Fighting the Last War

2

"How long has he been down there," Dev asked as I walked into the living room and headed directly to the coffee pot. Thankfully there was coffee already made and my favorite mug sat beside it.

"A few days," I said with a shrug. To be honest, I have gotten a bit distracted in the past few days, worrying about gang things, and trying to assure Jax that his dad was contained and would never get near him again; the man in my basement became the least of my worries but now that everything was settled I planned on spending the next several hours down there.

Given the time apart, I was sure he would have gotten some of his fight back or at the very least would have forgotten the rules.

"I don't see why you kept him alive," Barrett scoffed. "I would have killed him in the middle of the street and left him there."

"He doesn't deserve a simple death," I said easily as I poured the coffee. "I want him to suffer for what he's done. I don't know anything about the afterlife but if it really does exist I want his next self to flinch any time he even thinks about raising a hand to someone."

I don't wait for either of them to answer. Dev probably would have gone into lecture mode and Barrett would have offered to come help but I wanted this bastard all to myself.

I opened the door to the basement with much more force than I needed to but I loved seeing him flinch from the sound before a harsh glare was pointed in my direction.

"Good morning, Richard," I called as I skipped down the stairs. "I know you've probably been missing me. I apologize for leaving and not coming back but that just means we get to make up for lost time now."

"Fuck off," he scoffed and I smiled. Good. This is what I wanted.

"Oh, don't be like that," I teased as I walked over to the opposite wall. I scanned it a few times before stopping a whip covered in needles. I hummed as I took it off the wall and walked to the center of the room, where a table was there waiting for me. I placed the whip there before grabbing the chain hanging from the ceiling and pulling it down the a better height.

When I turned back to the wall, Richard was staring at me intently, his back pressed as far into the wall as he could go.

"Don't try running away now," I said as I inched closer to the wall. I didn't give him the chance to struggle before my hand gripped the chain connected to the spiked collar and pulled harshly to get him to settle down. "Calm down," I scoffed. "This isn't even that hard part." Getting the collar unlocked from the wall had taken a bit more effort than I would have wanted but I did love knowing the fight wasn't completely beaten out of him already.

I dragged him by the collar to the chain hanging from the ceiling. The clip of the chain clasped onto the loop of the collar and I hummed at how Richard hard to strain to keep the spikes from touching his skin.

I gave the chain a quick snap and Richard hissed, following the pain to try and relieve it before I walked to the crank in the corner.

I turned the crank gear by gear, watching as Richard had to stand on his tiptoes to keep the spikes from stabbing him.

"Does that feel comfortable," I asked as I locked the crank in place before coming to stand in front of him again.

"How about we reverse the roles here and we'll see how comfortable you find it," he scoffed. I hummed before picking up the whip.

"Do you want to be hit with this," I asked as I stood in front of him, showing off the whip in my hand and the needles sticking out of the multiple tethers.

"No," he scoffed, backing up just far enough before the collar around his neck could cause him any pain. "Are you fucking insane?"

"Yes," I said with a smile. "But I think you're forgetting the rules," I teased as I ran the whip across his skin just hard enough to leave scratches. He flinched away from the light touch but the second he tried to back away the spikes that lined the collar pierced his skin and he was forced to return to the place I put him. "What are the only words I want to hear you say?"