“Teller,” I croak out when my mind conjures up an image of him holding me down. Suddenly, the memories are there, and I realize the man I thought would protect me handed me over to Slasher without so much as an apology.
“What did you say?”
At this point, it’s safe to assume Slasher is the unknown voice that pulled me from the darkness I was content staying in. The drug Teller shot into my neck is starting to wear off, but I keep my eyes closed because the thought of coming face to face with the boogie man scares me.
“His name is not allowed to leave your lips again,” Slasher warns in a voice that causes goosebumps to spread across my skin. Finally, I open my eyes enough to see him sitting beside me. The room is lit up with dim lighting, so my eyes are able to easily adjust. The first thing I notice is the way he is looking down at me. One would think he’s nothing more than a man in love. A man who’s just been reconnected with the woman of his dreams. I, however, know that he is a monster that’s just been handed the prey he’s been tracking for years.
The plain white t-shirt stretched across his chest outlines the muscles he unquestionably works out to have. His black hair is just as dark as it was the last time I saw him. The only change to his appearance would be the look of joy in his golden-brown eyes. Not too long ago, he was glaring at me across a parking lot as I stood behind Teller.
“It’s good to have you home. In our room. On our bed.”
The satisfaction those words bring him is displayed on his face and lined throughout his tone. At the mention of being in a bedroom, I try to rise to a sitting position, but I’m unable to. My entire body is strapped down like you would see being done to a crazy person. There is a tiny bit of give in the restraints, but not enough for me to move into a position I want.
“Stay calm,” Slasher says in a tone meant to soothe me. ‘Those are there for your safety. I didn’t want you to wake up scared and do something you might regret.”
There is nothing like hearing “stay clam” that sets your mind into an immediate panic mode. I begin to thrash from side to side, determined to break loose from these holds.
“You’ve been gone a long time, Scarlett,” Slasher starts shouting over the noise of my struggles. “If you wear yourself out before we can become reacquainted I’ll make you regret it.”
What does he think he can do to me that hasn’t already been done? I’m past the point of being a docile pet. If he wants to play games, let’s play. The rage and hurt I feel at Teller’s betrayal is keeping my survival mode from kicking in, and at this point it would feel good to make someone just as angry as I am. Laughing like a lunatic, I continue to do what he commanded I not.
“You’re laughing at ME!” Slasher roars, latching onto my face with a grip that forces my teeth to cut into the sides of my cheeks. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through to get you back? All the sacrifices I’ve made to bring you home. How dare you laugh at me.”
His eyes are no longer warm. They’ve turned dark and cold just like his heart would be if he had one. Slasher’s nostrils are flaring from the irritation streaming through his system, and his face is telling me everything his words aren’t. By the end of the night, he will make me regret what I just did, and that is enough to sober me up to my reality. I don’t want to just be beaten until I can’t take anymore. I need to push him to the point of no return. Once my punishment starts, I need to make sure he doesn’t stop until I’m dead.
“Teller…Teller…TELLER!”
I scream his name over and over again, not caring that Slasher is squeezing my face harder each time I yell out the one name he just reprimanded me for accidently calling out. I also know that Slasher has an extreme hatred for anyone Tarnished Souls related. Serenity was very forthcoming with all the things he would say about the club. Apparently, the animosity he feels towards the members goes deeper than them keeping me from him.
Quicker than I thought anyone could move, he lets go of my face to lean down. Slamming his mouth on mine. He then places his thumb and index finger on the undersides of my jaw, and begins to squeeze until my lips have no choice but to part from the pain. Once he has my mouth open, he sucks hard enough to get my tongue into his. With more force than needed, he bites down hard. The pain is instant, and he doesn’t give any sign of letting go. I cry out, but the sound is muffled by his growls of anger.
Seconds tick by, both are mouths are filling with blood, and I start to think he’s going to allow me to choke on it. Thankfully, he lets go of my tongue and leans up enough to give me a full view of his face. Immediately, I start to spit out the red liquid that’s pooled into my mouth. Staring down at me, Slasher swallows what was in his.
“Let’s hear you scream for him now, bitch,” he spits out before licking his lips with an evil grin spreading across his face.
“Just kill me.”
“Why would I do that when we are just starting to have some real fun?”
With that said, he leans down to lick the blood that’s drained onto my face before standing up to his full height. Walking towards the only dresser in the room that sits parallel to the bed, he starts rolling his shoulders in a way that reminds me of someone trying to limber themselves up.
“After all that time you spent with Carlos, and he never taught you how to be obedient. I’m starting to really regret not killing him myself…”
He continues to talk, but I stop paying attention to his words. The blood draining down my throat is leaving an awful taste in my mouth, and there is now a heartbeat of pain in the middle of my tongue. It’s hard to assess the damage when I don’t have a way of touching it, but I can sense it’s bad when the swelling is almost instant.
“Pretty Girl wasn’t hard to break. She was damn near perfect. Perhaps I should have kept her. Do you think Irish will give her back?”
