How High a Price: Long Ending

"Oh God! Please, no more, no more, mercy!"

"There is no mercy for an asshole like you"

"Help! Please no more!" Stickner blubbered in submission.

"Tell Susan you're sorry"

"OK! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, just don't hit me anymore!"

Susan moved closer to John where she could look him in the face "Why did you lie to me, lie to the Senior Partners about my work and about the work of my staff?"

"What are you talking about, I didn't lie"

A hard punch to the kidneys elicited a sharp scream of pain from Stickner "Wrong answer you piece of shit!" Early growled in his ear.

Gasping and wheezing Stickner looked up at Susan "I was in trouble at the firm for screwing up the Melrose account and because of your past work and background it was decided to give you a shot at fixing it. I let you do the work and I took the credit. I passed on to you whatever was needed to keep you interested. When you were successful at saving the account I made the partners think it was my doing. You not showing up for the Monday morning staff meeting to dispute my story was the icing on the cake and I got credit for everything."

Listening quietly in disbelief and with tears forming in her eyes Susan continued in a pained tone "What about your dead wife, and how lonely you had been?"

"No! If I talk about that he will kill me!"

"Answer her asshole, if you don't start talking I WILL kill you for the fun of it. I'll start by breaking little pieces of various body parts one at a time!"

Whispering in a voice so low it was barely more than a whisper "I wanted to get in your pants."

Angrily Susan stepped closer to Stickner "What did you say?"

"I said I wanted to get in your pants"

"What about your poor dead wife"

"It was just a story I made up to make you feel sorry for me"

Shocked, Susan stared at John for a moment "And I felt sorry for you, looked up to you as a dear friend and a mentor. You were someone I admired! It was all a lie, you used me and then you stabbed me in the back! How did I ever get taken in by someone like you!"

A sullen Stickner listened to Susan rant, regaining his breath and composure. Ignoring the possible consequences he verbally lashed out at her "Don't get so high and mighty with me! Nothing happened that you didn't want to happen. Your blind ambition made you eager to believe everything I said that pointed towards you getting a partnership. Your naivety made you easy to fuck, you were one of the easiest fucks I have ever had.

"NO! NO! I was NOT! Don't say that, it wasn't like that! I was grateful to you, thought you were my mentor, my friend, I felt sorry for you because of your dead wife!" Susan answered back, turning pale as she heard the accusations being made by Stickner in front of her husband.

Early stood and listened to the exchange between the two and although he already knew these things, hearing them spoken out loud was killing him. Inside he recoiled from the words but remained silent and impassive on the outside not indicating any reaction to Stickner's words.

With a sneer on his face Stickner reacted to Susans denials "Oh come on Susan, you would fuck a snake if you believed it would help advance your career. If you hadn't lost your head and quit you would probably be a full partner inside of six months despite my taking the credit for the recovery of the Melrose account and you could be getting more dick than you could count. Don't be so fucking naive!"

At Stickner's last accusation Susan became hysterical and began slapping him across the face and head "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" finally collapsing on the flood in a sobbing heap.

Stickner watched impassively as Early picked Susan up and placed her on the couch. "Dumb Bitch, what did she think was happening" and he made a move as if to leave.

Letting his seething rage come to the surface, Early grabbed Stickner and jerked him back into the center of the living room. "Get on your knees you sorry piece of shit!"

Attempting to get away Stickner struck out wildly and tried to wrestle out of Early's grasp. "Leave me alone you son of a bitch, I'm not putting up with this bullshit any longer, I'm leaving and calling the police!"

Early hit Stickner hard in the stomach once again and then holding him up by the hair hit him twice more, guaranteeing the man couldn't breathe at all. Finally releasing his hold, Stickner collapsed to the floor writhing in pain and desperately trying to suck in air.

Watching for a moment through blazing eyes Early kicked Stickner in the side "Get on your knees asshole." When John didn't comply Early grabbed his hair and jerked him to a kneeling position. Then holding Stickner's blood covered face where Susan can see it clearly he addressed her through clinched teeth.

"Susan take a good look, this is what you jeopardized our marriage for, this is what you climbed into bed with and spread your legs for in order to "thank" him for helping you with your career. Was it worth it? This worthless pile of shit is what you become when your career displaces everything else in your life. Take a good look and remember it well."

Staring at Stickner Susan cringed back against the couch as if seeing something vile and unclean. Early's crippling comments and Johns bloody vision would be burned into her memory for the rest of her life.

"Put your hands behind your back asshole!" Early instructed and a defeated Stickner complied without resistance.

With deadly calm Early once again addressed Stickner "What has happened to you so far has been for Susan's benefit, for lying to her, for using her, for ruining her career and causing her grief. Now you will have to answer to me for my grievances against you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You forced your way into my home uninvited after I told you to stay away. You stole something of mine and I want it back. In doing these things you also caused me a great deal of pain, I'm going to ease that pain."

A growingly frightened John replied. "What did I steal?"

"My wife, my trust in her"

"You're crazy, I didn't steal your wife!"

"Then what did you do?"

"Hey man she came on to me, I didn't make her do anything she didn't want to do! Take it out on her!"

