Page 19 of The Wolf and the Monarch

“Why?”

“You like to pry.”

“I do.”

“That’s a bad quality to have when you’re tied to a chair at the mercy of your captors.”

“I know,” Andi said, “But humor me anyway.”

Sawyer smirked. He could tell the truth that he didn’t quite care for the normal jobs that they did there. Granted, he had never done any of them, but he heard the others talking about them. They didn’t sound quite up his alley. It was a lot of killing and bloodshed. Neither of those things interested him. “It’s easier,” he said simply, turning his eyes towards the other.

Andi huffed. “Easier. Guess that makes sense…” He watched his blue eyes shift around before their gaze met for the time in quite a while. Sawyer was pretty sure he saw he saw his cheeks flush a bit before Andi quickly looked away. Their conversation lulled once again, like it usually did.

Another few hours passed before the door to the basement opened up again. Sawyer flashed Andi a look of sorrow as he stood up from his seat on the mattress, tucking his hands behind his back as he watched his uncle step into the room.

Chapter Eleven

Benji

It was eerily quiet once the three stooges entered the basement. Benji’s lips smashed into a thin line, his eyes watching them. But that was mostly because he didn't really have anything else to look at. Sawyer seemed to like to stay out of the situation as much as he could so he didn’t want to drag him into it by looking in his direction. It was really between him and the three others. Or well, Andi and them.

“Good morning,” the leader said with an emotionless smile on his face. “How’s that memory of yours? Anything come to mind yet?”

“Can’t say it has.”

The guy ‘tsked’ softly as he approached. “I didn’t think so. You have stubborn bastard written all over your face.” Benji couldn’t help but chuckle at that. The others didn’t seem to care much about that. The tiny one made his way over to Sawyer and from the corner of Benji’s eye, he saw the guy nudging Sawyer. He determined at that moment he didn’t care for that guy. Though, he really didn’t care for any of the guys there.

Except Sawyer.

He was, strangely enough, cool.

“Listen here, Andi. We just want to know why you did what you did. That’s it,” the man shrugged. “Pretty easy, right?”

It probably would be if he had a single morsel of an idea of what his sister did. Not that Benji would have told them anyway because Andi did what she did for a reason. But if he at least knew he could lie better.

“You fucked with our money,” he said. “You shouldn’t fuck with people’s money.”

That much Benji knew. It was never smart to do that. That was why it was so surprising that Andi did. He was just sticking with the thought that there had to be a good reason for it. He trusted his sister implicitly.

His gaze drifted up towards the man as he approached him. He didn’t speak but apparently the look on his face was enough to warrant a hard punch to his face. Benji’s head whipped to the side and blood pooled in his mouth instantly. He hadn’t been expecting that. He looked back to the scumbag in front of him, eyes blazing with irritation. The man leaned forward, placing his hands on Benji’s knees. “Okay, okay. I’ll try to help you out since you really aren’t piecing it together. About eight months ago, do you remember taking a job from John Raymond?”

Benji’s mind shifted through the recent jobs they had done. It didn’t sound very familiar but he wasn’t involved in each and every one of them. Especially not the ones that were Andi-dependent. Those were always just between her and their dad. He kept his face as straight as he could though. He wasn’t going to let it be known he had no idea who or what he was talking about. “Doesn’t ring a bell,” Benji said coolly.

With a dry chuckle, the guy ran his tongue across his bottom lip then headbutted the captive right in the nose. A sick crunch was heard and blood oozed from Benji’s nostrils within moments. “Really fucking think about it, Andi.”

He spat blood from his lips, not necessarily aiming for the man but it was an added bonus that it hit him. “I told you, it doesn’t ring a fucking bell.”

With a huff, the man pushed off his legs and cracked his neck as he walked back beside the huge one. “Tank here told me you’re a thirsty boy.” He looked towards his crony. “Right?”

Tank turned his head slightly and his gaze met Sawyer’s. “That’s right.”

“Why don’t we help him quench that thirst?”

It appeared that Tank didn’t need any further instruction. He grabbed a hold of the back of Benji’s chair and dragged it through the basement. The legs scraped loudly as he did so and it wasn’t helping the steadily growing headache that Benji was getting. From the direction that he was being pulled, he knew they were heading towards the makeshift bathroom area. Benji turned his head as much as he could to get a better look at the area.

The toilet was just a toilet. Nothing exciting to report except that it looked old as hell. The shower was barely a shower. It was really just a rusty pipe, some equally rusty knobs and a drain. Not that he expected much more than that. It wasn’t like the basement itself was a luxurious space.

The man dragging him walked back around to the front of his chair once he was, apparently content with his placement and placed a hard kick to the center of his chest. The impact tipped Benji’s chair and he fell backwards into the shower. His hands crushed beneath him and his head collided with the ground. The pain was unexpected. It caused him to yelp loudly. The leader placed his boot on his chest and it was extremely reminiscent of when he was first attacked. He must have been one of them. That tracked, he supposed.