Gage
I couldn’t believe she actually left. I watched in shock as she opened the door when I let go of it. She stepped through and started down the hallway. I turned away, unwilling to watch her leave. After a few minutes, I realized she wasn’t going to come back in the room. She wasn’t going to fight more with me this time.
I stepped over to a window facing the front of HQ and pulled the curtains back to look down on the street. I watched her walk up to the corner and catch a cab. She was gone. Whatever attraction or desire had brought us together again and again hadn’t been strong enough to keep us together. I let the curtains fall back into place. I hung my head.
Then, slowly, while I thought about what had happened, how it had happened, and why, it dawned on me. It was Dimitri’s fault for filling her head with a bunch of nonsense and for trying to convince her that I was a danger to her. If she had just done what I asked her to do, she would have been alright. She would not have found herself in harm’s way the way Lisa, my ex, had.
I hadn’t thought about Lisa in ages. It wasn’t that I wanted to forget what had gone down. I just needed to move past it. I had vowed to her that I would never let anything like that happen to anyone else. My carelessness had caused what happened that day. Instead of mulling it over again, however, I was going to make Dimitri pay for bringing those memories back up.
Dimitri smiled humorlessly when I walked into the room in the basement.
“You knew I was coming down here after you brought Lisa up,” I told him.
I would have imagined that anyone else in Dimitri’s position would have shown more tact, but no, not Dimitri. The thing about big guys like Dimitri was that they could take a lot of punishment and keep on going like nothing had even happened. That was what made them valuable assets to people like Ivan. That fact was not lost on Dimitri. He knew how much punishment he could take, and he truly believed I wasn’t going to test that limit.
He kept his smug smile as I talked and approached the table. He may not have understood the words that were coming out of my mouth, but he knew exactly why I was down there. He knew what he had told Julia, and he knew I had come to hand out his punishment.
“Now you’re fucked. There’s no one else here who understands Russian, but I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement anyway.” I shoved the table aside so that I stood directly in front of his chair.
If I had allowed Dimitri to stand up in front of me, he would have towered over me. He would have stood wider than I did as well. He was a mountain of a man, a real Russian bear. He wasn’t standing, however, which gave me a rather unfair advantage over him. I didn’t mind.
“You see, Dimitri, I know a language that we both speak. Pain.” I leaned forward as I spoke, bringing my face down to his level.
He spat in my face and laughed.
“Oh, that’s it, you motherfucker.” I punched him right in the mouth.
He just smiled and spit out the blood. I almost didn’t hear it spatter on the floor over the sound of another punch landing square in his gut. He lurched forward in the chair, pulling on the rope tied across his chest.
I unleashed my rage on his punching bag body and face, burying my fists into him. He took everything I dished out and kept the bloody smile on his face. When I stopped and stepped back to catch my breath, he laughed at me and said something in Russian.
“Shut the fuck up,” I shouted, sending another fist into his face. I punched the smiles and laughter right out of him then. His head slumped forward, and blood dripped from his face. His chest heaved with his heavy, beaten breath.
I couldn’t stop myself. I took off my thick leather belt and wrapped the ends around my hands.
“You want to talk shit when Dr. Danvers is in here, huh? Let’s hear you talk shit now.” I stepped around behind him and pulled his head back with my belt around his throat.
He gasped and looked up at me with his bruised and bloody face.
“Talk shit, Dimitri. I can’t hear you.”
I pulled harder. I pressed the belt more against his chin than his neck. I didn’t want to choke him out. I just wanted to hurt him. He wheezed, and I saw his hands frantically gripping and releasing the arms of his chair.
“You’re being awfully quiet. Did you run out of shit to say, you dumb bastard?”
“Gage!”
I let go of the Russian’s neck and looked over at the voice calling me from the door. It was Juarez. He entered the room when I acknowledged him. Chase followed, of course. Those two were like the tag team champions from hell.
I took a step back from Dimitri and eyed my boys as they walked across the room in front of me.
“Why are you down here doing the dirty work?” Chase asked, and started laughing.
“Seriously, Gage, we can take care of this for you,” Juarez added.
Dimitri looked up at me with panic in his eyes.
“Oh, you don’t like it when I let the boys play, huh?” I mocked him.
“I don’t think he does,” Chase answered.
“That’s good to know.” I stepped around in front of Dimitri, placing myself between Chase and Juarez.
His eyes followed me. He seemed to be pleading with me not to let them have him.
“Danvers,” he said. He started repeating her name.
“I’m sorry, Dimitri, but you fucked that one up. You ran her off with your little stories. You really have no place talking about shit you didn’t even witness. So now, you’re left with just us, but don’t worry. My guys will take good care of you.” I spoke slowly, though I was certain it didn’t help him understand a thing I said. That condescending tone just felt so good.
I stepped back behind my boys so I could watch them work their magic on him.
