A smile slowly made its way across Sean's face. "That's what I needed to hear. I believe you." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and held it out to her. "Now, clean yourself up."
Risking getting hit again, Jessie ignored him and walked past him to where Sal was waiting for her with a hand towel.
'I'm sorry, Jessie, if I could stop this you know I would." Sal said as he gave her the towel.
"It's okay, it's not your fault." She wiped the blood from her nose, mouth, and chin, then winced as she gingerly touched her cheek. "Ow. Damn, my face hurts."
"We'll get some ice on it when this is all done, just hang in there a little longer."
Jessie nodded. "Okay."
"Jessie, come over here," Sean ordered from behind them.
Jessie turned her head, Sean O'Doyle was now standing next to Roy Langston. She handed the towel to Sal and half-smiled. "Gotta go."
Roy Langston started mumbling frantically through the duct tape on his mouth when Jessie got closer to him, so Sean pulled the tape off, then grabbed him by the throat.
"I'm only telling you this once, Roy, just once, do you understand?" Roy Langston nodded, so he continued. "Watch what you say to my Grandaughter. Do not disrespect her any more than you already have...if you do, I will skin you alive, understand?" When Langston nodded he let go of his throat. "Good."
Roy Langston looked at Jessie, his eyes showing the panic he was trying to hide. "Tell him nothing happened, Jessie, tell him I never touched you, please."
Jessie was enjoying the fear in Roy Langston's eyes. She didn't think she could ever hate someone as much as she hated him. She wanted to lie and see him suffer as her Grandfather went to work on him. She imagined him screaming in pain and begging for mercy and despite how much it hurt, she smiled. Then, Sean O'Doyle's hand came down hard on her shoulder and it startled her, pulling her from her thoughts.
"Jessie, look at me."
Jessie did as she was told. "I'm sorry, Grandfather. I was just..." Her voice trailed off.
"Jessie, did this piece of filth ever touch you anywhere that he shouldn't of?"
She wanted to lie but knew he would see through it. "No, sir."
Sean's brow furrowed. It wasn't the answer he expected. "Did he make you touch him?"
"No sir, nothing like that either."
"I told you, Sean, I never touched her. You heard what she said, right? This has just been a big misunderstanding. Can I get outta here now?" Roy Langston asked feeling a bit more confident.
"No," Jessie answered him before her Grandfather could. She took a step closer to Langston, so they were face to face. "You said we were friends and you were spending so much time with me because you wanted to, not because Grandfather made you, and because of that you were my boyfriend. You said girls are supposed to kiss boyfriends in a special way and you were gonna teach me how to do it." She looked at her Grandfather. "He was my first french kiss and probably working himself up to be a lot more."
Sean punched Langston hard in the face, breaking his nose. "If I wasn't here to teach her...the things I would do to you."
"I just...I would've never hurt her. She was so pretty...I couldn't help myself...I just wanted...I loved her." Langston blurted out. "I'm sorry. I didn't touch her. I didn't hurt-"
Sean hit him again. "Stop talking." He then turned and slapped Jessie. "Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.
The slap surprised and angered her. "I was afraid of you!" She yelled. "You told me I had to do whatever he said or I'd get the belt and not only that, you couldn't stand to be in the same room with me, so how the fuck was I suppose to tell you anything?!"
Sean O'Doyle's fist clenched, he wanted to hit her, it was taking all he had not to because what she said was the truth, but he didn't like the way she said it, so in his frustration he punched Roy Langston, splitting his lip wide open. Then he grabbed Jessie by the shirt and pulled her in close."You ever cuss or raise your voice to me again and I will knock out those pretty teeth of yours, do you understand me?"
Jessie smiled, she couldn't help it. Calling him out on the truth and upsetting him made her happy. "Yes, sir." She answered, not feeling the need to provoke him any further.
Sean let go of her shirt. "Good. Now we can get to why we're here." He picked a paper bag up off the floor and pulled out a handgun and a large hunting knife. He looked at Jessie and nodded towards Langston. "You're gonna kill him." He held out the gun. "This is a little impersonal, but a headshot will get the job done quickly...or you can shoot him in the gut, it's a slower death, painful too." He held out the knife. '"This is my favorite. There's nothing like a good sharp knife to make things personal. With this you can scramble his insides like an egg...or you can cut his throat and watch him choke on his own blood...you can pop out is eyes...stab him in the chest so he drowns in blood...so many options, so much fun." He held both weapons out to her. "Which one will it be, Jessie?"