With the menace of a viper preparing to take a mouse Early held Stickners gaze with his and hissed, "What she did is an issue that will be settled between her and I. What you did with your participation is between you and I. Now I am going to settle issues between you and I. Quite frankly I don't give a shit if she came on to you or not. You knew she was married and it didn't make any difference, you went after her anyway. You knew she was spoken for and ignored it. You trespassed into my kingdom and defiled it. Now you will pay for that trespass, that defilement. You will learn not to take something that isn't yours regardless of the temptation or the ease of which you can take it."

And with that Early pulled the Sig out of its hiding place and placed the end of the barrel square between Stickner's eyes.

Susan screamed at the sudden appearance of the gun "Early please don't kill him! Please don't do this!"

"Back off Susan this has nothing to do with you right now, this is between your lover boy and me. Maybe you're not as upset with him as you thought."

"Early please don't say that! I don't care about him, I just don't want to lose you. If you kill him you will go to jail, or worse and I will lose you forever!" a hysterical Susan pleaded.

"I won't go to jail, he broke into our house and attacked you. I came home in time to stop him before he did any serious damage beyond the bruises you will have on your arm where he grabbed you and threw you down. I'll take my chances on this one."

A terrified Stickner began babbling out of fear "Oh god please don't kill me, I'll do anything, I'll tell Anderson what I did, I'll give all the credit to Susan, I'll disappear, you'll never see me again!!"

With exaggerated motion Early pulled back the hammer on the Sig "Goodbye you worthless piece of trash." At last Early saw what he had been looking for, the deer in headlights look on Stickners face. The man had finally reached the point where he knew only fear.

Stickner screamed incoherently, mindlessly pleading, begging Early not to kill him. Smiling down at Stickner, Early slowly squeezed the trigger. The loud click of the hammer falling on an empty chamber reverberated around the momentarily silent room.

Screaming, Stickner fell to the floor in a fetal position.

Waiting for the obvious to set in on the whimpering Stickner, Early laughed out loud when it dawned on the terror-stricken man that he was still alive. Then standing him on his feet Early snarled into the broken mans face. "Get up asshole you're not dead yet."

Crying like an infant the hysterical Stickner ran his hands over his body to check and see if he was OK.

Taking a hold of Stickner's shirtfront, Early pulled him up until their faces were only inches apart and whispered in a voice like death "Now I hope we have understanding, if I ever catch you near my wife I'll kill you without a second thought. As long as she and I are married she is off limits. She is my woman and anyone who challenges my claim to her will have to deal with me, and I guarantee it won't be pleasant! Now get the hell out of my house"

Whimpering the terrified John Stickner struggled feebly to pull away from Earlys grasp "Yes, yes anything you say. Please, I promise I will never..."

"One more thing, I want you to have something to remember me by" then Early kneed Stickner in the crotch as hard as he could.

Screaming in agony Stickner fell on floor vomiting, holding his ruined nuts.

After kicking him in the crotch a second time Early calmly stood over Stickner until the retching subsided and the man had gained control of his body. "Now get up and get the hell out of my house before I change my mind about killing you. I think you should take a trip for the sake of your continued good health. The Seattle air will probably kill you if you stay here."

Picking Stickner up by the back of his shirt Early half drug half walked him to the door and threw him out on the porch.

Silently Early watched as Stickner hobbled to his car and with obvious difficulty started his car and left.

Susan watched from behind Early and moved up to him against his back encircling him with her arms. Snuggling her face into his shoulder she held him tightly to her as she watched Stickner's departure over his shoulder.

Standing motionless as if locked in a moment of time each was engrossed with their own thoughts. Early emotionless, hard, cold, his normally blue eyes almost a dark steel color. Susan was a ghostly pale beauty, her eyes reflecting awe, fear and horrid regret. "God what have I done to you Early, I don't know who you are any more" she whisper sadly.

"I'm the same me that has always been here" Early answered softly as he turned around and held Susan close.

Tilting her head back Susan stared into Early's eyes and as she watched the hard cold expression slowly changed as Stickner disappeared. His smile returned and his eyes changed back to their normal sparkling clear blue. Susan's heart soared, the old Early was still here!

"Oh Early, is it all over?"

"Yes, all but one thing."

"What is that?"

"We need to forgive each other"

Looking intently at Early and holding the sides of his face in her hands, Susan replied, "It's easy for me to forgive you because despite what you have said, I still have a hard time excepting that you did anything really wrong. But if you need to hear it then yes Early I forgive you with all of my heart. And before you ask, yes I truly mean it!"

"Thank you my darling wife," Early replied tenderly.

"And I forgive you totally and completely with all of my being." Early whispered passionately in Susan's ear as he pulled her ever tighter into his arms.

Early's words were magic for Susan, suddenly the sun shone brightly, the air smelled sweet and the future beckoned invitingly.

For a long while the renewed couple stood just holding each other close, savoring the intimacy of the moment until eventually they returned into the house to begin their new journey together.

In the following days as Susan looked at Early and listened to him he seemed to be the same warm, happy, considerate person he had always been. But if she looked close enough deep into those clear blue eyes there was something different, something hard and deadly. And way down deep in her inner being where she wasn't really consciously aware, there was fear.

The End

"There are very good reasons for not waking a sleeping dog, especially if you have taken his bone!"

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