“Why the hell do you not go be a surgeon, or a mortician at the very least?”
Hero shivered. “Gross. Those cold, sterile rooms creep me out. It’s like I should be the dead body. It’s so cold and uninviting.”
My eyebrows raised. “That’s the part that creeps you out? The cleanliness and temperature?”
“I mean, it’s part of it. I like a homey vibe for my operations. Plus, I couldn’t sit still long enough to get a degree of any sort.”
“That part I can understand,” I said, before turning back to the guy. “All right, one more time before I leave you here alone with him to cut out your tongue. Among other things. I really don’t think there’s anyone I would protect in exchange for my tongue.”
I knew it was a lie, but he didn’t need to. The guy only smirked, glancing at Hero, and then back at me.
“Tongue or no tongue, I’ll tell my boss what you’re doing—who you are, and where you are. I don’t need my tongue to send a message.”
My eyebrows furrowed, a strange pulse of anger rising as I looked at Hero, who seemed equally confused.
“Do you... are you trying to be killed?” I asked. “Why would you tell us that?”
“Maybe he thinks we won’t kill him?” Hero asked, glancing at me before eyeing the guy with a puzzled frown.
“No, I think he knows we will. Is that the point?”
“Kill me, don’t kill me—it doesn’t matter. I’ve already started something you won’t be able to stop. Me here is only the beginning.”
Hero tilted his head, a scalpel still twirling in his fingers. “The beginning of...?”
“The plan that ends with you—all of you—gone.” He gave a manic grin, flicking his gaze toward Evie’s little office, where her blonde hair was visible. “Including the girl you keep in a cage over there.”
“Well, fuck.” Hero laid out a knife and set of brass knuckles next to me. “There goes my night. Though I’m still curious about the tongue thing. Can you leave it intact?”
“I can assure you,I’mnot racing to cut into his tongue,” I said to Hero, who untied the straps at the guy’s wrists before I pulled him up, dragging him across the garage.
“You think you’re coming after her?” I asked, pushing his face toward the glass between us and Evie.
“I know we are. Every single one of you. All your friends, the brunette Rook can’t stop running after. And her.” He glanced toward Evie. “The blonde always with you, causing a fucking problem. Did you think no one watches you?”
There were never words for the rage that boiled up when anyone came close to hurting Evie, but the fact that this guy stood here, in our garage, only a few feet from her, threatening the one person Iwouldprotect in exchange for my own damn tongue was enough to make me homicidal.
The one person who could get away with wrecking my life every damn day.
The girl who kissed me yesterday and hasn’t left my mind since.
I slammed his face up against the plexiglass between us and Evie.
She jumped, her head snapping up, eyes wide, before she gave a cruel smile.
Of course, my little psycho girl was as calm as ever watching me beat her enemy right outside her window.
If anyone could give Evie grand gestures of love, it would be beating her enemies while she watched with a drink in hand.
I hit him again and again until he finally stopped fighting back. His body sagged to the ground, and Hero strolled over.
“Well, I doubt he’s dead yet,” Hero said, inspecting the body like he would a motorcycle. “He won’t be fighting when I’m ready to kill him. The tongue might wake him up if you hear screaming.”
Rook walked in, glancing from the body to the blood sprayed across Evie’s window.
“Trouble, or was this part of the plan?” he asked, stepping over the guy as he inspected the window. “I mean, it’s not broken, so that’s good.”
“Both. The plan was to kill him, but not this messily.”
