Page 86 of Ashes to Ash’s

“If you don’t want the full force of our entire organisation after you, you’ll obey me. There are hundreds of us. Thousands, even. We’ll wipe out every fucking pocket of anti-gay religious psychos we find, and we’ll start with you.”

He panicked, scooting across the carpet on his ass as I approached him.

“Stay here until we’re gone. Say nothing to your wife. We were never here. You never met us. One step wrong though, and we’ll find you, wherever you hide.”

I walked away. The guy was probably pissing his pants right about now, and you know what? That was fun. I was starting to understand what it meant to be a member of the Cross family. Life without restriction. Without rules or laws. Without fear. That’s what it boiled down to. Life without fear.

“Let’s go,” I said as I joined my family downstairs. Both were staring at me with interest, and I shrugged as I led us to the door.

“It’s done.”

“You killed him? Babe, I-”

“No, dammit. I have Ren’s paperwork, and uh… a little insurance to keep Dennis quiet.”

We stepped outside, and I watched Ren take one last look at the inside of the house before he nodded to himself and stepped out with us. I took his backpack and popped it in the boot of the car as he climbed in, still cradling the gold watch, his only real keepsake, and then we were off, away from those fuckers, and heading back for normality, or our version of it.

Ren took his brand new laptop and gaming suite up to his room, and Ash and I video-called his parents to update them.

“So they’re still alive?” Gray said, scratching his jaw with confusion. “Did we teach you boys nothing?”

“Gray! There was no need to kill them! Right?” We both nodded at Dory, and I held up what I’d taken.

“These are Ren’s papers, so he has his identity, and whether he wants it or not is his choice, but it didn’t belong with them. This here is a wad of cash old Dennis had lying around, oh, and his passport. Fucker isn’t going anywhere without that.”

All three of Ash’s parents stared at me with surprise.

“What? I figured I’d put the fear of god into him, ha, pun intended, and fuck with him a bit. We can do what we like with this.”

“We could sell it on the internet. Some identity thief might want it?”

I grinned at Ash, and then I remembered the phones. I dug them out and set them on the table, staring grimly at them. I was afraid of what was on them. Were they used for worse things than they’d done to Ren? He’d insisted they were just neglectful, but were they the key to something disturbing that we’d rather not know?

“Those belonged to fuckface?” I nodded at Gray, while Ash poked one of the phones with his fingertip, a grimace on his face.

“Is he some kind of kiddyfiddler?”

I shrugged. “No idea. I’m kind of scared of finding out what’s on these, but he really didn’t want me taking them.”

Ash’s dads exchanged a look that seemed to encapsulate an entire conversation in a split second. Freaky or not, their connection was beautiful to watch.

Dory nodded. “We’ll send Blaze to collect them. We’ll let you know what he finds out.”

“If he’s a perv, he dies,” I said firmly, briefly taken aback at my own vehemence, but you know what? Fuck it. If he’s messed with kids, he dies horribly. That should always be the case. Justice would be served by us, his executioners.

“Anything else?”

“Did you make sure he’s not coming after you both?” Wilma asked, wringing her hands nervously in front of her. Oh. I forgot about that part.

I started chuckling to myself, quite proud of my little subterfuge back at Dennis the dick’s house.

“Uh… I may have led him to believe we’re part of that anti-religion organisation that took responsibility for our other actions.”

Silence fell, and then laughter sounded, first from the other end of the call, and then Ash and I joined in. Even Wilma looked impressed. They knew about the outcome of that meeting with the police, of course, but I still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced it was legit, and not some weird Cross family trickery going on. Still, if it put the terror back in that guy’s eyes, and left him living with an eye looking over his shoulder for the rest of his days, I was more than okay with it.

Wilma sobered first, leaning closer to the screen. “Is Ren doing okay? He’s such a sweet boy.”

Yeah, how long before we corrupted him enough that he became anything but? I swallowed those words, because this was not an audience who’d see my point. All I could do was keep trying to keep Ren on the right path, one that kept him safe, and out of jail.