“What happened?”
Sal ends the call laboriously and pitying eyes focus on me. “Looks like Jack got into a car accident before he could get to John’s house.”
My voice goes up at least one octave. “What?”
“He’s hurt pretty bad. We need to get to the hospital now.”
Jack’s hurt, and this time it’s not just a sprained arm or a broken wrist. It’s serious. A sob catches in my throat.
My wavering voice screams at the men. “Well, let’s go!”
He nods to them and they step aside, letting me through the bar. Sal is close behind, huffing slightly as he keeps pace with me. I sprint outside, imagining a twisted wreck of smoking metal and mangled limbs. Oh God.
“How bad is it?” I ask him, close to tears. “Did they say?”
“They didn’t want to talk about it on the phone.”
“Where’s your car?”
“This way.”
I follow him to the Saturn parked out front. One of his goons opens the door for me and I slide in, twisting my hand in my lap.
Keep it together. He’s fine. He’s Jack—practically indestructible.
My eyes start to sting. He’s hurt pretty bad, that’s what Sal said.
The car starts and I throttle back in my seat. Wheezing from the blow to my back, I think about the pain he must be in right now. My mind races, trying to find the last time I felt his lips on my skin. I think about the way my body sang when he pulled me over his lap that first time I saw him, and then I hate myself for this macabre replay of our relationship.
Have some fucking faith that I’m all right.
Buildings whisk by the window as we drive up the ramp to the highway.
“Which hospital is he at?”
“Some place northeast.”
I nod, hardly listening to his response. Then something jumps from the back of my brain and my heart starts pounding as if I snorted a line of coke.
“Wait—doesn’t Johnny live downtown?”
“Yeah.”
So why the fuck are we going the wrong way?
The silence pricks my skin like needles. “Where are we going?”
“I told you—the hospital.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Something is really wrong. Sal wipes his sweaty face with a huge hand as he drives, and the two guys behind him—my heart clenches painfully. They’re cleaning their guns.
“Where are you taking me? Where’s Jack?”
Sal’s voice is too calm. “Relax, we’re taking you to him.”
Forced calm washes over me, but the scenery outside makes my hackles rise again.
“Cut the bullshit—where’s Jack?”
A few seconds pass before Sal speaks again. “Out killing Johnny, I hope.”
“He’s not in an accident?”
Relief floods my veins when he shakes his head. The soothing wave evaporates when I realize he fucking tricked me.
“Fuck, biker sluts must be dumb,” chimes a voice in the back. “You don’t catch on quick, do you?”
Fear pounds its way through my veins.
“Then what the hell are you doing with me—where are we going?”
“To end this fucking thing.”
My blood runs cold at the sound of that. End this thing? My hands grapple the door, but we’re on the goddamn highway. I can’t just jump out—plus, the baby.
“Your fucking funeral,” Sal says with a laugh.
A voice interrupts from the back. “Boss, what the fuck are we doing?”
He looks into his rearview mirror to address the man behind me. “Change of plans—”
“What? You said we just had to wait for Jack to take care of Johnny.”
Shock reverberates inside my ribs. What’s going on?
“I don’t think he’s going to go through with it. He might.”
My phone rings in my lap and I try to stifle the noise, but Sal leans over and crushes my hand in his. Joints pop as he twists the phone and wrenches it free, and then he looks at the screen. It’s Jack. He’s calling me.
“He didn’t do it. God fucking dammit!”
His meaty fist smashes into the dashboard and the car swerves, almost hitting the median. My scream hits the air, piercing our ears.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I’LL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF!”
My voice trembles into a quiet gasp as he slips the gun out of his coat and aims it at my face.
“You are going to fucking help me kill John, or you’re dead.”
I raise my hands, heart pounding so loud that I’m sure the whole car can hear it. “I—I can’t—”
“Put your fucking hands down, now.”
Gripping the steering wheel, he tucks his gun back into his jacket as I lower my arms.
“Just shut the fuck up and don’t make a scene.”
“This is fucking serious. If Jack didn’t do it then we’re fucked.”
Sal twists his head around to glare at them. “You think I didn’t have another fucking plan in case the asshole changed his mind? Jesus.”
“What is it?”
His slippery smile is directed toward me. “We use her.”
* * *
The winding road spirals up the hill, twisting around a forest of pines. My heart jackknifes in my chest when I realize where we are. The compound. Home. My parents.
The place that shunned me.
The place that’s going to bury me.
Why the hell is he taking me here?
The car door’s metallic lock shines in the sunlight. All I have to do is wait for them to slow down enough during a bend in the road and open the door.
I’m not going to fucking walk in there like an animal led to slaughter.
“I’m not going to help kill Maya’s husband, so you might as well kill me now.”
Sal turns his head and smiles at me. “I think you’ll change your tune soon enough.”
Fuck him.
I throw my body against the door as I turn the handle just as the car slows down enough for me to jump out. The roar of the engine hits my ears as I bail, the earth slamming into my side and knocking the air from my body.
“Fuck!”
A screech of car tires—the sound of pairs of feet, moving rapidly.
Get up!
