Surge (29 page)

“I don’t think I’m the one to judge,” he answers and looks at me. “What do you think, Jared? You’re the one whose blood used to flow south, whenever she came around.” Flipping him off, I ignore the question.

“I think that she won’t be turning any more heads with that hack job,” John announces.

“Thank you, John,” Olivia says with a quick smile in his direction. “That’s what I was hoping for. Now I just have to remove the tape, and we can talk.” Olivia grips one end of the duct tape, ripping it off in one wicked yank; so this leaves Victoria cursing with a red mark forming on both of her cheeks.

“Fucking cunt!” Victoria shrieks. “I’ll kill you.”

“I believe you tried that already,” Olivia replies dryly.

“This time he won’t stop me,” the red head counters as she grins wickedly.

“You aren’t going to have the chance, and neither will he, which we both know he would do again if you tried.” Red glares at Olivia, but she ignores it. “How about you cut the shit and tell me what I want to know?”

“Screw you,” Victoria says. “He loves me, and he’ll come for me. Just you wait and see.”

“Don’t hold your breath,” Olivia spits out. “He only cares about himself.” Victoria cackles like a witch.

“No, he loved you,” Red says. “He loved you
all
day,
ev-ery
day.” Olivia digs her gloved fingers into the woman’s cheeks.

“You don’t know what love is, you sick bitch, so don’t you fucking
dare
to desecrate that word again,” Olivia says in an icy tone. “Am I clear?” Red hair bobs in answer. Olivia shoves Victoria’s head back with so much force, that the chair almost tips over, before it rights itself. “How much of what Frank said is the truth?”

“None. He always was a good little soldier.”

“Don’t insult my friend here,” Olivia tips her head at Cory. “He was an actual soldier, and doesn’t take kindly to those who slander him or his brothers in arms’ profession. Especially those responsible for fucking with one of their own.” Cory cracks his knuckles and the red head pales as much as a ginger can.

“Fucking, alright already, Frank the good little
minion
that he was, knew better than to tell you anything. So, he pissed you off enough that he could take it with him to the grave.” Victoria smiles at that. “You don’t like talking about our time together, do you?” Olivia pulls her knife out and goes to lunge, but Cory holds her back with an arm around her waist. Whispering in her ear, Cory gets Olivia to nod and settle down before he releases her.

“Enough!” Olivia shouts and bitch smacks the red head. “Frank was a cowardly douchebag and he died one. How about you try to redeem yourself, and tell me where he is?”

“No,” Victoria replies. “It’s much more fun playing with you.” Pausing to lick her lips, she continues. “I bet you wouldn’t like for anyone to know how much of a whore you really are, now would you?” Cory grabs hold of the raging pixie before she strangles the life out of the taunting captive.

“Cory, let me stab this bitch!” Olivia shouts as she struggles to get away from his hold. She’s trying to land head-butts and elbows, but Cory expects them, and is able to evade the majority. “I promise I won’t kill her yet! Just one little slice, and I’ll back off.”

“No way,” Cory replies with a hard tone. “You’ll kill her, just like she wants you to.” Olivia growls, but stops struggling as she listens to him.

“Remember what we did to your boyfriend?” Cory tenses and Olivia pulls out her gun. “Do you remember him,
Livi
?” Olivia lunges forward and this time Cory doesn’t stop her, so she lands a pistol whip to the red head’s nose. Victoria laughs as blood trails down her lips and into her mouth.

“Funny, I recall doing something similar to him,” Victoria sneers.

“Shut the fuck up,” Olivia growls as she puts the gun to Victoria’s head. “Not another fucking word, do you hear me?”

“What was the name you kept whining about?” Olivia punches Victoria in the jaw, but that doesn’t stop the red head. She just spits more blood out of her mouth, along with a tooth, but keeps talking. “Something with a
‘T.’
Thomas, Terry, Timmy, no those weren’t it.”

“Don’t you fucking say his name,” Olivia hisses through clenched teeth.

