Page 124 of Paladin's Hell

Blood’s flowing freely from a cut above one eye. His chest is bare, and there are dark bruises and burn marks on him. He’s breathing shallowly as though in pain, but when he hears footsteps approaching, he opens the one eye he can. His mouth turns up in a snarl as he sees me.

“You’re alive.”

“No thanks to you.” Faced with my abductor, my voice shakes. The last time I’d seen him he was pushing me into the trunk of Mace’s car. The flashback takes me back there again.

“You don’t have to do this, Jay.” Paladin’s arm comes around me. I shrug it off and take a step forward.

“Why?” I ask. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“I don’t give a fuck about you either way. You were a means to an end,” he wheezes.

That’s even worse in a way. That I mean so little.

Hell passes something to Pal, who places it into my hand, wrapping my fingers around it. “Aim it at him,” he instructs. “Keep your finger on this button. Thirty seconds is recommended.”

“Is it turned up high?”

“As far as it will go.”

Taser’s eyes have widened, then he laughs. “Like that will hurt me.”

Oh, I’m determined it will make him hurt. Like I hurt and ache. All I want to do is lie down and rest, but first I need to see him lose his dignity just like I had lost mine. Without delaying any further, I aim, fire, and when those barbs land in his chest, keep my finger pressed down hard on the button, so much pressure my fingertips are white. He goes rigid, then his legs give out, he’s hanging by his wrists, his body jerking, his mouth open wide but no sound coming out. I keep the power on.

I don’t know how long it is before Pal pries my fingers away. “That’s enough,” he says gently.

I let him take the taser out of my hand, then I turn, burying my face in his chest. “Kill him,” I plead toward Hellfire. “I want to know he’s gone so I don’t have to worry about him.”

I’ll always be haunted by the thought the Herreras are still coming for me. I don’t need another threat around.

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