The world spins as I roll down a ditch. My back slams against the trunk of a tall pine and needles cascade down my face. For a second I sit there, stunned that I just jumped out of a moving car. Then footsteps crash through the brush.
I shoot up like a rabbit and fly into the dark woods. Tree branches whip me as I hurtle through the forest, desperate to get away.
Where the fuck am I going?
I’ve no phone—no way to contact Jack and tell him where I am.
“Come back, you bitch!”
Sal’s labored breathing wheezes behind me and I dart away from him, but then a blur collides with my body and we crash heavily to the ground. I cry out in pain as one of the men lifts off me and grabs my hair, forcing me to kneel.
I stare into the endless black tunnel, and I wonder how a perfect, dark circle could bring me so much dread. The thumb moves up, cocking the gun. The metallic sound freezes my blood.
Oh God, I don’t want to die.
One of these days, you’re going to have to stand up for yourself.
Jack’s powerful voice booms in my ear, and my chest swells. He’s right.
“Ready to die, princess?”
With great effort I tear my eyes from the muzzle and stare at Sal’s impassive face. “You’re not going to kill me. You need me.”
“Listen, maybe we should get rid of the bitch and bring her body there. We could tell the MC Johnny sent his guys after her and get them on our side.”
“That’s a stupid idea!” I flinch as he digs the gun into my forehead.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” he sneers.
“The MC doesn’t give a shit about me.”
He makes a shrugging motion. “Fair point.”
“She’ll say whatever the fuck she wants to save her ass!”
“I’m not going to waste the only hostage I have. Get her up. Let’s go.”
Rough hands seize under my arms and haul me upright as despair hits my chest like a mallet.
I’m sorry, Jack. I tried!
“How the hell are we going to get into the compound without them filling us with lead?”
A smirk creeps into Sal’s voice. “I’ve been in talks with the vice president for some time. He’s not happy with Jett. Bending over backward to appease the family made him a lot of enemies. I told him if he helped me get rid of John, I’d help him whack Jett.”
The vice president? I try to dig up what I know about Reg, the lean biker with a midnight-black, stubbly beard, streaks of gray peppering his dark head. He’s one of the guys who came into power after Maya’s father was killed.
“And then what? You think they’re just going to let you skip out of there unharmed?”
“Once I’m boss, I’ll cut the MC a better deal. Something that’s way more fair. They’d be fucking stupid to refuse me.”
Shit!
A broad hand shoves my back and we stumble blindly back to the car. My brain whirs wildly, trying to think. Think! Nothing. My mind draws up a blank space of white.
Sal’s round face looks back at me. “Jesus, will you relax? You’ll be fine. Johnny is the only one I want.”
He’s lying, Jack’s voice whispers in my ear. He’s fucking lying. Fight! Do something!
I can’t do a damn thing with a gun at my back.
Bide your time. There’ll be an opportunity. Don’t freeze up.
I won’t, I tell the voice. I won’t.
JACK
“Where the fuck is she?”
A scrawny man writhes in my grip like a cat until I slam his back against the brick wall. “I’ve no idea who you’re talking about!”
“My WIFE!”
His head hits the wall with a dull thud and his hands fall from my wrist. A flash of irritation sears my body as his knees buckle and he drops to the street. He lies there, oddly still. I nudge him with my foot. Nothing.
Fuck.
“Jack, what the hell are you doing?”
Johnny peers in the alley, his eyes widening at the man crumpled at my feet.
“Maudit, Jack!” His hand wraps around my throat as he shoves me against the wall, snarling in my face. “I know you’re worried about your wife, but that does not mean you get to act like a fucking idiot.”
“I’m losing my fucking mind! Where the hell did he take her?”
He gives me one last shove and steps back from me, agitated. “I don’t know. I have no fucking clue what he’s thinking.”
The unspoken question burns my eyes. Do you think she’s dead?
No, damn it. I can’t let my mind linger on that for one second. If she’s gone, I’m not a father or a husband anymore. I’m nothing but another soldier on the street.
And I can’t go back to that.
“Come on.”
He grips my arm and steers me to the door, rapping his knuckles on the metal frame. It opens, revealing the back room of Le Zinc. It’s filled with only a few of Johnny’s most trusted members, but I swallow a line of nausea as I look at them.
“Just have a seat and try not to fucking kill anyone.”
I slump down in a chair as voices scream in my head—mostly her voice, filled with pain. My throat constricts and I check my phone again as a wave of anguish pours over me. Nothing there either.
Hushed voices surround me as they talk in somber tones. It’s like I’m on my fucking deathbed—or at my brother’s funeral. There’s too much shit going on at once. We’re at war with the Devils, and Sal conspired against the boss and took my wife. The family is fractured.
She’s out there with that psychopath and I have no idea where she is.
Shaking, I stand up from my seat and check my phone for the millionth time, willing myself to not crack the screen in my firm grip. Sal’s round, smiling rat face hovers in my vision, taunting me. I told her John was the devil, but he was. He killed Mike. Why? I just want to fucking hear it—I want him to fucking admit it through those foul lips.
