Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
I just watch him, my silence making his hands twitch at his sides. He’s too obvious. All four of them are. They’re easy to read, and despite hanging in chains from an industrial-sized meat hook, they’re not the threat in the room.
Getting uneasy, Talon glances toward Collaroy and gives a subtle nod, and the moron steps out from Talon’s flank and moves across the cell to where a large, heavy-duty crowbar rests against the bars of the cell.
Well shit. This is going to be inconvenient, but who am I to sit out on a fight? Albeit a one-sided fight, but a fight nonetheless. Besides, until I get more information on where they’ve stashed Aria, I can’t raise suspicion.
Collaroy makes his way to me, dragging the crowbar along the blood-stained floor as though that’s supposed to scare me, and if I were the laughing type, I’d be howling. This motherfucker has watched one too many horror films.
“Let me be very clear,” Talon says as Collaroy settles in front of me. “You’re gonna pay for the six men you took from us. Not all at once. Not quickly. Piece by piece until the debt feels heavy enough to crush you. It might take days. It might take months, but by the time we’re through with you, you will understand why you don’t cross the Bone Reapers. Only then will I take your miserable life.”
“Wow. Not even going to take me to dinner before you offer to fuck me up,” I say. “But I have to admit, I’m concerned. None of you looks like you’ve got what it actually takes to crush me. I mean, shit, Collaroy. Look at those scrawny little arms. Can you even lift that crowbar? Is that why you’re dragging it across the ground like that? You know, they make them in all sizes. You could have gotten one that was a little more . . . your speed.”
Collaroy’s face turns a flaming red, his little pinchy eyes burning with rage as he lifts the crowbar and swings it back. “You’re gonna rot in hell with your brother,” he spits, already teetering on the edge, proving that he’s still just a kid who lacks self-control.
I grin at him. “I’ll say hi to him for ya.”
Collaroy snaps, the rage in his eyes taking hold as he swings the crowbar toward me with everything he’s got, landing a blow against my ribs. I won’t lie, those scrawny little arms must have some muscle packed in there somewhere because fuck, that stung like a bitch, but he’s not going to know that. He’s already huffing and puffing after one swing. I’ll outlast this moron by hours.
“That’s the way, really put your back into it,” I encourage.
He hits me again and again, and I let out a sigh of frustration. “I’m disappointed, Collaroy. You can do better than this. It’s pitiful. You’re embarrassing yourself in front of your little friends. If you’re gonna fuck me up, then do it properly,” I tell him. “Fix your stance. Back up straight. Widen your hands like you’re swinging a bat, and fuck man, bend those goddamn knees. What is this? Amateur hour?”
Collaroy spits at me, and I choke back a laugh as he fixes his stance, widening his grip before letting the crowbar swing free. And fuck me, the moron fumbles, letting the crowbar fly right out of his fucking fingers.
“Seriously?” I say, looking over at Talon as Collaroy rushes to get the bar. “This is what you’ve got out here representing the Bone Reapers? This is your future? Fuck, man. I’d get out while I still could.”
Talon clenches his jaw, and as Collaroy spares him a glance, he looks as though he’s about to lose his shit.
“Come on,” I continue, catching Collaroy’s stare. “Why don’t you hand it over to Nico? He seems to have a little more meat on his bones. Perhaps he could make a little progress. Rest those little scrawny arms of yours.”
Collaroy loses control and lifts the bar up before whipping it toward me, hitting me square in the ribs, and shit. I think he might have even managed to break one. “Now we’re talking,” I grin, egging him on. “Hit me again.”
He swings the bar over and over again, quickly losing control. Sweat beads on his forehead, but no matter how many times he hits me, no matter how many times he rams the end directly into my chest, or when the bar tears deep into my flesh, I don’t break.
There might have been a time this kind of torture would have broken me, but not now. Not after spending seven years in a maximum security prison. In comparison, this is a fucking breeze.
Collaroy quickly gets exhausted, and the moment it starts to show, Nico steps in and effectively takes out another two ribs. It goes on for hours, but nothing is going to break me, not when Aria’s life is on the line.