ASTON
I close my eyes and lean my head back as I take a long drag off my cigarette, letting the harsh smoke fill my lungs and calm my nerves.
Standing here in the blackness of the night, preparing for what the fuck my brothers and I do, never gets easier for me.
Although, I’ve convinced myself we do this shit for all the right reasons, some might believe we’re the spawns of the fucking devil.
A blond-haired, blue-eyed evil son of a bitch to be feared.
That’s what everyone sees when they look at me.
I can’t say I’ve done much to prove them otherwise.
Whispers of the Locke brothers fill the town, facts and reality twisted to fit what these motherfuckers believe they know about us.
That we’re sadistic bastards, incapable of any real emotions or fear.
Maybe they’re not wrong about that.
My eyes open at the sound of Sterling and Ace grabbing their shit out the back of the Expedition before closing the door.
A light on across the street has my attention pulled in the wrong direction until I feel Sterling hit my arm, dragging my attention back.
“Here.” He slams my sawed-off shotgun into my chest with force. “Stop holding your dick over here and take this shit.”
Grinning, I yank it from his hands.
“Who wants to do the honors tonight?” Ace asks while swinging his expensive-ass titanium hammer around with pride. “Maybe Aston can just blow the damn thing down.”
“I’ve got it, motherfuckers.” Reaching into his pocket, Sterling slips on his brass knuckles and stalks up to the door, checking to see if it’s locked.
It must be, because two seconds later, he’s kicking the door open and walking inside as if he owns the place.
Ace flashes me a crooked smile as he pushes away from the black SUV and walks past me, running his hand over his hammer. “Put a pep in your step, baby brother. The place is wide fucking open. I call dibs on the biggest one.”
Lifting a brow, I calmly make my way up the steps with my shotgun over my shoulder as Ace disappears into the house, most likely searching for some big motherfucker to take down.
And so it begins.
The dark, twisted ways of the fucking Locke brothers.
Stepping into the dirty house, I look around to see four guys inside. Four perverted, sick motherfuckers that deserve to lose their dicks and their lives for the shit they pulled last week.
These mind-fucked tweakers can’t be any older than nineteen to twenty years old. A good age for them to believe they’re untouchable and they can get away with taking advantage of a couple drunk girls.
Well, these dirty untouchable dicks are about to find out just how touchable they are in this town.
In our motherfucking town.
Upon noticing there’s now a third person joining the party, they pull their attention away from what Ace is saying and begin shuffling to reach for weapons or whatever shit they keep hidden in this dump.
Sterling immediately swings his right fist out, connecting his fancy-ass brass knuckles to the side of one of the assholes’ face, while Ace takes his hammer and places it across another guy’s neck, pinning him against the wall and lifting him up it.
That leaves the other two assholes coming at me.
One of them must have some brains, because he drops to the ground and surrenders when he notices the gun over my shoulder.
Now the other one. Yeah . . . he’s stupid as shit.
Maybe this will knock some sense into him.
Reaching into my back pocket, I pull the bandana and swing it around, the padlock busting the idiot in the eye socket, blood splattering as his face splits open.
This has the guy on the ground thinking I’m too preoccupied to see his ass get up and come toward me with a knife.
That thought gets squashed the second I pull the shotgun from my shoulder and point it at his dick, stopping him two feet from me.
“Think again, motherfucker,” I growl with a tilt of my head. “On your knees. And place your hands under them . . .” I nod toward Ace. “Unless you want my brother here to show you how good he is with that hammer. He may be pretty and shit, but he’s the most twisted asshole you’ll meet.”
He shakes his head. “No. No. I’m listening. See. Here.” His bloodshot eyes stay on me, watching my gun as he lowers to the ground and drops his knife, placing his hands under his knees. “There. Can you put that away now? No one needs to get shot, bro.”
I turn to Sterling to see him leaning against the couch with a smirk, one of his arms wrapped around his guy’s neck to keep him in place. “These sick fuckers aren’t going anywhere, little brother. Put that away . . . for now.”
“All right. I guess I can do that.” I smile and place the gun over my shoulder before shoving my padlock back into my pocket and kicking the dude in front of me down to the ground. That padlock really did a number on his face. “Doesn’t mean your ass gets to get up.” I bend down and get in his bloodied face. “Those two girls you partied with last week didn’t get the option of getting up when they wanted to. Why the hell should some sick fuck like you?”
With that I kick him over to his back and dig my foot into his throat, causing him to grab at my boot and choke for air.
He struggles for a few minutes before relaxing and giving up. “We won’t do it again,” he manages to get out through coughs. “You’re crushing my throat, man. You’re going to kill my ass. We’re sorry. What else do you want from us?”
I smirk, placing my hand to my ear. “What was that? I can’t fucking hear you.”
“We’re sorry. It won’t happen again. Please . . .” He struggles with pushing at my boot again, his face turning blue now as he fights to breathe. “Please don’t kill me. I’m fucking begging.”
Dropping my shotgun, I remove my boot from his throat and replace it with my hand, dragging him over to the couch, where I slam his head into the arm repeatedly. I don’t stop until the brown fabric is covered in blood and his body goes limp. “Do it again and I’ll shoot you in the dick and then between the eyes. Got it?”
He nods his head, right before I throw him face-first down into the carpet, watching as he crawls away.
Feeling the anger completely take over me, I light up a cigarette, grab my gun, and walk outside, allowing my brothers to handle the other three assholes.
Standing here in the dark, with my hands covered in his blood, I lean against the SUV and close my eyes, attempting to calm myself down. It’s not until I hear feet pounding against the sidewalk that I open my eyes and look across the street to see a woman with long black hair jogging up to the house straight across from this one.
Stopping in front of the door, she turns to face the street, her gaze landing on me.
I stand back and watch, my heart pounding like fucking mad, as she looks me over, stopping on my hands once she notices the blood.
Most people in this town would run by now. They’d hide inside their houses, peeking out the damn windows to get a glimpse of us, but not this one.
Hell no. She’s standing there, taking heavy breaths as her eyes move up to meet mine.
She doesn’t say anything.
She doesn’t scream.
She doesn’t move.
She just stands there, looking curious, as if she’s using this moment to take me all in. Every damn bit of me.
I can see in her expression she knows who we are.
“Come on, Aston,” Sterling calls, getting my attention away from the beautiful stranger watching me. “Get the fuck in the vehicle.”
By the time I look across the street again, the woman is gone and the light that was on in the house is now off.
That must’ve been her bedroom light.
“Did you get the money?” I ask while backing up and reaching for the door.
“Yeah,” Ace says with a crazy-ass grin. “Those fuckers were quick to throw us all their dirty money the moment I nearly crushed one of their dicks with my baby.” He holds up his hammer. “These little bitches won’t even be thinking about their dicks for a long time.”
“Good.” I toss my cigarette at the ground and jump into the SUV, my eyes seeking out the house across the street one last time.
I can’t quite tell, but it looks like I see the bedroom curtain move. Apparently she hasn’t gotten enough of me yet. She’s braver than most people in this town, and that shit definitely has my attention.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here then.”