving Noah's life. I wanted to ask him a question, but the fucker had to keep talking, inevitably sealing his fate.
“You two aren’t listening. She would be dead if it hadn’t been for me. I kept her from Davies. I kept her safe. I—”
Noah’s rant was cut off by Josh’s low yet hardened voice as he stepped closer to the panicked stricken man in front of us.
“So, let me get this straight. You wrapped fucking chains around my wife’s neck. You then squeezed just enough to cause bruising, cutting off her windpipe and preventing oxygen to my unborn child. And you’re telling me you saved her? You attacked her, scared the fuck out of my pregnant wife to save her?”
Noah stared at Josh, his mouth open, his eyes wide with the realization of what he’d just said, of what he had done.
I was waiting for my brother to react, to go on attack but again he didn’t move. I glanced over at him and saw that he had switched to a different place in his mind. The look almost reminded me of the day he saw the footage of the assault on Sweets.
I breathed out, stepped to Noah, and met his eyes. There was resolve in them, finality that told him everything he needed to know. He was going to die today. Once his eyes started to water and his bottom lip began to tremble, I stepped back.
“Wait, no! You can’t do this?” Noah grabbed my arm and held firm. “What about my rights? You’re just going to let him kill me in cold blood?”
I looked at my seething brother then back at Baxter.
“What do you want me to do? You went after his woman. You attacked her. What do you think he should do, pat you on the back? Give you a medal?”
I stepped up to him until there were inches between us. “You’re a low life scum, Noah Baxter, who tortured a young woman for months and tried to sell her to the highest bidder. You would have succeeded if she didn’t escape. There’s no telling how many other women you’ve treated this way. So you don’t get any sympathy from me. We kept you alive for a purpose. That purpose has been fulfilled. But what I won’t do is leave you empty handed.”
I bent down and lifted my pant leg to reveal my ankle holster. Inside my holster was a ceramic blade, which was as sharp as a knife. Ceramic was one of the few things that could pass through a metal detector undetected.
You didn’t think I was really coming in here unarmed, did you?
I tossed my knife at Noah's feet. “There. Now, it’s a fair fight. And if you can get past my brother, I’ll let you go. I promise.” I smiled at him and patted him on his shoulder. “See, I can be fair.” My smile immediately dropped and I looked at my brother.
I didn’t exchange any words with Josh. I didn’t need to. We both knew what needed to be done. I walked past him to the other side of the room, leaned against the wall and watched as my brother finally received retribution for his wife.
Shit went down quickly but it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was a gruesome mess.
Josh didn’t utter a word as he slowly walked toward his prey. Noah smartly picked up the knife and tried to put up a good fight, but in the end, it wouldn’t have been a fair fight if I’d given Noah ten knives and a gun. He wasn’t a match for the trained killer that was my brother.
The sound of his screams, cries of mercy, and begging for a quick death fell on deaf ears. I knew Josh heard and felt nothing but the rage coursing hotly through his veins. By the time Josh was done, blood coated the floor, the walls and his clothes. The stench of sweat, bile and piss permeated the room. If anyone else was here, I wasn’t sure if they’d have stayed and watched.
I did.
I know what you’re thinking; it was fucked up letting Josh take out his frustrations on a pathetic useless piece of trash like Noah. The man was no match for Josh if he tied his hands behind his back and blindfolded himself.
However, this was a long time coming. The man tried to murder his wife, the love of his life like twenty times over. Sure, the times he tortured Sweets, they weren’t together but it affected her greatly. She had to live in fear for years, worried that he would find her. Then with help from the CIA, they did and managed to snatch her right under his nose.
We did get her back, but it was at a cost. She was beaten to within an inch of her life. Noah deserved to die and he deserved exactly what he got. Now, I had to figure out how to handle the raging bull after the dust settled. Our women have been keeping secrets. That shit needed to be dealt with, but first I needed to make sure my brother was calm enough to deal with his pregnant wife.
He couldn’t go to her in the state he was in now, that would be bad for everyone. Not that he would harm her, but I was sure his words would be far worse than any blow with his fists. Yeah, I needed to figure out how to calm him down enough for him to deal with his shit then deal with his woman. After that, I could figure out how to deal with mine.
Josh stood still, his back to me, breathing deeply, working out his shit in his head. I could see his shoulders rising and falling rapidly. His hands were still balled in tight fists and I could see the tension coiled around his muscles. I didn’t speak to him at all, didn’t ask how he was doing. I knew he was processing what he had just done.
Finally, after about a few minutes of silence, Josh turned around to face me. He looked like a fi
gure right out of a horror movie. His eyes were huge, still manic and enraged. Blood covered his face, shirt and hands. His chest was heaving from the exertion and rage from beating a man to death, which if you hadn’t guessed, wasn’t like the movies. It took a lot out of you both physically and psychologically.
I stood there motionless as Josh held my gaze for a few minutes longer before he started in my direction.
“You good?” I asked him once he was close.
“Fuck no,” he bit out harshly. “Meet me in the war room. I have a few questions I need to ask you before I go home and speak to my wife.”
The war room was our name for the private training room further down the hall. Right now, the room only held a huge ring so I knew exactly what he wanted to “talk” to me about. It seemed he still had some pent-up aggression that he needed to get out.
Good. So, did I.
I nodded. “Go get cleaned up first and then I’ll meet you there.”
Josh grunted then walked out of the room. I watched the security door close behind him before I looked back at the unmoving form lying on the hard-cold surface, his body contorted unnaturally. I walked closer to the lifeless body, careful of the pool of blood forming underneath the body, bent down and retrieved my knife. I wiped it on the pant leg of Noah’s, which happened to be the only clean area, before I returned it to its rightful place.
I looked in the dead eyes of the dead man, closed them and stood. I pulled out my phone and spoke in the receiver when the call was answered.
“I need clean up in Hell, interrogation room zero.”
The voice on the other end paused a bit before he said, “On my way.”
I hung up and put my phone away. I glanced at the unmoving figure once again without an ounce of regret or remorse. I performed a Hail Mary, gave the corpse my middle finger, and then walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.
