Page 74 of Bear Hunt

Grinder walks up to him and slaps him awake just so he can show him the next toy he’s gonna use on him. Diablo doesn’tcare, it’s like he’s asking for more punishment and his next words almost make his death wish come true.

“The most fun I had was handing Mac over to The Firm. Beaufort’s son wanted to sink his dick in—” I step aside and allow Psycho to go in. He kicks Diablo in the chest hard enough that he falls over onto the floor, still attached to his chair and curled up on his side. Then he just rails on him, kicking his ribs, his gut. Grinder hands him a hammer and the sound of Diablo’s screams as Psycho shreds his kneecaps is fucking music to my ears.

After a while, I grab him around the chest and pull him back. My best friend is panting and shaking, his adrenaline almost palpable. “You promised me the end game.”

With a grunt, Psycho shakes out of my hold and kicks Diablo one more time in the mouth, sending a few more teeth skittering across the floor. Soon, he won’t be able to speak properly.

“Let’s wrap this up. We still have no word from Shade and I don’t like it. He wasn’t in the garage, the firefighters told me as much, but that doesn’t mean this motherfucker didn’t do something to him.” We all look down at Diablo and I decide it’s worth a shot. I mean, it’s not like it was hard to make him talk. He doesn’t want to walk out of here because if he does, The Firm will finish our job and probably take out his entire family while they’re at it.

Crouching down to where he’s fighting for every one of his breaths, I grab him by the back of the head and pull him back so he’s upright on the chair.

“Look at me.” Diablo opens his eye, the one not swollen shut, fading in and out of consciousness. “Where’s Shade?”

“Fuck if I know.” His words are mostly garbled but I can make them out.

“Did you see him before you planted the explosives?” I pull on his hair to wake him up again.

“Never saw him.” Without letting go of him, I look up at Hoops, who nods.

“Blowtorch.” A hand extended to the side, I wait for Grinder to give me what I want.

“Why d’you get to have all the fun?” I ignore my brother and his frightening desire for torture and grab hold of the blowtorch. When I turn it on, the image of Athena rising from the ashes of this whole fucking nightmare makes me stand a little taller. Feel a little stronger.

“While you sit here and smell your flesh burning to the point of losing your fucking mind, I want you to think about every life you had a hand in ending. Then, I want you to think about your biggest mistakes.” As soon as the flame grazes Diablo’s neck, he screams from deep down in his gut. “Betraying us for those sick fucks. Handing over Mac to those sick fucks. Working for those sick fucks.” The flame travels across his collarbone and down one arm as his screams turn to wails.

I play with him until he passes out from the pain then grab a knife and stab him in the thigh, right where his artery gushes like Ol’ fucking Faithful and we know it’s only a matter of minutes before he bleeds out. Speeding up our movements, I hand the knife to Grinder, who stabs him in the gut, pulling up just enough to open up his stomach. When it’s Psycho’s turn, he goes straight for the guy’s balls, which wakes him up real quick just to find out that they’ve been disconnected from his body.

Hands dripping with blood, Psycho skewers both balls and holds them up in the air for me to… Jesus Christ, he is fucking insane.

Holding up the blowtorch, I basically cook those fuckers and watch, with bile rising from my gut, as Psycho stuffs them in Diablo’s mouth.

“Bon appetit, you vile piece of shit.” We fist bump, the blood that covered Psycho’s hands now staining mine.

When my best friend hands the knife to Sledge, we all chuckle at our favorite Brit’s words. “Kinda hard to beat that, innit?”

Except Sledge is just as crazy as the rest of them and it shows when he brings the knife to Diablo’s eye and cuts the thing right out of its socket. Dude tries to scream but can’t because he’s literally choking on his own balls, blood and saliva dripping from his mouth.

Once Sledge has the eyeball in hand, he volleys it to Grinder, basically giving him a boner.

“This will be great for my collection.” Half the shit Grinder says scares the fuck outta me.

The final blow is for our president, who looks Diablo right in his one good eye and gives him his parting words.

“Filth like you doesn’t get to live. See you in Hell, motherfucker.” Then he slices Diablo’s throat from one ear to the other as we all watch the blood drain from his body. We were quick, not wanting him to have the mercy of bleeding out, and made sure he knew what was happening to him.

I don’t know how long we stand there, but somehow, it’s cathartic, like we’re honoring our dead.

Until, that is, Athena’s face comes to mind and I grin. “Time to see my woman.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Athena

“They smell delicious!” Bringing the tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to my nose, I close my eyes and breathe them in.

“Yeah they do.” Mac nods, confident in her abilities. “Now that you have the recipe and you know how to make them, I expect some experimentation samples.”

“I’m down for samples.” Kincaid is sitting on the center kitchen island and grabs one of the cookies.

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