As soon as the last of my bouncers leaves the club after closing time, I make my way through the basement of our building towards the elevator leading to our apartment. I would love nothing more than to crawl into bed with Jessie and press myself against her soft, warm body, but I know she’ll be with the twins or Shane. I suppose I could do with some sleep anyway.
Just before I reach the elevator, I see Shane stepping out of the shadows and making his way towards me. “You up early, bro, or you not been to bed yet?” I smile as he reaches me. We caught up over a few shots of whisky in my office just before midnight last night, but it wasn’t enough. I have missed all of my brothers so fucking much.
“Both!” he grins at me. “I have a present for you,” he says, indicating his head towards the other end of the basement.
“A present? For me?” I arch an eyebrow. “You shouldn’t have.”
“You won’t be saying that when you see what it is,” he chuckles softly as he starts walking away from me and towards the rooms we sometimes use down here for various purposes. Mostly to get information from our enemies. I experience a wave of guilt as I recall how we used one of these rooms to keep Jessie prisoner for a few days two months earlier.
I follow Shane until he stops at the door to my favorite room, containing all of my favorite toys and instruments, and I wonder what just what this present is he’s referring to. He pulls out a huge key and unlocks the door before stepping inside with me close behind. There are two men, naked and strung up by their ankles, like two pig carcasses in a slaughterhouse.
At the sound of us coming into the room, they start to sputter and shake on their hooks. I can see they don’t have tape on their mouths, although I see blood pouring down their faces and dripping onto the floor.
I look over at Shane as I close the door behind us. “Why do they sound funny?”
“I cut out their tongues,” he says with a shrug.
I nod at him and then look back to the two men, wondering what they’ve done to incur my brother’s wrath. It’s not often he indulges in such depravity these days.
“You recognize them, Con?”
I step closer to them. Crouching down on my heels, I grab hold of one of them by his hair and lift his head slightly. It’s hard to see his features fully in the dim room and through all of the blood and snot, but I smile when I realize who these two assholes are, and cutting out their tongues is going to be the least of their problems by the time I’m through with them.
The one who I’m holding onto squirms in my grip. A strangled gurgle comes out of his mouth as his eyes widen with fear as he recognizes me too.
“You remember what I said I’d do to you?” I say to him and he flinches. “You’re going to wish I’d killed you in that parking lot while my girl watched, because she would have made me end it quickly. She’s good like that. But now there’s just me and my brother. And I am going to make you feel pain like you cannot even imagine,” I snarl, and the second man wriggles and screams too, but the noise is drowned out by the sound of him choking on his own blood as it runs down his throat.
I stand tall and start to take off my jacket and shirt. I don’t want them soaked in the blood of this pair of assholes.
“You certainly found these two and got them back here fast, Shane,” I say as I unbutton my shirt. “I’m impressed.”
“Impressed? Really? You underestimate me, bro,” he grins at me as he unbuttons his shirt too.
“You joining me?”
“They put their hands on Jessie, didn’t they?” he frowns.
“Yeah.”
“You said they were going to kidnap and rape her?”
“Yup,” I nod. “And this one,” I kick one in the head and he howls in pain. “Said he was going to tear her apart.”
“Then, of course I’m fucking joining you,” he says as he pulls his shirt off.
“Good,” I smile at him. “It’s been a while since we did this. I hope you remember what to do?”
“Don’t forget who taught you everything you know, son,” he frowns at me and I laugh out loud. I hated not being able to deal with these two fuckers back in Oklahoma, but now I’m fucking glad Jessie made me leave. Because making them pay for what they did to our girl is going to be so much more fun with Shane by my side.
It only takes two hours for us to torture John and Jeff to death. We could have made it last longer, but I need some sleep before I have to go back to work in a few hours. We walk through the basement, still shirtless and covered in blood.
“Is Jessie up yet?” I ask. “Because if she sees us like this… well, I don’t have the energy to explain what we just did, bro.”
“I have no idea,” he shrugs.
“You haven’t spoken to her yet?” I frown at him.
“No,” he shakes his head. “She went off with the twins as soon as she got home.”
“But you could have gone and spoken to her,” I remind him. “It’s not like you’ve never seen them all fucking before.”
“Drop it, Con,” he snaps.
“Drop it?” I snap back. “You’ve been waiting to speak to her for two months and now you’re avoiding her?”
“I’m not avoiding her. It’s complicated,” he shakes his head. “My relationship with Jessie isn’t as easy as yours.”
“Well, you didn’t exactly help matters having Erin here the day Jessie got back,” I remind him.
“I couldn’t help that. She finalized the Ireland deal for us and she needed me to sign some papers.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, you should be fucking thanking me for what I just did, not giving me earache.”
I wrap my arm around his neck. “I’m not giving you earache. But you and Jessie need to sort your shit out, bro. The whole fucking equilibrium is off when you two aren’t right.”
He nods his head, but I’m not sure he’s convinced. He can’t forgive Jessie for leaving us. He can’t forgive himself for the way he treated her the last time she was here. So, he assumes that she won’t forgive him either. I know that she already has, but I wish he would wake up and see how much she loves him, and how much he needs her.
