Page 38 of Sleeping with the Dark (The Righteous 3)
“Yes, how the tables have turned.” Trev pushed himself up and fought off the budding migraine.
“I liked you better hanging from your wrists. You won’t see me scream like you did.” His face contorted with an arrogant grin.
Trev wouldn’t take that bet, he’d seen his brother work his magic on too many occasions. “The difference is, my chances of walking out of here are far better than yours. So smile all you want.”
The sour scent of sweat and fear was strong even though the guy was putting on a good front. Arek would break him—the twinkle of excitement that danced in his brother’s eye was enough to terrify those that understood his urges.
Still ignoring Arek, Lorena spoke again. “I told Alejandro not to trust you. You can never trust a lawyer, they are born liars and thieves. I knew you would betray us.” The guy spat more blood on the floor. “You should be skinned alive and fed to a pack of hyenas.”
“Keep talking. I really like your ideas,” Arek’s eyes were murderous.
“I just didn’t realize there were two of you.” He shook his head, the look of disgust written all over his face. “So what is this? Are you the brains, and this one is the brawn?”
“Correction, Trev is the nice one.” Arek jumped like a wild man, the guy letting out a yelp as he landed, straddling his lap. “I’m the psycho.” Grabbing Lorena by the neck, Arek kissed his forehead, his tongue drawing little circles. The man was swearing a blue streak that was a mix of Spanish and Portuguese as he tried to jerk away.
Laughing, Arek stood and pulled the t-shirt off over his head. He let the guy take in the sandman tattoo on his peck before slowly turning to purposely show off his back. Arek wandered toward the bottle he was nursing and Trev watched Lorena’s eyes follow Arek. Shock was written on every feature of his face.
“No, that’s not possible,” the guy said, his eyes wide as they stared at Arek’s back. “El Fantasma, you are a ghost. You don’t exist.”
“I assure you we are very real,” Arek said and took another swig of the alcohol. He stroked the tattoo on his chest. “You see this? I’m the Sandman. Trev over there is Crosshairs. Together we make Father Time. You may have heard of us.”
“Arek that is in the past,” Trev rubbed his eyes. He needed to lay down and Arek’s antics were drawing out the inevitable.
“What made us will never be in the past.” They shared a moment between them, and Trev simply nodded.
“Alejandro tortured the wrong person and you Lorena—.” Arek paused to make sure he had the man’s full attention. “Are going to pay the price for his sins,” he said as he spun and walked out of the room.
Trev watched their captive closely, the look on his face giving away just how fast the hamsters in his brain were running on their wheels. A droplet of sweat ran down the side of his face and dripped off his chin.
“I see the lights going on in your head. If I may offer a piece of advice, it would be wise to answer my brother’s questions when he comes back. He has a flair for the dramatic in a way that most cannot stomach.”
Lorena ran his tongue along the cut in his bottom lip. “Where has he gone?”
“I don’t know, but knowing him, it can’t mean anything very good for you considering this room has so many painful toys. The best you can hope for at this point is mercy.”
“Fuck you.”
Why did those being tortured always make it so hard on themselves? He was no better. He wouldn’t have given up any information no matter what Alejandro had done. He respected this man for that, but he just didn’t understand it considering the piece of garbage in question.
Trev reached out to the small table near him and cracked open a bottle of water.
“I’m not sure why you are being loyal to a man that is already dead. Was Alejandro a family member?” Trev took a sip of his water. Lorena shifted uncomfortably as the water slid down Trev’s throat. “Thirsty?” Trev held out the bottle as an offering, but the guy looked away, his chin lifting in defiance. “Alright then.”
“We were all family. You killed my family.” Lorena pulled on the heavy bindings for a second time with no success. The muscles in his neck and forearm flexed with the strain. The burst of energy was short-lived, and he flopped back into the metal chair, the chains holding him jingling.
“Maybe that’s true, and maybe I was protecting what’s mine. I have it on good authority that you were the one that threatened a woman old enough to be your grandmother.” With a heave that hurt every part of his body, he managed to pull himself to his feet. Using a cane for support, Trev limped a little closer. He was still having trouble seeing out of his one swollen eye, but he could see well enough to know that the guy was no longer confident. His jaw twitched, the tendon fluttering under his skin as he looked away from Trevor’s eyes. “Ah, see you now understand. The lights have finally turned on. Like Alejandro, I covet loyalty above all else.”
“I hadn’t planned on hurting her unless Alejandro ordered it. I just wanted to scare her a little.”
“Well, you did that, and now here we are.” Trev could hear Arek return, and by the sadistic whistle he had going on, Trev wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Arek planned. He grimaced as he saw what Arek had in his hands and decided he better sit back down. Arek closed the door and locked it, a smirk playing on his lips with the sound of the click.
“What the fuck do you plan on doing with that?” The guy asked as Arek walked toward him. You could feel the energy in the room shift—Arek’s excitement and the tension mixed with terror created a potent combination.
Trev got re-seated and really wished it hadn’t come to this. Arek pet the industrial blender like a child, his eyes falling on the piece of kitchen equipment with love.
“Well, I thought I’d start with your fingers. You won’t die if we remove those, and then we will have to see.” Arek tapped his chin as he thought. “There are just so many possibilities, and there’s a lot of things this baby can do. Her dicing skills are out of this world.” Arek started around the guy in the chair and then stopped. “That is, unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind and want to tell us what you know about us, what you were looking for, and how many people you told. You get the idea.”
The arrogant mask was once more in place. Trev wasn’t sure if this guy thought Arek was joking, but it only took a glance at the feral look on his brother’s face to know that he was dead serious—but worse was that, internally, Arek was hoping the guy would continue to refuse.
