He laughed, and we got down to setting the rules of the game and what the winner would win. I let him divert me from worrying.
Bear:
I stared at the terrified man in front of us. He’d only had some punches, and he looked like he was defeated. I glanced over at Outlaw. He’d been the one to beat him. I’d let him get in his licks first. He was still pissed about Tarin just like I was. But if he was going to end up being her old man one day, I felt like he deserved to get some of his frustration out too. Besides, when I was done with Hamilton, there would be no inflicting more pain and suffering. He’d be dead.
“Damn, Outlaw. You must have been eating your Wheaties. He’s already looking like shit and acting like he’s about dead. You know I can’t let that happen yet. He has a whole lot of pain and suffering to come. I made Ilara a promise.”
Hamilton’s head snapped up when he heard me mention her name. His eyes had this crazed look in them. He really was insane. “What did Ilara say? She wants to see me, doesn’t she? I knew she wouldn’t let you do this.”
“Didn’t you just hear me say you had a lot of pain and suffering to go? She doesn’t want to see you. She hates you. She wants you dead. She made me promise that you’d suffer and beg. I know she begged you when you raped her that night. Not just the first time, but also the second time. You then stalked her and threatened her, making her wonder when you’d strike again.” I punched him in the face. He groaned and spit out a tooth. It landed on the floor next to the other two Outlaw had already knocked out.
“She’s so fucking strong. She found a way to get away from you and she stayed ahead of you for two and a half years! She had a baby all on her own. But I am curious. How did you keep finding out the places she had been? We know you would show up suddenly, months later and then move on. Someone had to be helping you. You’re not smart enough to do that on your own.”
“It was all me. I’m the one who kept finding her. She was trying to make me want her more, acting like she didn’t want me. When she left, I knew she was still doing it. It took me a while to figure out where she went first, but when I did, then it got easier to find her. Then I found out she’d stolen from me! She had no right to do that!” he yelled. As he did, Outlaw punched him as hard as he could in the ribs. We heard them break. I stepped forward and sliced a deep cut down his chest. We’d stripped him to his underwear, before we tied his ass up. He moaned and screamed.
“Every time you lie, you’ll get another punch or cut. You just told two of them. One, that she wanted you and was trying to make you want her more. Two, for saying she stole something from you, she didn’t,” I told him calmly—a lot more calmly than I felt.
“She did, she stole my daughter! She had no right to keep her from me. I’m her father!” he shouted. I nodded at Outlaw. This time he punched him in the ribs on the other side, breaking them like the others. Hamilton screamed. Before he was done screaming, I cut him again across his chest. He now had a huge X on it.
“She had every right to keep Hope away from you, you raping bastard. And you’re not Hope’s father, I am. I’m marrying Ilara and adopting Hope. She’ll grow up calling me daddy. In fact, she called me daddy today.”
“No! No! She’s mine too. She didn’t call you daddy,” he screamed as he was trying to jerk his arms loose from the ties holding him in his chair. His face looked half-demented. Like those crazy people you see in horror shows on television.
“Jesus Christ, he’s a goddamn nut, Bear. No wonder Ilara loves you and wants to marry you,” Payne said casually. I knew he did it to set Hamilton off. I was finding that the mental pain we were causing him was worse than the physical. I knew enough of PSYOPS, psychological operations, to know how you could use it to torture and break someone as easily as you could with physical torture, sometimes easier. Payne was an expert at both.
“She’s not. She’s not. She’s not. I won’t let you marry her.” He was chanting. I shook my head at Outlaw. This was now my game. I picked up the heavy sledgehammer one of my brothers had been so nice to get me. I hefted it up and swung it. I landed it on his left elbow. I shattered it. If he would live, there would be no way to ever repair it. Not that he was going to live. His shrieks of pain rang throughout the concrete room we had him in. The Cellar was what we called this lovely place.
