Feel My Pain Part 2

Feel My Pain Part 2
She began to break the dishes and in no time a large portion of the floor was covered in shattered glass and porcelain fragments. I could see on Rhino’s face that he was not the least bit amused, but he didn’t say anything to her. Hell, I wouldn’t have either. It was clear how badly she needed to do all of this. When Rhino glanced at me, I nodded, telling him that I would clean up the mess. I mean, how could I not? He had given her permission to use the basement of the bar he owned without hesitation. Cleaning up her mess was the least I could do.

When she was done breaking all the glass dishes, the only thing left on the table was a decent sized cast iron skillet that I was pretty sure was actually mine. She rolled her shoulders as she made her way back to the table to pick up the skillet. She turned back to Carl, smiling almost giddily as she transferred the frying pan from hand to hand, testing the weight. She took a few practice swings before tossing it up in the air and catching it without hesitation.

“You know, every time you hit me, pushed me, or raped me, all I could think about was getting away. My brain never told me to stay and fight. It never gave me ideas. It never thought about picking something up and beating you to death. All I wanted was to get away from you.” She tilted her head as she met his eyes. “And then I met Maddie. You know the girl that I was with at the mall? You threatened her. You called her out of her name. Well, let me tell you about her. She has a fascination with punching people in the throat, and since she can’t be here to do it herself, please allow me. Cobra, can you let the belt go for a moment?”

The moment Cobra let it loosen, Laurel reared back before sending her fist flying straight at Carl’s throat. When he started to cough and sputter, Laurel very sweetly gave Cobra permission to tighten the belt again, leaving Carl struggling to breath even more. As she raised the skillet above her head, his eyes widened in panic. The first blow that landed on his body sent a shockwave through me. That one hit screamed pain. Not physical pain. Emotional and mental pain, and sometimes that was worse. It was clear that she had a vendetta against him and I was not in the least bit surprised when shock crossed her face.

“Whoa! That was…” She glanced at me. “I’m sorry about your pan.”
I waved my hand. “It’s expensive cast iron. Have fun.”

Her eyes lit up gleefully before she started to repeatedly hit him with the pan. Each blow left rapidly forming bruises that had me grimacing. I was definitely making a lot of notes of what to keep away from Maddie when I pissed her off. Now I was seriously debating if having her around my sister was a good thing. Maddie had been almost timid when she came home to me. Now she was feisty, and her feistiness had more than worn off on Laurel, who had also been very innocent and almost withdrawn from life just like Maddie had been. Suddenly, one of the skillet’s blows caused a loud crack that had Carl’s body arching off the table, and I could almost see the panic on Laurel's face as the frying pan fell out of her hand, landing on the floor with a loud clatter that made her flinch before she bent down to scoop it up, checking it over thoroughly. When she realized it wasn’t broken, relief washed over her face.

“Oh, God, I thought I broke it!” She gave Carl a breathtaking smile. “You must be what broke. Good! Now you know how I felt all of those days, while I prayed for freedom.” She rolled her head, stretching her neck. “Anyway, can we untie him? I’m ready for him to crawl to me like the little bitch he tried so hard to make me!”

While Rhino began to disconnect Carl from the table, Laurel grabbed a chair before dragging it to the other side of the minefield made of shards. When Carl was completely unhooked, Rhino shoved him off the table, causing him to gasp for air. Cobra climbed to his feet before yanking on the belt to use it as a makeshift leash. As Carl struggled to move across the glass, he kept flinching and grimacing in pain, and all it did was excite Laurel more. The more Carl’s head drooped, the wider Laurel’s smile got. When he was in front of her, she bent down to tip his face up so that he was looking into his eyes.

“You broke easier than I thought you would,” she sneered. “To think that I accomplished in less than an hour what it took you years to accomplish! Who’s really the stronger of the two of us? It’s certainly not you. Now, open your mouth like a good bitch!” When Carl did as she asked, she spit into his mouth. “Now swallow! What a good little bitch you are!”

She raised a leg before slamming it into his arm, making it slide out from him and sending him pitching forward into the glass. He screamed out in agony and when he was forced back up, I saw blood dripping from his chest where several pieces of glass and porcelain had lodged themselves.

“Rhino?”

“Yes, Laurel?”

“Can you help me get the food from upstairs while Carl remains in the glass?” she asked him.

He grimaced but nodded. “Yeah.”
When the two of them disappeared out of the basement, Blade leaned toward me. “Did you know that it was this bad?”

“No, but I’m glad that she’s getting it out. She needed this so much, and I have no doubt that after this, she’s going to feel a lot better,” I told him.

“Yeah, but who’s going to clean up the mess? I usually do, but I do not want to clean up this one,” he grumbled, making me chuckle a little.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad. Just get a broom and sweep it up!” I teased.
“It’s glass! We’ll be finding shards for the next year and a half,” he complained.

I shook my head as a grin graced my lips. “I’ll clean everything up. Laurel is my responsibility. I’m not going to make anything she does anyone else’s responsibilities.”
“Thanks, Joey.”

We fell silent as Laurel and Rhino walked back into the room. Each of their arms were loaded with bags of obviously hot food if the steam coming up out of the bags were anything to go by. I was not looking forward to what she was about to do, but I understood her desire to punish him in some of the ways that he had hurt her. She spread 6 to-go containers on the table before opening them and combining 5 of them into two. When they were loaded until nothing else could fit into them, she took them one at a time over to Carl, where she dumped the contents onto him, which immediately caused his skin to turn red while he screamed the best he could as he tried to escape from the glass to no avail. When she was done, she cast Cobra an apologetic look.
“I hope I didn’t burn you, and I’m sorry about your clothes. I promise to replace them,” she told him.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s fine. Nothing that a good soak in the washer can’t fix,” he chuckled before looking down at Carl, who had collapsed on the glass, unconscious again. “I think he’s about had it though. What do you want us to do with him?”

“Put him back on the table,” she instructed.

I studied her face while Rhino and Cobra got Carl back on the table and restrained him to it again. Laurel’s face held a multitude of emotions, but when she met my gaze, she relaxed a little.

“I think I’m done.”

I climbed to my feet as I nodded. “Okay, Laurel. Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

She shook her head. “No. I want to clean this up. You guys shouldn’t have to.”

I studied her face for another moment before nodding. “Okay. You sweep while I get a bucket of water and chemicals set up to mop.”

“Okay.”

Blade got her a broom and a dust pan, and she immediately began to work on sweeping everything up. By the time she was done, she was shaking. After I wheeled the bucket over to her, I opened my arms.

“Come here, Laurel.”

She instantly moved into my arms, clinging to me for a long time before stepping back.

“Thank you, Joey. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she turned around and walked out, sniffling a little. Blade raised an eyebrow at me.
“What now?” he asked.

“Now, it’s time to call Mason…”