~Chapter 12
~Shadow
I almost lost my shit when I reached for my Peach, and she reacted the way she did. I’m not talking about the way she slapped my face, which barely registered with me. I’m talking about the way she cried out and dropped to the ground in hysterics. Knowing her past was the cause only drives me on to my next scumbag on the list, number four, Carlos Santana. Not before I talk with Irene and find out how everything has been going lately.
Grabbing up my Peach I only have to wait a few seconds before the door is opening and a surprised Irene moves to the side letting me in. After putting Rebecca down into the spare bedroom to calm down, I move back into the kitchen to speak with Irene.
Having the whiskey ready when I walk through the door, I know that whatever Irene is about to tell me won’t be pretty. Gulping down the whiskey I hand the glass back before it is quickly refilled and swigged down by the woman across from me. This process goes on another time or two before a word is spoken between us.
“Shadow, I know what’s been going on between the two of you, well at least some of what this dynamic is at least.” Motioning to the room where Rebecca is laying she drops her voice low before going on. “She told me all about what happened between the two of you on your trip home.” Stepping toward me, Irene pokes my chest a few times causing my eyes to move from her finger and drift up meeting her own. “That was a dumb fucking move taking her the way you did, Emmanuel. Why would you possibly think that having someone as fragile as she was, at the time, fucking her in a bathroom might be a good idea? That it would give her any confidence to heal herself in the way that she needs?” Drawing her hand away, Irene reaches for her other hand and rubs them together absent mindedly before finishing with, “That she wouldn’t form some kind of weird attachment to you?”
Swallowing down another whiskey, Irene is now pouring another that I reach for. Shaking her head, I hear a soft grunt, seeing a smile on her lips as she downs the whiskey before pouring another and slowly handing it to me.
“She is still not healed and no matter what it happens to be that you keep doing, she should be left out of it.” Swallowing down the whiskey I am rewarded by another refill as I hold the glass out to Irene. “Don’t think that I don’t know that you have been heading out an awful lot since you brought my girl back to me. Or that some of the men on that list of hers have ended up, how should I say this- put to ground as of late. I’m sure that one has nothing to do with the other, right Emmanuel?”
Stunned by the knowledge that Irene imparted on me, I find myself trying to put my thoughts together before I can answer. “Shadow, I know that you are doing what you see fit for her therapeutic healing and the things that have been done to her, but you need to stay away until she is healed, dealing with whatever it is between you.”
Nodding my head in answer, I throw back the whiskey and I can’t help but wonder if Preach is the one to thank for giving Irene the low down on what was going on. I can’t even finish that thought before Irene is answering my unasked question.
“Don’t waste your time on that thought, Shadow. Rebecca has seen those prospects that Blaze and Tank put on her those months ago when she moved out. She might be worried not knowing who they are, but I’m not dumb when it comes to protection or the men that have ordered it. Not only have I had the same at times over the years, but the same can be said for Sara next door.”
Placing the glass down, I turn my back on Irene moving only a step towards the door before turning back. “The prospects will be on her until I have finished that fucking list off. She deserves a better life, not the tainted hand that she has been dealt for the last twelve years. I might have fucked up with every step we have taken together, but that is one thing that I know for sure.” Walking away I hear movements in the bedroom and turn to see Irene make her way into the room towards, my Peach.
Knowing Rebecca is still going through the trauma that these men have caused, leads me quickly to number four and to Cleveland, OH. This one will be quick and I realize that as soon as I see the man for the first time. It seems that number four is not really all that smart and lives his life very much like each day could be his last, which will give me an easy in.
The two days I am watching him have let me know that I will be able to have this job wrapped up in under a month. Number four works at a job that is rather risky so it should be easy to find a way to put him to ground without having too many questions asked. Using Tank, I find the schedule that his construction job will be working for the next few weeks. I head home forming a plan as I go.
Two weeks later I am making my final trip to Cleveland, and find myself thinking about my Peach. Wondering how this man who seems a simple and easy-going guy could have wronged my Peach.
Lying in wait outside his apartment I watch him for one final night before grabbing him. Making my move before he is even out the door on his way to work the next day. I thought about staging a scene at his work sight, but my wandering thoughts at needing to know how this man got Rebecca. Finding out what happened between them gets the best of me. Forcing him to call-in, I buy myself a day to get out the information I want to know out of him.
Prez has already reached out to a club here in Cleveland, so clean up will be easier and dealt with by them. Leaving me to get on the road again as soon as this SOB is dealt with.
Not wanting to waste time, I start the questioning and number four quickly gives me the answers that have lingered with me. He swears that he freed Rebecca from a horrific monster. That he was her savior until he couldn’t keep her anymore and found himself having to give her up. He tells me that he would have never done anything to hurt her or bring her pain, she was his little dove. I find his words almost believable until I notice his eyes wandering towards a stack of tapes and I get the feeling that this shit is about to blow the fuck up.
Grabbing up one of the tapes, I find the one labeled little dove with a date on it and make my way towards the TV.
Putting the tape in, I hit play before thinking and the scene that plays out is something that I couldn’t imagine. This man, which he won’t be for much longer, with what seems to be a bible preaching to a boy, who is no older than ten or twelve, about the sins of the flesh. Not wanting to see what I can only fear is coming I keep my eyes plastered on the TV. After a few moments of preaching, this bastard takes his pants down forcing this young boy who now has tears streaming down his face to suck his cock. Speaking of God and repentance the whole while.
Looking from him to the tape I see the fear in his eyes before turning my head back to the TV. As the scene plays out, I see Rebecca come onto the screen. My Peach is strapped to a chair with a blank look on her face looking on as this fucking bastard violates this young boy, repeatedly. As the camera zooms in on her, I see track marks lining her arms and instantly know that this man is the reason that my Peach is sitting there so blankly. He doped her up to make her a participant in his sick fucking games.
Not needing to see anymore, I turn the TV off before turning back to number four. He starts to speak before I am able to connect my fist to his jaw but is only able to get out a few words. “See I told you I would never hurt my little dove. I only needed her to witness the…” and with that last word this sick fuck has said his last word. My hatred for what he has done to not only my Peach but to that little boy boils over and the rage takes me.
Coming back to myself a little while later, I find number four dead, his neck snapped and dick shoved down his throat. I think that might still be too easy of a way for him to have died. Thinking back, I try to recall if he was still alive when I cut his dick off and can’t recall, but I find myself hoping to fuck that he was. Chuckling at the hope that he could have died choking on his own cock.
Using the burner, I call the club that Prez put me in touch with and let them know that the cleaner is needed and that it might be a little more of a mess than I had previously thought. Within minutes a few members show up at my location and we set about disposing of any trace of me. Their Prez lets me know that this sick fuck has been on their radar for a while, but they have never had any evidence to take him out.
Telling them about the tapes, they seem to think it’ll be no fucking problem to justify what has happened here to the cop they got in their pocket. Grabbing up the ones labeled little dove I head towards the door after thanking these men with words, along with a large sack of cold hard cash that I had fetched off of my bike. Placing the tapes into my saddle bags knowing that I will destroy them as soon as I fucking can, not wanting them to come into the wrong hands before that. My thoughts drift again to my Peach, and all that she has been through.