Page 135 of Of Flesh & Bone

Her lips thin and her eyes turn menacing.I've flipped her switch."Hmm.Well, good thing Eli taught me gun safety and took me to the shooting range.I'm not a marksman, but I know how to shoot a gun."

Eli.That mother fucker.I find myself in a constant battle of appreciating him for what he's done for my girl and hating him for being so close to her.It's maddening.Lights come through the office window, and I move to it to peer outside.It's Cal and Cotton.They're both armed and scanning the front yard."They're here," I tell Eve.She runs out of the room and soon I hear the locks on the front door disengaging.

I walk into the room just in time to see Cotton come through the door first.Eve launches herself into his arms and he's ready for her.I almost can't believe this is the same girl I met a few short months ago.Cotton grabs her up, lifting her feet off the ground putting his face in her hair.Relief is scrawled all over his face.He needed to see her safe.Cal comes through the door right behind him and grabs Eve from his arms, scooping her up in the same way."Why are you the way you are?"Cal asks her in his 'this is bullshit and I'm not taking it' tone.

"No idea what you mean by that."Eve chitters back to him.

"You know good and damn well what I'm talking about, Eve.I told you to stay in the bedroom and you wouldn't listen."

"Eve?Since when am I Eve?"

"Belle didn't try to chase Gaston out into the night with a damn bat.That's some Eve bullshit if I've ever heard it."

He turns to me then."What the fuck is wrong with you?Why did you let her come with you?What if he wasn't alone?"

I can't even be mad at this mammoth asshole.He's upset because he was scared for my girl.He got here in record time, and I know that his nerves were fraying the whole drive.

"He told me to lock the door and stay in the bedroom.I declined."

Cotton speaks up for the first time and he's clearly as exasperated as the rest of us."You declined.Maybe we just tie you up next time.You can't seem to stay out of trouble."

His words sting and I see it in Eve's eyes even though her face remains in that unaffected mask.Cotton lets out a breath and scrubs his face with both hands."I'm sorry, Mason.I didn't mean it.I was just worried.We all were."

Eve nods and gives him a small uneven smile.

"Any idea who it could've been?"Cal asks no one in particular.

Eve looks around the room at each of our faces."We're sure this isn't Paul Hastings, right?"

My brothers and I look at one another, asking a silent question of how much we're willing to tell her.Ultimately, it's Cotton who wants to keep a lid on what happened to Paul.None of us want it to get out but Cotton, is the one who said we wouldn't tell a soul.Both Cal and I look to Cotton letting him be the deciding factor.He holds our gazes for several seconds before giving one short nod.

"It's not Paul.It can't be."Cal tells Eve.

"He's dead."I follow up his statement with the grim revelation and look to Eve to watch her response as she processes this news.There's nothing.No shock.No disgust.No relief.She knew.

"Tell me everything."Eve's face is impassive, giving nothing of her feelings away.

I recount the events of the night, starting with paying Paul's bail anonymously and then lying in wait for him in his shitty little bad guy home.I follow that up with everything that happened after Paul woke up in that warehouse strapped to a chair.

........................

"Mmmm.....ugh."

Paul's head hangs forward as he moans, slowly coming back to himself.I don't have the patience to wait, so I wave the salts under his nose.His head shoots up and he looks around the large open room frantically.He looks from Cal to Cotton and finally to me."You."His voice is trembling."What am I doing here?"He pulls at his bindings, struggling to get free.

Cal rubs around his eyes, seeming exasperated."Listen you dumb fuck, those ties are rated for five hundred pounds of pressure, so save us some sanity and yourself some energy and just fucking stop with the jerking around."

Paul jerks his face to meet Cal's glare."Listen man, I don't want any trouble here.I haven't done nothing to you.Just let me go."I'm amused that this cretin is looking to the biggest man in the room for mercy.There's something about Cal that looks kind and...he is kind mostly.The thing with Cal is that you just don't want to see the other side of him.Unfortunately for Paul, that's the only side Cal has for him.

"Paul, can I still call you Paul?"He nods, unsure how to respond."Paul, as I explained to you before, you attacked my girl.I won't tell you her name because I'm afraid you might say it and...if you say it....well Paul, you see my big friend over there?"Paul looks in the direction that I gesture and surveys Cal."My girl is like a sister to him and if he hears her name fall from your lips, I'm afraid I won't get to do all the important things that I have planned for you, and I really want to get to everything before my girl goes to bed."

Paul's breathing quickens and he squirms in his seat.There's a massive knot on the side of his head from where Cal knocked him out earlier.I turn toward Cotton, who's laying multiple items out on a sleek metal table."What do you think, brother?"He's perusing the various instruments laid out before us.

He hands me a curved needle and thick black thread."For the eyes."Damn.You'd never guess what lurks beneath his cool-as-ice exterior.

Smiling at my brother, I take the offered instruments and turn back toward Paul."We need you to remain alert Paul.You're going to see what's happening to you just like all of those women watched helplessly as you assaulted them."

"I didn't assault anyone.I'm tellin' you.All them charges were dropped 'cause they had the wrong guy.You need to listen to me."

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