say?”
I repeat myself. “Mfmmmgg.”
Barnes’s brows perk up. “Well shit, is reason finally getting through that fuckin’ head of yours?”
I shrug, and nod at Jay again. Barnes frowns and beckons him over. “Him? You’ll talk to him?”
I nod, and he grins. “That’s what I’m fuckin’ talking about! Morrison! Get the fuck over here.”
Jay shrugs and flicks his cigarette away. He strolls over until he’s standing right over me, and he nods at Barnes. His boss grunts and pulls the gun out of my mouth, and I gasp. I clear my throat and spit on the ground as Jay leans down over me. With those beady little eyes and that stubby little nose, the cunt always looks like a right pig to me.
“Well, what is it, douchebag?” he grunts. “You gonna tell us what we want to hear?”
I nod, looking at the ground, and he chuckles a wheezing laugh. “Speak, dipshit.”
I mumble something, and he scowls.
“The fuck was that? Speak English, fuck head!”
“He speaks English, dude.”
Jay whips his head around and glares at the other blokes from their crew. “I know he speaks English, retard! I meant American English!”
Barnes ain’t exactly recruiting PhD students into his crew out here.
The guy shrugs, and Jay turns back to glare at me. “Well?”
I mumble again, drooling slightly as I look at the ground. Jay scowls.
“You break his jaw, boss?”
Barnes frowns. “Nope.”
Jay leans down closer, right over me. I smile.
“Alright you dumb English cunt. You gonna tell us what we want to hear, or are we gonna—”
I jerk my head up hard, catching Jay right in the nose. He screams, spraying blood all over the place. But while the shit hits the fan and while he grabs his nose, I slam my forehead forwards, head-butting him right in the fucking bollocks. The little bitch goes down hard, screaming and clutching his balls while I just start laughing my ass off like a fucking maniac.
Barnes roars, grabbing me by the throat. And suddenly, metal fills my mouth again. I choke on the gun, suddenly unable to breath as I look up into the enraged face of the man who I stole from.
The man I took from.
The man who I’d do it to all over again, a million times out of a million times. Because what I took wasn’t his to keep. What I took was mine to hold, and to possess.
What I took was her, and I’d take her again, even if I knew every outcome would lead right here, to me on my knees with my death sentence filling my mouth with the taste of copper and gunpowder.
“Last. Fucking. Chance.” Barnes hisses through clenched teeth, glaring at me. “We both know the only reason I haven’t skinned you alive is because of what’s in this dumb fucking head of yours. You can spill it now, or I’m gonna spill your fuckin’ brains on this floor. And then?” he grins wickedly. “Then I’m gonna make her clean it the fuck up.”
As if on cue, there’s a screamed swear. My blood chills, and every muscle in my body clenches. I whip my head around, and I roar as I lunge to my feet. But Barnes and three of his goons shove me back down, and a blade goes to my throat.
There are two of them hauling her out of the van. Our eyes lock, my smoky blues on her pretty green ones, and I don’t blink.
“Her,” Barnes growls. “Look at her, that stupid fucking slut. Because that look of horror and disgust in her eyes when I carve your fucking face up first is gonna be the last thing you see.” The knife leaves my throat, and his gun levels against my forehead, right between the eyes.
“No more games, fuck head,” he growls lowly. The gun pushes to my head, and time goes still. I look at her, she looks right back at me, and I see forever and eternity in her eyes. I can feel the ways she moves under my hands, taste her sweet lips on mine, and hear her whispered words and lover’s prayers in my ears.
I see everything that’s happened, and everything that might have been. I see every choice made—every wrong turn, every right one, and every corner I never even looked around.
But it doesn’t matter. Every road and every choice lead back to her anyways.
“I’m counting to three,” Barnes says quietly.
I don’t blink
“One.”
Her face tightens, but she doesn’t scream. She doesn’t give them what they want.
“Two.”
My heart slows. My eyes don’t blink.
“Three,”