Page 12 of Murder & Mayhem (Bloody Desires #9)

DOMINIC

I always enjoyed using this particular cocktail to wake up my targets.

It was like a bolt of electricity to their bodies, and the shock, especially when they’d been knocked out from pain or drugs, always caused them to spasm and scream.

Gid was usually the one who preferred screaming, but this was the one time I liked it.

This guy was no exception. If I thought anyone gave a fuck in this neighborhood, I might’ve been worried because the fucker was loud. But if anyone did hear, they’d mind their own business, like they apparently had while this house was used for unspeakable things I could only imagine.

I wasn’t blind. I could see how Jamie was reacting, how he seemed to keep focusing on certain things like the hole in the wall, that fucking closet, and the cage.

This guy was lucky Jamie had said he’d never seen him before, otherwise I’d probably have torn him limb from limb, information be damned .

Still, I was sure he was far from innocent, and I would get enjoyment out of whatever I could get from him.

The guy finally stopped spasming and bolted to a sitting position, his dull brown eyes wide and his body twitching as he tried to figure out what the fuck was happening.

“Hello,” I said calmly, despite the fury thrumming under my skin.

“H-h-hello.” His voice was dry and raspy. “Do you got any water or anything?”

I blinked at him but didn’t answer.

After a minute, he cleared his throat again and looked around, clearly confused as fuck.

His pupils dilated some when he really noticed me, and I thought he then realized this wasn’t one of his buddies waking him up after a bender.

He leaned away from me, but I didn’t think he even realized he was doing it.

Just prey instinctively trying to get away from its predator.

His eyes landed on Jamie, but there was no recognition there. Then again, he might’ve been well beyond that by this point. “What’s going on? Who are you?”

I squatted so I was eye level with him and pointed my gun in his face. I wouldn’t use it, but I didn’t have the time or patience to be anything but blunt with this guy. The moment for subtlety was long gone.

The guy tried to scramble back, only to hit the wall. “What the fuck? I-I don’t have anything, I swear! Sloan took it all!”

That was interesting. I looked at Jamie, but he seemed out of it again. I needed to get him outta here and somewhere safe, and quickly.

“Keep him talking, Nicky. I’ll see what I can find.”

I didn’t answer Ari because duh. I wasn’t a newb. I pressed the gun in between the guy’s legs, making a mental note to clean it after it touched that filthy underwear. It might not be my favorite weapon, but it deserved more respect than that.

“What don’t you have?” My voice was level, calm. Conversational even. That didn’t seem to ease this guy’s fears though.

He whimpered but didn’t answer, eyes glued to the pistol that was ready to blow his junk to smithereens. He better not fucking piss, otherwise I was pulling the damn trigger.

I cocked the hammer, and he jumped. “Answer my question. What the fuck did Sloan take?”

“Everything! He took my money and said he’d be back, but he never came back! And the whole stash is gone—even the safe was emptied! All that was left was what was in that needle. I swear. I got nothin’ to give you. You gotta take it up with Sloan.”

Anger coursed through me as my fingers wrapped around this asshole’s throat. I squeezed, slamming him into the wall behind him and then painfully mashing the pistol into his junk until the guy was screaming, or at least trying to scream as I choked him.

“I’ll ask you one more time. What stash? What was Sloan supposed to be bringing back?”

I let go of him. Behind me, Jamie gasped, but I ignored him for now. If I lost focus, I wouldn’t be able to do what had to be done.

The guy was shaking, and maybe I would’ve felt bad under normal circumstances. But honestly, all I felt was disgust. And a little nausea because he fucking stunk. He was worse than our foster father, Mitchell, and I hadn’t thought that was possible.

“Jesus fuck! What the hell is wrong with you?” The guy looked at Jamie like the boy would help him.

I finally forced myself to turn toward him.

Thankfully, Jamie seemed okay. His pupils were a little dilated, and he was back to clutching the hilt of the knife so tightly, I was worried it would slip and he’d cut himself.

At least he didn’t seem to be stuck with the ghosts that had been haunting him earlier.

“Don’t look at me, dude. I’m not the one about to blow your junk off,” Jamie said with a shrug and more audacity than I thought he had.

