Page 65 of Stitch
“Ross, you stupid fuck, this is your last chance, or you’re gonna know what your nuts smell like when they’re being cooked.” Ryder cursed, and backed away from us, and Ice looked like he was on the verge of it himself. He didn’t normally attend shit like this, but he was fully on board with avenging his old lady’s friend.
“Guys, we’ve got this.” Ice nodded, and backed up, slapping Micro on the shoulder, encouraging him to turn and follow, even as he complained.
“I coulda helped.”
I ignored him, and nodded at Torch, who didn’t let on that he wasn’t in a position to actually burn the guy.
“Okay! Okay, Jesus, you people are insane. It wasn’t rape though, see, because she was my girlfriend, and she wasn’t even conscious. She never knew. She doesn’t know. It was just the one time, man!”
I closed my eyes as the murderous rage inside me reached that boiling point it had been hovering just below.
“Get my kit.”
Torch backed off, and I squeezed on the guy’s throat to shut him up, only now? Now he was singing like a fucking canary, trying to justify every sick, violent thing he’d done to the woman I was in love with. Trying to explain away the fact that he brutalised her badly enough that just the sight of him nearly made her catatonic with terror.
“I suggest you shut up now, mate,” Torch advised as he pressed a tin into my free hand. I backed up and popped the lid, staring down at the tools of my trade. The tools that gave me my name. Removing the suture kit, I tossed the tin on the ground, and nodded at Torch. I felt a calmness settling deep inside me as I prepared myself for what he deserved.
“Hold him still.Time to shut this fucker up for good.”
Cammy
They were gone forhours. Long agonising hours. Finally Reacher had a text, and nodded as he read it.
“They’re on their way back.” He pushed away from the counter, and pulled open the door on the tiny bathroom, checking the facilities.
“What are you doing?”
He turned on the shower, testing the water pressure, turning it off almost immediately.
“Ally, find the nearest hotel, and get us some rooms.” She didn’t even question it, just started tapping away on her phone, as she drifted away from us.
“Hotel? Why a hotel? Oh god, what’s happened? Is Stitch okay? My god, is heokay?”
Ally returned, and showed Reacher something on his phone.
“Perfect, woman. Go for it.”
She walked off again, and fussed with her phone some more.
“Reacher, is he okay?”
He finally stopped ignoring me, grabbing both of my arms to halt my frantic pacing.
“They’re just a bit uh… they need somewhere to clean themselves up, yeah? Ally’s found a set of holiday homes nearby, and she’s booking a couple of them for a night.”
“Clean themselves up. Like they’re covered in blood, you mean? More than this little shower can handle?”
He nodded. “Glad you get it, love. Now, you can drive this thing, right?”
Ten minutes later, Reacher was on his bike, with his old lady wrapped around him from behind, and I was driving the mobile home, with Tori and Lissa sitting beside me.
“What about the bikes?”
Lissa shrugged. “They’ll come get them when they’re not all bloody, babe. It’s fine.”
“Oh god, they killed him, didn’t they?”
Tori grimaced, and muttered something.
