Page 36 of Unwritten Rules

“Fuck. You. I’m not wearing this shit.”

His laugh filled the halls as we made our way out into the night. Answers were what I was going to get. And maybe, just maybe, I’d earn a seat at my grandfather’s table since he decided I was only good enough for his dirty work.

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“What the fuck is JasonHaines planning?” Reaper smashed the guy’s head in with each word. Clearly, he had a personal stake in getting me laid.

The screams of a grown ass man echoed through the room, and I secretly got some sick enjoyment out of it. I hadn’t been laid in a minute, so watching some torture would put some pep in my step until I finally landed Blondie in bed.Which I will very soon.

I sat back and watched Reaper continue his oddly satisfying assault, his fists connecting with increasingly wet thuds to Chris’s body. Blood was inevitable. The guy was relentless when it came to getting information–and me a love life, apparently. “Alright, alright,” I said, pulling him back a few inches. “Let’s not kill him just yet,”

Reaper brandished his ka-bar at him, waving it around. His eyes were crazy behind his mask, and he was in shark mode from smelling all the blood around us. Whoever fucked this guy’s head in the past did me a favor when I needed him to pull out every brutal stop.

Chris was panting heavily, his chest rising and falling quickly. His nose looked busted from how smushed and crooked it was, blood trickling out of it, dripping down into his mouth. Whatever didn’t go in his mouth went down his neck and painted the front of his shirt crimson. I was sure I saw purple beginning to appear around one of his eyes.Damn, Reaper could bludgeon someone.“Okay, I need a break.” His voice was pathetic, almost begging.

I raised an eyebrow. Did he seriously think he could ask favors? “You get a break if you give me information. Otherwise, my colleague here will continue.”

His hand went to his chest to steady himself. I saw so many self-comforting or defensive maneuvers from the guys we tortured, yet they all ended up looking the same–pathetic and begging for it to stop. “All I know,” he struggled to get out between breaths, “is that they hired someone to track some girl they kept callingRose. She’s got to make a downfall before next year for some power transfer. It sounds like they’re planning a hostile takeover for the underworld right now. A lot of power struggles are happening; a lot of new players are entering the ring,”

Reaper stabbed him in the leg. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“What?” He looked back at me, yanking the knife out as quickly as he stabbed it in.

I shook my head. “Anyway, what else do you know? What type of tracking, what does this Rose character look like, and what do you know about the power struggles in the underworld?”

“She–AH!” His body jumped at Reaper stomping on his injured leg. “She’s just some kid! I don’t know! Surveillance! I don’t know her or what Jason is even talking about! I wasn’t even supposed to be there that early...” He clutched his leg and tears streamed down his face. I didn’t blame him; it looked painful.

We learned that Chris was a higher-level runner hired by James himself and was given to us by one of our rats via Reaper's information extraction methods. Naturally, we nabbed him and brought him with us. Reaper loved a good kidnapping before torture and killing, and I’d never seen him happier.

I nodded at Reaper. He took my direction and stabbed the other leg. Every time he stabbed, it was like ripping a wet pair of jeans in one go–a thick crunch almost. He screamed–again–and begged us to stop. “We stop when you offer up more information,” I said, leaning over to inspect the stab site.

“Or if you die,” Reaper laughed.

“I don’t know! Please.” The low, pitiful begging wouldn’t work.

This session had gone on for too long, and I was pretty sure he said all he really knew. We’d never know and all I knew was that I wanted to lay in bed and sleep for ten hours. I unholstered by gun from my waistband and pointed it at his head as Reaper looked at me like a proud father. “I’m tired. Now, what the fuck aren’t you telling me?”

His hands went up in that typical defensive position. “That’s all! I’ve given you a play-by-play of my entire time there and anything I heard from Jason and his girlfriend.”

“What is his girlfriend’s name?”

“She’s called Rabbit! I don’t know her name!” His tears freely flowed from his eyes, mixing with the blood dripping from his facial injuries. It was sort of pathetic, really.

“What. Else.” I positioned myself to press the muzzle to his forehead. The pad of my finger came to rest on the trigger, ready to send this idiot to his maker. I preferred when Reaper did the killing, but I was sick and fucking tired of not getting what I wanted to move up in the ranks under my grandfather. The game felt changed and I needed to prove myself.

And take my anger out on someone that wouldn’t land me in handcuffs.

“Nothing,” he sobbed. “I swear to you. Please I–”BANG!

My ears rang for a few seconds. I noted to start bringing some earplugs with me in case I felt like getting festive. Saving your hearing was worth it.

Reaper looked over at me, eyes wide and rubbing his ears. Shocked, maybe? “Damn, boss. I thought I was going to kill him.”

“You take too long,” I said flatly and shook my head. Putting the gun back in its holster, I turned on my heel to walk away and shake off my frustration.

Fallon was connected to something; I could feel it. The puzzle pieces felt like they fit together somehow, and I was scrambling to catch up with the others who saw more than I did. She’s the Montgomery girl I need to ‘stay away from’, there is a girl named Rose being surveilled, and there seems to be even dirtier business in the underworld than I could have dreamed of. My sources weren’t providing what I wanted them to, and I decided to start pushing them more.

Something, somewhere, was fucked and I couldn’t figure out what it was. My next plan of attack was meeting with The Dictator and begging for a better position within the company or cleaning myself up enough to prove that I can work well with others. Anything to bring me in closer.

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