L.L. Foster - The Acceptance

Gaby struck out hard and fast, using the heel of her palm to punch him in the throat. With his larynx traumatized, he gargled and choked, reeling back in utter shock. While he remained off balance, she landed a solid, dead-on kick of her boot heel against his head.

The blow felled him and, dazed, he dropped to the side. But he was a hardy one, and after a second of choking, he shook his head to clear it. In slow motion, he lifted his bruising face to glare up at her. “Just who the hell are you?”

“Tonight,” Gaby told him as she advanced, “I’m vengeance. And that, you sadistic pervert, makes me your worst fucking nightmare.”

Issuing a roar, the man lumbered back to his feet and charged her.

Braced for the attack, Gaby went with the impact of his brawny body, rolled to her back, and kicked him away in one adroit move. It never even dawned on her to draw her knife. She needed physical release, and this was as close as she’d get.

Gutting him would end things too soon. She’d rather beat the shit out of him.

And so she did.

While he tried to get back to his feet, bracing up on one arm, Gaby kicked out his elbow. It snapped, and a splintered section of bone sliced through the skin. Blood poured out. The man screamed in agony.

In glacial hostility, Gaby stepped over him. “Get up, you pussy.”

Sweat bathed his face as he lolled to the side in agony. “You broke my fucking arm, you crazy cunt.”

Again making use of the heels on her boots, she stomped his solar plexus. “Sticks and stones, buddy. Now stand up .”

It took him a minute, but he got awkwardly to his feet. Holding his arm, he snarled at her. “If my arm wasn’t broke—”

“What?” Gaby taunted. She folded her arms behind her back. “Now we’re on even ground.” And so saying, she kicked his thigh, almost buckling his leg. Before he could recover his balance, she kicked his knee, and he went back down again.

Screaming at the pain it caused his broken arm, he curled into himself.

Heaving, Gaby kept her pose, arms behind her. “I’m not done.”

Horrified, he looked at Gaby. “What the hell do you want? I can’t fight. I can’t do anything.”

“Wanna bet?” She stomped his ankle, wrenching another raw scream from him. He had powerful lungs, and soon a large group of local denizens converged to watch the entertainment. Gaby paid them no mind. “Get up, or I’ll break your jaw.”

Tucking his uninjured arm over his face, he cringed tight. “I can’t, I tell you.”

Her fury made that unsatisfactory. “Stand up or so help me, I’ll destroy you where you are.”

He tried, she’d give him that. But while he was still on his knees, shaking badly, white as a ghost, Gaby accepted that he’d be no challenge now.

Disgusted, she put her boot to his face and shoved him back down. He sank backward, and she delivered one last debilitating blow to his nuts.

Maybe that, more than anything, would encourage him to think twice before hurting another woman.

“Jesus.” Jimbo dared to muscle his way in front of her. “Stop already. You’re going to kill him.”

Redirecting her wrath, Gaby fired on Jimbo. “And you fucking care? After what he did to Marie?”

Jimbo backpedaled.

Shaking all over, Gaby looked at the fallen man, at the blood splayed around him, his battered face and cowered position—and it didn’t help. Not even a little.

Softer now, her voice strained, she asked of no one in particular, “Do you really think I should fucking care?”

Marie touched her shoulder, and flinched when Gaby whirled to face her.

Through swollen lips, Marie tried a tremulous smile. “Thank you, Gaby. I’m okay now. I promise. You did more’n enough.”

Unseeing, heaving in her anger, Gaby put her head back and howled like a wild animal until her lungs hurt and her throat felt raw.

Why? Why did it not help?

But she knew. This pathetic excuse for a human being was only a poor substitute for her real target. God hadn’t even bothered to direct her to his misdeeds. What he had done, others did every day to women.

But that changed nothing.

Just like the guy who’d tortured Lucy, he deserved nothing less than death, but . . . Gaby turned away from him and went to Jimbo.

Again he backed up, then caught himself and withdrew a knife.

Gaby kicked it out of his hand without even thinking about it. “Ever pull a knife on me again, and you’ll regret it, Jimbo, do you understand?”

Red-faced and rigid, he refused to reply.

Gaby bumped her chest into his, so close that she breathed in his foul air, and smelled his acidic fear. “From now on, there will be no corrupt deviants who take pleasure in causing pain. You got that?”

His eyes narrowed. “Does that include you?”

Struck, Gaby locked her jaw.

Sensing that he’d hit a nerve, Jimbo pushed into her, backing her up a few steps. “Cuz bitch, it sure looked to me like you enjoyed yourself.”

“Shut up.”

Jimbo laughed. “I gotta tell ya, Gaby, I think that’s the only time I’ve ever seen you smile.”

The truth of that pierced Gaby, hurting her and leaving her sickened. She never had much reason for smiling—but taking on a sadist . . . yeah, that gave her pleasure.

She looked Jimbo dead in the eyes. “Maybe you should take that as a warning, huh?”

“Yeah, sure.” He shoved his way around her and went to the man on the ground. “Now who the hell is going to take care of this?”

“I can have a cop here in two minutes.” Just to piss off Jimbo, she fashioned another smile out of her starched lips. “Will that make you happy?”

“Fuck no.” He turned to Marie, looked her over with a frown. “Go fetch a few of the ladies. Get them up here real quick.” As she started to go, he stopped her with a hold on her arm. Ill at ease, he frowned some more before saying, “After you send them here, go on to your room and soak in the tub or something.”

Surprised, Marie nodded. “Okay, Jimbo.”

Awkward, Jimbo still hesitated. He dropped her arm and ran a hand through his hair. “Look, if you think you need a doctor or something . . .”

“I don’t.”

That reply didn’t really satisfy him, but he accepted it. “All right. Get going then.” Glaring at Gaby as if the bout of conscience was her fault, he pulled out his cell phone and put in a call.

Moving closer, Gaby listened in.

“This is Jimbo. Get your sorry ass over here double-time. I have a job for you.”

After he’d stowed the phone again, Gaby crossed her arms. “I take it that wasn’t an ambulance?”

He moved with palpable agitation. “That’d be worse than the cops. I have a guy coming over to get him out of here.”

Dire possibilities occurred to Gaby. She had no real concerns for the man, but hell, if she’d wanted him dead, she’d have killed him herself.

“Where will your friend take him, Jimbo?”

“What do you care?”

Annoying jerk. “If you’re planning to dispose of him, after I did a number on him but refrained from killing him, then I have a right to know.”

“God damn, you’re a bloodthirsty bitch. No, I’m not going to dispose of him. What the hell kind of crazy talk is that? I’m in the flesh trade, not the murder biz.” Twitchy with impatience, he waved a hand toward the fallen man. “I want him out of here, off my block, before anyone links him to me. That’s all.”

Selfish prick. She should have known.

The man groused a complaint, proving he was still very much alive. Jimbo looked down at him. “Hang on, you asshole. Don’t you dare die on me.”

“I need a doctor.”

“Yeah, well, tell me where you live and my man will take you there. What you do after that is your own damn business, but I suggest you figure out a story that keeps me and my girls out of it.”