Chapter 16 #2
I glanced up to see Toxic rushing toward us.
“Get my knife!” It was back in my hiding place, but I had no problem with a friend grabbing it to end a threat.
I opened my mouth to tell him where it was when the guy managed to get his feet under him and flipped us, sending us both sprawling onto the ground with him landing on top of me.
I groaned but my attention turned to him once more as I pulled Stabby out, ready to end this fight.
Confusion clouded my mind when the guy on top of me went airborne, crashing into a nearby wall. There was no way he’d given up, and he certainly hadn’t tossed himself away from me. I glanced up and saw furious hazel eyes.
Hands went under my arms and picked me up like I was light as a feather. “Easy, Terror,” Butcher warned in my ear as he pulled me back against his chest, almost cradling me in his arms.
The rumble of his voice sent a shiver down my spine and made my pussy throb. Ugh. Stupid, traitorous body. “What’re you doing?” I snapped. Though I was glad he was here, he wasn’t letting me jump back into the fight.
“He’s a friend,” Toxic said from where he was squatting next to Warrant, who was holding his balls with one hand while he knelt on the floor. “Both of them are. That’s Warrant, and Scythe.” He nudged Scythe with his boot. “Get beat up by a girl did ya? Fucking pussies.”
Warrant shot him a glare. “Fuck you. I’d like to see you fight her.”
That took the rage right out of me. “They are?”
“Wake up, Big Guy,” Toxic said, smacking Scythe’s cheek after he rolled him over. “That’s it. Come on back.” He’d hit the wall headfirst and Butcher hadn’t held back when he tossed him off me.
I was sure that Scythe wouldn’t have been so easy to knock out except he hadn’t been expecting to be attacked. Especially since Toxic said they were friends.
Scythe came up swinging, catching Toxic right in the face. “What the fuck!”
“That’s my question,” Toxic snapped, holding his face. “You hit the fucker who’s helping you?”
“Sorry, Tox,” Scythe muttered. His eyes flashed over and found me. He scowled at me. “What the hell, lady?”
“Not a lady,” I sneered.
“Clearly.”
“Can I get some ice?” Warrant muttered. “If you keep me from having babies, I’m going to-”
“Like any woman is going to let you close enough to impregnate her,” Toxic cut in, chuckling at his own joke.
I doubted either man had trouble in the dating area. What was it with these guys? They were all gorgeous, stacked with muscles, and tattooed from head to toe.
Butcher let my arms drop, then snagged my knife before I could decide whether I should go after Warrant and Scythe again. “What’s your problem?” Butcher growled, glaring at him.
“My problem?” Warrant barked. “Ask her, she fucking attacked me first.”
They all looked at me. By this point, more of the men had come into the clubhouse, only there were more I didn’t recognize. I was starting to get the feeling I may have fucked up. “He snuck up on me.”
“I announced myself,” he muttered, getting to his feet. “And I’m wearing a fucking cut.”
“So would anyone who was smart enough to be an assassin,” I pointed out. Then, because despite how bad this was, I couldn’t help myself, “Besides, you hit on me.”
“You what?” A dark cloud came over Butcher, and for just a second all eyes were off of me.
“Easy, Big Guy,” Toxic was in front of Butcher, hands held up in a calming manner.
Warrant looked from Butcher to me. “I told you I was a friend.” Back to Butcher “I didn’t hit on her much.”
I didn’t respond, but gave him a look that said that my earlier answer about assassins still applied. I looked over my shoulder at Butcher, but he was still glaring at Warrant.
All eyes were on Butcher now, the tension was thick as molasses.
As though he might explode into a murderball at any second.
I might have pushed this too far. I reached out gently and touched his arm.
Instantly, and thankfully, he relaxed. “I’d say I’d kick your ass for touching my woman, but it looks like she already did that,” Butcher said with a feral grin.
“Fuck you!”
He moved around me, advancing toward Warrant, but before he had the chance to do...
whatever he was about to do, Lock’s voice cut through the room.
“Enough. Isla, this is Cynic, Rotor,” he said, glancing over at the still angry man “and you already met Scythe and Warrant. They’re our friends from Wyoming. ”
Oops. Yeah, I’d messed up. “No Cypher?” That was the only name I’d kept hearing the whole time.