“H-he won’t do that. That’s fucking sick,” the guy denied with false confidence.

Jamie snorted. “Wouldn’t be so sure about that. Yours wouldn’t be the first dick he removed today.” I laughed. Okay, the kitten had some claws.

That freaked the fuck out of him “Y-you’re lying!”

Jamie shrugged. “You can choose to believe me or not. It’s you on the line, not me.”

When the guy finally looked back at me, he was terrified. I gave him my most evil grin. “I’m losing patience—what’s your name anyway?”

“D-Dan.”

“I’m losing patience, Dan. What was Sloan supposed to buy?”

“Drugs! Well, I thought it was only drugs. That’s what I was comin’ here to get from him. But then he told me about this big deal, could make us fucking rich. He needed more money though. I agreed to help out if I could get some of the profits.”

My tone turned deadly. “What was the deal, Dan?”

Finally, somewhere in his drug-addled mind, he seemed to realize how serious I was being.

“I don’t know the details, man! Just that he was picking up some kid.

Said he was getting him off some old junkie and then he was gonna make a fortune on him!

But! But I had nothing to do with that! I only wanted the money! I swear!”

I couldn’t look at Jamie. I couldn’t listen to Ari cursing in my ear as he typed furiously. If I did, I would lose it. And I had a job to finish.

“You said Sloan was supposed to come back here and he didn’t?”

Dan looked like a fucking bobblehead, he nodded so fast.

“Was he supposed to bring the kid here?”

He started to shake his head then. “N-no. No. He had to drop him off with someone else, then he was coming back. But he never did. I swear to fuck! He should’ve been back forever ago.”

I pressed the butt of the gun onto his balls, twisting it until Dan screamed.

“I need more than that. Where was he dropping him off? With whom? Answer me.” I recognized the tone I had adopted and it scared me.

I fought hard not to shut down and lose my emotions.

It was never good when I did. But it was too late.

I was working on muscle memory now, everything else pushed to the side until I got the information I needed.

“I-I don’t know! I swear to fuck, I don’t know!

All he said was he had to go somewhere near the docks.

And oh! Oh! He mentioned the name Slash.

Told me to keep it on the down-low, that if I saw any of the Wraiths not to tell them because they’d never understand.

That they thought too small, but he didn’t.

That he was gonna make us rich. But that’s all I got. ”

“ You’re not going to get anything else from him,” Ari told me carefully, calmly.

“ I’ll start looking for anything near the docks that could be a hit and has a correlation with the name Slash.

There are plenty of places over there that a kid could be stashed.

End this, Nicky, and get Jamie outta there. ”

Fuck. Jamie. He hadn’t said a word or made a sound since Dan had mentioned buying a kid.

I stood and put the gun in my belt. The guy nearly melted with relief. I went into my bag and pulled out another vial. I didn’t bother getting a new needle, grabbing the one off the floor and stalking toward Dan.

“W-what are you doing? I told you everything! You said you wouldn’t hurt me.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “I never said that. You assumed. Now stay still. Let’s make this quick.”

He didn’t listen, but it didn’t matter in the end. Soon, he was dead and I was herding a shell-shocked Jamie out of the house.

He was still silent as I cleaned up all the evidence and got us out of there.

He barely reacted to my hands on his shoulders as I guided him and then helped into the car.

He made no effort to buckle himself, so I did it for him.

He didn’t even fight me when I gently pried the knife out of his hand.

I didn’t pocket it, putting it in the cupholder between us.

I wanted it to be close for his security without him hurting himself.

By the time I got into the driver’s seat, Jamie had curled into a ball, his knees bent up to his chest, feet on the seat, and his arms wrapped around his knees.

I wanted to say something, anything to make it better, but I had a feeling there were no words in the world that would accomplish that.

I did the only thing I could think of: pulled out of the driveway and away from this hellhole.

Keeping half an eye on Jamie, I drove off, heading to one of the only two places I ever felt safe. I had no idea if it was the right move, but it was the only one I could think of now.

When Jamie was still silent, I switched Ari to the car speaker and pulled the earbud out of my ear.

“Ari, I got Jamie in the car with me. He can hear you,” I warned him, just in case.

Jamie lifted his head from his knees but otherwise didn’t say anything.