As he panted through his pain. I put down the hammer and leaned on it. “Yeah, you guys know we’re having a baby, right?” His head snapped up. He stared at me through the tears in them. His eyes were red from the blood vessels he’d burst with his screaming. I kept talking like I was having a casual conversation with the guys. “Yeah, she’s due in July. We can’t wait to see if we’ll give Hope and Tarin a brother or sister. Ilara is so happy she’ll have someone with her this time, a real man who she loves.”
“Fuck you! She wouldn’t have your baby. She’s only going to have mine. We’re going to give Hope brothers and sisters,” he yelled.
I ignored him and kept talking. “Yeah, the way we figure it, I knocked her up the first time we had sex. I’ll never forget that night.”
He went apeshit crazy. He rocked his chair so hard that it fell sideways on the concrete. He was thrashing around, making it scoot along the rough concrete toward me. Like he thought if he could reach me, he could do something. It reminded me of those zombie movies, where the partially dismembered zombie wouldn’t give up and kept trying to crawl to get to his prey.
I walked over and kicked him in the crotch. He wailed and puked all over the floor underneath his face. I would have too. I had on steel-toed boots. I looked at Outlaw and Slash. “Would you set this dumbass back up?” They nodded and got his chair upright again.
He had snot and puke on his face. It kind of made me sick. “Hose his ass down and make sure to get the floor too.” This I said to Jake. He hurried to turn on the hose we had for this reason and others. He sprayed down Hamilton and then the puke over to the drain in the floor. I had another reason for the water. It was December and the Cellar didn’t have heat. He had no clothes on and now he was wet. Just a bit more discomfort for him.
When he was clean, I started to talk again. “Now, back to who helped you in tracking Ilara down. It had to be either someone you really trusted or someone you fed a bullshit story to about why you were looking for her.” His eyes widened when I said the second thing. Ah ha, bingo. “So, who did you hire to help you, Hamilton? I bet it was some PI you fed a big old lie to.”
He kept his mouth shut this time. Outlaw cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I did find something right before we found out he took Tarin.” He gave Hamilton a murderous look. “I found a payment for a large purchase in his company’s name, but when I dug into it to find out what it was for, the company was bogus. The guy who was the supposed manager, whose name is on the account too, turns out to be a PI in Philly. I know who he is and where he is.”
“What did you tell him to keep him looking for her or was he a sick bastard like you?” I snapped. He remained mute. I picked up the sledgehammer again.
When he saw me do that, he answered. “He was a PI that was recommended to me. He finds cheating spouses and shit. I told him my girlfriend had left and I needed to find her. She’d gotten mad and I wanted to make it up to her. He’d find where she’d been and call me. I’d go and see if I could find her or anyone she might have told where she’d go next.” I swung the hammer and took out the other elbow. When he was done screaming, he sobbed, “Why did you do that? I didn’t lie and I answered you.”
I shrugged. “You took too long. I have places to be tonight. I need to go pick up Ilara and bring her home, so we can get a good night’s sleep. Well, at least we will after I get done making love to her over and over, that is.” I smirked when I said it. I wasn’t shy about letting my brothers know that I wanted her and that we had sex. Hell, she was pregnant, and they only had to look at her to know I couldn’t keep my hands off the woman.
He glared at me. I twisted the verbal knife deeper. “She admitted I do things to her that no man has ever done. It’s the best sex she’s ever had.”
This got him talking, or I should say screaming. “Motherfucker, you’re dead! I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you! She never said that!” He was drooling because he spit so much screaming at me.
This time, I took the knife, and I drove it into the shoulder I’d shot him in earlier. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out. “Shit, he’s a fucking lunatic. You talking about Ilara is worse than you cutting or hitting him,” Ace said in awe.
“You can break someone easier that way. It’s delicious to see,” Payne said. I knew he liked to inflict pain, hence his road name, but I’d never gotten the full story why. It was his tale to tell, but I was sure glad he was on our side. He could be a sadistic bastard. His eyes were shining as he looked at the unconscious man in the chair.
“Wake him up,” I said to Ajax and Tiger. They hosed him down and slapped him until he opened his eyes.