Cypher and the guys. How was I supposed to know these were some of the ‘guys’?
I mean, I guess I could have taken Warrant at his word when he said he was a friend, but that wasn’t my style.
I was more of a knock them out and tie them up, then question them, kind of girl. It was safer that way.
Lockout didn’t seem too upset. I didn’t need a crash course on MC culture to know that what he said went in this place. He could toss me out on my ass in a hot second. “There’s a lot of shit going down right now,” Lock told the newcomers. “I’d rather that she was…cautious…than complacent.”
I shot him a grateful smile. The last thing I wanted to do was piss these men off. With each day that went by I respected them more and more.
Toxic put a hand on Butcher’s shoulder because he was still tense as hell and glaring at Warrant. “Come on, man, he didn’t know Isla was yours.”
His? I looked at Butcher, but the only emotion I could read on his face was contained fury.
Toxic seemed to be the only other one to recognize it.
Butcher wasn’t the type to keep that bottled up for the guys, was he controlling himself for me?
I didn’t want to examine the way hearing I was Butcher’s made my heart race, so I stepped forward toward Warrant as Toxic tried to convince Butcher not to pound the man’s face in.
“Sorry.” I wondered if Warrant realized I didn’t utter that word very often.
Then I turned to Scythe to include him in my apology.
He glanced over at me, and he nodded in acceptance, though his face was still grim. It seemed to be his default. “No worries. I have to admit, I’m impressed.”
“That’s because you didn’t take a hit to the balls.” Warrant complained, but then he broke into a grin and I knew I was forgiven.
“She’s the assassin the others are after,” Toxic told them.
Warrant focused on Butcher. “Didn’t mean to touch your girl, Bro. Was just fighting for my life, ya know?” he chuckled. He held his hand out and after a tense moment, Butcher shook it. The trouble seemed to be over. “Not surprised that you chose her though.”
“Isla.”
I turned and sent Lockout a questioning look. I was grateful for the interruption because I wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘chose’.
“Now that we’re all here, why don’t you run through that plan you mentioned.”
I’d told him a few days ago that I had the perfect plan to take out the assassins once and for all.
Then we could focus solely on Randal. Nodding, I followed the others back into the meeting room.
Once they were all seated, I started in.
“I have a cabin in the White Mountains. It’s about five hours north, and very remote. ”
“A much better place for a showdown than in the city,” Hush remarked.
“Exactly,” I replied with a nod. “And they’re going to expect me to go there.”
“Why do you say that?” Riptide asked.
“Because it’s always been my backup plan. And I made sure everyone knew it.” I shot him a smile.
“That way you would have a place to lay a trap,” Butcher added.
“It’s only one of the places I have up there,” I admitted, ducking my head when I saw the pride in his eyes. It made me all giddy to know he liked my backup plan. Stupid girly feelings. “But it’s the only one they know about.”
“So we go there and kill them all.”
I looked over at the man who spoke. He hadn’t said a word yet, but I liked him immediately. “That’s the plan,” I replied. Lockout had introduced him as Rotor. I had a feeling he and I would get along just fine.
Movement caught my eye, and I locked gazes with Warrant, who shot a smirk my way.
Even though we hadn’t started out on the right foot, I knew deep down I’d end up liking him, too.
These Berserker’s Rage, as the others called them, were my kind of people.
And I knew without a doubt Warrant would’ve easily kicked my ass downstairs if I hadn’t gotten the jump on him.
It was why I always tried to make the first move, and to make it count.
It was also why it all went downhill once Scythe showed up.
None of the men Cypher had sent to help us looked like they’d hold us back in a fight.
Lockout looked around the table, then his eyes settled on me. “It’s a good idea. Go ahead and give us the details.”
I ran them through the area, what systems I already had in place, and where the high points were.
I figured they’d like this plan because it took the threat, and the fight, far away from their families.
It was the reason I’d brought it up. This way we could do what we needed to without worrying about any innocent bystanders being caught up in the mess.
As soon as I stopped talking, the men began, and I listened as they began to fill in the gaps.
This was going to work. I glanced over and smiled at Butcher, happy to be helping and to soon have this over with.
The last four days of doing nothing but being here at the clubhouse had made me antsy. I was ready to go kill some bad guys.