Page 22 of Together We Burn
I grabbed his hair and tugged his head back. “You deserve this, you sick fuck.”
“Go to Hell,” he tried to say; his words were muffled and nearly inaudible, but every target spat the same sentence.
Go to Hell.
“Oh, honey,” I said again in his ear. “I’m already there.”
Wrapping the garrotte around his neck, I brought my knee to the back of the chair and leaned back, pulling with all my weight. Groans and moans filled the room as he thrashed more from his confines.
Suddenly, the gold door burst open, splintering wood from where it was locked, and a growl joined the animalistic noises coming from my target.
“Get your fucking hands off her.”
Chapter nine
Jake
Icouldfeelmyeyes blazing, the veins in my neck popping and pulsing as my chest rose and fell with each intake of breath, unsure of what I’d find when I first burst through the door.
It certainly wasn’t a flushed Stefany pulling a thin wire tight around Martinez’s neck, using the back of the chair she’d tied him to as leverage.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” she said through gritted teeth, her initial shock at my bursting in wearing off. Martinez’s face was red as Stefany kept her grip tight on the wire, cutting into his flesh.
I knew from my research that trying to slice into someone's neck wasn’t Stefany’s favourite way to kill. She found it to be too slow, painful, and messy. Nothing but the best for this asshole, in my unsolicited opinion.
“I heard moaning,” I answered with a curl of my top lip as I took in the struggling man. Her eyes darted to the door, and I kicked it closed with the heel of my shoe. Thanks to my primal outburst, the door no longer had a lock, but I doubted anyone would dare interrupt the boss getting his rocks off.
“I think we can agree those were not moans of pleasure.” She huffed a wayward strand of hair out from her face. “Are we done here?”
I stood motionless, watching blood trickle down Martinez's throat and land on his yellow and pink open shirt. Images of something similar flooded my memory. Pictures of Stefany sitting with the slashes her mother had cut into her skin.
Shaking my head, I said, “I can wait.”
I shucked off my suit jacket and hung it from the limp door handle, nodding for her to continue.
Stefany’s face morphed back into the annoyance she showed the bouncer; except this time, she didn’t look flirtatiously at me afterward.
“I’ll be back, honey. Hang tight,” she said, loosening the garrotte from Martinez’s neck and patting the top of his head, which had lulled to the side. She stormed to stand in front of me with her hands on her hips and the bloody wire hanging by her side. “How did you find me?”
“Will.”
“Of course,” she groaned, rolling her eyes and tilting her head back to stare at the ceiling, exasperated. “So what? He has you on babysitting duties instead of Alex?”
“No, he doesn’t know I’m here,” I soothed, my eyes locked on hers. The raise to her left eyebrow said she didn’t believe me. Reaching up, I brushed my fingertips along the scar that now sat vertically across it. With a growl, she batted my hand away with the one still holding the bloodied wire.
“Well, thanks for stopping by, but you need to leave. As you can see, I’m bu–”
Before she could finish the sentence, Martinez shot from his seat and came for her, albeit somewhat clumsily. I pushed Stefany to the side, and in her seven-inch heels, she toppled, crashing to the ground. Grabbing Martinez, I pulled him against my chest and wrapped my arm around his neck, squeezing hard until I felt a click, and he went limp.
I dropped him to the ground and went over to help Stefany to her feet. Thankfully, she accepted my outstretched hand, and I helped her up, dropping my hands to her waist as she regained her balance on her shoes.
“I swear to fucking God, what is it with men thinking they can come and take my kills from me?” she asked rhetorically, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You better hope you didn’t kill him.”
Stunned by the fact she was pissed that I had just saved her from being attacked, I watched her walk over to Martinez’s body and lift his arms. The silk ties were still around his wrists, including the anchors she had tied them to.
“You sneaky fucker,” she huffed, realising he'd somehow managed to remove the hoops without breaking his binds. I could hear a slight hint of a laugh as she dropped his wrist with a clunk. Next, she bent down and felt for his pulse. “Oh, good.”
Straightening, she lifted one of her shoes and stomped the heel into his eye, and what I could only assume was straight into his brain, considering the length of her points. Slowly, she wiggled her foot and pulled it out from his socket, eyeball, and brain matter covering the diamonds.
