Time.
It’s a fickle thing isn’t it?
People either want it to go fast or people want to slow it down.
I want to pause it.
I know what’s to come.
I know I have to do it.
But at this moment, with her, I want it to pause and never move.
Her head turns to face me, she places her phone on the bench, smiles softly, her beautiful pink lips are plump. I want them.
“I’m leaving today…” Un-pause, and her smiles drops. “I have to go back.”
“You don’t.” Her head shakes, she’s telling me no. She doesn’t want me to leave. I have to. Things have to be done, and only I can do them.
Payback.
“Why?”
“They stole my life. I’m going to steal theirs.”
“Don’t go, Liam. Please don’t go, I will beg you.”
“You can’t change my mind, I have to.”
“I’m leaving, if you decide to not go on your witch hunt, you know where to find me.” I watch as she collects her things, and she rushes to the door.
“Rose.” She turns back to look at me.
“Don’t trust, Robbie.”
She shakes her head at me. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Liam Black. Remember that.” Then she slams the door as she leaves. Leaving me in a house that holds so many memories.
The closet in my room is full of black clothing and white undershirts. They fit perfectly like no time has passed.
She thinks I could be good, or am good. I am not, and she’s about to find out just how bad I really am.
The compound is quiet, I notice their bikes. I know they’re here. Do they know I am here? I’m guessing so. They would have seen the guns in my hands, and they’d be arming themselves right now. And I know exactly where.
I make my way to the cellar door, it’s the armory. It’s hidden, so when the police raid this place it’s impossible for them to find. So far it’s worked, except I know exactly where it is, and tonight, they’ll wish they never betrayed me.
Stark is the first person I see, his head comes out of the hole from the ground. He sees me straight away, I’m standing directly in front of it. His hands fumble on the ladder as he’s trying to reach for his gun.
“You made a bad choice,” he sneers at me. I watch as he pulls the gun up, the shot fires straight past me, another doing exactly the same. Aiming isn’t his specialty. It’s mine, however. So when he sees me bring mine up, he lets go of the ladder, a second too late as I take my shot. I hear the sound of the men below. I hear them scatter to the ladder. All trying to reach it at the same time, most of the members are down there. I look over, down the hole. I notice Braks, the man I tortured. His eyes go wide, they didn’t think I would find them.
“Black,” he yells out as I step away, ready to deliver them to hell. “He’ll kill her, and your kids.” I don’t think then, blackness takes over my vision. It goes completely silent.
I don’t hear their screams, I don’t hear their cries. I don’t think as I drop the match into the pit, into the pit that I just poured gasoline down, and the lid that I close to make them all burn. I don’t think as I walk to where I need to be, where I need to go.
I come back slightly, Grover stands in front of me. A gun in his hand pointed at my head. I’m sitting on what used to be known as my bed. My hands stink, I can smell the gasoline that’s soaked into them.
“Black,” he says stepping in closer. His steps are cautious.
“Tell me, Grover?”
“You want to know why?” I nod my head. The haze lifting more.
“Gray, he didn’t use you to your full potential. I saw it, I wanted it. I saw the perfect opportunity, I am a businessman, after all, Black.” His gun is now lowered. “He wasted your talent. You could’ve been the biggest asset he’s ever had, but he wasted you. Played with you, it was his thing. Everyone seemed to know but you and Jake. He killed your mother, just to get to you. He wanted someone that could rely on him, and him alone. He knew that your stepfather beat you. Fuck! He even paid him to. So that’s when he killed him for you so you would rely solely on him. A debt to him.” He shakes his head, and it makes me angry.
“You knew all of this?” My fists scrunch at my sides, waiting and wanting to inflict pain.
He nods his head. “I also knew that you were just as smart, perhaps even smarter. Every card you left after a killing was linked back to him, your punishment to him. You made that police officer know his father was a good for nothing asshole.”
“Officer?”
“Yes, the one that’s probably sitting on your girl’s couch now, drinking her coffee. The same one that tried to win her heart.” He chuckles and it’s an evil sound. “He was the one that when she dismissed him, for you, told him exactly where she was. Hence, the reason for your memory loss.”
“Who did he tell?”
“He told, Ru.” That’s a part I didn’t know. I knew about Robbie, I found out his link. No one knows, Jake doesn’t know that he has a brother.
They don’t know that I remember everything. EVERYTHING!
I have since the day I woke up after killing Savannah. I’ve remembered everything. I also remember who Grover is. I know his affiliation with Gray. They were rival clubs, on stable terms thanks to Gray supplying the guns. He wanted what he had, so he took it. He outsmarted them, without them even knowing they were being outsmarted.
“You remember, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“We protected you, Black.”
“You used me, Grover.”
He nods his head. “You were my best asset, did you know that?”
“I am no one’s asset, Grover.” I stand, and he takes a step back and Boozer steps in, pushing Grover out of the way, protecting his Pres.
“It didn’t have to come to this,” Grover says as he walks completely out.
“It did, tell Savannah I said hi when you visit her, Grover.” Boozer blocks my shot, my bullet landing in his leg. Grover is gone, Boozer has another gun in his shorts, one I didn’t see. He dropped the one he was holding when I shot him, his shot rings in my ears and takes over my senses. I touch my ear, it’s bleeding. He smiles through clenched teeth. He shoots again, this time I see it, and move away from it. I make it to him before he can fire another, knocking the gun from his hand where he lays on the floor. He goes to speak, his first word getting cut off as I fire a bullet straight into his throat. His hands reach for his neck as he starts choking. His eyes glaze, then he drops.
The dead are so peaceful.
No worries.
Just death.
Black.