I shrug just as Nate arrives, nodding at Lips as he walks in. I don’t understand how he does it, but the entire energy of the room changes completely. It’s as though the oxygen has been sucked out and replaced with an electrical charge, coursing through our lungs and into our veins until we’re all running on a high.
It’s terrifying.
The Devil himself steps up to the glass. Randy’s eyes flare as he takes him in and finally,finally, he seems to understand the real extent of trouble he's in. The tattoos that Nate is covered in make it very obvious who he is, and the cold, dead look in his eyes is telling.
"How much did she pay you? I'll double it, don't kill me," he rasps out, and Nate doesn't react, just stares in at him like he's a bug under a microscope.
Randy’s eyes dart between us. "Whatever she's paying you, I'll triple it, just—"
Nate steps forward and it doesn't matter that there's eight-inch-thick bulletproof glass between them, Randall’s mouth snaps shut as he shrinks back.
It’s intoxicating and I wish Atticus were here to experience it with me.
Nate turns his back on Randy, looking over at Lips as if for confirmation on something, but they don’t speak a word between them.
Randy starts screaming, his fists banging against the glass until they bleed. "You filthy fucking beast! I'll kill you for this. I'll fucking kill you."
The Devil lifts his cigarette to his lips and inhales, the smoke slowly curling out of his lips as he exhales, staring at Randy Crawford like he's planning all of the places he'll slice him up once the murdering part of the job begins. I’m almost tempted to stick around to watch it happen.
Almost.
"You sure you don’t wanna do it yourself?" Nate says, and it takes me a second to realize that he’s talking to Lips.
She shakes her head. "No, I want him to suffer the worst death… that’s what we all agreed on. I want you to have fun with it, really make sure he knows what thoseslaveshe’s been breaking felt.”
The Devil nods his head slowly. "Why give him a decent death if you can make an example of him? I’ll make it a good one.“
Lips shrugs at him, pushing away from the wall to stand next to him. "This man hurt my family, threatened us all, and is a disease to our world. I can think of a lot of ways I could kill him, but I think you’re a better fit for this one.”
He lifts the cigarette to his lips again, watching Randy lose his fucking mind over the conversation happening around him with that same cold apathy. “Then so be it. The slowest, most painful death I can give a man.”
We leave to the sounds of Randy’s screams and for once, I don’t think they’ll haunt me. I’m pretty sure it’ll be the sweet sound I fall asleep to for the rest of my life.
* * *
We sit out in the car together for hours waiting for Nate to emerge again. When he does, he’s covered in blood and dragging a body bag out behind him. I wasn’t expecting him to clean up after himself. I was kind of hoping that Randy would slowly rot down there in that cell, the most perfect ending for that man that I could think of.
Lips curses under her breath and climbs out of the backseat to go after him, grabbing the other end of the body bag to help him carry it over to his car.
I hesitate to go after her. Ash does too, his hand hovering over the door handle while he watches them both obsessively. I raise an eyebrow at him, surprised at this abrupt change in his attitude toward protecting his girlfriend.
He grimaces at me. “Lips asked me to back off a bit around him. I think she’s worried that he’ll think we’re too controlling and come after us for her own good.”
Jesus H. Christ. “That’s a wise move… at least until he gets to know you a bit better.”
He scoffs at me. “He has no interest in any of us except Lips, and that’s perfectly fucking fine with me, Floss. I went through that shit Atticus left you about him; it’s worse than Illi ever told us.”
I look over to see Lips grin and duck her head, still quietly pleased to know that he’d come here for her with just a phone call. After the terrible childhood she had that only ever makes me want to scream the very few times that she’s opened up to me, having a sibling who actually cares about her is a wonderful thing.
No matter how fucking terrifying he is.
“Look at him, he’s obsessed with her, and not in a bad way. He watches her the way you watch me. I’m not going to get in the way of that.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not saying we should. I’m saying we all need to stay out of it and away from him. Let them figure out how to be siblings and just… try not to get killed for breathing too close to her in his presence. Fuck, we’re still trying to make sure he’s never in the same room as Harley ever again.”
I startle away from watching the siblings and hiss, “What? Why?”
Ash gives me a look. “He’s obsessed with Poe being eighteen before she dates, right? Well, only one of us was with Lips before she was eighteen. What if he’s adamant about that rule with Lips too? Harley is dead and buried.”
