Chapter Seventeen
Cove
A road trip with Prez, Katana, and Dragon isn’t exactly my idea of a fun time. Especially since I’ve been reduced to sitting in the third row because Katana took up all of the second one. Dragon is surprisingly chatty up front with Koyn, talking about boats of all goddamn things.
Boats.
Dragon is a lot of things—mainly fucking crazy—but boats aren’t something I think of when I think of Dragon. I think of knives and tattoos and piercing green eyes. Blood and mayhem.
Not sunny days in swim trunks, trolling all over Lake Keystone.
As if he senses that my thoughts are on him, he turns in the passenger seat, his intense stare boring into me. “Want to come up front and sit on Daddy’s lap, Baby Prospect?”
I flip him the bird. “Fuck off.”
“Are we ever going to talk about this?” Koyn asks, his voice gruff. “I know I’m not the only one around here wondering how the hell you two ended up in the same bed.”
“BP was needy for cock. I have a cock that’s needy for attention,” Dragon says, his lips curling into a wicked grin. “Match made in heaven.”
“Hmph. Heaven. Whatever.” Koyn shakes his head. “I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
“Neither can I,” I mutter. “Are we there yet?”
“Almost,” Koyn says. “We’re going to meet up with some of Animal’s guys.”
Animal is the prez of the Little Rock, Arkansas Royal Bastards MC chapter. From what I can tell, he’s pretty tight with Koyn. They’ve backed us up on a lot of shit, including the rescue that went down when Dragon, my siblings, and a few other people we took in were all held captive by Night Giant and his crew of sick fucks.
Night Giant is what’s left of that whole ordeal. Koyn wanted to draw more information out of him, since we have eyes on him, but Dragon could only be held off for so long.
Koyn pulls into a decrepit convenience store parking lot and parks at one of the gas pumps. He doesn’t get out until a Harley rumbles to a stop on the other side. Dragon lets down the window as Koyn climbs out.
“Hey, man,” Koyn says, knocking fists with the burly biker. “What do we need to know?”
The man points down the road. “Another mile and turn right. He’s hunkered down in a shitty trailer. Only leaves to go to the little mom-and-pop grocery shop up the road. We watch him go in and then come back out.”
“Does he make contact with anyone once inside?” Koyn asks.
“They don’t have a public phone inside. I went in once just to see. It’s a real shithole inside. He goes back to the trailer and just waits.”
“Waits?”
“Seems that way.”
“On what?” Dragon demands, joining the conversation through the window. “For us to cut his balls off and feed them to him?”
The man snorts out a laugh. “Nah, man. I think he’s waiting on a rescue. It just ain’t come for him yet. Whoever he’s waiting to rescue him seems to have forgotten about him.”
Night Giant is a lot of things. Fucking scary and sick, but he isn’t stupid. Not by a long shot.
“Thanks, bro,” Koyn says, pulling a wad of cash from his jeans pocket. “Tell Animal I owe him a favor. After tonight, there won’t be any need to watch that motherfucker anymore.”
Koyn does another fist bump with the guy and then climbs into the Tahoe. He drives out of the parking lot and back onto the road. We follow the guy’s directions and turn off on a road littered with potholes. He slowly drives until a baby blue trailer peeks through the trees.
“We’ll park here. Wait until dark and then move in.”
Dragon scoffs. “You can sit here. I’m not waiting another second.”
He climbs out of the vehicle. Katana follows him, always having his back. Koyn utters a string of curse words under his breath. “I swear to fuck, this shit drives me insane. Let’s roll, BP.”
The four of us prowl through the woods, Dragon leading our pack. As soon as we get a good look at the trailer, Dragon holds up a fist, signifying we need to stop. I walk past Katana and Koyn to stand beside him.
“You okay?” I murmur.
He cracks his neck and whips out two knives. “I’ll be better than okay once I’ve gutted that pig.”
“Does it have to be messy?” I hiss. “Can you just put a bullet through his head and be done with it?”
“Nope. The asshole needs to pay in pain,” Dragon says in a detached tone. “For what he did to me, to you, to everyone.” He turns to face us. “I’m doing this alone.”
“No way,” I snarl.
Dragon’s lips twitch on one side. “Fine. Balls of Steel here is coming with me. Prez and K, you watch our backs.”
Koyn mutters his affirmation. Dragon creeps from the trees through the tall, overgrown grass like a lion stalking his prey. I walk behind him, matching each of his footsteps with similar ones of my own.
