It both satisfies and makes me sick.
Don’t go there.
Don’t put that in your head.
I step to the table and study everything Spence supplied us for tonight.
He was thorough. He got long nose pliers, a claw hammer, a sledge hammer, a socket set, cable ties, and about six hundred different kinds of screwdrivers. Scissors – the kind you find in regular kitchens – sit on the end beside a fire extinguisher, and the blowtorch sits on the floor.
A truck battery sits beside that, and a set of jumper cables make me look toward Kane and Spence, who stand by, watching me.
“You got all this together in twenty minutes?”
“What can I say?” Spence grins. “I’m a car enthusiast. I like to make sure I got everything to keep it running smoothly.”
“Oh my God,” Graham cries as blood pools on the floor beneath him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen exploded balls before. “You’re gonna kill me. Oh my God.” He spits blood onto the floor. “Please let me go.”
I pick the claw hammer up and toss it from hand to hand. “Why her?” I stalk closer and wait for his eyes to meet mine. “Why’d you pick her?”
“Who?”
I slam the hammer against his ribs and bask in his screams when they collapse. “Okay! I’m sorry. Laine. You’re talking about Laine.”
“Why?” I twist the hammer until the claw rests against his neck. “Why her? Iwatchedyou zero in on her in that club. You think I don’t watch those girls when they dance? You think I didn’t notice you before you even approached them? I saw her tell you no. She was dancing with her sisters. She was drinking and dancing, and when you stopped in their group, she smiled and shook her head. Why’d you push it?”
“Because she’s beautiful!”
“I know she’s beautiful. I know what she is. But there are always beautiful women in that club. She said no, so why didn’t you walk away and ask someone else to dance?”
“I don’t–”
I scrape the claw along his neck. “Answer me!”
“Because there were two of them!” He chokes. “Because I wanted them both. Like a collection.”
“Riggs. Move.”
I turn and come eye to eye with a furious Kane and his extended arm. I jump out of the way just as a bullet sears through Graham’s thigh, chipping wood off the frame that holds him.
Graham’s screams almost drown out the sound of his restraints clanging against the structure.
“They’re not a collection, motherfucker!” Kane steps forward and presses the barrel of his gun to Graham’s temple. “They’re not a fucking possession, and neither of them are for you.”
“Hey, now.” Spence steps forward and pulls Kane back. “I got a shot, you got a shot, but Riggs still didn’t get his in. Back up.”
“Say it after me.” Kane doesn’t back down. “Say‘my name is Graham, and I’m a raping prick.’”
“No, I–”
“Say it!”
“My name is Graham.” Blood dribbles over his chin. “I’m a raping prick.”
“‘And I will never touch a woman again.’”
“I won’t touch her again.”
“No.” He brings the barrel of his gun around to Graham’s forehead. “Not just Laine. Say ‘I won’t touchanywoman ever again.’”