Page 35 of Magnetic Temptations

“Fine, why not?” Dad says, nodding his head. “Go play, Tex.”

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” Tex chants as he walks up to Benji, whistling, and presses the tool against his inner thigh, re-pressing the button that ignites the weapon. “Fire in the hole! Wakey, wakey, there are no eggs and bakey, you dirty bastard.”

I’ve never seen anyone tasered before, so when his body begins convulsing, I’m shocked that he does look like he’s dancing.

It’s not the two-step or waltzing, nothing as choreographed as they’d be, but he is doing some sort of an immobilized jig that should be next to impossible to achieve seeing as he’s bound nice and tight.

“I don’t think he just pissed his pants,” Maverick states, waving his free hand in front of his face with his nose pinched by the other. “Dude, what the fuck did you have for dinner? That shit is decomposing in your stomach. That’s some rancid shit.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY

MASON

I laugh at the description my brother uses of the smell permeating from Benji’s ass. He’s right about one thing, you almost need a gas mask to deal with the odor wafting from his body. It’s as if everything he’s eaten throughout his miserable life just vacated his body. I almost feel sorry for him, then realize he’s behind Myles’ disappearance and decide he’s reaping what he sowed.

“He hasn’t eaten any fresh fruit and veggies,” I answer, as Mane gags from the comfort of my arms, so I ask her, “Need to step away for a minute until the smell passes?”

“I don’t think that smell will be leaving anytime soon,” she tells me, lifting up her shirt from the hem at the bottom, placing it over her nose.

“Gross,” Ella gripes, scoffing. “Even the oxygen from the fresh air isn’t strong or organic enough to help that stench. He needs to be stripped and hosed down.”

“Oooh, I can help with that,” Kruger announces, pulling a pair of mini-shears out from his back pocket and strutting over to Benji like he’s his prey.

“Does he always carry a pair of shears in the back of his pants?” I lean over Mane and ask Gunner. “That’s an odd thing to just whip out all casual-like.”

“Nah. He found them stuck in your mom’s flower bed when he was sent to distract your folks,” Gunner claims. “She was out back with a cup of coffee unwinding and enjoying the evening setting.”

“Why would you send Kruger to do that job?” I inquire because Kruger isn’t the one I would’ve chosen to dispatch for that mission.

“Believe it or not, the fucker has a silver tongue,” Gunner swears. “He has a knack for wooing older women.”

“Do not say wooing and woman in the same sentence when it comes to my mother,” Maverick chides, doing a full body shiver. “That’s not an image I wanted branded into my brain.”

“What’s the matter, Mav? Can’t picture Mom flirting with a man other than our dad? Doesn’t matter that she’s a mom, she’s still sexual, a woman who enjoys the attention of a man,” I tease, smirking when I hear the male cries singing through the breeze as Benji comes to.

“Dude,” Maverick scolds. “No. Just… no. Why would you even use the word sexual in any reference to the woman who gave birth to us?” He’s ignoring the irate shouting coming from our captee, stuck on the image of Kruger laying it on thick to our mother.

“Okay, boys. Banter later, your sibling rivalry… or whatever this is that’s happening between y’all can wait until we get the answers as to where Myles is,” Hydro says, stepping between the two of them with his arms raised in the air.

As a unit, we switch our attention to where Kruger is snipping off Benji’s pants and underwear. “They’re right, you stink, my man,” Kruger tells him. “Will the hose stretch this far?”

“No,” Maverick answers. “But I have a few jugs we prefill out at the barn I can run and grab real fast.”

“How many you got? Because this fucker has shit running up and down his legs,” Bruiser asks.

“I have an industrial size bottle of Dawn I can pick up too. We can squirt it on him before dumping the water over him,” Maverick offers.

“Y’all!” Hydro shouts. “Plug your fucking noses and deal with it. Who gives a fuck if he stinks? Maybe him sitting in his own shit will get him talking.”

“Don’t count on it,” Mane issues.

“Look at his face. He's enjoying everyone’s discomfort.” Once Ella points that out, we all notice the madness in his eyes.

“Fine, let him rot in his own stench. It’ll serve him right,” Kruger excuses. “At least his clothes aren’t holding in the odor anymore.” He lifts the articles of clothing and takes them over to the burn pile to be set on fire once we’re done interrogating both him and Laura. We have fire pits sporadically spread throughout our property. Some of them are for downtime but most of them are for burning weeds and such.

“Now,” Hydro says, stepping into Benji’s line of sight. “Where is Myles?”

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