We reach the back door of the trailer and pause, listening for sounds. All quiet. It makes my heart lodge itself in my throat. I check the safety on my Glock, making sure it’s ready to fire in case this psycho monster comes charging at us.
Dragon turns the doorknob, slowly pushing into the trailer. The metal hinges creak in protest, making us both tense up. Still quiet. No footsteps or anything.
Dragon’s heavy boots make the floor groan as he steps inside. Each sound we make feels like a blaring alarm, alerting the madman to our presence. Still nothing.
The air is pungent with the smell of a cheap microwavable dinner. I motion at the coffee table where the plastic container is full of food and still steaming. Dragon nods, understanding. He’s here. Somewhere.
Chick-chick.
Dragon yanks me to the floor just barely before a shotgun blast obliterates the wall behind where I was standing.
We roll out of the way as another boom makes the floor explode.
The massive, towering monster emerges from the kitchen, a shotgun in his giant hands. He fumbles to shove two more buck shots into his shotgun, but Dragon is faster, meaner, more vicious. The shotgun is easily ripped from Night Giant’s grip despite his size and strength. Dragon is a man on a mission.
“Arghh,” Night Giant roars as he and Dragon crash to the kitchen floor.
I scoop up the shotgun and finish loading it in case I need to use it. Koyn and Katana emerge from outside, hollering to make sure we’re okay.
“He’s got this,” I assure them, my eyes glued to the way Dragon just stabs Night Giant over and over and over and over again in his protruding belly through his stained shirt.
“I wanted to make this last,” Dragon snarls, “but as it turns out, even you don’t deserve a special death. I just want to stick you and make you bleed.”
Night Giant is no longer fighting. When I’d seen him every time before, he’d had a mask on. Now, he’s maskless and looks like your everyday guy with a dark beard. Except, rather than writhing in pain, the creep is smiling.
“You m-must b-be his little t-toy.” Night Giant coughs up blood, spewing it everywhere. “You always w-were his f-favorite.”
A chill skitters down my spine at his words. Dragon is still in a crazed rage, now cutting off the man’s shirt to access his flesh.
“Dragon…” I mutter.
He ignores me, his blade slicing through the man’s gluttonous stomach. This guy is different. I’d remembered Night Giant was huge like this guy and had a similar voice, but he was solid, not fat. It’s what made me feel so confused about not hating giving him a blowjob. The parts of him he allowed me to see were far from ugly.
“Dragon,” I say louder. “It’s not—”
A phone rings from somewhere in the living room. Koyn’s footsteps are heavy as he goes toward the sound. Katana hovers nearby, ready to step in in case Dragon needs it.
He won’t need help, though.
Not here.
First off, the guy is already dead.
Secondly—
“Fuck,” Koyn barks out.
I leave Dragon to his mutilation of the corpse, turning my attention to Prez. His features are hard as he listens on the other line.
Pushing past Katana, I stand beside Koyn, frowning at him. While he listens to the person on the other end of the cheap burner phone, his fingers are flying over the screen of his own phone. The hairs on my neck stand up.
This isn’t good.
Bile creeps up my throat. Whatever he has to say, I know I’m not going to like it. I’ve never seen Koyn look so…furious? Disgusted? Distraught?
“No,” Koyn snarls into the burner phone. “Not just no, but fuck no.”
He ends the call, tossing the phone onto the couch. I gnaw on my bottom lip, waiting for him to spill the beans. His fingers spear into his dark hair and he tugs at the ends as he paces the small living room.
“What did he want?” I croak out.
Koyn’s glare lands on me. “To speak to Dragon.”
The sick, wet ripping sounds of flesh being torn apart halt almost instantly. A deafening silence falls over the entire trailer. Then, creaking footsteps thud our way until Dragon appears, blood splattered and green eyes glowing with rage.
“Who was it?” Dragon demands.
“I’ve got Bermuda trying to track the call.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Dragon whips his head my way. “Who was it?”
I frown. “Him.”
His jaw clenches. “Who, Baby Prospect?”
The phone rings again before we can answer. Both Dragon and Koyn dive for it at once. Though Koyn is bigger and terrifying, Dragon is fucking crazy. They scuffle, crashing into furniture as they fight for the phone. Dragon elbows Koyn in the throat before snagging the phone and swiping it to answer.
He doesn’t speak, just breathes heavily, letting the other person on the line know he’s there. Whatever is said on the other line has Dragon swallowing hard. For a second, he looks like a scared little teenage boy, not the man he is.
We didn’t get the monster.
No, the monster, it seems has been two steps ahead of us all along.