“Oh my God!” His eyes grow wide, panic flickering over his features as he takes in the long blade I’ve drawn free. I have no qualms using it on him either. In fact, I plan on it. He deserves to feel pain before I eventually take his life. “No, no, no! I promise I have a use.”
I pull the metal folding chair from off to the side, opening it and setting it directly in front of him. I spin the chair around, straddling it so the back is to my front, offering my bulky frame a bit of support as I lean forward. “You gonna tell me about what happened, or am I going to bleed you out and bury you?”I probably won’t even go to that much trouble, I’m sure there’s a ravine not too far from here I can toss his frail ass into and be done with him.
His mouth opens and closes, reminding me of a fish. His brow beads with sweat, his hair oily and matted, tear streaks staining his cheeks while he attempts to come up with something to say, to keep himself alive. He doesn’t realize he’s only buying himself time to speak, not to live. “I-”
I interrupt him, one hand resting on the back of the chair, the other on my knee, holding the intimidating knife, ready to make this weasel scream. “Thetruth. Anything else is worthless to me. Now, tell me why you hurt my woman.”
“Who’s your woman?” He whispers, buying time. He’s treating me like I’m stupid. He knows damn well who I mean, from when I previously told him he could’ve partnered with the best dancer out there. Deep down, he’s more than aware it’s Raven, and it infuriates me how he thinks he can sit here and play me for a fool.
I nod. “Okay.” Standing again, I pull his foot forward and begin removing his shoe. His fancy dress sock is next, and once it’s removed as well, I’m met with some ugly ass feet. His toes are smooshed and crooked, looking like someone got to them before we did.
“Damn,” Angel murmurs behind me once he catches sight of the fucked up toes from looking over my shoulder. He’s thinking the same thing I am, that Twinkles Toes has pissed too many people off.
“It’s a small price to pay when you’re an artist. I bewitch people with my dance,” my prisoner states haughtily. Raven’s feet aren’t pretty, but they damn sure don’t look like this. The guy must be torturing himself dancing on them like this, which he deserves, if so.
“You don’t do shit. You hurt innocent women. Big mistake on your part,” I comment, nodding so Angel holds the foot in place for my next plan. Not that twinkle toes can move much, he’s literally tied to a chair, but I don’t want him to shift his foot, and I end up chipping the tip of my blade. It’d only piss me off more than I already am, and I don’t think rage stabbing him to death is the way to go with this one.
I grab the first mangled toe, forcing myself not to cringe. I’m not scared of shit, but fucked up feet do give me the creeps. “This little piggy went to the market,” I sing and chuckle, then cut it off. Blood pours out and twinkle toes damn near screams the place down. “Geez. Shut up, guy, you’ll give us a headache with your hollering. Don’t open your trap unless you plan on telling me what I want to know.”
He’s sobbing uncontrollably at this point, shaking like a weak little dick. “Y-you’ve ruined my career! Ruined it! I need my toes.”
Shaking my head, I can’t find it in me to feel an ounce of empathy for this motherfucker. He’s ruined Raven’s chances and dreams, and she had much worse done to her at his hands than I’ve done so far. “I’m just getting started. Feel like talking yet?”
“F-fuck y-you!” He continues to stammer, with spit gathering around his mouth like a classless fuck. He glares at me, and it takes everything inside not to laugh in his face at his mini temper tantrum. He thinks being angry and hurling insults at us will benefit him in any way? He’s dumber than I thought.
With a nod, I continue, “This little piggy stayed home.” I skip the next toe.
He sighs in relief, but it’s short-lived.
“This little piggy had ballet,” I chop through it suddenly, my move being met with a bloodcurdling scream. He has no idea this is my warm-up, a taste at what I will do to his body should I need answers and he not willingly offer them up.
“Please,” He begins to beg, but I ignore the word.
“This little piggy had none.” I skip the next toe, glancing up, taking in his face with a sinister smile, knowing what comes next.
I pause long enough for him to offer anything, but his lips are screwed up tightly, tears still trailing down his cheeks.
Since he refuses to talk, I nod again, giving Angel a heads up that I’m continuing. “And this little piggy, went,” I begin stabbing his foot and the last toe in the same succession as my words, “Wee, wee, wee, all the way home!” When I finish, he has two remaining toes left on his mangled first foot. The outer edge looks like it’s gone through a meat slicer, all chopped up from the deadly tip of my knife.
“Okay,” he gasps, gagging. His face is an unnatural shade of pale, taking on a greenish hue. I don’t think he’s going to make it through the next foot, and so help me, if he pukes on me, we’re going to have another problem entirely. I’ll have to cut his tongue out for it. “I-I’ll t-t-talk.”
Taking my seat again, Angel steps off to the side, and we wait. I need to find out who he was working with, if anyone, so I can punish them too. A moment of calm overtakes me as I deeply inhale and then exhale, practicing the breathing technique my woman often does, hoping it’ll ground me. I have to keep my head straight so I get everything out of him I need to.
With a sigh, I ask, “Why did you hurt Raven?”
“It wasn’t my idea,” he pauses for a few seconds. “At first,” he eventually admits.
I gesture for him to keep going.
“The company who was scouting me didn’t like that she was getting more attention than their prima ballerina. They had her under contract and couldn’t afford to bring someone on like me and Raven at the same time, on top of paying their othercontracts.” He shuts up again, so I point my knife at his opposite foot.
“That one’s next, if you don’t keep going,” I threaten.
His lips tremble as he admits, “I knew they needed a male dancer more than a female performer at the moment. Theirs was talented, but not at the level Raven was, but they’d already signed the other woman, so they couldn’t afford two female prima ballerinas, not to mention it would look poor on their part to announce one as their lead then immediately replace her with another. The company is held to such high esteem, it would’ve appeared as if they’ve lost their touch in finding the best talent out there. Knowing all of this, I offered to make sure Raven didn’t dance in the next show we were practicing together for, and they gave me my contract.”
Angel lowly whistles behind me.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
