“Oh … fine, I’ll tell you myself. You can send Moses over with that mean son of a bitch”—Greer pointed at a sleek dog that had Butcher afraid to move—“to pay us back for keeping an eye out for Ginny.”
Tugging his pants again, Greer directed his younger brother, “Dustin, make sure you take that gun from that little weasel you’ve been watching.”
Greer gave Silas a curt nod. “Can’t say it’s been a pleasure doing business with you, ’cause it ain’t. Make sure you keep to your side of the fence after”—Greer pointed his finger toward Moses as he walked out of the forest from his property—“Moses delivers my new dog.”
Reaper watched the Porters leave, then stared at the group gathered around Slate and Butcher, seeing that all of Ginny’s brothers were back and that Fynn was nowhere in sight, he spoke to Silas. “Take your family and go inside. Knox will come and tell you when it’s safe to come outside.”
Silas gave a grave nod. “We’ll let you handle this situation. Fynn will be staying with his mother for the weekend. Plenty of time to clean any mess you make.”
The Colemans began leaving, except for Ginny and Moses.
“Gavin ….”
Reaper shut out the sweet tone of her voice. He couldn’t listen to her when his mind was filled with pure hatred for the two men he had been searching for.
Ginny wouldn’t be shut out, though, bringing her hand to his arm to turn him so he was no longer staring down at Slate.
“I know you’re going to do what you feel is right.” Her eyes pleaded with him. “Revenge isn’t going to change the past, and it’s not going to give you the future you deserve.”
“The only future I deserve is the one I’m going to live once you go inside your house.”
Ginny wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. “There’s the future you could live with me, if you would give it a chance ….”
Reaper’s arms remained by his side, coldly rebuffing her by taking a step away, then turning back to Slate. “Any chance of a normal life was played out long before I met you.”
Stonily, he felt Ginny move away and was able to monitor her stiff movements as she began walking toward the house without looking back.
“Moses you need to leave.”
“I’m not leaving. Ginny is our sister. We saw the car on the way up the drive. It goes without saying that I, nor any of my brothers, will be interfering to help them.” Moses slanted his head down to the dog sitting attentively at Butcher’s feet. “Actually, there is something you need to be made aware of.”
Wanting to make Moses leave, Reaper delayed vetoing the idea of Ginny’s brother staying. Many of The Last Riders were there, but they were still outnumbered by Moses’ dogs. Deciding to listen to what Moses had to say might make it easier for him to convince Moses to go inside the house.
“Saber is giving an alert signal.” Moses lay a hand on the tan and white dog’s head that was sitting peacefully next to Butcher. “She smells blood on him. I would have Knox check out who the car parked in the driveway belongs to.”
Butcher started shaking. “Don’t let Reaper hurt me. Call the cops. Slate and I have a deal with the FBI ….”
Reaper felt nothing as Butcher implored Moses for help.
“Saber is never wrong.” Moses disdainfully ignored Butcher’s appeal as he steered away from the man, not afraid to give the monster his back to lay a hand on the dog that was holding Butcher at bay, even though Dustin was gone. “Do you know why Greer wants Trigger?”
“No.”
“Because everyone on this mountain knows Trigger loves to chase anything or anyone I order him to. When he’s done, Matthew and Isaac’s forge can burn what’s left. I thought that information would come in handy while you’re deciding if I can stay or not. I’ll even throw in this little tidbit for you.” Moses patted the side of his leg, and all the dogs immediately obeyed his silent signal to form two groups, one on each side of him. “They only obey me.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
“Let him stay,” Viper gave his approval.
Seeing Lucky, Knox, Razer, and Rider give their assent, Reaper lost any reservations he had left.
“Don’t let Slate out of your sight.” Leaving Knox and Razer to follow his order, Reaper walked over to where Butcher was cowering.
Giving full rein to the fury he had been holding in, Reaper backhanded Butcher across his mouth. When he fell backward to ground, Reaper then brought a foot up to smash him to the ground. Changing the course of his foot at the last second, he stomped his heavy boot down, missing Butcher’s nose by a centimeter. Placing his other boot on the other side of Butcher’s head, Reaper pulled him up by his hair. A mewling cry came from the man that Reaper hated more than life. When Reaper had him eye to eye, he let him see the hatred spilling out of his.
“Please don’t kill me …,” he sobbed.
“You’re nothing but a filthy rapist who wasn’t man enough to take what you wanted, so you had other men take it for you. You made me ….” Reaper bottled the words he wanted to spew out like lava erupting from the volcano of hatred that was all that was left of his soul, still unable to release the pent-up disgust that he couldn’t let escape within the hearing of the men nearby. He had been humiliated by these two men during the years of his captivity. He would be damned if the shame he carried every day would be exposed anymore. His degradation and indignity had been captured on video for eternity, while his revenge wouldn’t be. Taking their lives swiftly like he had Crash’s would never settle the score he had been waiting for.
“How badly do you want to live?”
“Bad,” he blubbered, snot coming out of his nose.
“I’m going to give you more of a chance than I had.” Still holding Butcher with what was left of his hair, Reaper turned him until he was facing away from him, pointing him toward Silas’s house. “I’m going to be fair. The Last Riders get to take turns killing you if you go in that direction.” Reaper pointed him to the left. “You go in that direction, the Porters can have you. You have better odds going that way, but you have to get past Greer. Good luck with that.” He tore out piece of scalp when he pointed him to the right. “You go in that direction, Moses and his dogs can have you. Those are your worst odds; I don’t see you outrunning one dog much less eight.” Using the back of his shirt, he pointed him straight. “This direction, you have your best odds. Through those trees are two rises, and it has a back-access road to the one you came in on. If you’re really lucky, you’ll even be able to get to your car and drive away before you’re caught.”
“Who gets me if I go in that direction?”
“Me,” Reaper answered, releasing him. “Choose.”
Butcher looked back at The Last Riders, then toward the Porters’ property, then at the dogs. Lastly, he braved a glance at him. “I’ll go in that direction.” Butcher looked at Slate as if wanting confirmation that he made the right choice. Slate was too occupied nursing the bump on his head that Greer gave him.