Warrick stared at Nick for what seemed like hours. His breathing was deep and slow. A puddle had formed around his head from the water and turned the beige carpet a dark brown. When Nick had stopped struggling to pull himself up and went still, Warrick thought he had drowned. Those couple minutes of panic were something he had felt before involving Nick.
Now that he knew most of the story, Warrick didn't really blame Nick for not telling him. Although the things he had done were to help his brother, they still weren't legal and got a lot of people hurt. He had a completely different perspective of Nick now. He knew that he had become a CSI to try and make right what he had done wrong, and having once been a criminal himself is what made him so good at his job. But what if Nick had more secrets? He felt like everything he knew about Nick had been a lie and he didn't know anything about his best friend.
Looking down at Nick's pale face and thinking about everything they've went through made Warrick realize he didn't care about any of that. Okay, so Nick made some mistakes and did some things that he shouldn't have. But he had done it to help his brother, not because he necessarily wanted to. Despite all the things he's done in his past, Nick was still the best friend Warrick had ever had. He was pretty much the only friend he had ever had. Over the last few years, he looked at Nick as more than that. He was the brother he never had and would do anything to protect him. They had been to hell and back together, becoming better friend in the process. Warrick wasn't going to let this ruin it.
Warrick wished that Nick would wake up, or that someone would say something. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable position to be in. He wasn't involved in any of this other than by being Nick's best friend. He felt bad he couldn't do more to help, but he had only half made sense out of everything he knew. Not many things scared Warrick Brown, but he would admit that he was scared now. He was focusing more on his best friend lying on the floor than the details of what was going on.
When Nick finally began coughing water out of his lungs and rolled onto his side, relief washed over Warrick. He watched as Nick slowly sat up and caught his breath before looking around him. He sighed when he saw Eric and Tony, but didn't make eye contact with Warrick. He hadn't expected him to, but Warrick wanted to see Nick's eyes to see how he was holding up.
"Game's over already?" Nick asked.
Eric seemed to be more patient now than he had been. "Yeah, I got sick of you trying to lose. It's no fun that way."
Nick nodded. "Where's Jeremy?"
"I thought you didn't care about him?"
"Of course I do. He's my brother. What did you do to him?"
Eric smiled slightly. "Don't worry, he's fine. Just in another room hanging out with Ray. I'm sure they'll get along fine." Eric motioned to Tony, who nodded before leaving the room. He closed the door behind him. "Now Nick, I'm gonna give you one last chance. Out by the pool, you challenged me to do better to make you tell me what I want to know. That's dangerous for you and your friend here."
"Leave him alone." Nick said firmly.
"I'm not sure I can do that. I found your weakness, and I'm going to use it against you if I have to. But not right away. I have something worse planned just for you first, unless you help me out."
"Nick, just tell him where it is man." Warrick pleaded. He didn't want to see his brother go through any more awful experiences.
Nick ignored Warrick, though it took some effort to do so. He could tell Warrick was scared, and he was too. He was just doing a better job at hiding it. "Give me your best shot Eric." Nick said.
Eric nodded. "As you wish." As if on cue, Tony came back into the room with Ray behind him. Ray had a hammer and Tony had a bag of nails, and they both had evil smiles on their faces. Eric pulled his gun out of the back of his pants and pointed it at Nick. "Stand up."
"You won't shoot me. It's probably not even loaded."
Eric adjusted the gun slightly and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out of the barrel and skimmed across Nick's left shoulder before hitting the wall, leaving a deep cut in Nick's flesh in the process. "Stand up." He repeated.
This time Nick stood. His hair was still wet from the pool and water was running down his face and neck. Tony and Ray handed their tools to Eric before walking over to Nick and grabbing him. They pushed him back against the wall and held him there, waiting for Eric.
"This is your last chance Nick. Tell me where it is."
"Fuck you." Nick said.
Eric nodded. Upon doing so, Tony and Ray each grabbed one of Nick's wrists and put them flat against the wall a few inches above his shoulders and away from his face. They used their other hand to hold his shoulders against the wall as well. One of their arms was stronger than both of Nick's, and Nick was a pretty strong guy.
Eric pulled a a couple two inch nails out of the plastic bag and walked over, standing toe to toe with Nick. "I'm afraid I'm going to enjoy this a lot more than you." Over his shoulder to Warrick he said, "Try anything, and we'll kill you both."
