Payback: A Vigilante Justice Novel

by Kristin Harte

  “Fuck, Shye. Why didn’t you—”

  I spun, grabbing my hair and pacing the small room. I didn’t need to finish my question because I already knew the answer. She couldn’t have told me anything. They’d already broken her down—taken her life away from her and abused her to the point that she only saw one road to her survival. She wouldn’t have anything left to give, any way to protect herself, and she wouldn’t want to see anyone else stuck in the same quagmire. Her silence was a sign of self-preservation and altruism, not deception.

  Shye must have thought my silent pacing meant something negative, though, instead of me finally seeing the entire picture of her life. Tears fell from her pretty eyes, and she turned her back to me. Hiding again.

  “I know what I’ve done, Alder. I know how bad it all is. I’m going to Boulder to see my stepbrother—”

  “Fuck that.” I grabbed her, held her. Stopped her from throwing everything away. “You’re coming home with me. I want you safe, and that means you’re under my watch from now on.”

  “I can’t,” she said, looking almost panicked. “They’re already coming for you for payback.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I do, but I can fix it. I can do this, Alder. I can go see Colt and convince him to let me pay for my mistakes. I can take responsibility for you finding the kitchen.”

  Digging my heart out with a spoon, this girl. As if I’d ever let her put herself in the line of fire for me. “Over my dead body, Shye. It’s not happening.”

  “Alder—”

  “Goddammit, Shye.” I tugged her body against mine, unable to hold back another second. Too terrified of her walking away from me, from us, to be gentle. “Do you think I’m going to let you go there, knowing those fuckers are likely to beat or rape you? Do you really think I’m the type of man who’d allow that to happen to someone?”

  She shook her head, eyes watery again. “You’re not, but I’ll take the punishments so you’ll be safe. So they’ll leave everyone in Justice alone.”

  “They won’t let either of us just go. They’ve got their sights set on us now, and being reasonable isn’t how they operate.”

  “But it’s all my fault. If I tell them that, if I let them take what they want from me—”

  “No.” Fuck no. Just the thought of them taking anything from her made me want to set the world on fire. “This isn’t something you need to fix. Is it your fault your stepdad died? Even if you were driving the car, you didn’t kill him on purpose. Is it your fault the people who should have protected you and taken care of you chose to abuse you instead? Or that Camden lost his temper with those bikers, or that I refuse to turn my back and let them cook meth on that mountain? None of this is your fault.”

  She choked on a sob, dropping her head against my chest. “They’ll kill you. If you try to protect me from them, they will kill you.”

  Fuck, those tears broke my heart. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight. Doing my best to hold her together. “No, honey. They won’t. They’ll try, just like earlier tonight, but they won’t succeed. I won’t let them.”

  Big, questioning eyes looked up at me. Filled with so much doubt. “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because I’ve already got plans in place to deal with them and a strong-ass team around me. I’m a goddamned Green Beret, honey. Deacon too. Bishop and Gage are SEALs, and Cam’s a Marine. They took Leah from us because we weren’t ready for an attack—that won’t happen again. We’ll be the ones attacking.”

  She shook her head. “They sent two men after you.”

  “And they’re both taken care of.” I shushed her when those wide eyes met mine and the color drained from her face. “I don’t want to put you at risk by telling you more, but we eliminated that threat.”

  She stood silent for a long time, watching me. Slowly regaining her color and seeming almost to settle. “You killed the Soul Suckers who came to the house tonight.”

  A statement, not a question. One I felt the need to respond to. Warily, I nodded. “I had some help. And I’d do it again. They were there to get me out of the way and take you back to their president.” I leaned closer, making sure she understood my sincerity as I said, “No one will ever hurt you, honey. I won’t let them.”

  She took a deep, shaky breath, still looking so damn worried…but she wasn’t running. In fact, she had a strong hold on me. Clinging to my arms as she asked, “Aren’t you scared?”

