Page 105 of Love is Strange
“Caim?” she asks for my opinion.
“I can’t, Layla.” The name is out of my mouth even before I have a chance to think about it.
“Layla it is then. For now…”
She appears to have calmed down, and her breaths have evened out.
"Your mother and father are on their way." Iron's prominent figure fills the doorway, and Layla looks up to him.
“My mother isn’t dead?”
“No. She and your father have missed you every day. It’ll take them a couple of hours to get here. It’s the first time I’ve ever known Gunner to get on a plane. They’re desperate to see you again.”
“I need to see them.”–Layla’s brows furrow when she speaks – “Dad...er...”
“Snake,” I offer her.
“Snake. Where is he?”
“He’s in our dungeon. My sergeant at arms is trying to find out what’s been going on with him.” Prez holds his arm out to Ebony when she stands, and she goes to her father. I can see by the young girl’s face that although she has grown up around the MC life, this is going to take a while to digest and will leave scars.
“Torturing him?”
"You don't need to worry about that," Prez reassures her.
“No,”–Layla takes my hand and turns her attention from the president to me– “I want to see him.”
“No women allowed in the dungeon. It’s not a place for ladies.”
Layla laughs, and the room goes silent.
“You think I’ll see anything worse than I’ve already experienced over the last ten years?”
I can’t argue with her on that score. But shit can get pretty real down there. We’ve painted the place red on more than one occasion, and I’m not sure she should see it. It’s not my decision anyway. I look towards my president.
“I’d want answers.” Ebony pats her father on the arm. He sighs heavily.
“Ok. I’m not good to go down there, yet. My emotions are too high, and I have to leave the kill to your father. I see Snake again, and that’s not going to happen. Iron go warn Heat. Caim, you good to take her?”
“Yeah.” Somehow I know, if I go down in the dungeon, I won’t kill Snake with Layla at my side. That doesn’t mean I won’t make him scream for mercy, though. I allow the darkness I carry within me to descend before taking Layla’s hand and leading her towards her retribution.
Chapter Four
LAYLA
‘He’s not my father’keeps repeating in my head. He did all those things to me: he raped me, cut me, beat me, and degraded me until I was unrecognizable as the happy little girl I used to be. He told me he was doing it because he was my ‘Daddy’, but he was a demon, the sort who hid under children’s beds at night to scare them. When he was taken out of the room, I knew he’d be dead by the end of the day, and a part of me felt sorrow because, after all, he was the only family I had. But now, knowing the truth, I want to end him myself. I'm fucked up, and it's his fault. Caim holds me tightly. I can feel the need for blood radiating off him. I think everyone we walk past, as I’m led to the dungeon, can sense it. They look away from us – two devils stalking towards our prey. The door to the dungeon is open, and the smell is familiar. It wraps itself around me like a comfort blanket: fear, piss, blood. Everything I’ve lived with for ten years. I savor it. Caim leads me down some steps, and into the dungeon where I come face to face with my torturer. Iron has him on his knees, and another man, who must be Heat, is pulling rubber gloves from his hands. They’re covered in blood. I look at the man who made me call him ‘Daddy’ and see he has a number of injuries: he has several fingers missing with the stumps covered in crusted blood; his face is a mess, bruised, swollen, and covered in cuts; and he is holding his side as though his ribs have been broken.
I shake my head, and my thoughts turn to Uncle Tank – it feels weird remembering him like that. Then, suddenly, a vision of my mother and my father comes into my head. I'm four, maybe five, and we’re playing in a park together. My father’s pushing me on a swing,
"Higher," I scream, and he pushes me so far I think I'm going to make a loop over the bar. I squeal with delight.
"Gunner, careful." My mom chuckles and finishes laying out the picnic for us all. My father brings the swing to a halt, lifts me off, and puts me on top of his shoulders. He's strong, tall, and covered in elaborate tattoos, the biggest one being a willow tree curving around his side with my name and birth date below.
A tear pools in my eye, and I see the corners of Daddy's lips curl up into a smirk. No, he isn't my daddy. He's Snake, a reptile who abused and tortured me. He stole me from my parents and is going to die painfully, tonight. I wipe the tear away with my finger and bring it to my mouth before licking it. It's a gesture he did to me often.
“Mine, now.” I let him know, and the room goes so quiet you can hear his breath rasping, probably as a result of his damaged ribs. I take the opportunity to look around and realize Caim wasn't kidding when he said it was a dungeon. It looks just like the ones I’d imagine finding in an English castle. A wooden rack sits in the corner, knives and chains adorn the walls. Several other devices, which look painful but I'm not sure what they do, are lined up on a carved oak table at the side of the room. I run my tongue against my teeth in anticipation. Looking toward Caim, I see he’s doing the same. I don't know his story or why he has darkness in him, but I make a vow to learn it one day. Right now, this is about me ridding myself of the demon who has terrorized me for so long. I go to the table and run my hand over several of the devices. I pick up what looks like a giant pair of scissors.
"A tongue trimmer," Caim informs me. I put it back.
