Thames smirked darkly. “I love when my girl talks back, Reid. I love when she holds her own.”
Reid looked amused. “Interesting. Charlotte was always easy to control when I was with her. She did as she was told.”
Keeping his voice level, Thames replied, “Only so she could get away from the half-brother that violated her.”
Reid smiled sinisterly. “According to her. Who knows what really happened in that bedroom?”
Despite feeling that familiar surge of adrenaline, Thames didn’t react. His face remained clean of emotion as he stared back at this dickhead. Reid wanted a reaction. Kind of like Billy, then, wasn’t he? Thames had always known what a worm his cousin was. He felt kind of validated that Reid was proving to him what a douchebag cunt he was.
“There was this man in prison,” Thames spoke slowly in a faint voice. “He was funny, but he talked a lot. He thought because he was funny and he made people laugh, that he could get away with saying anything he liked because…you never kill the funny guy.
“One day, he made a joke. He said, ‘Thames, do you have a bitch at home? If you do, what does she look like? Do you beat off to her in bed at night? Tell us how good she was, so we could, too, because a guy as big as you must have had something hot back home.’
“I said, ‘Leo, don’t ask me about home, and don’t you dare disrespect my girl by calling her a bitch, either.’ Leo smirked at me, because he was the funny guy and he could say what he wanted because the funny guy never dies. He said, ‘Thames, sounds like your bitch taught you well. Does she know you’re a faggot in prison? That you made men do things to you because they threatened to do them to you first? Is she the scarred type? Only the scarred type will understand.’
“I warned Leo one last time. I said, ‘Leo, keep your fucking mouth shut about my girl.’ He laughed this time because he could see how touchy I was about it. It was the first time I ever let slip I had a love outside the walls, and he loved it. He said, ‘Thames, she probably fed you a story of being scarred, but she liked the dick. I’m telling you, she liked it, and now she’s playing the victim, like all the bitches do these days.’
“I didn’t say anything to Leo. I let him laugh about it. I let him laugh for a good hour. Because it was going to be the last hour he would ever laugh again. I waited in a dark corner that day, had the guards bought off so they weren’t around, and I pounced on him. I wrapped my arm around his throat and I laughed, Reid. I laughed at him and said, ‘You raped a few girls and they’re out there wanting you dead because you tried to discredit them, you tried to tell them they lied, and they’re going to smile when they find out you didn’t make it, and that’s what happens. That’s what happens when you poke the bear, thinking they won’t bite.’
“That was the only kill I never regretted, Reid. You never, ever regret killing a guy like that, a guy that silences a victim, right?”
If this were max, Reid would be joining Leo, because Leos everywhere didn’t learn.
They never learned.
“You out looking for trouble or something?” Reid asked just then, staring hard at Thames. “Is that how you found your way here? Some serendipitous run up to my front door?”
“Nothing serendipitous about this, Reid.”
“You came here on purpose.”
“Yeah.”
Reid stared him in the eyes. “Why?”
Thames smiled darkly. “Why not?”
“I heard the rumours. I know a bunch of rednecks showed up at your door, and just as quickly, they turned the other way. They said you were a scary motherfucker. I wondered what they could have possibly meant, but…” Reid nodded once, letting out a dry laugh. “I suppose they’re right, aren’t they? You’re looking pretty soulless. You don’t get that way after an easy ride in prison.” Reid eyed him strangely. “You were totally unprotected, weren’t you?”
Thames straightened. “No one gets a free ride in there.”
“I guess I thought…” he paused, lost in thought for a moment before shaking his head to