steel table, he’s hanging from two large hooks suspended from the roof by chains.
He’s already bruised and beaten which means my brothers had some fun before Jax and I arrived. Seeing as he’s also been here since Oakley’s attack over a week ago, they’ve had plenty of time to play. And play they have… Randomly scattered over his torso, ice picks protrude from bleeding wounds that make him appear as if he were a human dart board. One pick has missed its intended target—or maybe not—and is embedded into the flesh about an inch or two from his shriveled balls.
Jax and I walk toward the others. Bullet is standing to the side, completely uninterested in Malcolm’s swinging body, giving his phone his attention instead. Priest and Patch’s fists are covered in blood, and their shirts are splattered in the same crimson drops.
“I see you started without us,” I say.
Priest shrugs. “A little here and there throughout the week. Nothing too serious until tonight. Patch is the one that went Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with the ice picks.”
Patch huffs out a laugh. “What?” he says with a shrug. “I made sure to miss anything vital that would cut our time short.”
I approach Malcolm who’s been coherent but silent since Jax and I entered. Jax moves to stand near Priest, allowing Malcolm to glare down at me. Unveiled hatred bleeds from his dark eyes.
I’m about to speak when Malcolm beats me to it.
“How’s the change of view, boss?” he hisses.
I cock my head, confused. Is this guy for real? Apparently, he is because he just keeps going, digging himself a deeper hole.
“What a perfect fucking Angel, always looking down on everyone like we’re beneath you… like you’re better than us. Well, how’s it feel, faggot? To be the one looking up at me?”
His slurs mean nothing to me, but even if they did, I refuse to give him the satisfaction of thinking otherwise. From the corner of my eye, I see Jax straighten beside Priest, and his eyes grow dark.
Keeping my voice low, I move closer to Malcolm and say, “Seeing as I’m not the one hanging from hooks, slowly bleeding out onto the floor, I’d say it feels pretty fucking good right about now. Tell me, Malcolm. Did he shove any of those ice picks up your ass yet?”
He thrashes violently, causing blood to seep from his wounds as he screams. “I’m gonna fucking kill you! All of you! You’re fucking—”
The last word dies on his lips. The first thing that registers is the single red hole that appears in the middle of his forehead. The second is the deafening sound of a gun firing in the hollowed warehouse. It takes several seconds for the ringing in my ears to subside, but when it does, a voice I haven’t heard in months echoes through the space.
“Always fucking hated that guy.”
I spin around to see none other than Demon standing in the doorway, gun in his hand as he looks around the room. “So what, we’re doing sinners again and I don’t get an invite?”
No one speaks, we’re all too busy staring at our brother who’s been missing on and off for months, and who also just cut a moment I’ve been waiting for, too motherfucking short.
“Well that was anticlimactic,” Jax says staring at Malcolm’s body. Is he seriously pouting right now?
“Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Do you have any idea what the fuck is going on here?” All the rage I was waiting to unleash on Malcolm, suddenly has a new target.
Demon shakes his head as he tucks his gun into its holster. “Don’t know… Don’t really care. I’m not sticking around.” He shrugs.
“Demon,” Priest says, but Demon raises a hand to stop him.
“Don’t. Just came by to grab some things and say goodbye.” And with those parting words, Demon walks out into the darkness.
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I’m about to chase after him when Priest stops me. “Let him go, Maddox. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”
He says the words he wants to believe himself, but I can tell that Priest knows as well as me. Something about Demon’s words sounded a little too much like a final goodbye.
CHAPTER 26
OAKLEY
Three months later
“Holy shit!” Angel yells at the TV.
Jax jumps up, ready to kick someone's ass, and my phone goes flying across the room when he jerks me up and throws me behind him.
He was protective before my attack, but now I’m honestly not sure how