Forty-Two
FANG
Darko’s already on the guy when I arrive.
The ruined truck sits on the side of the road, steam rising from its bent and mangled hood.
The radiator must have gotten damaged during the collision, leaving a trail of coolant that led to where the engine seized.
The fucker didn’t get more than a mile up the road before Darko caught him, the Devil now stuck beneath a vengeful young King.
The raw rage circulating inside of me demands I join in. Demands I exact revenge for this fucker endangering my daughter. My brothers.
Jenna.
But people like us never ride alone; he’s got to have help out here. Where the fuck is the other guy?
I squint against the darkness, calculating where I would go if I wanted to stay close yet out of sight.
The streetlights aren’t on down this end of town.
Every shadow holds a secret. Every obstructed sightline is a liability.
Where would I hide if I were a fucking Breed mongrel?
The houses sit further apart at the town limit; plenty of places in yards to find cover.
How did they know we were there? Fuck. I feel sick.
I left my daughter at the burger bar with a fucking unknown liability.
Someone tipped the Devil’s Breed to our whereabouts. Someone who saw us walk in.
Or knew that’s where we would be.
Was it her? Was I so caught up in my own issues that I didn’t pay attention?
The fucking phone was broken; there’s no way she could have let him know or known that’s where I’d take us tonight.
The logic doesn’t work, and yet… And yet I crave a reason not to want her.
I want the fucking universe to do the hard part for me.
I can’t get my damn phone out quick enough.
Watch Molly. And don’t let Jenna out of your sight.
Loki messages back instantly.
Already there.
Maybe he isn’t such a bad guy. Or maybe my judgment has been clouded lately, and he isn’t the problem—I am.
“You see anyone else with him?” I blink a few times to force my focus back on the present.
Darko shakes his head as he wrestles with the spitting enemy.
“Who’s with you?” He pins the man’s left cheek to the road surface with his right palm, thumb hooked in the guy’s ear canal. “Where did they go?”
The piggy squeals. “Get the fuck off me.”
“Answer the question.” I stride up to the guy, toe of my boot an inch from his nose.
“I ain’t going to tell you shit.” He spits on my foot.
Son of a… I rub the moisture off using the underside of his face. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know, or I give this fucker here,” I say, thumbing at Darko, “free rein. What’s it going to be?”
“Free rein to do what?” he sasses through his smooshed jaw. “Fuck me in the ass?”
“I wouldn’t give you the pleasure.” Darko drags the man’s face along the rough ground, eliciting more cries of protest. “How many ugly motherfuckers like you came tonight?”
“Only me!”
“Bullshit.” The Devil’s Breed collective ego means the pricks wouldn’t waste a chance to be seen.
To relish the thrill of being feared. Pussies.
“I swear.” The op bucks beneath Darko. “It’s just me.”
I punch out a quick SOS to Chaos with a dropped pin, then pocket my phone. This could get messy. “Does your club not have honor among thieves?” I bend a little to stare him in the eye. “They leave you to fend for yourself when shit goes wrong?”
“Who said shit went wrong?” He has a point.
“Who came with you, then?”
“Your momma.” Asshole laughs maniacally.
Until Darko drags his face back the other way.
“Shit!” His voice breaks. “Stop, man.” Blood peppers the stony surface.
“How many, and which way did they go?” I scan the street one last time and then stare the fucker in the eye again.
He’s familiar. Wild, unpredictable gaze. Sharp cheekbones. Taunting grin.
“You were fuckin’ there when we put down that mouthy fucker, weren’t you?” I say.
“Pits,” he hisses through his compressed jaw. “The mouthy fucker was Pits. And yeah. I was.”
Darko leans harder on the Devil’s head. “If you know what happens when you fuck around and find out, why would you come alone?”
The guy chuckles, the sound growing louder the longer he continues.
“Talk!” I stand on his fucking instep and press his foot to the road, bending his ankle at an unnatural angle.
He howls, still trying to laugh.
“This is a waste of fucking time,” Darko laments.