  “Of them? No. Of losing you? Terrified.” Just the thought had my hands shaking, my body leaning over hers to gain more contact. “I can handle this. I promise you—me and my team can deal with the bullshit they try. Trust me to take care of you.” I ran my nose along her cheek, holding tight. Almost afraid to let her go. “Don’t leave me, Shye.”

  She choked on a laugh, running her hand up my face to cup my cheeks and pull my face down to her. “Leave you? I thought you’d be leaving me after all this.”

  Crazy girl. “I love you too damn much to ever walk away from you.”

  She gasped, and I took full advantage of her open mouth by pressing mine to it and sliding my tongue inside. That kiss turned into more, both of us quickly bringing our bodies together. Trying to feel one another again. Trying to reconnect.

  The second I had Shye’s arms and legs wrapped around me, I grabbed her ass and moved. I started in a rush to get her underneath me, but once I laid her on the bed, I took my time. Worshiping her body the way it deserved. Small kisses, little licks, a full-body rubdown—all of it done nice and slow. Making my point hit home that she was mine, that I’d given her my heart, and that I’d always work to take care of her. That nothing would ever come between us again.

  “Alder.” She pushed me back, breathing hard and looking adorably mussed and ready to be fucked. “What about Elijah and Lainie?”

  “They’re not my priority right now, honey.” I went in for another kiss, which she allowed before pulling away from me.

  “They might hear us,” she said, sounding almost scandalized.

  I could only grin. “Good. Let’s teach them both a thing or two.”

  And then I stripped her down, tugging my own clothes off once I had her naked and ready for me. Recovering her body with mine so there was nothing between us. Nudging my way inside her tight, wet heat felt more like coming home than anything ever had. I savored the moment, rocking slow, keeping our mouths fused together as I used my body to show her how perfect she was for me. How hard I’d strive to be perfect for her.

  When I had her clawing at my back, begging for more and harder and faster, I moved down her body. Kissing, licking, rubbing my way to the feast between her thighs. And then I dove in for a taste.

  She told me she loved me the first time I made her come on my tongue, promised me forever the fourth. And when I slid my cock back inside her, when I nearly collapsed with the relief of being joined to her again, I knew this was it for us. She’d be mine. Forever. Just as I’d be hers.

  Sex always felt good, but there were different levels of good. With Shye, sex had been amazing—emotional and hot at the same time. Knowing I would always be the only man to know the taste of her, the squeeze of her pussy around my cock, the way she arched and clung to me as she grew closer to her release, had added an extra kick to it. Our make-up sex blew that and everything I’d ever experienced out of the water.

  “Alder, please.” Shy tugged on my shoulders and tilted her hips, trying to make me move faster. To pull me deeper inside her tight, warm pussy. I gave in to that request, pumping hard, dragging her up the bed with the force of my thrusts. Chasing my own release as I watched for signs of her next one.

  When I had her completely at my mercy, begging and chanting sounds that should have been words as her body shook beneath me, I slid a hand between us and thumbed her clit. She exploded around me, screaming my name and digging her nails into my back. A beautiful, shaking mass of my girl sucking me deeper inside her body. With her pussy still milking my cock, I
followed right her over that peak, coming hard inside her tight little body. Surrendering the only way I ever would…to her, for her, and because of her.

  Later, after too many minutes had passed in the quiet of the two of us wrapped around one another, I felt the telltale sign of Shye thinking too much. True, she curled into my body and let me hold her against me, but she felt way too stiff for someone who’d just gotten fucked the way she had. Something still wasn’t right.

  “What’s wrong, honey?”

  She sighed and pressed her forehead against my chest, taking a long time to finally speak. “I’m still worried. I mean, what are you going to do about all this? The Soul Suckers will come after both of us. They’ll come after the town.”

  “Don’t even think it. They’re not getting anywhere near you.”

  “I’m not just worried about me.”

