Page 62 of Whiskey Shivers

“Thanks,” I grunted.

He shook his head. “My cousin’s kid is in one of that teacher’s classes. Really loves her and is real broken up about it. I’d do anything for that kid. She’s got it hard enough with her mamma havin’ the cancer. You do what needs doin’ and put a hurt to that bastard. Don’t mind if you kill ‘im. I don’t think anyone in here would mind overmuch.”

The guard locked eyes with me and gave a curt nod. I had to imagine the ol’ boy who’d hurt my girl hadn’t made any friends in here. Not with the guards and not with the other inmates as he was in segregation.

We went into the shower and waited. The shower was the only spot where there were no cameras, and I wondered briefly if this weren’t a setup because there damn sure were camerasoutsidethe shower room.

I looked to Cy who looked dead certain, and I put my trust in the man.

The door opened behind the shower wall then shut, and McDaniel turned the corner. He spotted us and took off running back to the door and slid in the water on the slick tile, his whole body fetching up against the door. He wasn’t a big guy, which was what’d lent to his passing as a fuckin’ teenager. He pounded on the inside of the door, the guard on the other side standing against it, blocking the window glass with his broad back. He’d seemingly had gone deaf because he didn’t move a muscle.

Cy and Saint got a hold of the guy and dragged him back around into the shower.

“How long we got?” I asked.

“Fifteen at the most, five at the least, definitely don’t go beyond ten,” Cypress told me.

I looked to Axe who stepped in, drew back, and kicked the guy in the nuts as hard as he could. The man collapsed onto his stomach. His dark wheat-blond hair, that was too long in the front, fell into his eyes as he cradled the family jewels and struggled to breathe.

I stared down at him coldly and told him, “We had more time, we’d rape you. Each takin’ our turn until your asshole was bloody and gaping and you begged us for more just to keep us from killin’ you sooner.”

Axe grinned and I knew that crazy bastard would do the work of the three of us to make that level of terror and pain a reality. He wasn’t gay, but he’d buttfuck a dude just for the power trip. That’s what got him hard and kept him there – the power.

I crouched down and brought the shiv around where McDaniel could see it.

“Make no mistake, you’re gonna die in here,” I told him. “Unlike what you did to that woman,mywoman, I’ll take no real pleasure in it.”

I put an arm under his chin like I was gonna help him to his feet. The shiv probably felt like I was kneeing or punching him in the back until the burning pain set in. I went for maximum damage, punching holes in the major organs I knew I could get to – kidney, liver, guts, and finished off by punching a hole in his neck. Not really going for a quick bleed out with that. No, I wanted him to die slow. This was more a die slow by choking to death on his own blood, thing.

I washed myself quick, rinsed the shiv, and the door opened just as we were through. We left him there, bleedin’ and choking,’ and sure to die at any moment. We were handed towels outside the door and were escorted into the sort of locker room to pick up fresh new socks, shorts, jumpsuits, and tees. We shrugged our feet into our shoes, and we were taken back to our cell block. A lot of stares greeted us, but no one wanted to make eye contact.

These fellas weren’t stupid. They knew some justice had just been served. They knew we held power in here, that we were in control, and that we weren’t to be crossed.

The four of us broke apart, two of us joining a checkers game, Saint and I takin’ a seat at the table where cards were bein’ dealt.

“What’re we playin’?” Saint asked.

A shaky fella said, “Texas hold ‘em.”

“What’s the bet?” I asked.

“No bet. We just play with the chips like they worth somethin’,” another big guy said. “Real friendly like.”

“Bet, deal us in,” Saint asked, and we went about quietly playing cards until the alarm sounded and the frenzy ensued of getting us all back in our cells. I caught Cypress’s eye and he gave me a nod, and we all went into lockdown.

Word flew down the whisper network fast that the man that’d hurt that teacher was dead and I have to say, that jailhouse dinner never tasted finer, and I never slept better than I did that night… well, except for when my Fable was in my arms.

Still, I was anxious all through Sunday, although to look at me? I was cool as a cucumber. The day dragged, and I do mean it moved slower than molasses in January. And Monday? Monday we were called for transport to the courthouse where we met up with Cornelius.

“You boys mind telling me just what in the fuck?” he asked when he got us in a room.

“Had some business to handle,” I said, and he put a hand over his mouth and rubbed his lips thoughtfully.

“Yeah, well, all ofthataside – they sure are tryin’ to git ‘cha on some trumped-up charges for this li’l ol’ bar fight.” He looked through a file in front of him and said, “Tell me everything, and I do meaneverything,about what happened on Friday night.”

We told him everything, and he’d gone and gotten the bar surveillance. He’d see what the what when it came to the bond hearing in a bit, and was keeping that video in his shirt pocket for any eventual trial if there was one.

This wasn’t going to go how law enforcement envisioned it going, but then again – we had beef enough with the Bayou Brethren at this point and it was bigger ‘n what they were going to be able to handle if I was thinkin’ what I was thinkin’ on that front.

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