Verek (Savage Kings MC - South Carolina #3) - Lane Hart Page 0,18
good look at him to confirm he was there that night. But Joey gave up Leroy’s name, and he’s obviously a close friend to ole Donnie. He has to be one of the four men. And if he’s not…he’s collateral damage.
In the silent building, I finally hear the door upstairs open and then close, sending my heartbeat into overdrive, sounding so loud in my head, I hope he doesn’t hear it.
“Donnie? You down here?” the man calls out before his footsteps are hurrying down the steps. “What’s going on, man? Are we in trouble?”
That right there is all I need to alleviate any guilt I had about him not being the right guy. Who thinks they’re in trouble unless they’ve done some horrible shit?
I wait until he comes around the corner of the stairs and walks past me before I lunge. Unlike Donnie, Leroy didn’t see me coming, so he doesn’t even put up a fight when I lock my right forearm over his neck and pull back on it with my left hand, compressing his throat.
“What the –” it sounds like he tries to yell, but his body is already starting to relax. The hands that tried to reach up and pry my arm from his neck suddenly drop.
“This is for Tessa,” I hiss in his ear. “Rot in hell, you sick bastard.”
The rest of his body goes slack, and that’s all she wrote as I lower him to the floor. At least I thought so before I check his neck for a pulse. There’s still one there, but it’s faint. Fuck! We need to move fast.
“All clear! Get down here!” I yell as loud as I can upstairs, rather than waste time going to get her since he may only be out for a few more seconds.
Thankfully, Tessa hears me. She jogs down the steps and comes right over to the crumpled body on the floor.
“This one of them?” I ask in a rush.
She reaches up to cover her hand with her mouth and then nods once. “Yes. He was…I think he was the driver, but he still got a few turns later, at the storage facility. After he left…teeth marks on my breasts and made me bleed, he helped them…put me in the…stocks.”
“Shh. It’s okay,” I say, taking her hand as she starts to cry. “That’s over, and I’m sorry I made you think about that again. I just wanted to be sure before…”
She nods again, unable to speak. Letting my hand go, she uses her T-shirt to dry her face. “Go ahead and do what you need to do.”
“He’s, um, he’s not quite dead yet,” I admit. “You may want to turn around for this next part.”
“What?”
“I did choke him out, just not long enough. Give me a minute.”
“Oh,” she mutters in understanding as I look around the room and find a towel. Taking it over to Leroy, I kneel down beside his head and then place the towel over his mouth while pinching his nose with my gloved fingers.
When the man’s arms suddenly shoot up, Tessa screams at the top of her lungs, which is so painful to hear, I would rather be stabbed.
“I’ve got this.” I tell her as I lean my face back as far as I can while keeping my hands on the guy’s face. “You can wait upstairs if you want.” I suggest over the man’s muffled protests. A few seconds later, all the fight goes out of the struggling asshole. I don’t let up on suffocating him, not until a few more minutes pass to be sure this time.
Finally, when I’m certain enough time has passed, I remove my fingers from his nose and place them on the side of his neck. Finding nothing there, I exhale in relief, still panting as I hang my head in exhaustion. We really should’ve got some sleep last night. Now the fatigue is catching up with me. “It’s over. He’s dead.”
“Thank you,” Tessa say with her own sigh.
I have no clue how she’s feeling, if she’s happy or second-guessing our plan. But I for one am glad that these two men I killed for her today won’t ever be able to hurt anyone else. Of course there’s a twinge of guilt for taking their lives, but I’m too relieved at the moment, knowing that they will never be able to touch Tessa again.
“Just give me a second and I’ll take him to the other room,” I tell her.