  “And neither am I.” I rolled her underneath me once more. “Justice is not up for sale, especially not to some biker gang with a propensity for arson. They roll into town, we’ll kick their asses out. They strike at us, we’ll strike right back. They come for me, I’ll shut them down. They come for you, I’ll blow their fucking world apart.”

  “I’m not worth it.”

  Those words gutted me, the tone pouring salt over the wound.

  “Shye, you’re worth everything to me.” I ran my tongue along her lips, tasting her. Nibbling that plump bottom lip before pulling back. “No one will ever hurt you again, honey. I’ll bury anyone who even thinks about it.”

  She kept her eyes on mine, kept her arms holding me tight around the neck. That look, the way she seemed to truly need me, made me want to flip her over and fuck her until she couldn’t breathe. But she wasn’t ready for that yet. And me? I still needed to make sure she was mine. Or rather…that I was hers. That she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

  “Come home with me, Shye,” I said, barely more than a whisper against her lips. “I promise that I’ll take care of you. That I’ll keep you safe. I need you, honey. Give me my girl back.”

  She leaned up to kiss me, squeezing me tight and pulling me on top of her as she responded with a simple, “Yes.”

  And that was all I needed from her to know that we’d be fine.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Alder

  Shye was still asleep when I crept out of bed and headed downstairs. I needed to make a call, to set a few things up. Things she couldn’t know about. The sort of things I only trusted one person with.

  Phone in hand, I settled in against the kitchen counter, looking out the window. There were too many lights here, not enough stars. That was okay for a night or two, but Justice was my home. The place I had put down roots. The town where I would marry the girl sleeping upstairs and raise our kids.

  Only one thing I saw standing in the way of that, so dialing the familiar number was real fucking easy.

  “I was wondering if you’d be calling,” Deacon said as soon as he answered the phone. “Heard you drove out to Elijah’s to get your girl. Everything okay?”

  Perfect, and yet… “She’s good, but I need a favor.”

  “Name it.” All business. No bullshit. Exactly what I expected, and why I called him.

  “I need you to call Parris and set up another meeting.”

  Deacon paused, the silence dragging a beat too long. “You going to let me in on why?”

  “Shye’s stepbrother.” Colt. The enforcer. “He’s the link between her and the Soul Suckers. I intend to break that link.”

  “You looking for information or something more?”

  Good question—and one I had no trouble answering. “Information. I’ll be taking care of the something more personally.”

  “You planning on filling me in?”

  Yeah, I would. Her story wasn’t mine to tell, but I could give him enough. A taste of the rage fueling my decision. “He whipped her, left her scarred, and he plans to bring her back to the club to pay a debt. I don’t think I need to tell you how a woman pays for anything with a man like that.”

  Deacon’s voice dropped lower, rumbling like a growl. “You sure the fuck don’t.”

  “So then you understand what I need.”

  Names, addresses, habits, friends, who he fucked, who he owed money to, where he bought his fucking groceries, how often he took a shit. All of it. A full dossier on the sick bastard.

  So I could find a way to take him out.

  I didn’t need to tell Deacon any of that, though. He knew. “Text me everything you know about him, and I’ll make the call. I’ll take on the debt of owing Parris a favor for it, too.”

  A favor might as well have been a golden ticket in the MC world. That was something we’d both figured out fast. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Yeah, I do. And when the time comes to break the link, I’ll be beside you.”

  Of that, I had no doubt. “Hooah, brother.”

  “I’ll let you know when I have something.” He ended the call without a goodbye. I didn’t mind—I had enough to deal with without having to worry about manners and shit. I needed to dig up information on Shye’s stepbrother, needed to develop a plan of assault, needed to cover all my bases.

  Then I needed to skin the fucker alive for what he’d done to her. What he still might try to do. Because there was no way he’d succeed in getting his hands on her. He’d have to go through me first, and I wasn’t a man who’d go down easy.

  “Alder?” Shye slipped down the stairs, looking so fucking sexy and rumpled in my shirt that my breath actually caught in my throat. “What are you doing?”

