Chapter Twenty-Four
Sniper
“A re you sure you’re ready to do this?” Katey held my hand and looked up at me in the middle of the parking lot. “You know Cal is going to freak out.”
I flashed a confident grin that I didn’t quite feel. “I’m ready. He knows we’re married so what’s the big deal?”
“You know damn well what the big deal is,” she responded. “Being married in name only isn’t exactly the same as holding hands and canoodling in public.” Her blue eyes were wide and a little wild.
“That’s just something he’s gonna have to deal with.” I knew Cal would have an opinion about this, but it was what was needed to keep her safe and draw Ethan out, so he could have one, but it wouldn’t change a damn thing. “Come on, wife.”
Katey nibbled her bottom lip cautiously, her gaze darted around the parking lot the way it always did when we were out in public. She was always waiting for the moment Ethan would strike, and in that moment, I felt even more sympathy for her. I was always aware of my surroundings but that was a lifetime of training plus the military and the MC. For Katey this much anxiety had to be plain fucking exhausting. “Yep,” she sighed. “Let’s do this.” She put her small hand in mine and gave it a tight squeeze.
“Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be fine.” That’s what my mouth said but the moment we walked inside the steakhouse, and I spotted Cal sitting in a booth with a fizzy drink in front of him, uncertainty settled like a pit in my stomach.
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, husband .” She snickered and tugged me forward, dropping my hand to greet her brother. “Cal!” She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight.
Cal’s eyes slid shut as he hugged his sister and that one moment of relief and vulnerability in my buddy’s eyes solidified my resolve to stay the course. “So glad to see you.” We took a seat inside the booth and placed our orders. There was no tension, but Cal’s gaze shifted to our hands, one of mine resting on top of Katey’s. “What’s going on?”
Katey flipped her hand over underneath mine and curled her fingers with mine. “We’re married.”
Cal spluttered and I smiled to myself. I’d never seen him look so flustered before. “Well yeah, obviously. But this is… not what I expected.”
Katey’s lips twitched and I let her take the lead in teasing her brothers. “You thought I’d be a monstrous bitch to him forever?” She shook her head, not waiting for Cal to respond. “I thought about it, honestly. But then,” she looked at me with a warm smile. “Something shifted.”
When her blue eyes caught mine like that, sparkling and warm, I realized she was right. Something had shifted between us. “Yep,” I agreed tightly.
“So this is real now?” To his credit, Cal didn’t seem horrified at all by the turn of events.
“No,” Katey laughed. “I mean in some ways, yes it is real. But this,” she raised our hands and pressed a kiss to the back of my hand. “This over the top PDA is for the asshole who is very likely watching us.”
Cal froze and I gave my head an imperceptible shake to stop him from looking around. “He knows she’s staying at the clubhouse, but he doesn’t know we’re married. Yet. Figured the best way to smoke him out was to let his lackey report back how madly in love we are.”
Anger flashed immediately. “You’re using her as bait?”
“No,” Katey shot back. “We’re forcing him to make a mistake Cal. I can’t live my life like this forever. It’s been more than a year of being on the run and now that I have some measure of protection, all I do is sit inside all day and wait for him to unleash hell on my life. Again.”
“And if he manages to pick you off while you two are making out in public, then what?”
Katey shrugged it off even though I knew the thought of that prevented her from getting a good sleep most nights. “It’s better than I’m picked off than risk him firebombing the entire clubhouse, killing dozens of other people in the process.” She shook her head. “Why can’t you understand that?”
“Because you’re my baby sister and the idea of anything happening to you is something I can’t accept. Ever.”
I understood that and I interrupted. “I’m not going to let that happen Cal. Besides if he was the one watching her, he’d have come at us already.” I told him about the carnival, all the dates we spent out in public. “He knows where she is so he’s waiting for the right moment to strike. I’m just trying to give him that moment.”
His gaze locked on mine, his expression serious before it finally shifted to resignation. “I trust you, man. It’s just—”
“Scary as fuck. I know.”
He nodded again, his gaze fell to the spot where Katey gave my hand a supportive squeeze. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the mess a few nights ago downtown?”
