Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
BamBam
Pokey was able to track the location where Jasper and his friends have been staying, so Gopher, Abyss, and I are heading over there under cover of darkness to show them that they really don’t need to be hanging around Kings territory.
Our last warning was one done with kindness, this one, will not be.
I’m not even a little averse to making it painful, especially when I remember how bad Livy looked the first time I met her, or the fact that nearly a month later, she’s still stiff and in pain if she moves the wrong way.
Yeah, my fist meeting Jasper’s face sounds like a great way to wrap up a hellacious Friday night.
It felt like all day long I spent my time putting out fires of one sort or another, which is aggravating as hell when I have a full plate of responsibilities that need tending to.
The only thing that kept me from totally losing my shit was the fact that I will be spending tomorrow with Livy.
No, she isn’t aware I’m interested in her.
I feel like that’s a conversation for several months down the road, once she’s had a chance to get on her own two feet and get a handle on what she endured with that prick.
Deep inside, however, I know she’s going to be mine.
I felt that zap of recognition the moment I laid eyes on her, and that feeling hasn’t gone away.
“Y’all ready?” Abyss asks as he walks out of the clubhouse doors. Gopher and I have been sitting on our bikes shooting the shit waiting on him as he had a quick meeting with Rio. “Now remember, tonight’s about encouraging them to go home.”
“No blood?” Gopher asks as he swings his leg over his saddle.
“Not unless absolutely necessary,” Abyss retorts, smirking.
I grunt because I’m sure I could orchestrate it being necessary.
“If it happens, then we’ll go to the other plan that involves the hunting accident.
Doesn’t matter to me in the long run because I get the feeling they’re not gonna give up without putting up one helluva fight, but we’ll try it without violence tonight. ”
Yeah, if I’m reading my VP’s cues correctly, there will be blood shed tonight.
Thank fuck because my knuckles need to feel their blood coating them.
My fingers have been twitchy since running into them and seeing what they did to Buddy.
Fucking pussies. The good thing is, Nighthawk is good at his job and worst-case scenario, we send one of our special horse trailers to Riptide’s club so they can cremate the bodies.
Either way works for me, to be honest. I’d love nothing more than to personally hand deliver them to the reaper.
I don’t ever want to see Livy’s body rigid with fear again if I can do anything to prevent it from happening.
The ride’s just long enough to satisfy me, but not so long that I don’t remember what we’re here for as we pull up and park about a quarter of a mile or so from where they’re staying.
Thankfully, they’re in one of those no-tell motels that cater to a more contemptible clientele, ones who don't want their business known and gossip spread throughout town. Which couldn’t be a more perfect audience because they’ll keep their mouths shut because they know if they don’t, we’ll shut them for them.
Still, we want the element of surprise which is why we’re going in on foot instead of revving our engines as we pull into the lot, even though we’ll be wearing our cuts, but we don’t take those off unless we’re in a cage or fucking…
and, depending on our mood, not even then.
We follow Abyss as he makes his way in the shadows, and I marvel once again at how a man of his size has the ability to move with almost no sound at all.
I mean, we all have that ability, of course, we’ve been trained to be as quiet as a ghost floating through the air because there have been times when our lives depended on us moving silently through enemy territory, but it’s still impressive as hell to me.
“He said they’re staying in room eight,” Abyss whispers as we enter the parking lot.
Glancing around, I don’t notice anyone hanging around outside, but just to be sure there are no misunderstandings, I walk into the office where a pimply faced teenage boy is sitting behind the counter, his phone in his hand.
When he hears the door chime signifying that someone has walked in and he sees me, his face pales so quickly I worry that he’s about to pass out.
“Not looking for trouble,” I rumble out. “Just double checking that a buddy of mine is still here and hasn’t checked out.”
“N-n-name?” he asks, standing to move to the computer.
“Jasper Price.”
I listen to the click clack of the keys then he looks at me and says, “He’s in room eight, bottom level on the left.”
“Appreciate it,” I reply, slipping a Benjamin underneath the plexiglass. “I wasn’t here tonight. And if you hear any noises coming from his room, ignore them.”
“Wouldn’t matter if you were,” the kid utters, slipping the bill into his front pocket. “About a half hour ago or so, the cameras went out. I also know how to keep my trap shut.”