  Everything I can to keep you safe. “Nothing, honey. Just checking my phone. Why aren’t you in bed?”

  I held out my hand to her, pulling her close when she grabbed it. Needing to feel her against me. She snuggled into my chest and sighed, so damn small in comparison to me. So delicate. My fragile girl with a spine of steel.

  “I woke up in a weird room all alone,” she said, keeping her voice soft. Sounding almost nervous. “And I was afraid you’d left.”

  Oh, fuck no. I tipped her chin up, looking into the most beautiful brown eyes in the world. “Never. You’re mine now, honey. And I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Her smile had never seemed brighter. “Good. Then let’s go back to bed. It’s too early for you to be up, and there’s no way I can figure out that fancy coffee machine thing.”

  My laugh rumbled softly as I stood and followed her to the stairs. “I stayed here once for a meeting with a client and nearly threw the fucking thing out the window.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. Lainie was pissed.”

  Shye’s lips twisted into a sort of frown. “I don’t think she likes me.”

  Lainie’s story was one for another day. “She doesn’t like anything to do with me or Bishop, but she won’t bother you.” She’d better not, at least.

  I herded Shye into the bed, rolling her halfway underneath me once we were under the covers. Breathing her in as I rocked my hips against her, dragging my cock over her thigh.

  “You tired, honey? Because I’m pretty sure I can keep you occupied if you can’t sleep.”

  Shye’s soft laugh turned to a groan when I yanked up her shirt and sucked hard on her small, tight nipple. So sweet, my girl. Every inch of her. And I wanted to taste them all.

  Arching her back and spreading her legs, she moaned, “Alder,” in a breathy sort of tone.

  Yeah. I’d never get tired of hearing her gasp my name like that. Like she needed me. Just as I needed her.

  I popped off her nipple and moved down, kissing her stomach and spreading her legs wider as I went. “I wonder if your pussy tastes any different now.”

  She gripped my hair, tugging as I teased the seam of her thigh with my tongue. “Different how?”

  “Don’t know, but you’re not a virgin anymore. Virgin pussy might taste different than owned-by-Alder-Kennard pussy.”

  Her body shook with her gigg
le. “You think so?”

  “Maybe.” I spread her with my thumbs, taking a good, long lick of her cunt. “I know a way to find out.”

  And I did.

  Find out.

  A few times.

  Epilogue

  Shye

  It wasn’t every day that the Kennard team set a forest on fire. Okay, not a forest. Just a section of one. One with an old barn that had been retrofitted to be an illegal chem lab of sorts. One they shouldn’t have known about. So I guess you could say that it wasn’t every day that the Kennard team set fire to a meth lab. But on that afternoon, a mere two days after Alder had come for me at Elijah’s house, that was exactly what the boys were doing.

  We’d spent that first day in bed, loving and being loved together, but eventually, he’d needed to return to work. To get back to killing the Soul Suckers’ business in Justice. So I’d piled into his truck, and we’d spent a leisurely three hours on backroads heading home to Justice, talking and laughing and getting to know one another better.

  And ignoring the thousands of phone calls, voicemails, and text messages from Colt. Alder had said we’d get my number changed, but we both knew that wouldn’t be enough to break Colt’s hold on me.

  I’d turned my phone off that first day and hadn’t turned it back on yet. Which was how I ended up sitting in the silence of Alder’s house—my house now, too, I guessed—alone and with nothing really to do except cling to the cordless phone from Alder’s room. My room now, too. Things were changing so fast.

  Some things stayed the same, like Alder making sure I had someone to watch over me. Finn sat outside on the porch, keeping guard. I didn’t know much about the youngest Kennard brother except that he was a recovering addict who loved the huckleberry pie at the truck stop. He hadn’t spoken much on our trip to Denver together and even less since he’d shown up that morning. In fact, Finn had been outside since Alder had left for Widow’s Ridge, leaving me alone in the house for hours.