I stomp out of Torrent’s house ready to kill. I probably was too fucking harsh with her, but damn, even a saint has his limits and I’ve never been a saint. Sometimes when I look at Torrent now she doesn’t even remind me of the girl I met in the store giving me sass. She’s a shell of that person. Then, other times, when it’s just me and her, she’s back. I can’t figure it out and all I know is I’ve had it. She’s got some decisions to make and I’m done jumping through motherfucking hoops.

The thing about anger—especially when you’re lost inside your head with it—is that it makes you stupid. That’s the only excuse I have for not seeing the motherfucker who knocked me along the side of my head with a fucking baseball bat. One minute I’m headed into the tree line where I’ve hidden my bike and the next I’m falling to the ground seeing stars.

I fall hard on the ground. The world is monochromatic—a grayish white all around me. I have a whistling in my ears so loud it’s like a roar. I lay there trying to figure out where I’m at and what’s happening. I feel wetness running down along the side of my head. It takes the longest time for me to realize that it’s probably blood I’m feeling. Slowly the sound dies down and I can hear voices. I look around to try and see faces, but my vision is blurry as hell.

“Stupid ass motherfucker you think you can come onto my land, try to get my girl and live?” I close my eyes as I finally hear the asshole.

Wolf.

Maybe it would have been a good idea to listen to Torrent and use the motherfucking window again. Especially since I was stupid enough not to pay attention to what was going on around me.

“I hope you enjoyed your time with her, because there’s going to be nothing left of you when I’m done,” he sneers.

I want to respond; I try but all that comes out is a grunt. My tongue feels like it weighs a hundred pounds.

“We got him now, Boss! We got him good!” another man laughs, sounding like a sniveling little kid who needs an ass kicking. “Ow! What did you do that for?”

I really wish I could see. I heard the sound of a fist making contact and I can only assume Wolf beat the asshole. From the muffled sound of his “Ow!” I’d say he punched him in the nose.

“Fuck-head. It was your job to make sure Torrent was safe and no one got to her! I left you in charge for a fucking week and I come back to this shit!”

“We’ve watched the place like a hawk, Boss! I swear! I don’t know how he slipped by us,” the other guy answers and shit… If I could, I’d laugh out loud. If this is what Wolf has for security, then I need to survive long enough to get my wits about me and then break free. That sounds easy enough, if I could see.

“Shut up, while you’re still breathing. If I wasn’t worried Torrent would hear the shot I’d finish you along with this asshole right now,” Wolf responds. Then I hear some muffled sounds that could be another punch being thrown, I can’t be sure. “Red!” Wolf yells.

“Yeah, man?”

“Drag this prick into the cellar. We’ll deal with him tonight after I do some recon. Did Gator find out where this son of a bitch has been staying?”

“You mean besides with your woman?” the man he called Red replies.

I blink and I can see the swing of the bat enough to watch “Red” take one to the gut.

“He…has… the…info,” Red moans out, one word at a time and gasps in between each.

“Drag him down there. Tie him up from the ceiling. I want to play with him before I send him back to Diesel in pieces.”

“Got it.”

Just when I think I might be getting less addled, and might try to break free, I feel a blinding pain along the side of my face again. I hear Wolf laughing. I vomit from the pain and claw at the ground, but the blackness is chasing me.

I can do nothing before it overtakes me.