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I wrench the blade out, ignoring the splash of blood that hits my face. I wipe the blade on his already filthy shirt before taking a step back. Everyone else watches in silence, the only noise in the room is Desmond’s loud pain-filled breathing.
I look at him, assuming I’ve made my point. I don’t repeat the question.
“Rynan and Bubs,” he says through gritted teeth. “Bubs issued the challenge because he says Rynan stole something from him.”
I look down on him holding his gushing leg, showing no interest or empathy for the injury before me.
“Challenges come to me,” I say simply before finally turning my attention back to the rest of the table. Emilio and John look more amused than anything and Luis only looks slightly pale. Theo has a wry sort of look on his face but also looks amused.
“Anything else?”
When everyone shakes their heads, I slam the blade back into the table, leaning into Desmond’s space one last time.
“And don’t call Brutus a retard,” I tell him quietly.” Next time, I’ll give you a fucking lobotomy and we’ll see who’s the dumb one.” I see his pupils dilate slightly but otherwise he doesn’t react. I smirk as I stand and sashay my ass out of the room with Brutus in tow.
“Well, that was interesting,” I mutter more to myself than him as we make our way down the corridor. I can’t see Ax anywhere, and assume he’s gone back to our rooms. As much as I’d love to go check on him, I have a few more things to do first. When I’m done, my reward will be my man.
Four
Axle
Afamiliar well of need rises up in me as I pace the room. Fury bubbling under my skin, barely contained. Thank fuck the inmates are still scared of me. If anyone had approached me on my way over here, they’d be dead right now. Part of me wishes that were the case, because I could really use a good kill right now.
I’m barely holding it together, but at least I fucking know it. Fucking John. He knew exactly the button to press. I need to keep my shit together, to support Ana, but I couldn’t back in that room. I just fucking walked out and left my woman to deal with this shit on her own.
Just like I left Mama….
“Arrrrrgghh!” I pound a fist into my forehead.
“Fuck off!” I yell to myself, not needing these unhelpful thoughts floating around. But I can’t seem to keep them out.
“It’s okay, baby. Just stay here, I’ll be back soon…”
I had a few weeks of peace from the dreams, from my mother’s voice haunting me, but it’s back. She’s back. Permeating my dreams, or nightmares I should call them. Ana notices. She can’t help it when I’m waking up screaming and covered in sweat almost nightly now. I refuse to discuss it with her though. I know its stubbornness more than anything, but I can’t bring myself to admit how worried I am. I’m afraid if I verbalize it, Ana will be taken from me too. I see the worry on her face when I wake her and I hate that it’s my fault she feels anything less than amazing, but there it is.
It’s my fault she’s in the position she’s in now. If I had taken better care when I found out her secret, maybe she wouldn’t have been discovered.
It’s my fault she’s worried, unhappy because I won’t talk to her.
And it’s my fault Mama is dead….
“Yo, Ax!” I hear Ethan’s voice call me from the outer room. The familiar voice brings me back from my self-loathing. Breathing hard through my nostrils, I make my way over to him.
“Where were you?” I practically snarl at him, my anger having a new outlet as I recall he should have been at that meeting too. Ethan’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“Shit! That was this morning?” I look at him a bit more closely, taking in the details of his appearance. Ethan has always been the better of the two of us in pretty much every way. He’s meticulous, smart as hell and, considering he’s a Tomb inmate, generally takes care of himself. Today, his long hair is wild around his head and not tied back in his usual neat style. His normal short stubble or clean face has several days of growth on it and his clothes look wrinkled and dirty. My nose crinkles when his smell hits me.
“What the fuck is going on with you?”
I never claimed tact was one of my strong suits.
“Have you heard anything about shipments?” he asks, ignoring both my questions. Now it’s my turn to raise my eyebrows. He looks more frantic than anything. I shake my head slowly, not sure how to react to this.
Ethan begins to pace, much like I was just doing, his hands wringing together.
“Fuck, man, I think I’m losing it,” he says, running a hand through his long hair and mussing it further. I lean back against the stone wall.
“What the fuck is going on with you?” I ask again. He stops his pacing and turns towards me.