I arched one brow. “You askin’ as the law or as my brother-in-law.”
His lips twitched. “Does it matter?”
I shrugged. “Nope because I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”
“Several of the Black Vultures survived, just so you know.”
I nodded, leaning back as our food was delivered. When the waiter was gone, I unwrapped my silverware with a grin. “I’d assume they survived because they were meant to.”
“Wait, what happened downtown?” Katey asked, her gaze shot from me to Cal and back again. “Well?”
“Nothing,” Cal assured her. “Just a big fight.”
“I’m not a helpless child or a damsel in distress,” she grumbled and shoved a waffle fry in her mouth.
“You’re not,” Cal agreed. “But you are looking better. The bruising is gone, and you’ve got some meat on your bones.”
“So I’m fat and helpless? Thanks Cal, it’s so good to see you.” She stood abruptly and motioned for me to move so she could exit the booth. “I’ll be right back,” she said and left the table.
I stared after her until she hooked a left under the sign that indicated the bathrooms were down that hall.
“She’s growing on you.” Cal’s voice broke through my thoughts.
I nodded. “Yeah. She’s going through a lot, and I understand where her attitude was coming from. She’s calmer now, sleeping through the night a few nights a week.”
Cal nodded. “That explains the dark circles that were always under her eyes.” His jaw clenched tight. “Did she tell you about her time with him?”
“Some,” I replied with a nod. “Not a lot, but based on her reaction to certain things I can fill in a lot of the blanks, and those make me excited to get my fuckin’ hands on the bastard.”
Cal smiled. “She seems happy, which hadn’t even been on my radar when I called you. Thank you, Sniper.” He held up a hand. “Don’t even say that you owe me because this is more than that.”
“She doesn’t deserve this. Hell, nobody deserves this but especially not Katey.”
He smiled again. “Just don’t…” he shook his head and looked away.
“You gonna threaten me, Watchdog?”
His expression turned teasing. “No, a bit of advice though. Don’t try to control her and you just might have a chance with her.” He laughed when I frowned in confusion. “Oh fuck, you don’t even know yet? Amazing.” He laughed to himself and dug into his burger, eating it as if he hadn’t eaten in years.
Katey returned from the restroom, and we continued chatting. I attacked my steak and potatoes while Cal and Katey caught up on life, his words dancing around inside my head. You don’t know yet. I knew what he was getting at, but surely, he wasn’t suggesting that I felt some way about his sister? I didn’t. I couldn’t. I’d made it this far in life without succumbing to the scam of love and I’d be damned if I let some pixie doctor be the one to unravel me.
That’s what I told myself but after saying goodbye to Cal in the parking lot, she wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me with those glittering sapphire eyes and a kissable smile and dammit, my resolve unraveled slightly. “So.”
“So,” I shot back at her.
“Are you getting sick of all this touchy-feely shit yet?”
I should have been sick of it, but I wasn’t. “Not yet. You?”
“Nah, it’s been too long since I’ve been touched in a nice way that I’ve decided to enjoy it.”
Another reason to kill that motherfucker. That would happen soon enough, for now I wrapped an arm around her, loving the way she burrowed into my side.
“Can I ask about what happened downtown?” The question was hesitant, and something swirled in her eyes, fear maybe.
“You can ask.”
“Will you tell me?” she shot back, her voice a little firmer.
“It was a set up to get the fuckers who shot Falcon. Needed some intel so we came up with a plan to get it. That’s it.”
“People died?”
I nodded. “Not all of ‘em but some did.” I risked a look at her to see if she thought I was the same kind of monster as her ex.
What I saw instead was sadness. “So it wasn’t about Ethan? This probably makes me a terrible person, but I just wish he was already dead because I know it’s the only way this ends.”
“That’s the plan, whether you’ve thought about or not.”
“Some days it’s all I think about. I don’t want to be responsible for someone else doing this, for having to lug him around on their conscience.”
“He won’t be the first man I killed, Katey.” And he damn sure wouldn’t be the last.
“Yeah, I know but this is for me . Just me. Not America or national security or any of that other shit. This is a life for a life.”
“Trust me when I say that him dying so you can live is more than a fair trade.”
