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When I was finished, Alex slipped on her paja a shirt and a pair of jeans I would be willing to throay as Alex dried her hair I ca on the bed with her knees drawn to her chest Without a word, I went over to the bedroom door and opened it "Breakneck?" I called
His footsteps echoed down the hallway fro room When he caive you so to help you sleep Your body and your mind need uninterrupted rest, and often after a trauma, our minds can’t seem to shut down to let the body rest"
"You’ll stay with me, won’t you?" Alex asked me
"Of course," I lied The truth was, the moment she was asleep I had business to take care of--business that wouldn’t wait
She nodded at Breakneck After digging a syringe out of his bag he stepped over to her Alex winced as the needle entered her arm Once it was over, she eased back to lie down in the bed Her eyes sought out ave Breakneck a grateful pat on the back, I went over to the bed As soon as I stretched out, Alex burrowed herself againsther head on ive her the shelter and safety she so desperately needed "Talk toI just want to hear your voice"
As I rackedto talk about, I finally settled on a story "The first day I came to live with Preacher Man and Ma parents again, it was an entirely different story having t brothers …"
When Alex’s labored breaths signaled she had finally fallen asleep, I slowly began to extricate myself froiven her had sufficiently knocked her out She didn’t even stir as I slid off the ood to finally see her peaceful Of course, her face,with the rest of her exposed skin, didn’t appear peaceful It was the badge of soh terrible traued I opened the door to find Rev and Bishop both standing outside Just a jerk of my head answered their unasked question Iand tender in the last two hours, but noas ready to go to work In silence, alked down the hallway In the living roo expectantly at us "Can you guys go sit with Alex? I have sos I need to take care of"
They didn’t bother questioning what kind of business would take me from the bedside of the wounded woh time with Raiders men to knohat I was about to do Ma in her eyes While she couldn’t condone ed down the hall with Kiht Silence hung heavy around us We were all weighted doith the task ahead of us Even if Rev and Bishop didn’t lay a hand on Alex’s attacker, they would share in his de it, and in turn, they would have blood on their hands
When we got to the clubhouse, ht of what had to be rim, yet determined, expression, they moved out of my way As I pounded down the basean to pu out the sound of htened by the basement at Maht of the one at the roadhouse Stark white walls that often had to be repainted to cover the blood stains were illu on a chain and cast eerie-looking shadows into the four corners of the roo out of a medieval torture chamber Next to it sat a table filled with tools of torture
I jerkedmy attention back to the task at hand In theup to one of the hooks hanging fro His arms, which were covered in multicolored ink, stretched taut over his head, and I knew the position had to hurt like hell after a while But he deserved it He deserved every fucking thing I was about to give him
He was conscious now He eyeballedsneer plastered on my face "What’s this fucker’s name?" I questioned
"Name on his cut says ‘Crank,’ but his ID says Keith McGuiness," Mac replied froht in the eye, I said, "Crank, you fucked with the wrongmy ear, I said, "Sorry Can’t hear you"
This time when he screamed it, I could pretty much make out the "fuck you!" but I still reached forward to one side and yanked off the gag The force was so hard that two of his teeth popped out and clattered onto the floor "Sorry about that But you won’t be needing those when I’h with you"
Crank’s reply was to spit a stream of blood, which spattered onto el sent you to rough up ht?"
Crank didn’t respond Holding out my hand, I waited for one of the brothers to hand onna answer ht the pliers up to his hands In rapid-fire succession, I cracked and broke the knuckles on one of his hands Trying not to give me the satisfaction of his pain, he sucked in breath and panted it out, refusing to scream Once I did the other hand, he did cry out as his hands, searing with pain, jerked and convulsed against his bindings
"I’ll ask you again Didn’t Sigel sic you on Alex so he could draw ain, he only staredin his eyes Over the years, I’d coh nuts to crack Well, unless you actually cracked their nuts, and then they’d start singing like canaries So I went back to work, but this ti the pliers to pluck off each of his fingernails, I handed the bloodied tool back to Bishop He then handed olfer, I leaned back before putting all ht kneecap A nored it Instead, I launched the crowbar into the left kneecap, shattering it on impact