~Bladen~
I hear the old door creak behind me, then the distinct noise of a hammer being cocked in the silence of death surrounding me.
“Hands where I can see ’em!” Caleb Andrews roars.
I do as instructed, raising them, but not turning around. “Kind of a coward to have a gun on my back instead of facing me like a man.”
“The boy who runs off with my fuckin’ daughter wants to talk about being a coward?” he mocks.
I rise and turn around, keeping my hands in the air, my clothes covered in blood making them as heavy as my heart.
“I’m a boy no more. I’m here as a man.”
He laughs in my face. “What, as judge, jury, and executioner?” His eyes go to my parents’ bodies.
It’s my turn to laugh. “They call me Judge, but today, I was not their jury or executioner. The trash took care of itself. Now, for you, Caleb Andrews, I’ll gladly be yours.”
He doesn’t move, and neither do I. Instead, we study each other. Caleb Andrews was never a tall man but the hunch to his shoulders tell the story of years of bad posture. The eyes of the monster are still the same only the wrinkles in his face tell a tale of worry and stress.
“Motorcycle gang, Devil’s Due.” He smirks arrogantly. “Read your cut. This will be easy enough to explain. Found the outlaw just after he killed my partner and his wife. Took the shot. I’m the hero. But before all that, tell me, Bladen Jones, what the hell brought you home?”
“I’m not part of a gang; I’m part of a club. I’m not your outlaw; I’m a nomad who walks a line.” Reaching down, I place my hands on the edges of my cut at my waistline. “No one percenter diamond here. So, let’s get a few things straight. I’m Judge to you and anyone else. Bladen left at eighteen with his woman and didn’t look back. I’m here because there is a threat to my woman I should have handled a long time ago. Promised my woman freedom, didn’t deliver then, here to deliver now.” Seeing the man in the flesh, nothing has changed. With the way he’s acting, while arrogant, he’s not a man with the upper-hand. Good fucking deal.
He laughs in my face again, and the fury builds.
“Where is Tamalyn these days?”
I step forward; he steps back. Good, I have some power here.
I shrug. “I’ll die before I tell you a single thing about her.” Not that I have much to tell anyway.
“Well, how about I tell you a little about my daughter?” When he accentuates my, his tone is of dismay. I step forward; he doesn’t move back. “Haven’s Harbor was a smart move, Bladen.”
My blood runs cold.
“Only, before my guy could get to her, she ran. Took off in broad daylight and made enough changes in her route all we could figure was she went west. Lost her in Arizona. Figure you know that and it’s what brought you home. Couldn’t keep tabs on her just like me.”
“I’m nothing like you.”
I make no moves and show no emotion. Mentally, I make note she went west. That is a lead, but how does Caleb Andrews know all this?
“You may not know how to track someone, but the cop in me does. Knew that shit with Ruthless was a ruse. Time wasn’t right to chase tips. Waited.” He tips his lips up in a coy smile. “Patient, Bladen, I’m a real patient man. Waited and found our lead. Tracked that sweet ass to Haven’s Harbor.”
My gut churns, whereas the man laughs.
“Venom, see that shit all over your face, boy. Know it, cuz I have it myself.” He never takes the gun off me, but I can be patient, too. “Well, seein’ as I got the gun and you’re alone, I think we got time for me to tell you a little story.”
“Not interested,” I growl.
“She’s not mine,” Caleb Andrews drops the bomb on me. “Tamalyn’s momma was a whore who cheated.”
“Or maybe she knew love with someone else, but she was afraid of you, so she stayed in hell rather than find her happy.”
“Love, that’s for fairy tales.” His jaw ticks. “Didn’t love the whore; loved her cunt. But, you see, God blessed me for bein’ patient. Tamalyn was a beautiful girl who grew into a woman. I had her first.”
I freeze. Did he say what I think he said. I knew he beat on her, but this. This is a rage I’ve never felt. This is a disgust beyond all levels of disgust. I step forward, to which he shakes his head at me. I pause.
“Sweetest cunt I ever had on my lips. You say Tamalyn’s your woman, but Bladen Jones, I had her first.”
I don’t wait. I don’t care. I see red.
Fucking red.
Lunging, I hook a shoulder to his midsection and rush us both into the back of the entry door. The gun goes off and the ceiling takes the hit, pieces crumbling over us. I land a blow to his ribs, and the firearm drops to the ground.
Pounding into him, I land blow after blow.
He tries to swing into me, but I feel nothing.
Physically numb, yet I let the rage consume me.
Listening, I relish hearing every bone break.
My knuckles burn as my skin busts open. Then I feel the liquid of my blood mix with his. Still, I continue my relentless pursuit.
“Fuckin’ touched her!” I yell, my voice cracking with emotion.
Sweat builds and covers my skin under my clothes as I pound away.
The sick fuck smiles at me, blood covering his teeth. “Sweetest cunt, and so tight. My cock gets hard just remembering it.”
Stepping back, I tower over him as he lies out flat on the floor.
With my boot covered foot, I come down heel first on his crotch. He flinches in pain and grunts.
“Worth it …” he chokes out, spitting blood.
Lost, I stomp down on his face and keep going. Blow after blow, I don’t stop until he makes not a single sound. He’s unmoving, his face squished under my continued onslaught. Brain matter splatters the back of the door, the walls now covered in a mix of my blood and his, but I keep going on his lifeless body.
The stench permeates the air of shit, bodily contents, and blood. I feel the bile rising.
Stepping back, I see the man is unrecognizable.
My mind goes back.
Her hand slides up and down my cock.
Fuck! I’m hard.
Dropping her head to my neck, she bites.
“Make it good, Bladen,” Tamalyn whispers before straddling me on the couch. In her sun dress, I feel the saturation of her panties against my basketball shorts.
She grinds, and my eyes roll back in my head.
“Gonna make me come just like this,” I moan as she crashes her lips to mine.
Hungry. Needy.
“Need to know it can be good,” she whispers as I slide my hand between us, two fingers sliding in.
“Fuck those, Tama—” I groan, cutting myself off as she recklessly rides my fingers.
Rolling my thumb, I find her clit and apply slight pressure as I slide a third finger inside her wet, slick heat.
“Fuck my hand. Take it, baby,” I whisper, willing my cock not to explode inside my shorts.
I imagine what she will feel like covering me, just as she finds her orgasm and clamps down on my digits before soaking my hand with her own juices.
As the aftershocks come, I slide my fingers out, and she rests her head on my shoulder. Her heavy breathing hits my neck, and I realize she’s spent.
“Need to know it’s good, just once, Bladen,” she whispers before climbing off me with a soft kiss.
We didn’t have sex. I always got her off then stopped.
Tamalyn Andrews has given me more blue balls than any man should ever have to endure. Her words never made sense before. They do now.
I fucking failed her at every turn.
Feeling that, I puke, emptying the contents of my stomach over the piece of shit that took it all from her.
One word. If she would have given me his name, everything would have been different. He wouldn’t have taken things so far because I would have had what I needed to kill him back then. She never told me who did it. She never told me anything. I knew he beat her, I saw the marks, but this, I never imagined.
“Sleep easy, Tamalyn. He can touch you no more,” I say before moving to the living room to catch my breath and figure out what the fuck I need to do next.
The bodies are lining up, but I’m no closer to Tamalyn than I was two hours ago. At least she’s free from the past. I will rest easy knowing the devil has received his due.
Looking toward the entryway and kitchen, I whisper, “See y’all in Hell.”
And I will.