39. Travis

The daywe’ve been waiting for is here. It’s time to get rid of our dads once and for all, and we can finally live our lives without having to look behind our backs to see what their next move is.

I look at my brothers around the kitchen counter as the girls laugh about something happening on Meadows’s phone.

Bea’s coming with us tonight. She came to town to take revenge for her family, and I won’t take that from her. She can stay for as long as she likes; once it becomes too much for her, one of the guys will take her home. It’s one thing saying you’ll kill someone, but it’s another doing it. I love Bea, but I don’t think she can do it.

“Hayden called to say they have them there, and Cain has dropped off what I need,” I tell them, looking at my phone as the messages come through. “They have left them where we want, and Hayden says they’re shouting very loud, making him laugh.” I put my phone away and looked at the two of them laughing. “Are you ever going to ask Cain what they do? I’m still leaning towards mafia links.” Blake and I think the same thing, and Logan still doesn’t care much about it.

“You know you can ask him; he talks to all of us, or you can just ask the four of them.” Logan looks over at Meadow, who’s staring at him. The last time we were in the woods was to kill her stepdad. “What time are we leaving?”

“Leave them there for a bit.” Blake is the one to answer, and I agree. The fuckers aren’t going anywhere, not if they’ve tied them up correctly. They’ve made our life hell so they could sit in the cold, dark words for a while.

Bea leaves the kitchen, and I follow her out. She’s been quiet today, which is why I think she’s having second thoughts about all this. I join her on the couch and pull her closer to me.

“What’s going on in your head?” I ask. She needs to talk to me, and I can’t have her go there and get all funny on me.

“What do you have planned?” She turns her body to face me, and I move some of the hair out of her face.

“What we’ve planned for years. My dad will get more than something to help him feel the past. If you don’t want to go, no one is going to think any less of you-”

“I want to go. I want to see him suffer after everything. I want him to hurt.” Bea moves in closer to me, and I wrap my arms around her, kissing the top of her head. “I wanted him to suffer. Killing is something I’m not sure-” She stops talking, looks up at me, and my hands move to her neck, my thumb softly moving slowly over her jaw.

“And you’re not killing anyone, and I’ll never ask you to. But I want you there to see him suffer, that’s all.” I lean in closer, kissing her; she must know I’m here for her tonight. “As soon as it gets too much, you can leave.” She takes in a deep breath and smiles.

“Have I told you I love you today?” she asks, which makes me laugh.

“I’m pretty sure you were screaming it this morning when I ate you for breakfast.” I kiss her again, and she laughs against my lips.

“Well, I will repeat it. I love you.”

“I love you.” I lean in closer, making her lean back so I can deepen the kiss, and she wraps her legs around me.

“Living room is off limits, asshole. You know the rules.” Logan shouts from the kitchen, and I burst out laughing.

“Keep it in the bedroom,” Blake shouts.

“Fuck off, I know,” I snap back.

When we all agreed to live together years ago, we all agreed. No sex outside the bedroom. No one wants to be walking in on the way we like to have sex. So, the rules are there for a reason, and we all follow them.

Kissing her again, I sit up when the group walks over to us. Taking the beer from Blake, I tap my phone to see the time. We have decided to go to the woods after midnight. No one ever goes that deep into the woods during the day, never mind at night, so we know no one will find them.

Hell, the Crawford brothers couldn’t find the spot without phoning us a few times and us explaining to them where to go.

I turn to Logan when he starts laughing. “Mason said to get our ass to the woods and bring them food.” We all start laughing; I’m sure they would have taken food with them; they might want to talk, and food is the reason. Even though they aren’t shy, they want something; they’re the type to take what they want.

“I suppose we can leave and grab some pizza and burgers on the way.” Blake gets up and walks out of the room with August, and I look over at Logan, nodding toward Blake.

“August said he had a bad night and didn’t sleep, which means she didn’t sleep either.” I look over to the kitchen and see Blake hugging August. “I thought it would have gotten better by now.” I turn back to Logan, who’s leaning back on the couch.

“He is; you know as much as me, bad nights still happen. Fuck I still have them; pain still hits my body. As long as August and we are both there when he needs us, he’s good. The same as us.” Only a few nights ago, I was back to the day I found Tessa in her room, it fucked me up, and if it wasn’t for Bea, I’m not sure how I would have been in the morning.

A good woman can help anyone through the worst nights, days, and times. I’ve found mine, and I’m happy my brothers have, too. After tonight, life can only go up from here.

