Page 92 of Tico

“So, you’re the devil that thought you could get away with trying to kidnap and sellmi mujer(my woman)?” I say to him, referencing one of the first things Ember told me. That it was easier to live with the devil she knew. “You’re in my house now,güevón(asshole). And I’m going to enjoy making you pay for everything you did tomi mujer(my woman).”

Drone grins a bloody grin. “Just you wait. El Diablo will get his hands on her and your sister’s club.” His grin widens when he sees the muscles clenching in my jaw. “Did you think we’d forgotten about her? No, one day soon, El Diablo will get his hands on them and then you’ll never see them again. Or maybe he’ll even take you along as well so you can get a front row seat to his plans for them.”

I slice my knife deep into his skin.

“El Diablo will never get his hands onmi familia(my family). We cut the head off of the snake when we killed X. We can do it again with El Diablo. His days are numbered.”

I step back and turn to Psycho. “Psycho, I think our guests need a bit of a bath. Care to help us out,hermano(brother)?”

Psycho chuckles his crazy-assed chuckle and all five of them nervously try to turn and see what he’s doing.

He unrolls a hose and I share a dark grin with Ember as I step closer to her so I’m out of the way. He connects a white, plain bottle to a sprayer and when he steps closer to our guests, Daemon and Cobra pull the chains that raises a plastic sheet just high enough to protect us from the spray but so that we can still see their faces. Technically Psycho is skirting the line with this, but since he’s not physically putting his hands on Ashley, he’s in sort of a gray area, so I let it go.

Screams immediately erupt from all five of them and a moment later, Ember wrinkles her nose.

“Is that… bleach?” she asks quietly and Daemon just looks down at her, smirking in response.

“It stings like a motherfucker when you’re hit with that much at once and at that concentration,” Taco replies.

Ember laughs in response. Fucking laughs. Then her eyes widen and she starts laughing even harder.

“Oh, that’s perfect. Instead of mind bleach…eye bleach,” she says through her laughter which has me and a few ofmis hermanos(my brothers) chuckling as we catch on to what she means. Then she straightens, raising a hand to her mouth to shout over the screams. “Hey, Psycho, can you be a pal and make sure they clean their eyesreallywell. Those naughty boys and girl need to cleaneverythingafter what they’ve done. Well, maybe leave one eye undamaged.” She turns and smirks at me. “We wouldn’t want them missing out on their gifts later and the fun that’s to come.”

Psycho fucking cackles in response. “That’s our Queenie!” Then he turns to our guests. “You heard our Queen. Gotta get you lot squeaky clean!”

Chief pulls some plastic, protective seal or some shit out of his kit and hands them to Daemon. He and Cobra help Psycho secure them over one eye on each of our guests. Then they place some tape over it to further protect the eye. When they’re done, they step back and raise the plastic even further to make sure none of us are sprayed accidentally. Once Psycho has his gear on, he does as Ember requested and turns on the hose. Instantly, their screams of pain bounce off the walls.

After a few minutes, I signal to Clutch and he and Radar put on thick metal working gloves before grabbing a large roll of barbed wire off the wall. Clutch whistles loudly and a moment later, Psycho turns off the hose. Daemon and Cobra grab the squeegee’s and start pushing the excess water and bleach down the center drain before lowering the front plastic shield.

Radar holds the roll while Clutch steps forward towards Kane first and starts wrapping the barbed wire around various parts of his body.

“Please, please, don’t…” Zane begs.

Clutch pulls tighter on the section he’s securing around his arm. Then he gets right in Zane’s face. “If you wanted mercy, then maybe you shouldn’t have betrayed us in the first place, jackass.”

Zane sobs but none of us pay him any attention. He knew from the day he joined us what the consequences were for betrayal. Thecabrón(fucker) just never thought we’d catch him before he disappeared.

Once Clutch has the men’s bodies wrapped in wire, he guides and tells Ember what to do as she does the same to Ashley. Then, Psycho steps forward with another spray bottle—this one filled with a yellow liquid.

He walks up and down the aisle in front of and behind our guests, periodically spraying the liquid on them. Sometimes he hits the same spot twice in a row, sometimes he hits a new spot. The barbed wire cuts into their already tender and burned skin with every movement they make. Each one of them starts sobbing and crying with increased pain as the liquid seeps into their injuries.

Ember frowns as she watches him, trying to figure out what it is in the bottle.

I lean down. “It’s pure lemon juice.”

She smiles darkly and nods. “Fuck, you guys have thought of everything.”

I look down at her, in awe at how she isn’t freaking out about what we’re doing and that she’s not judging us.

She really did mean it.

She really meant she’s willing to help us with any problem we might have.

When Psycho steps away, I push off the table and walk over to Zane. “What all were you and Ashley doing behind our backs? Or should I have Daemon come over and work his magic on you? You know what all he’s capable of. Are you sure you want that?”

Earlier, with Lucian and Creed’s help, we were able to identify everything they had done, but I want to hear it from his mouth.

“No!” Ashely screeches. “Don’t tell him anything!”