“Ah, I remember now, it was Travis,” Victoria continues. Olivia smacks her, but that doesn’t stop Red. “He was the boy wonder, who kept pleading for us to let you go.” Olivia covers her ears and sinks to the floor before curling up into the fetal position. “
‘Please, just let her go. Do whatever you want to me, just leave Livi alone.’
” Victoria smiles in triumph at Olivia’s distraught form on the floor. “
‘She’s carrying our baby.’
”

I’m sick to stomach and want to choke the life from the bitch, so I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Olivia’s feeling right now. I look down at her curled form that’s shaking on the floor as she starts singing something softly to cover up the noise getting through her gloved hands. Whatever the song is, it sounds just as mournful as she looks.

“But what did Cole do?” Victoria continues. “He kicked that precious baby right on out of you because he wasn’t going to share you with a bastard.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Cory roars before he kicks Victoria’s chair over. Stomping over to Olivia, he stoops down to scoop her up and carries her out the condo with Victoria’s cackle echoing behind them.

“John, grab the duct tape so we can gag this bitch,” I say and glance over at him. John looks like he wants to snuff the life out of the red headed skank himself, but grabs the duct tape from the floor.

“Are you sure you want to gag me, Jared?” Victoria taunts. “Then you wouldn’t hear about your new whore
Livi’s
time with us.”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” John snarls at her. Victoria ignores him and keeps talking from her position on the floor.

“That slut lured Cole away from me,” she spits out. “Flaunting her dark hair, huge tits and red lips. That whore forced Cole to abandon my bed, and go to hers. Every. Single. Night.” The crazed red head starts crying at this point. “For months he ignored me, until I just couldn’t take it anymore. So, what did I do? I snuck in one day while she was alone and chained up in the basement. First, I cut off all of hair.” Red sniffles a little before spitting on the floor. “Even then the cunt was beautiful, so I stabbed her a few times to make her hurt like she hurt me. But she didn’t so much as squeak.” I try covering her mouth, but Victoria bites my hand.

“The slut just stared at me with those dead eyes of hers, as if she didn’t even care one bit that she was ruining my life. Like stealing my man was no big deal. And that’s when I pulled my knife out, and held it to her throat, before I started carving.” Victoria’s now heaving out her words through her tears.

“But I didn’t get to finish. Cole found me and tore me off of her.
‘The bitch is mine, and no one touches her without my permission.’
” Another bark of insane laughter bubbles from her throat. “If he only knew how many of his men were touching her without his
precious
permission. She’s nothing but a no good slut.”

I want to puke. I didn’t think that I had such a weak stomach, but hearing this tiny tidbit makes Olivia’s delicious rabbit stew curdle up in my stomach like spoiled milk. My mouth is even watering with that pre-vomit excess saliva, to the extent that I have to force myself to swallow hard in an attempt to keep the bile from climbing up my throat.

“Jared, just let me kill her,” John pleads. “She’s not going to tell us anything, and it isn’t right to make Olivia relive this shit. Once was more than enough.”

“No, as much as I would love to kill her myself, Olivia deserves the honor of it. This insane bitch can wait until she decides what to do with her.”

Motioning him forward, I lift the chair back up and grip what’s left of the red hair to keep her head place. Victoria starts struggling and screaming out curses at Olivia, but we just stuff a dirty sock in her mouth, and wrap a roll’s worth of tape over her mouth. Once it’s secure, I release my hold and back far away from the deranged woman who tormented Olivia out of twisted jealousy. And that’s what it was, since it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Olivia wasn’t a willing participant in whatever that sick fuck named Cole did to her.

He kept her chained in a basement like an animal for months. That’s where those scars on her wrists came from, and I want to find the bastard so that I can do some chaining of my own. There’s no telling how many other scars are hidden beneath her leather armor. Because that’s exactly what it is, armor to protect herself from humans and wheezers alike. I feel nauseous and furious all at the same time. Nauseous from hearing about a small portion of Olivia’s past, and pissed because of what happened to her.

