Crash and Burn (Back Down Devil MC #2)(11)

Avery sprung into action before she knew what she was doing. She ran toward the scene, fearing that Landon would be shot and killed. Something inside her triggered. She couldn’t face the dumb fate of a man who just saved her life to only end up dead ten minutes later.

“You get it?” the man yelled at Landon. “You get what’s happening?”

“Fuck yourself,” Landon said. “You don’t know who I am. Who we are. What’s going to happen to you and your crew.”

Avery rushed up behind the man with the gun. If he really had been paying attention he would have known Avery was there. But he was focused on Landon. He was sweating like crazy, telling Avery he was afraid. With only the metal pizza tray in her hand, Avery brought it over her head and swung down. The tray hit the man in the head with an almost gong sound. It did nothing to hurt him, but it caused him to turn around to see who had hit him.

“Who the f*ck are you?” he asked.

Avery dropped the pizza tray. That’s when Landon made his move. He clamped a hand on the man’s shoulder and turned him back around. A fist connected with the man’s face and blood sprayed all around, almost hitting Avery. The man went to one knee, but Landon wasn’t done.

“Dumb motherf*cker,” Landon said. He ripped the man’s shirt open and grabbed his left arm. “Didn’t get your full tat yet, did you?”

“I will when I kill you,” he said.

Landon kicked with a heavy foot, hitting the man in the face. More blood sprayed.

Avery stood in a state of disbelief, taken back at the scene unfolding in front of her eyes. This was pure violence, the kind she rarely seen before. Landon meant business. This wasn’t a biker in a leather cut, cruising the beach for pizza and *. This was real stuff. Then again, Avery told herself she should have known better… she had seen that explosion in the parking lot.

“I have to settle this,” Landon said. “Don’t f*cking leave, sweetheart.”

Landon put a hand on the back of the man’s neck and lifted him. He walked and forced the man down a set of steps and under the wooden walkway. Avery followed, wanting to see what was going to happen next. It was really turning her on watching Landon beat the hell out of this guy. Nothing seemed to bother Landon; he had no sense of fear in the world.

As Avery stood halfway down the steps she saw Landon with his hand at the man’s throat, holding him against a wooden post.

“You f*cking pieces of shit are not going to win this,” Landon said. “Sneak attacks at the hospital, f*ck you. Running up on me while I’m alone, f*ck you.”

“Fuck you, man.”

Avery’s eyes widened. She could sense Landon was going to hit the guy again. She gripped the metal railing, wanting it to happen. She wanted to see it. The power, the strength, the…

Landon moved fast again. He reached to his waist and pulled out a long knife. Before Avery could even attempt to gasp, Landon drove the knife into the man’s gut. He pulled it out, and just as fast, he drove it into the man’s chest.

The man fell and Landon crouched down. He cleaned the blade with the man’s shirt and then put his knife away.

Avery had never seen a murder like this before. She’d seen gunshots and drive-bys and all that mess of shit in life, but nothing like this.

Landon turned and their eyes met. His lip curled and he walked toward her.

“You’re coming with me, sweetheart,” he ordered.

“Where?” Avery asked.

“Wherever the f*ck I take you.”

Avery started to shake. “Are… are you going to hurt me?”

Landon walked up the steps, put a hand to her wrist, and pulled. “I probably will. I hurt everyone. Deal with it, sweetheart.”





six.



Landon felt the breeze on his face and the tight grip of Avery around his waist.

What the hell was happening right now?

All Landon wanted to do was take an hour to himself. He wanted a slice of the best damn pizza in the world and then he wanted to cruise around, keeping his eyes open for any bullshit, but mostly to clear his mind. The last thing he signed up for was saving some chick’s life, but she quickly repaid the favor. Then, she watched him kill that scumbag from Eight Under.

Fuck.

Landon sped down the road, the beach to his right, the town to his left. He took the road for miles with no real place to go. He couldn’t ride too long, there were a couple phone calls he needed to make. One to the chief to warn him of the dead body near the beach and one to the club to let them know that Eight Under was still playing f*cking games.

The ocean crashed into the rocks with fury while the vast land on the other side of the road could have been a giant graveyard for all Landon cared. Plenty of land to bury all the guys in Eight Under. Plenty of land to bury anyone who messed with the MC. It felt like the days of respect and playing by unspoken rules over. When everyone did as they wanted, without care, it became unruly, and that meant justice needed to be serviced to keep everyone in line. The constant retaliation only spilled more blood and cost more lives. But without retaliation there were no messages sent or received by the enemies. And those enemies seemed to be growing by the day now.

The road twisted and turned a little until finally Landon felt calm and safe enough to pull over. Landon cut to the right and went off the road. He stopped the motorcycle and killed the engine. He climbed off and then let Avery off. She unclipped the helmet and handed it to him.