“Have at him, guys,” I told them.
“Ladies first,” Juarez said, holding a hand out to allow Chase the first punch.
“Oh, real funny, but you’ve always liked my leftovers, so here you go.” He threw a punch into Dimitri’s gut.
It was like watching two kids on the playground. They talked trash to each other while they worked him over with their fists.
“Don’t kill him,” I told them. It wasn’t time to let him go just yet. I wanted him to hurt for taking Julia from me. I wanted him to pay for sticking his nose into my business and stirring up old dust from the past.
“That’s no fun anyway,” Juarez said as he shoved a fist into Dimitri’s shoulder. His voice sounded strained, as if he had lifted something heavy and held it while he talked. Dimitri winced in pain, and I was sure Juarez had just broken something.
“Right. It’s more fun to keep him alive. More torture.” Chase landed one right across Dimitri’s jaw, sending spit and blood all over his partner.
“You son of a bitch. Look at what the hell you just did,” Juarez cursed Dimitri for spitting on him. He grabbed the Russian by the back of the head and forced him to look at the blood on his t-shirt before ramming a fist into his face.
“Guys, take a break,” I urged them.
“Huh?” They both looked at me. They stood like boxers with their hands up in front of their faces as if they were waiting on the next move from their opponent, but he wasn’t going to be throwing any punches any time soon.
“Back up a second. I want to watch him,” I said.
They backed away like they were told, and Dimitri’s head fell forward again. His breathing sounded wet and phlegmy, but that was probably from the blood covering his face. It dripped on his jeans and his shirt, but at least he was still breathing.
“Let’s let him catch his breath.” I held my hands up to hold the guys back.
“Come on, Gage, don’t go soft,” Chase insisted.
“He’s still got a few more rounds left in him,” Juarez added.
“No, I think he’s had enough for now,” I argued.
The boys put their fists down.
“You know what would be fun?” Chase asked as he turned away from the Russian.
“Oh, man, I’m thinking the same thing you are. Gage, let’s untie him so he can fight back. We’ve got a pretty good head start on the guy, so I doubt he’d be able to catch up,” Juarez blabbed excitedly.
“You can even join us.” Chase clapped a hand onto my shoulder.
I looked at the worn down Russian in front of us. Those boys hadn’t seen him in action. They thought they were hurting him, but I would have put money on there being a smile on his face while he looked down and away from us. Guys like Dimitri fed on violence and pain.
“You two must be stupid,” I said flatly.
They snapped their faces toward me in disbelief.
“If we let him go, that motherfucker will stand up and show you what strength really is,” I continued.
“No way,” Chase dismissed me.
“Look at him! He’s down,” Juarez insisted.
“No, he’s just waiting. He wants you to let him go so you can keep beating him. As soon as you do, though, he’ll whoop both your asses. You don’t know him the way I do. You’ve never seen him in action,” I explained.
“Well, you’re the boss,” Chase eventually said.
Dimitri looked up when he realized we were done. Sure enough, he wore a perverse smile across his face. He was enjoying the punishment the guys were dishing out. That bloody smile and those evil eyes staring up at me just pissed me off that much more.
“Fuck it. Finish him,” I said. I turned around as the guys went back to him with smiles on their faces. I could hear him protesting as their fists began meeting their target again. The fleshy smacks of fists in his gut and across his face gave way to the deep, hard thuds of their fists connecting with bone.
Dimitri cried out in Russian as they punished the bear’s body. They weren’t talking this time. They were focused on turning the solid Russian muscleman into putty. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the honest pain in his face. I couldn’t help it when my lips curled up into a smile. It felt good to see him get what he deserved.
“Danvers,” he called out again. He repeated her name in his pathetically weakened voice. I turned to watch him.
“Shut up,” Chase said, punching him in his mouth.
“Danvers,” he insisted with his eyes trained on me. There was no fight in his eyes, no false panic, and certainly no more cocky defiance.
“Guys, whoa. Hold on.” I stepped up and put hands on their arms, holding them back.
“Danvers.” Dimitri closed his eyes and slumped over in the chair.
“Is he…?” Juarez asked.
“No, but you’ve done a number on him,” I told them. I watched him breathe while we talked just to make sure he wasn’t going to try to check out on us.
“He wants your girl,” Chase told me.
“I see that, but there’s just one problem,” I told him.
“What’s that?”
“He ran her off, talking shit.”
“Oh, man, I think we need to find her and get her back down here,” Juarez said.
“Yeah, it sounds like he wants to talk to her,” Chase added.
“Danvers.” Dimitri’s voice was weak.
I put a hand on the Russian’s shoulder, and he opened his eyes to look at me. I nodded, letting him know we were going to get her for him. I just didn’t know where the hell she was.
“Alright guys, we need to find Julia and get her back here to let Dimitri talk,” I told them.