“Let me guess.” Sid snapped his fingers and pointed at Jax. “You were one of those men the shaman taught.”
“I didn’t rape her. Is that what that bitch said? She’s fucking lying.” Rod went to stand up, but was slammed back down.
“Shut the fuck up and listen,” Jax warned, his eyes black as night.
“Yeah, I want to hear the rest, Rod.” Sid’s face indicated he was loving every fucking minute of this.
“In my tribe, the punishment reflected the abuse,” Jax continued. “If a man hit a woman, his hands were removed. If he bit a woman, his teeth were removed, and not in a pleasant way. Everything was done so that the bastard would live with his punishment and disgrace, every day.”
“So what if they called her a bitch?” Sid asked, using his head to point at Rod.
“Then the nearest male would punch him in the mouth.” Jax did just that before pushing Rod all the way back on the weight’s bench. “This is your only warning. If you ever come near Caroline or her family again, I will hunt you down, and believe me, you don’t want me hunting you down because once I find you, and I will find you, I will relive my roots and deal out every punishment I’ve ever learned. It will be painful and you will be hideous, but you will live. You understand me, motherfucker?”
Rod nodded, tears rolling out of the side of each eye. He tried to answer, but choked on the blood from his mouth. “Yes,” he finally muttered past his broken teeth and swelling lips.
Sid walked over with a bench lift bar loaded down with weights, setting it down across Rod’s chest. “I’m kind of impressed, Rod. If I was you, I’d be scared enough to piss myself.” Sid let go of the bar so all the weight kept Rod immobile, before he looked at Jax. “Hey, didn’t you guys scalp people also?”
“Yes.” Was all Jax said as he pulled out a butterfly knife, opening it with flare. “Our knives were a little bigger, but this would do.”
Sid nodded, and then looked down at Rod’s crotch as his red shorts became darker with piss. “And there it is,” Sid grinned. “Figured that would do it.”
Jax leaned over Rod. “Remember, you cannot hide from me.”
Rod nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, a low keening coming from his throat.
As Jax and Sid walked toward the exit, Sid grinned. “Now that was fun.”
Jax mumbled, still in his rage-mode.
“So what tribe were you with?” Sid glanced at him sideways.
“The one you didn’t want to fuck with, white man.” Jax pushed his way out the door.
“Point taken.” Sid nodded with raised eyebrows, and then smiled. “I’m going to like you, Chief. Now let’s go home and I’ll fix you up some grub.”
“That’s cowboy slang, dumbass.” Jax turned his head away so Sid couldn’t see his half smile. This fucker was nuts, but funny as hell.
Chapter 13
After hours of lying awake, Jill headed to the kitchen, grumpy and sexually frustrated. She had thought of many nasty, painful ways to torture Slade. After a cold shower, which didn’t help her one bit and proved the belief that cold showers helped a sexually frustrated individual was total bullshit, her ways of torture turned even more evil.
“Well, hello, sunshine.” Steve smiled at her from the table.
Ignoring him, other than a growl, Jill headed for coffee. Grabbing the biggest cup she could find, she poured and poured, dumped half a bowl of sugar in and took a long drink, loving the burn going down her throat. Bringing the cup down, she sighed then looked around at everyone staring at her.
“What?” she glared, not in the mood.
“You want some food with your cup of sugar?” Sid eyed her closely.
Shaking her head, she poured more coffee and sugar into her cup and walked to the table to sit down across from Steve. Jax sat on one end drinking coffee. Adam had just walked over with food falling off the edges of his plate and sat down.
“So when do your stripping lessons start?” Adam dug into his food, waiting for her to answer.
Pulling the hood up around her head, Jill frowned. “Tessa texted me this morning. I have to meet them around noon at the bar.”
“Good.” Sloan had walked in on the conversation, followed by Jared and Slade. “That will give you plenty of time to practice your driving. Congrats on passing the written. Monday you test for your driving permit and you better be ready. I had to pull in a few favors to get you in before your required time.”
Well, that sure as hell didn’t add any pressure. What she really wanted to say was ‘can’t I even drink a full cup of coffee before you’re on my ass about something’,’ but instead, responded with, “Yes, sir.” Seriously, she wanted to live, but was just having a minute to relax too freaking much to ask?
“Who’s free this morning to go with her so she can practice driving?” Sloan looked around.
“Ah, well, I ah…” Adam about choked on his egg when Sloan’s eyes fell on him.