Walking up into the woods, I hear Bea moaning about how far it is behind me as she pulls on my arm to help her up the trail.

“How do you even have the energy to dig up a grave and kill someone after this walk? What if you’ve already killed them and have to drag them up here-” She stops talking when the three of us burst out laughing. “I mean, just taking myself up here; I don’t have the energy to do anything.”

“Travis, it looks like you’re doing all the work tonight,” Blake says, looking over his shoulder. Bea, as Logan and I continue to laugh, tells him to shut up. “Then again, your legs are tired, not your mouth.”

He stops talking when we see the Crawfords leaning against a tree. Hayden and the twins are here. I don’t see the fourth one, nor do I see Cain.

“Food,” I hand Miles the bags, and the three go straight in to eat. “We never see Declan. Are you hiding him?” I joke with them.

“He will be gone for a year or so, first part of training,” Hayden replies with a mouth full of food. “We all did it, then we spent a year with Cain to learn what he thinks is best for us.” Does he think this makes any sense to us? It doesn’t.

“What does he think is best?” Logan asks.

“Yeah, the man learned a fucking lot from the pit; Miles is the hacker, learned everything from Cain. Mason is the fighter but still gets knocked out by Cain, though I’m the sniper; we will see what Declan is. It all helps with the family business.” Hayden stops talking and looks over at Bea, then doesn’t speak again.

Whatever they do, they don’t want to say anything in front of her. on’t blame them. They have a lot of fucking money, businesses which are always busy, so whatever it is, they want to keep it quiet.

“Talking about Cain, where is he?” Logan asks.

“He’ll be here. He needed to get someone to help take your dad.” Mason answers and looks up to see where our dads are. “We’re still here. You need us, shout.”

I give him a nod and walk towards our dads; I feel Bea’s hand tighten around mine as we see our dads tied up against a tree, each one at a different tree.

“So this is the plan?” my dad is the first to shout. “Kill us?” The three of us don’t say anything, and I move to the box which I had asked Cain for.

“Get up,” I tell him as Blake unties him; he doesn’t, so Blake grabs him and pulls him up to stand. “I donn’t care to waste too much time on you three, I still don’t-”

“There are only two holes in the ground?” Blake’s dad shouts at the three of us, but gets a laugh from Blake, who kneels in front of him.

“We thought about burying two of you together, you know, alive. Sure, you’ll need to fuck someone.” Blake punches him in the face, then stands up and kicks him.

“But you hurt someone; you hurt them when they were little, and then, to hide your sick game, you tried to kill her. Thought you’d like to feel the same way she did.” I look at the box, which looks like a coffin, but isn’t it just a see-through plastic box?

Logan pushes my dad over to the box, and Bea moves closer to me, her whole body pressed against mine as she watches what I’m about to do. It took me a while to figure out how it would work, but with a few drawings and moving things around, it’s what I want it to be. This is going to be so good, slow, and painful.

I walk over to the box and open it for him to get in, but he doesn’t, so I stand in front of him, smiling. “One way or another, you’re getting in there, and I promise you’ll need to save your energy.” Now I finally see him react, and the brave fuck face is about to see we don’t care for them at all.

“Get in.” Logan pushes him in because the waiting is just pissing me off, and I want him to suffer before Cain gets here. Locking the door, I look at Bea, watching the water-filled box.

“Travis! Travis!” I smile at my dad, shouting for help, but he can shout until he’s blue in the fucking face. The water stops when it gets to his shoulders, and my smile gets wider.

“You hid my mom, you took Tessa from me, and then you were going to take Bea from me.” I move closer and nod to Logan to turn the water back on, but it will be slower this time. There isn’t any room for him to move up; I made this for his height; his head is touching the top; that’s how much I want him to suffer. “You took her brother, you took her mom, and you tried to take her; now you will feel everything she wants you to. Slowly you’ll suffer, but you won’t die in there-”

“Travis!” he shouts my name again, but I step back, pulling Bea with me.

“You’re in control, Firecracker-” I smile when she smiles at me. “-There is a button on the side which will let you take out some water so it will refill the bastard and drown again.”

“Travis-” she looks over her shoulder at my dad before returning to me. “I’m not sure if-”

“Bea, you’re not going to kill him. Make him feel what you did. That’s all.” I lean in closer and give her a kiss, which makes her giggle to herself. “What?”