“Take my wife and kid and get them the fuck out of the city.” John’s voice booms out of nowhere, and I look back as he talks to the New Yorker. “Don’t let them out of your sight, Tommy. I’m trusting you with my family. Don’t let me down.”
“I won’t.”
Tommy shoots me a sympathetic look before walking out of the place. His footsteps echo sharply in the small room before the door shuts behind him. John runs a hand through his hair, looking shaken.
“Where the fuck is Sal! I’ve got the whole town in my pocket and no one knows where he is?”
I stand up suddenly as a jolt of electricity runs through me.
“What are you doing?”
“I can’t just fucking sit here, John. I have to do something.”
A placating hand held toward me only strokes the flames of rage.
“I hear you.”
No, you fucking don’t!
Then my phone rings, cutting across the room. It’s Beatrice’s number. I almost drop the phone in shock.
“Everyone shut the fuck up!”
Trembling, I accept the call and hold the hot metal to my ear. A feminine voice breathes through the speaker. My heart tightens and releases.
“Hon, is that you?”
“Jack!”
“Where the hell are you? Are you hurt?”
Cold wraps around my guts like a fist as a deep male voice replaces hers. “Not yet.”
Johnny leans forward, excitement widening his eyes.
I want to scream at that cool, detached voice. Fuck you. Fuck your mother’s rat-infested twat. I’m going to find you and rip you apart.
“What are you doing, Sal?”
“Getting what I want.”
The chair knocks to the floor and suddenly I’m standing upright, blood pounding in my ears. “Don’t you fucking dare!”
“I want Johnny dead. If he’s still alive, bring him to the MC compound, and I’ll give back your little biker bitch.”
Rage. I’ve never been this pissed in my life, never felt my brain squeezed like this, as though it were in a vise. “After Johnny’s dead, then what? You become boss? Are you a fucking lunatic?”
“They can fall in line or die. I don’t give a shit. Be here in three hours, or your wife’s pretty brains will decorate this wall.”
A stream of curses runs from my mouth, reverberating in my head like a stereo implanted in my brain. I don’t even hear him hang up, just the roar of everything else.
A hand grasps my shoulder and arm, shaking me.
“What’d he say? Jack!”
It’s as though there’s a parasite lodged in my heart, sapping energy while growing with a poisonous throb. It hurts. I’ve never hurt this fucking bad in my life, even when Mike died.
Even if I could, I’d never walk out of there breathing. That’s a fucking fact.
John grabs the back of my neck, squeezing hard. “Tell me.”
“He’s at the MC.”
“Which MC? Goddamn it, Jack—”
“The Devils. He wants me to bring you there. He wants you dead.”
The room breaks with that last sentence, the tension snapped like a guitar string.
“We should have never trusted those biker pieces of shit!”
I keep speaking in a monotone voice. “I have a few hours to bring him John, or he’ll kill my wife.”
That last sentence hangs in the air like an obscene phrase. It’s too horrible to contemplate. Biker daughter or not, she’s still my wife. A fellow wise guy going after his brother’s wife? There are lines that are never crossed in the life. Sal took a piss on that line and lit it on fire. He’s trashing everything we believe in. No fucking way will anyone willingly work for him.
“So that’s how he wants to play?” Johnny’s eyes are overwrought as menace creeps into his voice. “That goddamn moron won’t know what hit him.”
“That place is surrounded by reinforced concrete, John. How the fuck are we getting in there?”
“By giving him what he wants. Me.”
What?
A manic grin stretches Johnny’s face. “And maybe a peace offering.”
Other voices chime in with ideas, and my heart pounds harder when I realize what Johnny means to do.
“Sal’s mine,” I tell the room of people. “Touch him and you’ll have to answer to me.”
And when I get ahold of him, there’ll be no mercy.
* * *
Johnny’s heavy weight slumps over my shoulder as I carry him in a fireman’s lift. The floodlights of the compound bathe us in light. I let his body tumble from my arms to hit the ground hard, and he lets out a painful wheeze, rolling on his back. His gasps fill the night sky as the light washes over his wounds. I had to knock him around a few times to make him look fucked up. I won’t say that a part of me didn’t enjoy it a little.
His hands are bound behind his back with a zip tie, carefully filed down so that a bit of pressure will release him.
God, I hope this works.
A man appears on the battlements of the fortress. Someone I don’t recognize.
“You brought him.” His smooth voice holds an inflection of surprise.
“Where is Sal?”
I’m aware of the automatic guns trained on my chest right now.
“He’s inside with your wife.”
I can’t wait until I can wipe that smile from your face.
I can’t fight the tremble in my voice. “I want to see her.”
A frown tightens his face. “She should have never been given to you. You didn’t deserve her.”
I bristle as the door rolls open only wide enough to admit a stream of bikers outside. They surround me, ignoring the truck I arrived in. Two of them pick up Johnny’s body and drag him across the dirt. A fierce poke to my back prompts me forward.
A small crowd of bikers stands in the courtyard, their postures menacing. They frisk me and take my concealed guns. I feel the loss with a small twinge of anger. Johnny’s sprawled body lies in the dirt and I see the biker who spoke to me slowly descending the staircase from the wall.
Property of the Bad Boy Page 19
