Page 70 of Bristol

“Yeah. Well, Reaper did. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

“What do you mean ‘that’s what you’ve been doing’?”

“I’ve been torturing him for the last month. Every night.”

I sit up and pull my knees to my chest, an instinctive action to protect myself although I have nothing to be afraid of. My home is secure. Patrick is not getting anywhere near me, especially if Sebastian has him somewhere to have tortured him for a solid fucking month.

“Are you mad?” he asks, trying to read my face.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes.”

“I’m done with my torture. I’m going to take his life tonight. Do you want to be there?”

I think about what he’s asking me. Do I want to watch this monster die?

“Yeah. I think I can do that.”

I stand up and head upstairs to put on something other than the skimpy shorts and crop spaghetti strap top I have on. I opt for a simple black shirt that hangs off my body and a pair of black jeans. I don’t want to ruin a good pair of blue jeans if there’s going to be a splattered mess like there was when we ridded the world of Princess. Kendra is a fucking beast with a knife. She was fierce and fucking scary when we slit Princess’s throat. I didn’t expect her to knick an artery and it to shoot out all over the room with every last beat of her heart, though. That did surprise me, especially when it splattered all across my face as soon as she sliced it open.

Sebastian is standing in the kitchen wearing his cut-off when I come downstairs.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

We ride the bike through the nightlife on Beach boulevard and it doesn’t take long for me to realize where we are going. The familiar sight of Reaper and Kendra’s plantation makes me smile and I also come to the realization that I have missed riding the bike with Sebastian.

Reaper and Kendra are sitting on the front porch, both sipping a glass of wine on the bed-swing that Kendra convinced him to buy last week. It looks cozy as hell and now I think I might need one for the porch outside of our bedroom.

“Hey, boo!” Kendra beams, engulfing me in a hug.

She kisses my cheek and I walk over to hug a smiling Reaper. By the look on his face, he knows exactly what I’m doing here.

Sebastian and Kendra are making jokes while I stand awkwardly on the porch. For some reason, my stomach is in knots. I have to keep reminding myself that he is probably restrained and that there is probably nothing he can do to get free. I’m safe. It’s just so fucking crazy to me that I am about to come face to face with this man again. I never thought I would see his face again and now here I stand. Moments away from confronting the man who quite literally ruined my life for a while. The man who took my parents and my brother from me.

“Okay. Let’s do this,” Sebastian says, reaching his hand out for mine.

I take it and walk behind him as he leads me through the house and out a side door. There’s a large shop with a solid metal door on the side. Sebastian keys in a code and it opens. My stomach churns as we walk inside. It’s a large shop area that has multiple vehicles and motorcycles inside. We weave through until we come to another door. Sebastian keys a code and it makes a whooshing sound when it opens. When the door opens, I immediately smell a stench unlike anything else.

“Oh my god, what’s that smell?” I ask, stepping in behind Sebastian. He flicks a switch and a few dim lights come on.

“Burnt flesh,” he deadpans.

The lights have a yellow tinge to them but they give off enough light for me to see a man hanging from chains in the center of the room. If I didn’t know that this was Patrick, I would not believe it. This man is severely disfigured. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. The smell of piss and burnt flesh crowd my senses.

I take a few steps forward, really looking at the man in front of me. He was so intimidating to me a year ago. Now? He’s nothing. He has no power. He never did. I was just too blind to see it. Sebastian walks around behind him and jabs him in the back of the head.

“Wake up, motherfucker.”

Patrick’s eyes lull open slowly. He looks around a bit then focuses on me. A smile begins to form on his fucked-up face and bile rises in my throat.

“Oh, how the mighty have fallen,” I bite out through gritted teeth.

“What, you missed me and came for one more round?” he asks, that disgusting smile plastered on his face. This man is an absolute fucking idiot.