“Are we crazy? We’re in the woods in the middle of the night, about to bury-” She stops when I burst out laughing, pulling her closer and kissing her.

“I know, we’re the crazy couple who kill together—” A quick kiss. “I’m joking. It’s a one-time thing, promise.” She looks back at my dad, who’s banging on the plastic to get my attention. I don’t bother looking at him, but Bea does, and I look over at Blake and Logan, who are enjoying eating their dads up.

Walking away from my dad, I lean on the tree, which is still close to Bea, but I can see what Logan and Blake are doing.

“It’s a shame I’m killing you tonight. I would have liked to beat you for a while yet,” Blake shouts at him while kicking him in the face. If anyone was going to fight, I thought it would have been him, but he’s trying hard not to fight him.

Blake pulls his dad to a standing position and, pushes him against the tree behind him, and punches him once again, then pushes him to the floor. I can’t hear what Blake is saying to him as the screams from Logan’s dad are loud, and it makes me smile and happy knowing they are in pain.

“This is for mom!” Logan shouts, slamming his foot into his dad’s knee, which makes him scream even louder. “This is for me.” He fully kicks his dad hard in the face. I’m not sure how Cain is getting him, but it won’t be in a good way. “You’re lucky I have other plans for you!” Logan shouts at him, taking a step back but stepping hard down on his hand before he does.

Turning back to Blake, who is punching his dad in the face over and over again, I run over to him to pull him off him.

“Blake!” I shout and see his face with blood splattered over him, his hands dripping with blood, and I look down at him; he’s still breathing. “Savor the moment,” we can kill them in a minute if we want to, but we could have done that months, fuck years ago, but no, we wanted it to hurt and make them experience torture the way we had to endure it.

Taking a quick look over at Bea letting some water out and my dad shouting my name again to let him out, the water starts to fill up again and he tries hard to bang on the plastic to break it, which isn’t going to happen, not if Cain got it all set up for me. I had to go to Cain’s office to fix a few things, like the water pressure.

Blake nods, letting me know he’s back with us. I walk back over to the tree and lean on it, watching my dad suffering, fighting to get some air in his lungs before the water reaches his mouth. Bea watches him. When the water hits his mouth, I see her smile, but she also wipes the tears away from the side of her eye.

Blake has been waiting for this moment for three years. First, he wanted him to go to prison. With all the dirt we had on him, it would have been an easy win, but the more Blake thought about it, the more he thought prison would be an easy life for him, and Blake didn’t want him to smile again. So six feet underground is where the fucker is going to be.

The goal at the end of all of this is to make them suffer before we kill them, but there is a part of me still feels that a bullet between the eyes is an easy way out for everything they have done to us.

Now I want to hurt my dad, fuck I want to punch him. I want to break a few bones before killing him. But he hurt my girl too; he took everything from her, and she needs this more than I do; she needs him to suffer more.

“Bea, I’m not sure he will live the next time he goes under the water,” I say as I walk over to Bea and stop her from pressing the button. I watch my dad under the water. He’s trying to bang his hands on the glass, it’s not very loud. He’s getting weak, and I watch as the bubbles escaping his mouth diminish.

“He’s on his way,” I hear Logan whisper behind me, and I nod, letting him know I heard him. I’m sure he can last a few more minutes, but before I can see, Bea presses the button.

“You don’t want him to die like this,” Bea tells me as Logan opens the door, letting my asshole dad fall out, Logan checks to see if he’s still alive, and gives me a nod confirming he is Logan then kicks him in the stomach, then walks away from dad. Dad doesn’t have the energy to run away. He can’t even hold his head up at the moment.

Blake’s dad gets up to help my dad as he tries to crawl over to them, and we stand in front of our dads.

“So is this it, you kill us-”

“I’m sure there are only two holes behind you.” Logan is the one to cut Blake’s dad off. “One of you has somewhere special to be.” I look behind them, seeing Cain walk over to us, where he stands next to Logan. I thought today was going to be the day I saw him in something other than a fucking suit, but no, here he is in the middle of the woods, in what I can only say is an expensive suit.

“And who the fuck is this? You still not man enough to piss by yourself, you need help? ” Logan’s dad snaps, which makes Logan laugh.

“Oh, this is going to be good.” Logan shakes his head while he laughs.

