41. CHAPTER 41

41

JULES

Jenny didn’t notice me leaving Kai’s room, and I’m glad. She doesn’t want the answers to the questions I’m not in the mood to hear. It’s a strange feeling, leaving Kai. My brain has neatly packaged up the emotional part of me that wants to stay with him and watch over him and tucked it into the back of my mind. All I can think about is vengeance for Kai. I won’t be able to rest, knowing they’re out there, unaware of the shitstorm they’ve created. The thirst for blood is rampant, I’m nearly trembling with excitement to get this shit going. Only then will I be able to come back and be what Kai needs, and he can rest assured that payment for his hurt has been paid in full. I intend to get that payment tonight with a little added interest.

Walking further down the corridor, Ivan, Lev and Tim all stand, awaiting news of different kinds.

“Tim, you can go in and keep Jenny company. Call me if there are any changes, but the nurse said they won’t be waking him up until tomorrow,” I say.

“Hang on, where are you going?” he asks. Look, I don’t actually think he’s a bad guy. But he’s a cop and cops ask too many fucking questions.

“Nowhere that concerns you,” I say before moving closer to Ivan and Lev. Tim huffs out a long breath and the sound of his boots squeaking against the floor disappears further into the distance behind me.

“Today. It has to be today we end them. I can’t sit on this, Lev.”

“Didn’t think you would. I already contacted D while you were with Kai. Carlos has men at the location. I have the address.”

“Dima still wants to help after what I said?”

“Shut up, Jules. Don’t play dumb. If anyone knows what it’s like to get bloodthirsty, it’s us.” Lev says, and I suppose that’s fair.

“What about this little gang? Do we know where they are?” I ask.

“Yep. Wasn't too hard to narrow down with it being a small town. They call themselves ‘The Skins’, hardly a name that blends in. Fucking stupid ass name. Two of them were arrested yesterday morning, Dean and Tex, for disorderly conduct,” Lev mutters.

“Can’t have been them who did it, so that leaves the brothers Jez and Zac,” I say.

“Do we have a gang name?” Ivan asks Lev, derailing our conversation.

“What do you mean a gang name? We ain’t a gang,” Lev snaps, insulted at the very idea.

“Well, we kinda are,” Ivan says.

“No we fucking ain’t, Ivan. Can we go? I’m excited to play,” Lev says grinning, rubbing his hands together.

“I want control of this,” I say.

“We can manage that, but you finish when I say, we can’t linger for too long,” Lev says as we start to make our way out of the hospital.

I’ll be back soon, Kai.

After a ten minute drive, we arrive at an apartment complex in a shitty ass part of town. It’s late evening now and too fucking cold for anyone to be out on the streets. We park on the side of the road and get out of the car, and walk up to the entrance of the depressingly gray building.

“What’s the apartment number?” I ask Lev.

“1D.”

As we head inside, a musty damp smell floods my nostrils as I take in the worn out entrance. Paint peels off every wall and along the wooden bannister that leads upstairs. We climb up to the first floor, the apartment we want is the second door on the left of the narrow and dark corridor. Not a window in sight.

Lev and Ivan stand on either side of the door, out of the peephole line of sight, and I knock on the old brown door twice. Footsteps approach, and the door opens. A guy with a bald head answers, keeping the door chain on its bolt as he peers through the gap.

“Can I help you?” the guy says with an attitude I can’t wait to beat out of him. Is this Zac or Jez?

“Are you Jez?”

“No. He ain’t here right now.”

This guy is so high, he’s struggling to keep his eyes focused on me.

“That’s too bad. I have some weed for him. A new batch.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, but I can come back.”

“No…no you can come in. I can help you instead.”

Bingo. That was way easier than I thought. Just as he unlatches the door, I step through into his hallway while Lev and Ivan barge their way in, slamming the door behind them before Lev gets this piece of shit in a headlock. He clutches at Lev’s forearms, but Lev isn’t going anywhere.

“What’s your name?” I ask as I move further into the living area. What a shithole. The place reeks of weed and sweat, the furniture is all falling apart. I don’t think this place has ever been cleaned. I turn to face the idiot who is still clinging to Lev.

“Zac,” he rasps.

“Just the man I’m looking for.”

