Page 148 of Jake's Angel
“Hey Pop.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I see your Karambit?” I put my hand out and wait until I feel the balanced weight of the knife in my hand. I pick up Kyle’s right hand and start with the first finger and slice the skin away. Kyle is screaming in pain and blood is rapidly dripping onto the floor. I move to the next finger and the next until I have his entire hand peeled down to the bone.
Kyle screams so much, he nearly passes out, but Hawk, being the helpful brother he is, throws a bucket of ice water at Kyle’s face, keeping him awake.
I move to the second hand and repeat the same process.
“I wasn’t sure which hand you used to mark my woman’s skin with your handprints, so I took a guess at both.”
“You’re fucking insane.”
Walking over to Declan, I whisper in his ear, “I need to borrow your ring, brother.” Declan looks confused but takes his Celtic cross ring from his finger and places it in my hands. I walkover to the table and flick on Pop’s lighter, grabbing the ring with a pair of pliers, skimming the flame over the ring several times as I walk toward Kyle. His eyes, swollen nearly shut, but not enough to hide the fear behind them. He squirms, struggling against his restraints when he realizes what I’m about to do.
“Pres, did you know that Kyle here believed so strongly that Avery was his that he marked her body? Branded her with his initials. He attacked our girl with a knife, cutting into her flesh as he tore her clothes off her body. He laid her naked on the dirt while his friends held her bound to the ground.” Gabe’s head snaps in my direction, his eyes burning with rage. Pop reaches for the knife he was playing with earlier and hands it to Gabe.
“Where?” Gabe growls.
“One on her hip, where he cut her panties off her body. When she squirmed to try to get away, he slashed her.” Gabe takes the knife and cuts Kyle’s boxers from his body, leaving him naked before us. He takes the knife and slowly digs it into the skin of Kyle’s hip, dragging it down about three inches. Kyle screams out his pain, thrashing against the shackles. Blood runs down his leg, dripping from his feet to the concrete floor below. Declan uses the remote to tighten the slack, leaving no give in the chains that now tighten Kyle’s body as far as it can go without pulling limbs apart.
“The other one is on her inner thigh on the opposite leg, about four or five inches long. That one he did for good measure.” Gabe lifts the knife and repeats his slow, torturous movements as he cuts through Kyle’s inner thigh. Blood’s dripping down both legs, bright red flowing into a puddle underneath him. Kyle breathlessly tries to scream, but no sound leaves his mouth. Tears run down his face as he tries unsuccessfully begging us to stop.
I lift the ring up on the pliers before his face. “See this?” Kyle’s head hangs, his eyes are closed. He’s close to passingout again from the pain. “Look at it!” I shout. Kyle’s head lifts a little as his eyes try to focus on what’s before him. “Do you remember what you said to her, you sick fuck, when you burned your initials into her flesh with your ring? You told her you liked seeing your mark on her as a way for everyone to know that she belongs to you.” I push the ring, with its bright red heated emblem into his left hip first. The smell of burned flesh fills the room and I have to hold back the bile that’s threatening to rise in my throat. Kyle’s screams fill the room once again, and before he gets a chance to catch his breath, I place the ring against his other hip and repeat the process.
His head is thrashing back and forth. He’s yelling unintelligible words as he’s writhing in pain just before blacking out. Hawk grabs a bucket of cold water from the floor. We all move back as he launches it at Kyle’s face, waking him up.
“You can’t check out now, man. This party is being held in your honor,” Hawk smirks, backing up from Kyle’s nearly lifeless body.
I pick the ring up with the pliers again, grab the lighter, and begin heating it back up. “Do you remember where you left the last mark on her body?” I feel Gabe next to me, the anger rolling off him in waves as he’s trying not to take control of this situation. He knows this son of a bitch deserves every bit of what I’m dishing out for what he did to Avery.
“You put the last one right here.” I push the ring into the flesh just above his cock and press it in, twisting it as it melts his skin. I wrap my arm around his waist, holding him in place, making sure this one leaves a lasting impression. Declan prepares to lower the chains when Hawk shouts, “Wait!”
We all turn to see what he has to say. “Sadie would be so disappointed if we didn’t cut off his balls and put them in a jar for her.” He looks at Kyle, who’s barely hanging on, but alert enough to wince at his words. “She’s kind of partial to puttingmen’s genitals in glass jars. You don’t mind, do you? I mean, you won’t be using them anymore, anyway.” Hawk shrugs, playfully tossing a knife back and forth between his hands. That’s the last straw. Kyle blacks out.
Declan lowers the hook that’s been holding him, allowing him to partially collapse into me as I lean close and growl into his ear, “You didn’t break her, motherfucker. Avery is stronger than you could ever be, and she is mine.”
I let him go, dropping his body to the floor. I turn to give Declan back his ring and stand back by the table, trying to regain my composure. I’m not usually the one to torture a man. I prefer the quick death of a bullet, but he deserved everything we’ve done and more.
Gabe walks over to me and pats my shoulder. Leaning into my ear whispers, “You deserve her. What you just did for her proves to me you love her.” I nod my acceptance of his blessing. I’m caught somewhere between rage, relief, and excitement. It’s a whirlwind of emotions that I’m feeling at this moment, but all of it comes crashing to a halt when the sound of three gunshots goes off behind me, causing me to flinch.
I spin around, my weapon drawn, not sure what to expect, but definitely not expecting the sight before me. Kyle lays lifeless on the floor with one shot to the head and two to the chest. Pop and Gabe are both standing in front of him with their guns drawn and smoking.
“Prospect,” Gabe says calmly. “Get this piece of shit off King’s property and make sure no one ever finds his body.” Blake walks past Gabe with plastic rolls and glove covered hands. He and Austin make quick work of their cleanup job.
Justice has been served.
CHAPTER FIFTY
JAKE
It’s been almostfour months since Avery was released from the hospital. I was so excited to get her out of that dreary place and back to our house where she belonged. After we rid the world of Kyle Whittmore, Gabe gave his blessing, and I officially claimed Avery as mine in church. Of course, the guys agreed and with a unanimous vote.
The women talked Gabe into throwing Avery a real welcome home party, but decided to wait until she was healed enough that she could enjoy the festivities. Despite still having a few months of physical therapy ahead, she has made significant improvements. But the doctor said she could resume regular activities as tolerated so long as she doesn’t overdo it.
I dropped her off this afternoon at the studio she and Skyler now own together. Avery’s always wanted to own her own studio and teach little kids to dance. Ethan presented the idea to the club to partner Avery and Skyler together in the business. Skyler having a background in choreographing shows and dancingherself, combined with Avery’s teaching experience, just made sense.
The two women jumped at the chance to work together.