I couldn’t listen to any more of Blaine’s insults. I turned around and faced away from him, resting my forehead against Demon’s chest. He rubbed along my spine gently.
“Oops.” I turned my head and found Wolfie standing near the ledge with an empty five-gallon bucket in his hands. The lid was at his feet. “It slipped,” he deadpanned. Cleaner dripped from the lip of the bucket, and more importantly, Blaine was soaking wet and sputtering, and his hands were now gripping the concrete ledge rather than the railing. Wolfie tossed the bucket aside. It clattered on the metal floor and came to a stop near the shelves.
Demon patted my back, then moved me aside and walked over to the ledge. I turned slowly as Demon crouched down to Blaine’s level. Blaine let out a shout. One of Demon’s boots was crushing his left hand. And to his right hand, Demon started bending back his fingers one at a time.
“This is for my sister.”Crack.Blaine screamed, a high-pitched shrill that sounded like a feral animal in pain.
“This is for my brothers.”Crack.Blaine screamed again, the strength behind it weaker this time.
“This is because you’re a vile shit stain and the world is a better place without you.”Crack.No scream. Only the sounds of Blaine gasping for breath, the echoes of which were even more haunting than the screams.
Demon tapped Blaine’s cheek until he looked up. “And this is for Graysin.”Crack.
What happened next was inevitable. I turned around and covered my ears so I’d miss the sickening crunch as Blaine fell to his death and hit the concrete below.
The sounds, the memories, including those that had been stolen from me, it overwhelmed my senses, flooding my brain all at once. Before I could sit down and put my head between my legs, I fainted.
* * *
When I came to, I was back on the first floor, in an area far from the incident, resting on a blanket. The masks were over in the corner talking in a hushed whisper that probably wasn’t as quiet as they’d thought. And I knew their distinct voices well by now.
“We’re not about to deviate from the plan because you fucking care about him. Cleaning up all the loose ends has always been a part of the plan.” That, of course, was Devil.
“Livy would not be okay with that, and you know it. He’s innocent.” That was Demon.
“I mean, it sucks for him,” Devil conceded. “But even so, he was a means to an end. If we hadn’t taken him, the truth would have been buried forever. And now he’s a loose end.”
“He’s not a loose end.” It sounded like Demon was speaking through clenched teeth. “He’s not going to say anything.”
“And just how do you know that for a fact?” Devil countered.
“I promise I’m not gonna say anything!” I blurted out loud, giving myself and my eavesdropping away. Demon and Wolfie chuckled, while Devil muttered under his breath. I ducked back down on the blanket. My fate was in their hands, and my presence was not required for the decision, it seemed.
“We’ve done what we needed to do, and now it’s time to let it go.” Wolfie.
That’s right. Let it go. Letmego.
I stared up at the highest peak of the ceiling and exhaled slowly. I had to get out of here. I didn’t want to meet the same fate as Blaine. “Please,” I begged, taking another chance. “You can let me go. I promise I won’t go to the police. Please let me go. And my…Kellen. I’m not leaving him.”
“Why not?” Devil asked. His head was askew and though I couldn’t see his eyes from here, I knew he was trying to get a read on me.
“Because,” I said, indignant, “he has nothing to do with any of this. And he’s important to me.”
Devil snorted. “He sure as fuck did get caught in the middle, didn’t he? Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing, I suppose. Poor bastard.”
Wolfie walked over and peered down at me. “Do you love him or something?”
Demon, who’d trailed over after him, smacked him in the stomach. To me he said, “You don’t have to answer his nosy ass.” Wolfie coughed and lightly smacked Demon back.
“I…I care about him. Very much.” I would sound nearly as messed up as Blaine if I threw the L-word around right now. But I could easily see my feelings heading in that direction with Kellen. Guilt and anxiety sucker punched me in the gut at the thought of what Demon and I had done together. Would I tell Kellen about that? I didn’t know. I’d thought it was him at the time, after all. My head really must have been almost as screwy as Blaine’s, because I had mixed feelings about this whole entire disaster.
On the plus side, after being constantly exposed to the masks these men had worn the last several days, I didn’t think that my mask fear would be an issue going forward. Somehow, surviving this whole ordeal had weakened the fear rather than making it worse. If I could survive something like this, I would find a way to deal with a creepy mask.
To round out the trio, Devil wandered over as well. He glared down at me with his arms crossed. “You should tell him that.”
“Am I getting romance advice from my faceless captors now? What the hell?” I wanted to tell him to mind his own goddamn business, but I didn’t want to push my luck. “This is so beyond fucked up.”
“You have no idea,” Demon said under his breath, shaking his head.
