Subject Me To Life [Book One] ✔️ *EDITING*

Chapter Forty-Five

*Not edited* Not proofread*

Chapter 45— Protective are we?:

"Kody, that's enough!" Landon commands as he stands in front of Ricky, facing me with a glare. My hands drip with blood, the skin of my knuckles split open, but it's not just mine; the blood from Ricky's nose and cheek accompanies my own.

        I shove Landon back, he stumbles a little. "It's not fucking enough, though, clearly. He hasn't fucking said a word!" My voice doesn't echo or bounce off the walls, it goes straight through the wooden barriers and across the distance of the forest. Landon looks at me like I've gone crazy and I roll my eyes at him. "Feel free to leave, but I'm staying until I get some fucking answers."

        He shakes his head, reaching out to grab me but I step back. "We've been here for hours, Kody. Look at him," he moves slightly so I can see the state Ricky is in. He thinks that's bad? Then he definitely doesn't want to wait around for what comes next. "You're angry, I get that, but Kody... fuck, we tried, we didn't get anywhere, but we need to stop. I appreciate you doing this for me, for Dakota, but he's had enough."

        "I decide when he's had enough," I dismiss Landon as I shove his shoulder when I walk past him, crouching down in front of Ricky whose head lolls forward. He lets out a groan and uses his remaining strength to glance up at me through his eyelashes. "And you haven't had enough yet, have you?"

        "Fuck you," he spits out breathlessly.

        I look at Landon over my shoulder and shrug. "See, not enough. Now Ricky," I turn back to the bleeding male. "You're really starting to piss me off, so..." my fingers play around with his limp hand. He tries to pull away but the bonds don't allow him to. I grab his index finger, vaguely noticing a tattoo on his wrist, and without much thought, I break it. His scream is loud and raw as he throws his head back. Landon goes crazy behind me, my head pounds at the loud noises they're both making. Between Landon's angry shouting and Ricky's bitchy whining, I want to kill them both just to have some quiet. "... I'm going to need you to stop fucking around and start talking."

He stays quiet, hissing and gritting his teeth in pain. When he still doesn't say anything, I sigh. "Landon, you might want to leave now."

"Kody... whatever you're thinking of doing, don't—."

I tune him out as I move on to Ricky's next finger, but before I can snap it backwards, he yells, "Stop! Okay! Fine!" I halt my movements and raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "I'll answer your fucking questions, just... stop," he coughs a little and blood comes up, but I don't dwell on it. He's probably got a few broken ribs and he's swallowed a lot of blood.

"What's your problem with Dakota?" I get straight to it. It probably isn't the most important question, but it's the first one that comes out of my mouth.

He wheezes a little, "We just don't get along. He think he's better than everyone. Too good for us," he scoffs. "Kid's a dick, I'm not— Ah!" He screams a little as I squeeze his broken finger, effectively stopping him from talking. I asked for one reason, not sixty.

"Why did Dakota start fighting for Mac?" Landon suddenly pipes up, surprising me a little, but I don't let it show. The last I checked he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, opposed to my approach of this whole situation. I could now hear his footsteps coming up behind me, stopping once he's close enough that I can almost feel him.

Ricky musters up a hoarse chuckle, which is cut off by another raw cough as I stand up, going to Landon's side. "Aren't you meant to be his best friend?" He questions back in a tone I can only class as teasing. The dark-haired boy next to me glares hatefully, and I take a threatening step forward which wipes the smirk off Ricky's face as he huffs and rolls his eyes. "Money. Why else?"