Jessie was looking at the gun but picked up the knife. It felt good to hold it and the thought of using it on Roy Langston felt even better.
"Good choice," Sean said grinning happily. "Have at it."
Jessie stepped up close to Roy Langston and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Rot in hell you son of a bitch." She told him, then plunged the knife into his stomach to the hilt.
Roy Langston gasped in surprise because he didn't think she would do it. "Please..." Was all he managed to get out.
Jessie felt a wave of nausea when Roy Langston's blood ran over her hand, and for a minute what she was doing felt wrong, but the feeling went away as quick as it came, so she pulled the knife out and then stabbed him again. She pushed the knife in hard and to the hilt again, then pushed upward, making the wound bigger and deeper. Pulling the knife out, she watched and waited for him to die.
Langston grunted, then coughed, spraying blood everywhere. "Didn't think you had it in you, kid...guess I was wrong." He said through a mouth full of blood. He was breathing heavily as his pain made it hard to breathe. "What's John gonna think..."
"Shut up!" She yelled, barely containing her anger. "Don't talk about my brother."
"And the lawyer too...bet he's gonna be plenty disappointed in you..."
"I said shut up! Just shut up and die!"
"And your boyfriend...think he's gonna want to be with a -"
Jessie shut him up by stabbing him in the chest. "Fuck you!" She yelled in his face.
Roy Langston took a couple of shallow breaths before his head fell forward and he stopped moving.
"You did well," Sean told her. He was both happy and a bit unnerved about how quick and easy she had turned. "Don't worry about your brother or anyone else, you're in charge so it doesn't matter what they think. The lawyer, the boy you sleep with and everyone else...they work for you now and you need to do whatever it takes to get things done. You will have to make some hard decisions...sometimes they will affect those close to you, but you can't let that stop you, understand?"
"Yes, Grandfather."
"Good." Sean pulled the knife from Langston's chest and put it back in her hand. He nodded towards Sal. "Now, it's his turn."
"What?! No!" Jessie looked between both men. "Not gonna happen." She said adamantly.
Sean immediately regretted giving her the knife before telling her what he wanted her to do with it. The look in her eyes told him to tread lightly because he wasn't sure she wouldn't use the knife on him, so as not to agitate ger further, he tried to reason with her calmly.
"Jessie, he failed you. He failed you and your Father. He needed to do one thing, one simple thing and he didn't do it. He should have killed Roy that day, but he was weak and sloppy and didn't get the job done. A lot of people died because he couldn't kill one man...and you were hurt...your brother was hurt. He tortured John, Jessie, plain and simple...cut him up bad while he was strung up like a piece of meat...helpless. I told you being the boss means making hard decisions and that those decisions may hurt the ones close to you."
Jessie shook her head. "I said no. I'm not doing it.' She glared at her Father. "Was this part of your big plan too?"
"No," Patrick answered, but didn't offer anything else.
"You said you wouldn't make the family weak if you don't do this...if you can't do this-"
"Jess, it's okay, you need to do it. He's right, I failed you." Sal told her. "It's okay."
Jessie walked over to Sal and dropped the knife at his feet. 'I won't do it, Sal, I can't. You didn't fail me, no matter what happened. You've helped take care of me my entire life. If you weren't there for me when Dad couldn't be," Jessie shook her head. "There's no telling how things would've turned out...it could've been so much worse. I love you, Sal, I won't hurt you." She wrapped her arms around him. "You didn't fail me."
"Christ, you haven't learned a damn thing tonight, have you?!" Sean yelled angrily.
Jessie let go of Sal and turned to face her Grandfather. "You need to go. We're done here."
Sean pointed the gun in Sal's direction. "It's done when I say it is. Now, step aside. If you can't kill him, I will."
Jessie stood in front of Sal. "You'll have to shoot us both."
Sean grinned. "I'd rather the family be dead than weak, so...fine with me." He told her matter-of-factly and pulled the trigger.
Jessie sat up, breathing heavily, the gunshot in her dream still loud and clear in her head. She looked over at Joey, who was sound asleep, snoring lightly, and thought about waking him, but she knew he was just as tired as she was. He hadn't gotten much sleep staying with her in the hospital and she knew he only snored when he was really tired, so she quietly slid of bed, got pajama bottoms from her dresser, put them on and left the room.
to be continued...
