“Fuck, sorry,” Ryan says without even looking our way. He waves us off, still with his forehead against the wall.
I watch the exchange with curiosity. Duke steps away from Larry and goes to talk to Grady for a moment. Grady nods his head and fires off a text message.
“Men degrade women with that word. It’s not something I tolerate,” Ian explains.
I’m close to spilling my guts right here and now. This man just melts me, always saying the right thing. Ian must have seen a lot before his mom and Jim got together. I’ve heard enough about their world before Forsaken came along to know it wasn’t pretty, so painful in fact that it still haunts them to this day. I wish I could take that away for him, could make it better. I want to silence his demons.
“No wonder you two wound up together. You’re both sick,” Joanne says, spitting the words out. “Disgusting freaks.”
Ian takes a step back and uses the blade of his knife to gently lift Joanne’s face to meet his eyes. He stares at her kindly, willing her to calm down.
“You’ll be my first. Would you like that? I’ve never gutted a woman before. You should be honored.” His voice sounds so pleasant despite the message he’s sending her.
“I should have had you raped instead,” Larry shouts at Ian, taunting him. Duke moves back toward Larry, but Ian lifts a hand to stop him. When nobody moves to silence Larry, he keeps going. His eyes are wild and wet, and his chest expands and contracts rapidly. “That trashy whore framed my boy, lied about him, got him hurt. But I see how I messed up now.”
I turn my body fully toward Larry, staring at him in disgust. Remembering my conversation with Ryan that day at the house, I recall what I told him. Threatening to kill somebody doesn’t work if they don’t care. Larry already knows he’s going to die. He has nothing to lose.
“Melinda doesn’t deserve what happened to her.” Larry’s eyes fall on mine, and he actually looks remorseful. “But you—you like hurting people. I guess it’s true what they say.”
“What do they say?” Ian says, a maniacal smile on his face. He tosses his knife in the air and catches the blade in his hand with the graceful expertise of a man who’s spent hours practicing the move.
“Juvenile records are more accessible than you think, Mr. Buckley. It’s a shame that man didn’t get more than a year for what he did to you.”
Ian is frozen in place, a look of horror mars his beautifully scarred features. The other men in the space don’t move either. I think I hear a sharp intake of breath coming from Ryan. My mind slowly puts two and two together.
No.
No.
My heart aches as the truth settles into my soul. It’s painful, more than I think I can bear. Someone hurt Ian. No wonder Ruby is so protective of him. I can’t handle this. I can’t stand here and listen to this man torture him like this. How dare he bring up something so clearly painful?
“I suppose it’s some consolation knowing his penis and scrotum were severed before the police found him. Did all of mommy’s boyfriends like you that much?”
The second the words are out of his mouth, I’m landing on him with a hard thud. The chair topples backward, and my hands are at his throat. I’m screaming at the top of my lungs and slamming his head into the tile flooring beneath us. Joanne screams from across the room, crying frantically and doing her best to free herself from her bindings.
Ian finally moves, like a statue come to life. In a daze, he walks to Joanne and shakes his head before slicing her throat open with his blade. I punch Larry in his jaw and use both hands to shove his face flat into the tile, forcing him to watch his wife bleed out. Blood spurts from her neck, and her body slumps in the chair as her life drains from her. I can’t even bring myself to care that I’m watching a woman die. I don’t like violence. I hate the pain vengeance causes. Everybody loses, but sometimes violence is the answer. Sometimes the only way to make peace with your pain is to share it with someone else.
“My woman shouldn’t have seen that,” Ian says quietly. “You’re going to pay for making me do that in front of her.”