She watched her fiancé plead for the life of her and their baby with his last breath, lost said baby moments before losing the love of her life, was kidnapped by her family’s murderers, chained in a basement, and tortured for months. Who knows what happened in that basement, but it could have only gotten worse from there. There’s no wonder now as to why Olivia is the way she is. She’s suffered the worst of mankind, and is still breathing to live through more.

Not anymore. I’ll kill anyone who so much as sneers in her direction.

<~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~>

After we finish tying her up, John and I leave the red head upstairs for some much deserved solitary confinement. As much as I would love to gut her, it isn’t my place to seek revenge when nothing actually happened to me. Olivia prevented the raid, and has suffered much worse at the hands of the true psycho upstairs.

Walking into our condo, I see a room full of wide eyed people, all of which are staring down the hall. That’s when I hear the keening wail coming from somewhere down there. Pushing past Marissa, Chelsea and the twins, I move down the hall. Whitney, Danny and Sarah are standing at the door to the office. I don’t bother trying the door, since I know I’ll find it locked.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asks with a worried frown on her face.

I shake my head at her, no way in hell am I sharing anything that Victoria screamed out. Olivia suffered enough, she doesn’t need pity; even as much as it is deserved, to be thrown at her from every angle. I shoo them away from the door before I try knocking. It’s ignored, maybe because they can’t hear it over Olivia’s crying. I try it again before I pull out my keys and let myself in. Quickly locking it back up behind me, I turn to find Cory curled behind Olivia, and holding her on the twin mattress. Hysterical is putting it lightly.

The room has been torn apart; things thrown about and furniture tipped over, but I couldn’t care less about things, when I’m witnessing the break of a strong woman. Olivia is still making a dying animal noise from somewhere in her throat, is it from having it carved up? Or is that natural for the amount of pain she feels, after having an emotional wound being torn wide open?

I’m not sure I want to know, but I do want to make it stop, since it sounds painful for her to be doing. Stepping toward the bed, I squat down and cautiously reach my hand out. Ignoring Cory’s warning glare, I slowly place a hand on Olivia’s head and move it to pat down her hair. It’s what my mom used to do when we were upset, so I’m hoping her mom did something similar.

Olivia stops making that noise as teary eyes peak up from their hiding place in her forearms. She stares at me for a few seconds, but doesn’t stop me from soothing her. I keep my hand sliding in slow movements from the crown of her head to her neck until her breathing evens out. She hiccups a few times and clings to Cory’s arm, which is wrapped securely around her waist, like it’s a lifeline. Rubbing her face with her sleeve, I look discreetly at her turtleneck. I’m wondering how it looks to live through having your throat carved by a psycho, but she must catch me.

“You know?” Olivia whispers and I nod. “How much?”

“Not much, she just admit trying to kill you. And I want you to tell me anything you want to, but only when you’re ready.” Olivia nods. I clear my throat and ask as quietly as possible, “Can I see?”

In answer, she pulls the cuff on her turtleneck down a few inches. I raise my hand and ask with my eyes to touch them, to which Olivia gives a small nod, before I do. She holds her breath as I gently trace the scars with one finger. There are multiple deep grooves etched into her skin. Some are jagged and begin just under her chin and end somewhere beneath the shirt. Many are dark pink, and some are a faded white. More are crisscrossed on the sides of her neck, making it appear as if Victoria was trying to behead her with a dull knife. The dullness of the knife, is most likely what saved Olivia’s life.

“Not so pretty anymore, huh?” Olivia asks. She doesn’t sound like herself at all, it’s like she’s used up all the strength her throat can handle. I shake my head as I remove my hand and glare at her.

“You are beautiful regardless of what that psycho did to you,” I answer her. “Don’t you ever let her win.”

“Trust me, I plan on winning against that bitch,” she says with a rasping voice. She starts coughing, so I walk over and grab her some bottled water from the cooler in the corner. Taking it with a small grateful smile, she sits up and takes a drink.