She flashed a small smile up at me. “That was really sweet, Sniper.”
“You know me,” I deadpanned. “Really sweet is what most people say about me.”
Her head fell back, and she laughed, the sound sweet and husky. Music to my ears. “I think those who know you would agree with me.” She placed her delicate hands on my shoulders and pushed up on her toes, tugging me down for a kiss. The moment our lips touched, a fire began in my belly. This wasn’t just lust or arousal, though they were both present, this was something else. It wasn’t a kiss that was a precursor to a good fuck, it was… hell I didn’t know what it was.
But I leaned into that kiss with every fucking fiber of my being. I hooked an arm around her waist and lifted her in the air, deepening the kiss until her legs wrapped around me, covering my cock in the warmth between her thighs.
Katey moaned and pulled back with a smile. “That kiss almost became X-rated.”
“Should’ve worn that skirt,” I teased.
“Maybe next time,” she answered breathlessly, gasping as she slid down my body. “We could just go back to the clubhouse?”
“Well, well, if it isn’t the happy couple.”
I groaned and pushed Katey behind me before I turned to face three men I’d never seen before. “Somethin’ I can do for you boys?” My hands balled into fists at my side, and I flicked the snap on my holster just in case I needed it.
“You can leave her alone. She belongs to a friend.”
Katey sucked in a breath and stepped up beside me. “I don’t belong to anybody, least of all somebody with dubious taste in friends.”
“You bitch.” The man snarled with so much hatred it didn’t take a genius to figure out they were Ethan’s men.
“Careful,” I growled and pushed her behind me again. There were three of them, not ideal odds but I’d been outnumbered before.
“Oh, he’s protective,” another one joked as they all got off their bikes and stood as one with their arms crossed.
“Just back off and I’ll let you walk away.”
All three of them laughed but I noted the wariness in their gazes. “Hand her over and we might let you live.”
“Suit yourself.” I took a step forward and pulled my arm back to punch the middle asshole I pegged as the leader, right on the nose. His legs crumbled until he was down on all fours.
“Motherfucker!” The one on the right lunged forward and landed a glancing blow to my jaw.
“No!” Katey shouted, her voice frantic.
Her voice was laced with fear as a fist landed on my back and it was officially two against one. They hit me from both sides, but I landed blow after blow, hitting them wherever I could.
“Stop it you asshole!” Katey sounded like she was struggling but every time I tried to look up, there was a fist flying at me to block my view. “Stay back,” she shouted frantically. “Don’t touch me.”
I tried to look up again and got another jab for my efforts. I rewarded that bastard with an uppercut that sent him stumbling backwards.
“You bitch.” The voice was pained. “You’re dead.”
“You first,” she shouted back with a grunt.
I turned just in time to duck another shot, landing two punches that put one of them down. Temporarily. That fucker got up fast and charged at me, knocking me to the ground with a thud.
“Sniper!” Katey’s voice rang out and when I turned, she was also on the ground with one of those fuckers on top of her struggling form.
I saw red and jumped to my feet, only to be met with four fists on my chest and my back.
“That bitch stabbed me,” the man behind me shouted. “I’m gonna kill you!”
Over my dead body.
I squared up and landed a jab-hook combo that finally put one of those assholes down. Just one more to go . I turned and found the third asshole standing behind me with a gun in his hand.
“No,” Katey shot out before her foot appeared between the asshole’s legs.
His eyes widened in shock as his legs shook before they finally gave out and he fell to his knees.
“Jerk!” Katey kicked him and he fell face first into the blacktop parking lot. “Asshole!”
“Okay killer, let’s get out of here.” I looked down at the asshole holding his arm. “You really did stab him?”
“No,” she frowned. “I slashed his wrist the long way while he was trying to choke me.” She showed me the bloody switchblade as she wiped it on her jeans. “And a kick to the balls is an oldie but goodie. Always effective.”
“Better him than me.” I handed her the helmet and then we got on my bike and got the fuck out of there before more of Ethan’s men showed up.
Which only caused more questions. Where the fuck was he getting money for hits and a crew? I had so many questions for Katey, and I wasn’t sure I’d get any answers.