“You’re not looking so good over there, Beast.”

I shake my head to try and clear it. I’ve been here just four days…at least I think that’s how long. The fucking asshole who comes in here to torture me daily, still hasn’t told me who he is. He keeps telling me that he’ll tell me when the time is right. The way he’s been working, I figure the time will be right when I’m dead. I’m still hanging from a hook. The skin around my wrists have pretty much disintegrated, leaving a raw, meaty ring that is burning like fuck, either from holding my weight or from infection. I can’t tell which. The bastard is enjoying torturing me. The first day I laughed at him as he turned the overhead water sprinkler on me. Who does that shit? Then he added the electricity that came from a battery and charger he had wheeled in. The current he shocked me with was small at first, though it did hurt like a bitch. The second day he increased it to the point that I thought he was going to kill me then. My body went through seizures for long agonizing minutes, even after the cables were removed. I’ve been hanging here, wondering how much more I could take. Three or four days might not seem like a lot, but those days are without food, water, and while getting enough volts to leave my head fucked up…

I shake myself to try and concentrate on the here and now.

“I knew you were behind this, Blade. You, cocksucker.”

“You shouldn’t have tried to come between me and what’s mine, Beast. You had to know I’d get you…eventually.”

“Hayden’s not yours. She’s never been yours. Not my fault you’re too much of a pussy to accept that,” I growl.

“Big talk from a man who’s hanging like a slab of meat.”

“Get me down from here and face me like a man,” I goad him. Honestly, in the fucking shape I’m in, I’m not sure I could take him, but I sure as hell would like the chance to try.

“He can’t get you down. He’s not in charge,” the other man says coming in through the door on the side.

I close my eyes, doing my best to try and focus. I squint them tightly and reopen them. It doesn’t help much, but I can see the man walking towards Blade.

“I thought you might be half-way smart. What the fuck you doing helping out this sad fuck?” I ask him, hating that my voice is starting to sound weaker.

“A sad fact we do not pick our family.”

“Family?” I ask, surprised. They remind me nothing of each other—except for the fact I want them both dead.

“He’s my brother. Just like Preacher. I don’t like either of them, but a man must defend his family—or else he is not a man,” the guy says and I feel like he’s speaking in riddles.

“Who the fuck is Preacher?” I growl, feeling a wave of nausea threatening to overcome me.

“The man you killed.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific. I’ve killed a lot of men,” I respond, counting backwards in my head to fight down the urge to wretch empty air. That’s all that is left when I vomit now and I won’t do that in front of these fuckers. I won’t give them the satisfaction.

“My brother you burned alive in my club! You, motherfucker!” Blade screams charging at me. He has a knife drawn and he stabs it into me, connecting somewhere below my stomach. I can’t tell where exactly. The pain is intense, but when he hit my body, I began swaying back and forth. The rope I’m dangling on jerks and the rough nylon cuts into my raw skin and that pain hurts much worse than anything else.

I fight the pain down, when it feels like I’m going to lose consciousness. I’m still swaying, but I see the other guy grab Blade by his collar and pull him back.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing, Earnest? This one is mine. He owes me. You do not touch him,” the guy screams at Blade while slapping him hard across the face with the back of his hand. I figure with the amount of rings on his hand that has to fucking hurt.

“His name is Earnest? Fuck, that’s rich,” I grunt, wondering if it wouldn’t be smarter to give into the pain and blackout at this point.

“Shut up!” Blade screams and he never had a solid foot on sanity to begin with, but he definitely seems unhinged now. “Do you see how he mocks me? He killed Preacher and let him burn inside my club! He took Hayden and the baby too! Then he kept them from me! He has to die! I need to kill him! I’m the one who needs revenge, Drummer! Beast destroyed everything I built. He took away everything!” Blade continues and I do my best to let my tired mind pick up the details.

“Jesus that fucking reverend who tried to take Hayden was your brother? You got quite the twisted family tree, Drummer,” I tell him stressing his name, so he knows I at least have that information now.

“I will get revenge for our brother and I’ll reclaim his woman and child and make them mine. This is none of your concern,” Drummer says and his words chill my blood like ice. I thought I was fading, but there’s no way I’m letting this asshole get his hands on Hayden or Connor. Diesel will be working on finding me. I just need to keep him distracted.

“Hayden and the baby are mine,” I growl.

“You’ll be dead soon,” Drummer shrugs, “but then they weren’t yours to begin with—were they?”

“They’ve always been mine,” I argue.

“No. They belonged to my brother, Preacher, first. Do you spend your life taking women from other men? Can you not claim one of your own? Are you so weak that you have to take what another man owns?” Drummer asks, turning to look at me.

“Preacher? Is that what that ass-clown told you? Preacher never touched Hayden. Blade did. He kept her caged up like an animal until she thought he saved her by setting her free. That’s the only way his ass can get a woman. He has to make himself look like a hero because he knows once they see how small his dick is, they’ll run away.”

“Fuck you! Hayden was mine! You and those fucking Torasani had to get involved! But I told you I’d make you pay! I’m going to make you all pay!”

“You lied to me?” Drummer screams as he turns to Blade. His hand goes around Blade’s throat.

“I needed revenge!” Blade screams out, clawing at his brother’s hand. Drummer pushes him all the way to the wall. Blade’s body hits with a large thud.

“You lied to me about everything!” Drummer’s back is to me and I can’t see much of what is going on, but from the choking sounds I’m hearing, I think Blade will be dead soon. “And you conveniently left out the Torasani—didn’t you brother?” Drummer hisses.

Good riddance, Blade.

“No!” Blade screams. “I didn’t lie about your daughter! That was the truth! I swear! You wouldn’t have helped if you had known about the Torasani and—”

His words end with a horrible gurgle. As Drummer steps away from Blade, I see him fall to the ground. His head at a weird angle. I squint to focus my vision and see that Drummer has slit Blade’s throat. He didn’t do it gentle either. The cut is ragged and from the blood on Drummer’s hands, I’d say he finished the job up by his hand.

“We’ll resume our torture session tomorrow. I’ve found I’ve killed enough for today,” Drummer tells me and his tone and voice are almost normal now. It’s like someone flipped a switch off, from anger to calm. Christ.

He turns out the light and leaves. I listen to the door slamming and wait as the sound echoes in the room. I wanted to ask Drummer exactly what Blade meant about his daughter, but I didn’t, it will be something I goad him with whenever he comes back.

For now, I close my eyes, giving myself permission to rest. Just like every day since I’ve been here, when I close my eyes, I’m surrounded by a feeling of warmth and the fragrance of strawberries.

Annabelle is with me.