Chapter 7 #2
I grabbed my gun from the waistband of my jeans and headed inside.
Matteo was tied to a chair, a piece of cloth wrapped around his mouth.
His eyes were wide when he saw me stride in.
He knew what would happen if he came here to hunt down Orla or Sheridan; this was on him.
He could see it was just me and the two men behind me, and he knew.
Instantly, he knew. No VP or President, and he was done for.
This was unsanctioned, which meant he’d disappear today.
“Hey there, Matteo,” I said, pulling his gag down. He didn’t speak, his eyes belied the fear in him though. “Thought you’d see the sights of Ireland, did you?”
“My family will seek vengeance for me.”
“Your brother told us you were coming.”
He knew it. He’d come here without the aid of his family, and his own brother had given him up.
“He is no brother to me,” Matteo sneered before he spat on the ground. I looked down at where he sullied the ground and back up at him.
“Why’d you come here?” I asked him, cracking my knuckles in preparation for what was to come. “You got away with your life back in Milan, why did you come here and threaten my woman?”
“Your woman who mars her beauty with ink,” Matteo sneered. “She is beneath me.”
My fist found its way to the side of his face faster than I knew what was happening. The crunch of bone was loud, my knuckles burning from the impact. Blood spurt out of his nose as he yelped in pain, unable to shield himself, unable to move.
“I see you like trash,” Matteo continued.
I levelled my gun at him and shot his leg. The echo of the shot was deafening, the wailing that followed was even worse.
“You son-of-a-bitch!” he screamed, his accent getting thicker and thicker the more pain he was in. He was trying to budge from the ropes he was tied with, but Rebel knew how to tie knots, I’d taught him myself all those years ago. He’d never get free.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say about her,” I said. “Even if it is true.”
Rebel and Kirby snickered behind me as they hung back, giving me the space I needed.
“I won’t touch your whore,” Matteo uttered.
Another fist to his face, this time on the other side. “You really aren’t getting it, are you?”
He grunted, frustration taking over as he tried to wiggle free. The bullet wound in his leg was haemorrhaging blood as I looked down at it. Damn it. I must have nicked a vein. He would bleed out too fast if I kept it up at this pace.
I wanted him to hurt.
Not just for thinking he could take the girls and lock them up, but for what he did to Orla…for what he said to her to make her hate herself. I wanted to fucking rip him from limb to limb for that.
I swept my leg out and knocked the foot of the chair out. He dangled close to the ground, unable to stop himself from falling if I were to…
Swoop.
Another leg down and his face planted into the hard cement ground. A sickly crunch sounded, surrounded by gurgling. Rebel kicked him over onto his back, while Kirby handed me the jerry can filled with petrol and his lighter.
I looked down at the bloodied face that was once Matteo Barone, a feared mafia king in Milan. Now he was a puddle of piss, shit and blood and soon, he would be nothing but ash.
“You made a mistake thinking you could come here and intimidate the Ghost Rebels,” I said to him, pouring the petrol over him. He hissed out in pain, but he was losing consciousness and fast. “Now, no one will ever know what truly happened to Matteo Barone, the king who never was.”
Flicking the lighter to life, I threw it down on him and stepped back as his body turned to flame. His screams turned to gurgles as his body gave out on him. I turned to Kirby and Rebel and motioned for them to let him burn. We headed back to our bikes and took off toward the clubhouse.
I felt relief that she was safe, but in the back of my mind, she had no reason to stay with me now.
She was safe to return to her apartment.
I’d become accustomed to having her with me, to coming home to her, to the companionship.
It was how I had always dreamed it would be even back then when I first loved her.
I had always wanted her to be here, as my partner, my wife, my everything.
I’d come close to that and now I didn’t need to protect her from the threat anymore.
A wave of fear rocked me.
I wasn’t ready.
When we pulled in, I turned to them. “Not a fucking word to anyone.”
Rebel nodded, and then Kirby.
“No one knows about this, especially not Orla.”
“I’m good with that,” Rebel said. Kirby agreed.
We headed inside to everyone’s cheers that I was out of jail and drinks all around.
Ace had his eye on me, curious as to why Kirby had come back with us when he wasn’t tasked with bringing me back, but he didn’t call for church.
He simply stood back with Sheridan at his side.
Orla found her way to me and wrapped her arms around me, her mouth claiming mine to another round of hoops and hollers.
“Before you drag me back to the house, how about I beat your ass at a game first?” she asked, swaying those goddamn hips at me as she headed over to the pool table.
“Well, now that you’re finally back in my bed again,” I said, pulling her in close and kissing her neck. “I don’t have to let you win.”
“Uh!” she gasped, shoving me away. “You did not.”
“Yeah, princess, I did,” I laughed, chalking the end of my cue. “But let’s see how you fare this time around. I win and I get to keep you chained to my bed for a week, and if you win, you can do whatever the hell you want to me.”
“Only a week?” she questioned, bending over in front of me to stack the balls in the triangle. “Are you losing interest already?”
Her ass pushed against my rock hard cock, and I wanted to slam her onto the table and take her right here and now.
“Not at all,” I whispered low and dark in her ear. “But after a week, you’d need to eat something other than cock to sustain yourself.”
She groaned as she moved around to face me, her eyes impossibly dark, telling me just how turned on she was. “Wanna make a bet?”
I couldn’t help the smile making its way to my lips as she pushed my buttons, like she always had.
“You can break, then, if you’re so cocky.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” I replied, leaning over to take my shot. I knew exactly what she was going to do before she did it and yet I let her distract me as I took my shot, her hand brushing over my ass and dipping low to cup my balls.
“You wanna play dirty?” I shot back at her. “I can do that.”
She winked at me as she took her shot, and I realised in that moment, I would literally do anything for this woman.
Anything.