“Good.”
Looks like Pokey may have had a hand in that, which works well all things considered.
“She’s got my son!” Jasper exclaims, his teeth clenched against the pain he’s undoubtedly feeling from the cracked ribs I gave him. I roll my eyes at his dramatics because this man is no father, he’s a goddamn coward that needs to relinquish his rights.
I look skyward as his words penetrate my thoughts.
I didn’t technically lay my hands on him.
Well, I mean, I didn’t actually touch him.
Can I help it if the fucker is clumsy as hell, and he fell into the desk when I shoved him?
That was all elbow action so technically my hands are free and clear of accusation.
“From what I understand, you nearly hurt him,” Abyss retorts, his hands across his chest. “So, tell me again how important your son is to you? Because where I come from, real men don’t harm their women or their kids.
” We all hum out our agreement. “Maybe it’s different in your part of Texas though. Is it?”
“Jasper, I told you we should’ve gone back home,” Wes, one of his friends says. “It’s not like you were faithful to her anyhow. There’s more fish in the sea, dude.”
Shit, no wonder Livy was freaking out at all the tests Doc ran on her. If this fucker was cheating on her, she was right to be concerned, especially in this day and age with STDs running rampant.
“So, you want me to leave my kid around a slut who’s whoring herself out to a bunch of bikers?” Jasper asks, his tone full of derision.
The right hook that smashes into the side of his face was definitely from me.
I grimace as I shake out my hand but end up smirking when I notice that a bloody bruise is already forming.
Good. Now he’ll know the pain that Livy has felt from him when he let his hands fly.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole as far as I’m concerned.
“You should just let her be,” Alex, his second friend, states. “You ain’t hurting for companionship, Jas.”
“She’s not a whore, Jasper,” Wes adds. “Hell, even after the party the three of us had with her, she’s still got a lower body count than any one of us.”
My blood freezes in my veins when I process what he just said.
From what I know of Livy, there’s no fucking way she’d willingly allow something like that to happen to her, she’s not a train bang type of lady, especially not with her son in the house.
So, that means these fuckers did something to force her to be compliant.
Still, it’s her story to tell me when she’s ready.
Plus, it won’t change a damn thing as far as how I feel about her.
“Go outside and get some air,” Abyss commands as he shoves his arm into my chest to keep me from putting a world of hurt on the three of them, especially Jasper.
What kind of piece of shit does that to the woman he cares about and loves?
Not one I wanna know, that’s for damn sure.
We might skirt the other side of the law on many occasions, but we’re still emphatic that consent is imperative.
Hell, if any one of the Kings in any of our chapters ever did something like that, I imagine that Big Daddy himself would show up to ensure the fucker never saw the light of day again.
“I’m going, I’m going,” I mutter, rage fueling me right now. I know I’m being disrespectful to my VP with my tone, and he may call me on it later, but I suspect he understands that Livy is mine, so maybe he won’t. Either way, I’ll deal with it accordingly if he demands recompense.
“We’ll get the information for you, but right now, in the mood you’re in, the only way Nighthawk will get this room clean is to burn the building to the ground,” he says.
“Thanks.” With that, I walk out and spend countless minutes deep breathing to get the images I visualized out of my head. I may be slow to anger, but once that fuse is lit, it’s hard to put out without someone getting bloody.
He’s not wrong. I want to use my fists, my knife, my gun to show these three fuckers the error of their ways.
While I don’t think that Wes or Alex are as bad as Jasper, since they didn’t beat her, as far as I’m concerned, what they did was far worse.
As I storm from the room, I hear Gopher say, “Now, tell us what you meant, Wes.”
There’s something satisfying about following them to the county line as they head back home.
All three look a bit rough, but they’re alive.
For now. They’re very aware of the fact that if they come back, they’ll die.
Plain and simple. I feel like Wes and Alex will heed the warning, but Jasper has a one-track mind when it comes to his son.
The son he’s had little to nothing to do with, at least according to Livy.
The son who thankfully takes after his mom, not his deadbeat father.
The son who will never know discipline in anger or rage.
My son. It’ll be me raising him, and he’ll have plenty of uncles in my brothers who’ll help him grow into a dependable, productive member of society. And it doesn’t even matter that Livy has no clue about any of it yet.
Because it’s going to happen.