“Holy shit, Maximo. What the fuck did you get yourself into?”
There isn’t a reply.
I should have known my dad would come back for me. I should have known he would come back to ruin my life the moment I found happiness. And if I know my father, I know he will kill anyone and everyone in his way to get what he wants.
I’ve brought the Kings more trouble, something they don’t deserve. Knives will be a target now; everyone will be in danger because of me.
Maybe I should disappear, but the thought of leaving hurts more than death. I’d rather my father kill me than take me away from the home I’ve built here.
And just when I thought I was living the dream…
My monster had to come emerge from the dark.
Nothing can surprise me much. I’ve experienced pretty much everything there is to see and feel that would drive a man to kill himself, but being in a remote, abandoned barn with Mary and having the best night of my life? That surprised me.
Drinking with her surprised me. The depth of how much I want her that surprises me.
Finding Maximo Moretti in an abandoned barn, shot twice in the shoulder and once in the thigh? That surprises me.
And knowing it was Mary’s father who pulled the trigger? That fucking shocks me.
Two men that have a fucking death warrant on their heads.
“Maximo? Long time, no see.” I pat his sweaty face, and his eyes open. “Yeah, your injuries aren’t deadly, so don’t play the dead card on me.” I slap his face again, and a painful wheeze leaves his chest. “Where have you been, buddy? You know who has been looking for you?”
His eyes snap open then, and he gulps when he knows exactly who I am talking about. “I—I have my reasons. I swear, I’d never hurt any of the ladies who belong to the Kings. You have to understand—”
I wrap my hand around his throat and pull him up by his neck. Maximo fucking Moretti. The man Tongue has been salivating for after what he did, not only pinning Skirt and him in the same ring but for holding a knife to Daphne’s throat. Tongue is a maniac, a fucking unstable, sick, and twisted man, but no one fucks with his woman.
“We require payment for your actions,” I whisper, letting my breath cross his face so hopefully he can smell the fucking threat in the air. Once I get him back to the clubhouse, I’m going to make sure we drain every bit of information from him.
He turned his back on the wrong men.
“Knives?” Mary asks from our dark corner, our spot, and disappointment rears its head when I realize our fucking moment is ruined because, for some reason, her father and Maximo decided to bust in here. Out of all places they could fucking ruin, they had to ruin this.
Mary and I already don’t have the most stable relationship without jumping down each other’s throats. We made progress. More than progress. I got to see her come, and I wanted to see that a hundred times over and more.
“Get dressed, Hellraiser.”
“Mary? As in Mary St—”
I squeeze Maximo’s throat and sneer, “You don’t get to fucking ask questions about her. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” Maximo says, groaning when I dig my knee into his shoulder.
On purpose.
Mary comes out from behind the old furniture, dressed in her tight jeans and T-shirt with her leather jacket in hand, then tosses me my clothes. They are dry, luckily, since it’s been a few hours, and the storm has seemed to pass with just a mist of rain peppering the metal roof.
“I need a hospital,” Maximo struggles to say.
I lift my knee off his shoulder and get dressed. Mary stays away from Maximo, leaning against the wall of the barn, right underneath a damn hook that looks like it held pigs or cows for someone to butcher. After I tug on my shirt, I walk over, move her to the left because all I can think about is the hook falling and slicing through her neck, just like my sister. I kiss the top of her head, hating that the happiness we shared is now gone.
I want to kill Maximo for ruining my goddamn night.
Her eyes are red and swollen, her cheeks flushed with fear, and tears fill her beautiful chocolate eyes. I want to kill Maximo for making her cry, too, and her dad.
Oh, I really want her dad’s blood on my ninja stars.
“I’m going to fix this. You’re going to be safe. I don’t want you to be scared, okay?” I tell Mary, needing her to see that I’m going to protect her. She has nothing to worry about. Her father isn’t going to lay his hands on her again, not as long as I am alive.
And history has proven, killing me is not easy.
Maximo tries to get up by placing his body on his hands and knees. “Oh, I don’t fucking think so.” I slam my foot into his back, and he shouts as his body bends, and he falls to the ground. “You don’t get to try and get out of here. You’re coming back with me.” I grip him by the back of his hair and yank his head off the floor, hoping he is uncomfortable. I could break his neck right now if I really wanted to.
Tongue would cut out my tongue and feed it to Happy if I did. This is his retribution, but I’m allowed to be angry for my brother, and I’m allowed to be angry that Maximo is friends with Mary’s father.
Nothing good can come out of that.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
“I live here.”
I push his head against the ground, my fingers twitching for a ninja star, but I don’t have any on me. I don’t have my backup gun either.
What a fucking shitshow.
“You aren’t exactly in the position to get smart with me. You have no idea how deep of shit you are in with the Kings. After everything we have done for you and Moretti, your own fucking brother, you turn your back on us.”
“I’m doing this for my brother!” he hisses, but whimpers when I push my knee into the exit wound on his back.
I want to know everything, but it’s pointless to get the story out of him now when I know he will go to the playroom at the clubhouse with a few of the guys, and they will get every drop of information out of him. “What’s in this barn? Why is Preacher Man here, huh? Didn’t know you were the religious type.”
His eyes roll to the back of his head, and for a minute, I think he is pretending, so I kick him for the hell of it. But he doesn’t make a sound. He’s completely passed out. “Damn it. They always pass out right before I need information.” I turn around to see Mary folding up the blankets and making sure the fire is out; she’s still crying, and her hands are trembling, but she’s trying to pull herself together.
I want her to fall apart.
I want her to realize she doesn’t have to be strong anymore, or runaway, or feel caged. She can fall, and I’ll catch her.
And I’ll put her back together again
Mary isn’t the kind of woman that can be hidden. She needs her freedom, and I can be that for her.
“How are we going to get back to the clubhouse?” Mary asks, looping her arms through her leather jacket when she shivers.
“Mafia boss has to have a phone on him, right?” I flip an unconscious Maximo over on his back and see blood spreading over his suit and dripping on the floor.
Uh.
He might be dying.
And I couldn’t care less.
I search his pockets and pull out his phone and dial Reaper’s number. As it rings, I glance around the barn and wish we didn’t have to leave. This place was a little getaway for us; it healed me in some ways and opened me in others.