“You’re not wrong.” I draw a weapon and put it to the crazy guy’s head. “Are they worth it?” I ask. “Is that fucking club worth your goddamn life?”
He stares me dead in the eye, best he can. “They’re worth yours.”
“Mine?” What the fuck have I got to do with this?
“They’re worth every one of you arrogant pieces of shit.” He hocks back his saliva and then launches it at me, missing my cheek by less than an inch.
Fucking over this asshole spitting at me already. I pistol whip the fucker, splitting his nose open across the bridge.
“The fuck!”
“How. Many?” I shout, shoving the business end over his closed eye. “And which direction?”
“One, okay. There was only one. A prospect. Leave the kid alone.”
I don’t believe him. “All pups have the chance to grow into a rabid dog, asshole. Which way did he go?”
“I don’t know.” His hands lift off the ground, arms pinned beneath Darko’s knees. “I lost sight of him when this cunt tackled me.”
“What’s his name?”
His lips part, chest falling as he exhales. “Donkey.”
And I bet his father’s name is Ass. The pause was infinitesimal, but far too long. “Bullshit.” I lever the hammer back with my thumb.
He flinches. “Fine. Just let me sit the fuck up, and I’ll tell you the truth.”
I back away a step. Darko slowly gets off the man. Neither of us worry about him getting far; my bullets are faster than his feet. And if he tries to draw on us? Well, I guess he’d make my fucking night.
“The truth,” Darko prompts, arms folded.
“The truth,” he leers. “Is you’re fucked.” Goddamn moron turns heel and dives for the obscurity of the overgrown grass on the roadside, pulling a weapon from his waistband at the same time.
They sure didn’t send their smartest soldier.
I let off a neat line of three shots before he can even align his weapon. Put my daughter at risk, you goddamn fucking animal.
Darko wanders over to where the idiot’s feet protrude from the grass. “Calf, hip, and chest.”
Getting rusty. I aimed for his fucking knee.
“Aaand, he’s still alive.” Darko uses a boot to roll the guy over. “For now.”
I join my brother, standing over top of the mutt. “Still worth it?”
Blood sputters from his lips as he rasps, “Every time.”
I put another in his head to wrap things up. Chaos will be here soon enough. Circus will have something to do later. At least someone gets a good night.
“They’ll be miles away by now,” Darko muses, referring to whoever was with this pointless martyr.
“If there even was anyone.” It would have been the guy’s whole M.O.
The reason why he fucked us around for so long.
I bend and flick his cut straight with the tip of my gun to read his badge.
Secretary. Well, they’re sure gonna notice this one when he doesn’t make it back. “How do you think they knew?”
“That we were there?”
I nod. “Can’t imagine them riding around night after night on the off chance we show up.”
Darko smirks; he’s rarely one to laugh. “Not sure, but I’d wager we’d have more luck at finding out if we went back to the burger bar.” He nods in its direction. “You go. I’ll stay here and wait for clean-up.”
“If Marty comes by…”
“I’m wrecked.” He shrugs. “I know.”
We’re already hurting having Crow on the wrong side of the bars. Adding Darko would be a crippling blow.
“You need to check on your daughter, bruv.” He shoves me in the shoulder. “Get. I’ve got this.”
I give a nod of thanks. “If Marty does show up, just shoot the shit-stirring fucker.” I shrug as I turn for the burger bar. “Kyra will get over it. Eventually.”
He raises an eyebrow. “I’ll tell Jinx it was your idea.”
“Please,” I call, walking backward. “Been itching for a reason to have it out with him proper.”
“Careful.” He points a finger my way. “That kind of shit talk will get you in trouble.”
“Just saying what we’ve all been thinking.” I mean, I love the guy, but fuck me, can his got-to-do-everything-by-the-rules attitude get annoying at times.
I spin and face the direction I’m headed, smile fading fast from my face. Because as much as I fucking love this: the fight, the banter, and the swift vengeance, I know my loyalty comes at a price.
One that will likely cost me my daughter.
And continuing to fight for Jenna only promises the same.