Page 21 of Bloody Quarter

“Is that what this is about? Hey man, that girl has always been trouble. For as long as I’ve been going to that diner, she’s had issues. She’s a fucking drunk, for fuck’s sake, she sucks at her job, and she’s been leading me on for months. Nothin’ but a cock tease.” I took a long, steadying breath, but my control still slipped, and I set the piece I was working on aside before I ruined it.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. You may be able to get away with telling your buddies that. The cops may even believe you if you spin that lie, but that load of crap won’t fly with me.” Walking over to the motor box that controlled the boat hoist, I turned it on. The chain rumbled as it began to pull Thomas up by the arms.

“Hey, stop. Don’t fucking do that, man. Hey!” I ignored him and his yelling as he fought the machine. “Ow fuck,” he growled as his bare feet were pulled across the old rough wood until he was suspended with just the tips of his toes touching. “Let me go. People will be looking for me. I’m not some nobody. I have a company, clients, family, and friends.”

“Correction, you have a failing business with only one client, who is your cousin. Your father is dead, and your mother is in a home. You have a group of guys you hang out with, but you’re not due to see them until next weekend. By then, you’ll be long dead.”

“Jesus fuck, man, have you been stalking me?”

I snorted a laugh as I put the brake on the motor so the chain wouldn’t slip. “No, but I’m really good at reading text messages. What better way to spend the hour you were out cold than surfing through your life.”

“Fucker. I can’t believe you’re doing this over that waste of space, chick. I mean, she’s hot as fuck, and hotter between the legs, but that’s all she’s got going for her.”

Thomas grunted as my fist connected with his ribs. Grabbing his face, I squeezed until he was yelling and cringing from the force. “Did you fuck her?” He whimpered louder but didn’t answer my question. “Did you fuck her?” My voice echoed back at me from the lonely stretch of bayou.

“No,” he managed to say past his pursed lips.

“Are you fucking lying to me?” With a roar, I released his face, but my fists connected with his stomach, jaw, and ribs with fury. The rage that spiked at the thought of this piece of shit touching her broke the seal on my composure.

Chest heaving, I took a step back before I killed him too quickly. His head lolled as he cried pathetic tears, and blood dripped from his nose and mouth. Bullies…I fucking hated them.

“Answer my mother-fucking question,” I growled low, the tone menacing all on its own.

“No, no, I didn’t fuck her.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to draw back the beast that lived inside of me, but there was no chaining it up again tonight. I was lost to the blood, to the pain, and to the sound of his screams. I wanted them all. I wanted to eat them up as they filled my soul with a satisfaction that nothing else had been able to do.

“Why not,” I asked, and he looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Don’t make me ask questions twice.”

“I already told you she’s nothing but a cock tease. A prude, killjoy, stuffed shirt, prig, what do you want me to say? She wouldn’t fuck me.”

“But you asked?”

“Not in so many words,” he said and then spat blood on the ground. I stared at it and shivered as my cock hardened.

“So, you hinted, and she had no interest. Good to know. Now tell me something, Thomas, and I wouldn’t lie….” I stepped up close to him and smelled the fear coming off his body. “Would you have forced her if given the chance?”

I stared at his face, and his lower lip trembled. The truth was there in his eyes as his pupils dilatated for just a moment when he pictured fucking Alora and forcing her to take him.

“Man…please…I…I don’t know. I like the idea, but I’ve never done anything like that,” he said, and that was the most honest answer I’d ever gotten from anyone. For that, I held off hitting him again.

“So, tell me why you were a fucking prick to her earlier?” Why I needed these answers, I couldn’t say, but they were important to me.

“I saw the way she looked at you when she walked into the diner. It fucking pissed me off.”

I smiled. “Well, we have that in common then because I noticed the way you watched her, and it fucking pissed me off.”

“I don’t know who you are to her, but I won’t do it again, man. I’ll never go near her, I swear. I can’t even go back to the diner.”

“Are you trying to beg for your life?” I walked over to the wall and picked up the small pile of chain that I’d specially made myself. His eyes went wide as the end unfurled and dropped to the floor, showing off the nine smaller links of chain that forked out with a sharp barb at the tip. Wrapping the end around my hand, I wandered over to Thomas, letting the chain drag behind me. The barbs dug into the wood, scrapping like nails fighting against me.

“It’s a different sensation when you’re caught in the snare, isn’t it? Do you feel it,” I whispered, and goosebumps rose on his skin. “The helplessness, the fear that wants to consume your body and eat your brain from the inside out? You feel it all coursing through your body, knowing that you’re no longer at the top of the food chain.”

Thomas whimpered. “I swear I won’t say anything. I’ll leave the city. No, the state. Just please, man…I don’t want to die. I’m begging you, that’s what you wanted, right? I’ll fucking suck your dick if you want.”

“Well, that certainly took a turn I didn’t see coming, Thomas. But you have it wrong. I never said that you’d beg to live. I said you’d beg for your death.” I flicked my wrist, and the chain coiled at my feet like a snake waiting to strike. Very few men wouldn’t fear their death or pain. That was a breed of men that I rarely saw, but that was not Thomas. I pegged him for the guy who pushed people around his entire life and was able to get away with it because he was the biggest asshole in the room.

“Please, Jesus Christ, please….” I stroked the chain like a pet. “You have a giant cross tattooed on you. Why? Why if you’re just going to kill me?”