Dean nodded. “I know.”
“She told me to tell you to hurry home. I think she’s worried about us.”
Dean got a sparkle in his eyes. It was the first time I had seen him like that. “Telling you to tell me to hurry home to her… She doesn’t realize what that means to me.”
Tara’s ex stirred and I kicked him. God, that felt good.
“Do you think she’s finally letting you in?”
Tara’s ex grunted and moved a little. Dean quickly punched him and he fell back down. “I hope so. I don’t know what I’d do if she turned me away now. I thought I was broken before, but that would completely crush me.” He looked down at the heap on the floor and sighed. “We’d better get started before he wakes up.”
“Where are we taking him?”
Dean smiled mischievously at me. “I know just the place. And Jimmy, my friend, I think you’re going to love this.”
I pulled the car into the garage and we dumped the scumbag into the boot. Dean drove about a half-hour into a dense forest. Pretty soon, we stopped outside a warehouse. It was in the middle of nowhere and not a person could be seen.
“How the fuck did you find this place?”
Dean smiled. “I always scope places, Jimmy, just in case. You never know when you might need something in a hurry.” He winked and I shook my head.
“You’re un-fucking-believable, do you know that?”
Dean laughed. “To be perfectly honest, I came here a few days ago to see about getting a new fence fitted around Tyler’s yard. The first day I went to her house, I noticed it wasn’t very safe. I’m getting one designed here. I met the owner and we started chatting. He told me about his rats.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Rats?”
Dean smiled. “Yeah, he keeps rats. Some of them are the size of cats. He showed me a couple in his office. Fucking huge bastards.”
I looked at Dean and quickly caught on to what he was saying. “I like your style, man.”
Dean laughed. “I knew you’d love it. This place is fucking perfect. He also let it slip that there was a pig farm about a mile down the road.”
That got my attention. I knew Dean had a huge affection for pigs. He loved them simply because they cleaned up the evidence. They eat everything…even the bones.
Dean opened the boot and a pair of terrified dark eyes greeted us. He was a little older than Tara and, for the life of me, I couldn’t seem to fathom how he had it in him to beat women up. Seeing him like that made him look every bit the pathetic creature he was. He was so fucking scrawny, his insecurities probably made him lash out. I bet he had never felt in control so he decided to take it out on Tara.
Now it was time to make him feel a little bit of what Tara felt. Now it was time to make him sweat.
Both Dean and I took one end of him and dragged him out of the boot. He struggled and grunted, but that just made me squeeze him tighter. “Stop fucking struggling, arsehole. You’ll only waste energy.”
We got to the door, but there was a padlock securely fastened. “What are we going to do? If we break that thing, the owner will know someone’s been here.”
Dean lowered him down and pulled out a lock pick. He smiled, bent down, and went to work unlocking the padlock. I looked around and made sure no one was coming. Nothing.
Pretty soon, I heard a click and Dean looked up. “See? No need to break it.” He bent back down and grabbed his legs to hoist him up, so I bent and wrapped my arms underneath his again.
We walked inside and I was careful to shut the door behind me. Inside, it was vast with machinery everywhere. It was a steelworker’s warehouse, and I understood straight away why Dean suddenly favored this place. It was the perfect setting for the ultimate torture.
“Stay here. I’m going to look around. We have to prepare and we have to be quick.”
Tara’s ex was grunting, mumbling something through his gag. I kicked him. “Shut the fuck up, wanker.” I bent down and grabbed his neck. His wide eyes stared back at me. “Tara is my lady now, you got that? Anyone who hurts what’s mine has to pay. You made the biggest mistake of your life coming back for her. You made the biggest mistake of your life the day you raised a hand to her. I don’t take too kindly to men hitting women, but I especially don’t take too kindly to someone who thinks they can hurt what’s mine.” I gripped and tugged harder on his neck. “I’m going to show Tara what it’s like to be loved by someone who will take care of her. Someone who will never, ever fucking hurt her. I’m going to show her that loving someone can come without pain. And the first way I’m going to show her that is by making sure she never has to worry about a fucking scumbag like you again. You’re going to regret the day you ever fucking dared to lay a hand on her.” I shoved him down to the ground. I needed to walk away for a moment because I could feel myself about to fucking lose it. I knew Dean was going to make him suffer a slow, agonizing death, and I had to make sure he got that.