I wasn’t aware of the person Slasher was referring to until he mentioned Irish. Serenity had told the entire club he called her princess a lot. Ashley’s nickname must have been pretty girl. Once again, I stop listening when I see him walk toward the bed holding a thick wooden paddle. A grin as evil as they come pulls at his lips when he starts cutting the distance between us. Spinning the seven-inch wide paddle in his hand, he stops when his knees hit the mattress.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use this for a punishment. I made it special just for you, but I was truly hoping to use it for pleasure not pain.”
Slasher starts twisting the wooden surface around, showing me the side he obviously had decorated just for me. The word queen is spelled out in tiny nails. Looking at the length of the metal pins you can tell they are only meant to hurt like crazy. There are only three centimeters of each one sticking out of the wood. It’s not enough to kill you, just enough to make you wish it were.
“I don’t want you to think I’m a total asshole, so I will allow you to choose how many hits from this special paddle you get. Just so we are clear, if you try to cheat by choosing a low number I won’t stop until every part of your skin is bright red with your new title.”
He’s playing a game with me. By giving me control over the amount of hits, he is trying to make it seem like I have some say in what happens. This is what Serenity, Taz, and Ashley went through. I heard the gossip around the house. That is what partially scared me so much about him. Carlos and his men may have broken my body countless times, but they never were able to penetrate my mind. Slasher is a different kind of evil. He will manipulate my mind regardless of what I try to do to stop him.
“Times up.”
“T…t…twenty” I barely get out over my swollen tongue. My bravery is long gone, and so is all the anger I was feeling earlier. Now, I am terrified. Not only for what he is about to do, but for the torture I will endure for the rest of my life. I don’t think Slasher will ever lose control because punishing me will be too satisfying for him to permanently lose.
“I would have been good with ten,” he laughs out. “I like your greediness.”
&n
bsp; He then props the paddle up on the edge of the bed, before leaning over me to start removing the straps he’s tied me down with. “If you run it will only make things worse, Scarlett. You can’t escape, so don’t try.”
Once the straps are all undone, Slasher helps me get to my feet. Now standing on solid ground, I square my shoulders, and do something I never thought I’d be brave enough to do. Kicking out, I try to hit him in the same place that had Teller stumbling from pain, but Slasher is too smart for that. He snaps his massive thighs closed, catching my foot between them.
“Not only are you greedy, you’re also brave.”
The words come off as a compliment, but the hand landing on the side of my face is meant to be nothing other than an insult. “And you’re tough,” he jokes when I don’t fall to the ground from his blow. The next time he hits me it’s with a closed fist, and like a sack of flour my body hits the floor with a loud thud.
“I warned you,” he happily states from above me. I hold my eyes closed while trying to breathe through the pain of his fist landing on the side of my head, so I’m unable to see what he is using to rip the clothes off of me so easily. If I had to guess it would be a knife, but scissors are a possibility too.
“I warned you not to try to escape. Queens are meant to obey their kings. A lesson you are about to learn.”
When he has removed all my clothing, I can fill the coolness of the air hitting my newly exposed skin, but I don’t have time to dwell on the fact that I am now completely vulnerable to him. There is nothing left between his hands and my skin.
“So beautiful,” he purrs while running his callused hand across my bare stomach.
The whimper rips from my chest before I can stop it. I can tell he doesn’t like my vocal objection when he purposely pinches the underside of my left breast.
“Up we go,” Slasher orders, grabbing onto my hair. Tugging it with enough force to have me awkwardly crawling to my knees, he continues to pull until I am standing in front of him. “Obviously, twenty is now too low of a number. Choose another.”
“No,” I whisper after a long pause. I refuse to be a part of this sick and twisted game. If he wants to beat on my body he is going to have to choose how long he does it. I know how much pain I can tolerate. There is nothing he can do that I haven’t felt before.
“Have it your way, but remember, I will wake you up every time you pass out. You’re going to feel everything I do.”
With that said, he throws me to the bed, and just as my body bounces up from the force of landing hard, he brings the paddle down hard on my left thigh. The searing hot pain is instant, but I manage to keep from screaming out by locking my jaw. I would rather break all my teeth than give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream.
“You can’t hold your screams back all night.”
Hit after hit, it gets harder to keep the cries from tumbling out of my mouth. The feeling of the nails biting into my skin is matched with the sensation of a hundred knives cutting me at once. He’s already marked both my legs, across my backside, and now is working on the tops of my shoulder blades. Each time I try to get up he whacks me somewhere, and the force of the blow brings me back down to my stomach. It isn’t until he hits me on the center of my back that I let out a blood curdling scream. The tears that have been free falling down my cheeks grow in both size and intensity.
The sound of his evil laughter and my painful screams are still being echoed throughout the room when the door flies open, slamming into the wall behind it. I manage to twist my head enough to see the figure standing in the entryway, and all the anger from earlier comes flooding back into my system.
“Teller,” I whisper.
Teller
After I killed the men waiting for me, I followed the directions Tate had written out for me. The original plan was for me to make a quick visit to say goodbye to my brother before signing the papers that would shut off his life support. I can no longer stand to see him fading away, day by day, hour by hour. Saint wouldn’t want that, and it’s time for me to stop being selfish. He’s not going to wake up.