Lev pulls Zac upright, and Ivan joins him as they take an arm each, holding Zac up in a standing position. Open to anything I give him.

“This may come as a shock, but Kai was stabbed earlier today at his home. I heard you were friends, so thought it would be a nice thing to let you know.”

Zac watches me, he doesn’t respond, unless sweating profusely is a response.

“Nothing to say? That’s okay, I’ll keep talking and you correct me if I’m wrong with what I think happened.”

Still no response.

“I think your brother did it. I heard Jez was his good friend and I think you’re covering for him.”

“No. Jez would never do that, he was with me today.”

“Oh, so you were there too?”

“No.”

“Hmmm, you see, I think you’re a dirty little liar. I know you’ve been watching his mom for weeks. But what I want to know is why you were watching her? Luckily for you, I know ways to make someone talk.”

His breathing hitches, anticipation of the unknown must be tearing him apart inside.

“Ivan, hold his hand out.”

Ivan stretches his arm out and firmly grips his wrist.

“What! I don’t know anything man, please,” he whines, trying to pull away.

“Did Kai beg you to stop?”

“Don’t do this,” he says, trying to portray a softness I know fuckers like this don’t possess.

I move over to his outstretched hand and grab his little finger, pulling it backwards as slow as I can. Zac starts to yell, trying to move his hand.

“I’ll stop if you tell me, or I will break each and every finger.”

“Stop.”

“No. Where’s your brother?”

“Don’t hurt him. We can sort this out between us,” he says, begging.

I pull back hard on his finger. Just a little more pressure, if I put my weight into it, it should break.

“Ahhh! Stop! Fuck! It was me, okay, it was me and nothing to do with Jez.”

“Do you know how embarrassing it is that you gave in so fast? You really are pathetic.”

“Who cares about Kai! He’s dead and nobody will miss him,” he shouts, the pain overtaking sense.

I grab him by his dirty, ugly face.

“I care. You put your hands on my man, and I won’t let you get away with that. Also, when you plan to kill someone, always check that they’re dead first before you run. Kai is very much alive.”

“What?”

“Do you still have the knife?”

“Fuck you! You don’t have shit on me to prove it.”

Suddenly I can hear Kai’s voice, the message he left me replaying in my mind.

“Jules…I–I-I’ve been s-s-stabbed. L-l-l-love you, i-it h-hurts,”

All I can see is him bleeding out alone on his mom’s floor. That this fucker nearly killed him. The message replays over and over and I want to yell out to stop it. I need to keep focus, but I’m lost in the wave of emotion and what’s happened. Anger. Hate. Fury. Blood. Before I know it, I have both hands wrapped around Zac’s throat, like the jaws of a dog, they lock in place. The wheezing sounds coming from this asshole thrill me. I love the feeling of his neck in my hands, that he’s so vulnerable, I could snap his neck like a twig.

“Jules! Let him go. Not here. Fuck!”

The door flies open and a surfer looking dude with long brown hair storms in, which pulls me out of the place I was just locked in.

“Jez?” Ivan asks.

Jez looks at his brother, who is now unconscious but still breathing on the floor, then moves his beady eyes over to the three of us.

“Who’s asking?” he says.

Ivan smiles and walks over to him.

“Your worst nightmare,” Ivan says as he punches him in the face, which knocks him out cold, landing on the floor next to his stinky ass brother.

“That was fucking close. What did I tell you earlier? We can’t be doing any of that killing shit here. Use your fucking brain, Jules, or I’ll take over the show if you can’t control yourself.

“I couldn’t help it.”

“Well try. Ivan, grab the smelly ass one. I’ll take the long haired rat. Jules…go get in the damn car and focus your shit.”

“Like you wouldn’t have done the same or worse.”

“No. I would’ve drugged them and brought them back to our home where I could savor them. Now go.”

They get the boys down into the car as quickly as possible. Lev tosses Zac into the trunk, while me and Ivan sit in the back with Jez, taking a seat on either side of him, and head off to Carlos’s secured location. The roads are so quiet, you’d think an apocalypse had hit. Not surprising for such a small town, I’d imagine everyone is bundled up in the warmth with their loved ones. While my loved one is in hospital, fighting for his life. One thing I can guarantee, is that these two bastards won’t need a hospital, because nobody is coming to save them.