Page 2 of Tormented
His eyes roam over my selection of blades, his brow pinching as he clearly rolls his current predicament around in his mind, looking for an out.
“What’s it goin’ to take?” He juts his chin in the air. “How much?”
“You can’t buy me off.” So naïve.
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah.” I chuckle. “I am.” He flinches as I prod him in the shoulder with the tip of the knife. “Why would I want your filthy fuckin’ cash anyway?”
He snorts. “As if you’re fuckin’ squeaky-clean, you freak.”
“Maybe not, but I like to think I still have morals.”
Even if you could count them twice on one hand . . . .
Never said I had lots.
“Look,” he levels, tipping his head forward so he stares out from under his brow. “I don’t know what magical world you fuckin’ operate in, but the business is dog eat dog, man. I start lettin’ my feelings get in the way, and some other asshole jumps in with the goods. I gotta finish what I start.”
“He was a Good Samaritan. Just tryin’ to help a woman in distress.”
“What he saw was none of his business. Should have kept on drivin’.”
“He sees a dirty fuckin’ creep like you tryin’ to wrestle her in the back of a car, while she’s screamin’ and kickin’ at you, then that’s his goddamn business. It’s his fuckin’ business as a man with a conscience to do somethin’ about it.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.” He leers as though he’s got me on this one.
“Yeah? Well, pity this pussy’s about to get chewed up and spat out by the big bad wolf, ain’t it.”
The guy’s nostrils flare, his glare downright murderous. Shame I’m the one with all the tools now, isn’t it?
Such a shame . . . .
“Where do you want me to start?”
“On yourself, asshole.” He spits at my feet, a last show of defiance.
“Come on now.” I reach out, running my palm around the side of his face to unsettle the asshole even more. “That’d defeat the purpose of me comin’ out to see you now, wouldn’t it?”
“What about this then?” he says. “I tell you that I understand what you’ve said to me, and you let me go on the promise I won’t fuck up like that again?”
“Fuck up how?” I ask dryly. “By kidnappin’ the girl, or gettin' caught doing it?”
He crumples his chin as he shrugs. “Both?”
I chuckle, shaking my head at the schmuck. How fucking stupid does he think I am? “Man, if you’d only fucked up this once, then maybe I’d consider it. But Jesus Christ, you’ve got a rap sheet of mistakes and stupid decisions almost longer than mine.”
He swallows hard, fingers twitching in his bonds. The circulation should be getting weak about now, the pins and needles spreading up his arms. Pretty soon he won’t have sensation to his shoulders; a distinct numbness in his entire arm.
Better hurry it up then . . . .
Keep your pants on.
“Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?” His voice cracks with sheer desperation.
“Nope.” I stroke the hair from his forehead with the edge of the blade. “Tell me, how long you been in the skin trade?”
His eyes close; he knows he’s screwed. “You know the answer, don’t you?”