Never Love An Outlaw (Deadly Pistols MC #1)(18)

“Not if we give the Prez what he wants most, and what this club desperately needs. I mentioned the reward for taking this chick home to her loving parents. A quarter million, easy.” I looked at both men, watching the defiant expressions on their faces melt. “You don't have to crunch the numbers all f*cking day like me to have some idea what that kinda money'll do for us. Far more than knocking off a few thousand from these trucker spas.”

That shut them up. My brothers both looked past me, considering.

“It's still too dangerous without the Prez's approval,” Crawl said finally. “You want the three of us to go alone, you'll be making a big mistake. What if we run into the Deads? Fuckers always outnumber us if they come full force. We'll wind up prisoners ourselves, maybe worse.”

“Not if we go tomorrow. We won't waste any time pulling her out. Let's talk about how we wanna handle Ricky. Hell, the greedy bastard probably hasn't even told the Deads about his hostage because he'll want to keep all the proceeds to himself when he sells her. She's just another whore to them. Nobody'll come looking.”

Sixty sucked in his cheeks like he was chewing tobacco. I watched him shuffle several steps to the bar, reach behind the counter, and return with a ratty old notepad.

“We do this for you, brother, you owe us big.”

“Of course I do.” I walked up and slapped him on the shoulder, motioning for Crawl to join us. “You think I'd ever let any of you guys down? Fuck, we earned our bottom rockers just months apart. You two kept me sane when Dad left us. You're brothers to me in every sense of the word, and that's never gonna change. I'm just asking for one last favor – the only one I'll ever be asking you for.”

Fuck, what am I saying? I seriously wondered as I watched Sixty tear two pages from the notebook, looking into my eyes.

Meg touched something deeper in me than I liked to admit. I'd never dived into this hero crap before. I didn't know shit about her, and I sure as f*ck shouldn't care about anything besides the reward money.

But I did. When she looked at me with those sad, blue, puppy dog eyes, I saw someone who didn't belong, someone who needed my help. And no, it didn't help that she was the most beautiful * I'd seen in months, everything I dreamed about laying flat and pounding into the nearest surface.

“We're gonna make you keep your word on that,” Crawl said, caving at last. He knew exactly what Sixty had in mind, and so did I.

I reached to my belt, and pulled out the switchblade we only used for slicing shit up and close combat. They both watched closely while I pressed the blade to my pointer finger and cut a neat line through my fingertip.

I soaked each sheet of paper in blood, scrawling the letters I.O.U. as neatly as I could.

I had their backs forever, and they had mine. Now, all I needed to do was find out if Meg was really worth all the trouble.





III: Drag Me Down (Megan)


I couldn't stop looking at Skin's ring. I held it in my hand until I nearly fell asleep, remembering to tuck it into the little drawer on my nightstand at the last second.

He said he'd save me. I wanted to believe him. For all I knew, the heavy, deadly looking ring with the claw holding onto the pistol might be nothing more than a gimmick.

Whatever they'd said and done to Ricky wasn't just an act, though. The pimp didn't bother me all night. They'd hurt him, rattled him, bad.

I'd expected him to be pissed off and take it out on me. I was ready to drop to my knees and suck him off so he wouldn't hit me again. But the bastard never came, never even knocked on my door that night, too busy shuffling around with an icepack pressed to his jaw.

When I heard his truck rumble and drive off in the parking lot, I knew I was safe.

Safe to sleep. Safe to live another day. Safe to believe that maybe, just maybe, I'd find my way out of this living nightmare, if only Skin was as good as his word.

“Wake the f*ck up, bitch.” Ricky's sharp hand impacting my face woke me up before his cruel voice.

“What the hell?” I bolted up, scurrying into the corner, as far as the chain would let me, covering the sting on my cheek.

His lips smiled, but his dark eyes shined with explosive rage. “You're a lucky girl. It's your big day, and believe me when I say I'm a little sad I can't rough you up and feel those lips wrapped around my cock one more time.”

I shook my head, wondering what he meant.

“You've got yourself a buyer.”

My heart sank. I felt the color draining from my face. My eyes flicked instinctively to the drawer, where I hid my secret, my hope, all smashed to pieces in those five terrible words.

Skin couldn't save me now. His ring wouldn't comfort me. Not when I was ready to be carted off to hell's lowest tier.

“Get your little ass in the shower and freshen up. My buyer's guy just dropped off my advance, and I'm counting the dollars. I'll get the rest once you're safely at his place.” Ricky paused, and then brought his hands together in a resounding clap, so fierce I jumped. “Come on! Move, bitch.”

I did, just to get him out of my sight.

A minute later, the cold shower poured over my shoulders, freezing the hot tears raining down my cheeks. The chance encounter with the Pistols yesterday was like a sick joke.

For one brief night, I'd had hope. I shouldn't have counted on it. Should've known it would be taken away like this, and the only direction my life would ever go was down, down, down.