Yet, when I was on my way to do the unthinkable, I got a sinking feeling in my gut when I thought about the little redhead that was responsible for me finally getting what I want; revenge. I quickly turned my chopper around, pulled the throttle back, and began eating up the asphalt in record pace to get where I felt I needed to be. Thankfully, I did listen to my intuitions. As soon as I arrived, Tate was waiting for me outside with an ashen look on his face. It’s a good thing Slasher lives out in the middle of nowhere. Scarlett’s blood curdling screams could be heard standing outside the house.
“Where is she?” I shout, not at all bothered that Tate is both stunned and terrified at hearing my voice. He, like many other people, believed I couldn’t talk.
“Upstairs,” he hollers at my retreating back.
I’ve already ran past him and entered the house. As soon as you walk in, there is a set of stairs to your left. I take the steps two at a time. My adrenaline starts pumping harder the faster I go, and I am practically biting at the bit to get my hands on the monster who’s caused so much devastation.
The screams get louder when I step into the hallway. The cries seem to be coming from the door at the end, so that is the one I rush toward. Lifting my booted foot up, I don’t bother checking to see if the door is unlocked, I just kick right above the brass knob, and watch as the door flies open.
The scene laid out before me is one that would make any normal person recoil, but I’ve had plenty of practice when it comes to stomaching the unthinkable. Scarlett is naked, lying flat on her stomach, and bleeding. Her hair is a complete mess of sweat and tears, sticking to the sides of her face, as she turns to see who has saved her from the blow Slasher was just about to land on another part of her body.
“Teller,” she whispers, blood spitting out of her mouth when she does.
I am so distracted by the sight of her beaten body that the monster I’ve come to kill has time to take a swing at me with the very object he was using to maim her skin. I bring my forearm up to block the board from smacking me in the head. When it does hit me, I feel a searing hot pain that feels like tiny needles being lodged into my arm at once.
When he jerks it back, once again intending to hit me, I stretch my arm out to grab a hold of his hand. The wooden paddle hits me on the side of my arm, bringing with it the same amount of pain, but this time he can’t rear it back to take another swing at me.
“I’m going to have fun killing you,” he spits out. The two of us are standing in the middle of the room staring at one another. Slasher drops the handle of his homemade torture device, and reaches into his boot to pull out a knife. The blade is at least ten inches long, and sharp enough to cut the hair right off your arm. Just then, I hear the sound of footsteps entering the room behind me. Tate must have finally decided to show his face. Raising my hand, I indicate for him to stay the hell out of my way.
“Scarlett.”
Slasher says her name with enough force to get her immediate attention. From the corner of my eye, I can see Scarlett turn her head in his direction. “The mute that sold you has now come to try and take you back, but you don’t want to go anywhere, do you? We were just starting to have some fun.”
I watch as his eyes start to dim with darkness. It’s the same darkness that lives inside me. The evil images that are flashing through his mind often cross mine from time to time. That is why my relationship with Krystle is so important.
“Teller,” Scarlett mumbles, sounding like she is trying to talk with a mouth full of food, but the desperation in her tone cannot be mistaken. Even after what I did, she is still calling out to me for help. The realization surprises me. Maybe Scarlett’s loyalty runs deep. Deeper than my betrayal. Or perhaps, it is only desperation that is causing her to call to me.
“What did I SAY!” Slasher roars, moving to take a step in Scarlett’s direction. “I warned you before, DO NOT speak his name.�
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“Kill him, Teller.”
Scarlett once again murmurs, wincing from the pain it causes to speak. I can’t imagine what he has done to cause whatever is wrong, but I’m sure I will get it out of him once I can get my hands on the slimy bastard. Right now, I need to concentrate on getting that knife out of his hands.
“You will regret that,” he seethes. “But first I need to drain the mute of all his blood while you watch. Tate, watch closely, you’re next you fucking traitor.”
I have two daggers in my pockets, but decide against bringing them out. I might accidently kill the mother fucker, and then I won’t be able to make him suffer before ending his life. I force my attention to be solely on Slasher because I’m not foolish enough to believe I can’t be beat. That is going to be his downfall, not mine.
Instead of lunging forward in hopes of stabbing me, Slasher catches me off guard when he throws the knife into my thigh, then, using my shock against me, he lands a hard punch to the side of my mouth. After which, he is able to rush toward his knife sticking out of my leg, and retrieve it before I can stop him. I haven’t seen anyone that fast since I was a kid and watched Roberto crossing the room to use me as a punching bag. The cruel smile that comes to his lips sends a fresh wave of adrenaline through my veins.
“This is going to be too easy. The joker is here to take my queen, but he will only leave here dead like the fool he is.”
“It’s not Scarlett I want,” I growl, watching the shock enter his eyes at hearing me talk. “I’m here for revenge.”
Acting swiftly, I close the distance between us and headbutt him in the nose. Slasher is not the only one with surprises. Thankfully, I was able to use mine to my advantage as well. The hit doesn’t immediately sweep him off his feet, but the knee I crush into his abdomen does. Like a brick being thrown into the ocean, his body hits the floor.
Teller (Tarnished Souls MC Book 4) Page 9