He held the nail against Nick's open palm and smiled before raising the hammer and slamming it against the top of the nail. Nick yelled out in pain as the steel pushed its way into his flesh. It took another couple whacks before it was completely through his hand and into the wall, holding it there firmly. Blood trailed down from the nail down Nick's arm all the way to his elbow. Eric did the same thing with Nick's other hand before stepping back and sighing in satisfaction. Ray and Tony stepped back as well.
Nick clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could and tried not to think about the searing pain in his hands. His knees started shaking from dizziness and the pain, but he knew he couldn't let them buckle. If they did, all of his weight would be put on the nails that were now pinning his hands against the wall behind him. Blood dripped from his elbows onto the carpet, leaving dark red stains. He didn't open his eyes even though he knew Eric was now standing in front of him again.
Warrick stared open mouthed at the awful sight in front of him. It was hard to watch, but he couldn't look away. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it wouldn't go away. He wanted to get up and beat Eric with the hammer until he stopped moving for what he had just done to his best friend. But all he could do was sit there and watch Nick.
Eric pulled a pocket knife from his pants and flipped it open. He held it against Nick's throat with such force blood started to trickle down from the tiny cut he was causing with the sharp blade. Nick opened his eyes and stared at Eric. His hands were throbbing and he was starting to lose the feeling in his fingers.
"You're really making a mess out of one of my guest rooms Nick." Eric said sarcastically. He took the blade off of Nick's neck and moved it to his left collarbone. He pressed it down until he ripped the fabric of Nick's shirt and began dragging it diagonally across Nick's chest, cutting the t-shirt and Nick's skin. The cut wasn't too deep, but deep enough. Eric ripped off Nick's shirt and threw it on the water and blood stained carpet. "Feel like telling me where the package is yet?" He asked.
Nick shook his head. "Nah, I think I'll wait to lose a little more blood before I let you know. Thanks for asking though."
Eric punched Nick in the ribs with his knife free hand before reached up and grabbing Nick's elbows. "You've made a very, very big mistake." He pulled down on Nick's arms, cauing his hands to restrain against the nails. Nick yelled out again and kneed Eric in the groin. He stumbled back a few feet before straightening back up and glaring at Nick. He moved so fast and so close to Nick that their noses were almost touching.
"You're gonna regret that."
"What are you gonna do, kiss me?" That earned Nick a punch to the jaw. He spit blood from his mouth and looked back at Eric. "You can do better than mock crusifying me, can't you?"
Eric nodded. "Oh yeah I can. And I plan to." He pressed the edge of the knife against Nick's skin right above where the line of his boxers started. Nick tried to pull back, but the wall behind him prevented him from doing so. "Why don't we add castration to crusifixtion?"
Nick looked down at the knife above his groin, then back at Eric. "You're gonna need a bigger knife."
Under any other circumstances, Warrick would have burst out laughing. Except he knew that this was gonna piss Eric off and intice him to follow through with what he wants to do to Nick. He closed his eyes tightly and turned his head, unwilling to watch.
Eric didn't respond to Nick's suggestion. He instead added more pressure to the knife and jerked his hand to the right, causing the blade to slice across Nick's stomach. Dark, warm blood poured from the cut and over the waistband of his jeans and boxers.
"Let's see how long it takes you to pass out from blood loss before we take this lesson another step." Eric snapped the knife shut and put it back into his pocket. He left the room with Tony and Ray following him. The door closed and locked behind them.
Warrick opened his eyes and looked at Nick. He was relieved to see that the cut was on his lower stomach and not further south. He stood up quickly and went over to him. He picked up Nick's ripped t-shirt and firmly held it against the bleeding wound. Nick flinched and kept his eyes away from Warrick's.
"Do you have to egg him on like that?" Warrick asked. He pressed on the cut harder to stop the bleeding.
"Bad habit I guess."
Warrick laughed humorlessly. "Well could ya knock it off? I don't wanna watch my best friend get castrated."
Nick looked up and finally met Warrick's eyes. "You don't hate me?" He asked dumbfounded.
Warrick shrugged. "You didn't do anything to me. We'll talk about that later. Let's just focus on getting out of here."
Nick sighed. "Too bad that won't be as easy as pissing Eric off."
I've been able to update a lot more than I thought I was going to. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up. I really like writing this story, and so far from the reviews you guys like it too. Thanks for the feedback.