Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 142: Gareth?

Pain.

So much pain.

Agonizing pain.

Excruciating and mind-numbing pain.

Though, it was not mind-numbing. His mind registered everything.

It was more a movement-numbing pain. His whole body was locked into one position and he could not move for the life of him.

It did not matter how much morphine and whatever painkiller concoction John, Aidan, had filled him with. The pain was never easing up.

It cursed through him if he just tried to blink. Each breath felt like death, though each ragged breath reminded him that he was not dead.

Yet.

It had not really been a surprise for Gareth that Grychenko had another torture session for him, the timing had thrown him off. He had figured it would come after the party Grychenko had talked about.

A sort of party showstopper.

Locked in there, Gareth did not have much sense of time, he knew it could not have been more than around dinner time from what his body's needs told him. Which was why he had been surprised when Grychenko had come into his cell followed by a sour looking Aidan.

Both had been in tuxedos, a rather peculiar look on Aidan, if Gareth had to be honest.

Happily, Grychenko had flung himself on the couch, puffing on a cigar, and waited for Aidan to set up.

Gareth had known he was in for it. He would not get a chance to wait until later. And he knew from the last session it would only get worse.

Aiden had whispered apologies and told him he had thought it would be after the party, and Grychenko had sprung it on him while he was getting ready for the party. Aiden had updated him on the plan for the guys to come save both him and Mackenzie later, and it hurt him what he had to do, but Grychenko would not postpone.

Grychenko expected violence in line with what Aidan was known for. There were only two stages of torture left Aidan could provide.

Bones and flesh.

There was no way to cheat anymore.

It had not been Aidan's fault, and though it would have been easy for Aidan to just kill Grychenko when they were only the three of them in the cell, neither Aidan nor Gareth would make it out alive if he did. There were too many men for Aidan to take on alone because Gareth could barely keep himself upright without help.

Gareth had assured Aidan that he had Gareth's full support in doing whatever he needed to do. The thought of the guys coming to save Mackenzie had put Gareth at ease. He had already accepted his own demise.

He did not have to like it.

He had accepted it, however.

Hers, he needed to be assured would not come.

If Aidan said the guys would come, they would. Gareth could relax into his fate.

Like the other times, Aidan had pumped him full of drugs.

It had been so overwhelming; his head had begun to swim from the rush of being morphined into a world of rainbows and discoballs. In his drug induced haze Aidan had looked like a unicorn and Gareth had heard psychedelic music ringing in his ears to begin with.

Though Aidan had warned him and apologized before beginning, nothing could have prepared Gareth for the pain of his bones breaking. Aidan had reassured him that because he knew the human body so well, he was the only man to harm him in the right way for him to be able to heal later. There might be some stiffness of joints, but he would heal.