“Hello, Sir, you won’t remember me, but I remember you. Maybe you’ll remember the words I once said to you.” Cian places his hands into his pocket. I’ve been waiting for this moment to see their faces when they find out who he is. “Remember my words; one day, you’ll become my bitch, and you’ll fear my name-” Cain puts out his hand for Logan’s dad to shake. “Cain Crawford.”

“You’re…no…Logan-” There is fear in people you want to see, and this moment, seeing the three of their faces, is fear which I’ve never seen on anyone. Ever.

“Blake.”

“Travis.” Our dads say at the same time.

“You’re dead. You’re-” Logan’s dad gets cut off.

“No, the little boy I was once is dead. The pit kills you, takes every ounce of your soul-” Cain takes a step closer to Logan’s dad, who tries to take one back, but Cain stops him. “Now I own you, be ready to be my bitch, because, for years, I’ve planned what I will do to you.” Cain looks over at my dad and moves in front of him. “You took my girl from me. Your son is being kind by shooting you. Be happy with that because you deserve much worse.” He then moves to Blake’s dad and smiles. “What you’ve done to little girls disgusts me.” He walks back to Logan’s dad and stares at him momentarily.

“No one gets out of the pit!” Blake’s dad shouts.

How the fuck did they know about the pit, and we didn’t? Is Cain the first person we know who’s been in the pit? If there was anyone else in there, we would have known about it.

“No, they don’t. But knowing one day you’ll be my bitch made me fight. Now, it’s my pit. Welcome to hell.” Cain takes a step back, and I look at the three of them. You can see the fear in their eyes.

All three of them look between each other, then look around the woods. “You think you’re going to outrun us?” Blake asks, which makes me smile.

“Take him,” Cain shouts, and I see a man with his face covered with a black ski mask covering his face.

“Which room?” he asks Cain, and that question gets a smile from Cain.

“Room two, nine, twenty, three, eight.” He puts his hand out for Logan’s dad again. “We’re going to have so much fun.”

The guy takes Logan’s dad away, and Cain looks between the three of us, gives Logan a nod, and begins to leave.

“Cain,” he stops and turns to face me. “Will you kill them?” I ask. I should have spoken to Blake and Logan, but maybe Cain is right. Killing them is the easy way for them.

“No, they only die when I want them dead,” he replies, and I turn to Blake, who is narrowing his brows at me. Logan stares at me.

“Travis?” Blake questions. I don’t know why I’m changing the plan, but I want him to suffer the way I did, cry the way I did, and be scared because no one is coming to help him.

Blake looks over at Logan, who nods, agreeing with me that if Blake wants hell, Cain will give it to them, not the six-foot hole.

“They will suffer?” Cain laughs at Blake’s question, and without him having to answer, we know they will suffer more in the pit than in the ground.

“Ther-”

“Travis, no,” my dad shouts, and his reaction only makes me want to do it even more. He isn’t scared of being shot, but the pit and being in Cain’s hands frightens him. A lot.

Our dads don’t fear dying. They fear the ghost and his home, the ghost they know nothing about. The same fear we had when we were little, but today, they stand in front of us, showing that same fear.

We want them out of our lives forever, but I would much rather them live in fear every single fucking day.

“You can have them. Knowing you’re going to make them suffer is all I need.” I step back when my dad tries to talk to me more, and Blake tells Cain to take his, too.

“Undress them and get them in the pit; I’ll follow you in the car,” Cain shouts to the man, who nods and leaves.

The three of us stand there staring at each other for a moment, wondering if what we’ve done is for the best or if it is a mistake, as for years, we’ve wanted them dead and nothing else.

But yet, I feel this will be worse for them than being in the ground. Cain is a crazy fucker about ninety percent of the time. I do not know what is going through his head, which is never good. He will make sure the three of them suffer every second of the day, which is much better than under the ground.

“They’re dead to us. What we get now may be even worse than what we have planned for them.. Now, it’s time to throw a party and not think about them again.” I wrap my arm around Bea’s shoulder, and Blake and Logan agree, ready to throw a party tomorrow night.

“Is it fucked up to be this happy knowing the three of them are going to be crying every night?” Logan asks while laughing because he thinks it’s a stupid question.

“I’m going to sleep a happy fucking man every day, knowing they’re suffering.” Blake throws the keys toward me. “Boys, we’re free, and we have one more year left of college; I’m partying and fucking my girl every chance I get” We head back down to the car; we’ll be up here tomorrow to get rid of the graves we dug up and the water tank. But for now, I want to fuck my girl, knowing we’ve won.