Page 67 of Deadlier Obsessions

“Baby, how bad’s your head?” She fixes a brave smile on her face and waves a shaky hand.

“I’m fine. Just waiting for you bell-ends to get to the killing, please.” My stubborn but super brave bestie.

Mav turns and lifts the thing we hadn’t noticed in his hand. A frying pan? It makes a loud clang as it hits the asshole in the face, and he yells out in pain, and that brings Gage and Sebastian back too.

“Dude, seriously? That’s embarrassing. A pan?”

He tosses it on the floor and moves back over to us. “I’m done with retribution. Our girls are more important, and we need to get Stella to the ER, to get her head checked.”

“You should all get your heads checked,” she mutters, catching Mav’s hand as he tries to touch her face.

“Please, what I need is to see you guys hurting him. Trust me, he deserves pain, and a lot of it. I need this closure; can you do that for me?”

Sebastian is already wielding the frying pan, testing out the balance of it, and spinning it around in his hand. “I can do some real damage with this. Get the acid though, because I want him to feel his junk melting as he dies.” Ugh, I think I’m going to throw up now for sure.

I slap a hand over my mouth and take a deep breath through my nose, which is a huge mistake in this place, isn’t it? A warm hand suddenly squeezes my shoulder, and I meet Gage’s worried eyes.

“It’ll be over soon, baby.” I don’t know whether he means this murder situation, that God awful smell, or pregnancy-related nausea, but right now I hope it’s all three.

STELLA

I know they’re worried about whether or not I have a concussion, and I get it, but right now I need to see this asshole pay more than I need a doctor. What do they even do for a concussion anyway? Tell you to stay awake and have someone watch you. Rushing to the ER and missing this won’t change anything. I’m the one that got the shit kicked out of her by this asshole, so surely, I should be there to witness it. I want to do it myself, but I’m honestly too weak at this point, so watching will have to do.

Lucy repeats herself, “We need to get Stella to the hospital.”

I glare at my best friend. “I’m not leaving until he’s dead.”

Gage chuckles. “That’s our girl. Ever used a blade, baby?”

Shaking my head, I gaze at him wide eyed. “No.”

Obviously, I have in the kitchen, but for some reason I don’t think he’s suggesting I go make dinner right now.

He comes closer to me, and pulls me out of the chair, wrapping his arm around me, as he speaks in a low threatening voice that likely will have Andy pissing himself again, “I know you’re weak, little mama, but I’m going to help you get your revenge.”

He takes me over to Andy, who looks so gross with two gaping holes where his eyeballs used to be, wet and dried blood combined on his face, his head hanging down like he’s already dead, but I know he’s not, because I can hear his ragged breaths and the frequent cries of pain.

Gage hands me the knife. “Run it over his skin. Watch him tremble.”

I take it and do as he instructed, and Andy cries pathetically, “Please kill me.”

My man chuckles beside me. “See, that’s beautiful, baby. When they beg for the one thing, they would’ve done anything to prevent such a short time ago, that’s fucking beautiful. It means you’re doing it right.”

He whispers in my ear, “Don’t be afraid, pick a spot and push it in. Although preferably lower than his heart so he doesn’t die too quickly.”

To say I’m not frightened would be a lie. It’s one thing to watch but taking part in ending a life must change you. Then I remember him on top of me, hitting me repeatedly, choking me, and his intention of raping me.This isn’t an innocent man, Stella.He deserves every bit of pain he’s been given and will continue to get.

With a not-so-ladylike grunt, I shove the tip of the knife into his stomach until the only thing exposed is the handle, with myhand wrapped around it. Andy screams again but this time his throat makes a gurgling noise. I don’t know what that means, but I assume he doesn’t have a whole lot of life left in him.

“Fucking good girl,” Gage groans before saying, “Now pull it out and watch what happens.”

When I do as he said, blood comes gushing out, and I jump back to avoid getting covered in it.

All three of my men stare at me like I just hung the moon. “Fucking amazing,” Sebastian says, his approval echoed by Maverick, who murmurs, “Fuck yeah.”

GAGE

“Grab the acid,” I say to Mav because I’m ready to get this done, so we can make sure Stella is okay. I know she says she’s fine, but I need to be sure of it.

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