REAPER'S KISS(12)

chapter ten


(jace)



THEN



I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I definitely had some broken ribs. I rolled to my right and saw my motorcycle. It was f*cking trashed. I reached for it, wanting to scream but I had no breath to do so.

“Which one is it?” a voice asked.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and forced me to my back. A foot stepped on my chest. Then a bright light shined down on my face, blinding me for a few seconds. I could see along the outer rim of the white light. But it was just blackness. Some silhouettes but nothing I could identify.

“Ah, f*ck, I don’t think this will do,” a voice said.

“It’s a message,” another voice said. “Hey, *, you hear me? This is a clear message to your club. Spread the f*cking word.”

The foot left my chest.

The guys tried to leave but I wasn’t going down without a fight. I turned and grabbed for them. My hand clamped to the back of a pant leg. Hot pain shot through my ribs and my release let go. I tried to grab again but the man had turned.

“Hey, he’s got some fight left in him,” a voice said.

“Hurry up. We’ve got about two minutes. Then we’ve got to get to the store. I have to take care of that bitch.”

“Okay, Glen, just let me…”

There was a scuffle.

“What the f*ck did I say? No names! No f*cking names!”

“Shit. Right. Sorry. Fuck. Fuck me. I f*cked up.”

I started to inch to the left. I forced my left hand to move and I felt for my cell. Somewhere between hitting the road, sliding, rolling, and almost facing death, I had managed to press a few buttons on the phone. Sid once told me if I was ever in real trouble to just give a call. Shit, maybe it was just a bad motorcycle accident and maybe I would take shit from the guys for it. But this was more than that.

I looked at the screen and saw it had been five minutes since the call was placed.

Chances were, the guys weren’t going to get there in time to sneak up on these pricks and figure out what the hell was going on.

I rolled to my back, to my front, to my back again. I put a little distance between myself and the two men. Ahead, my motorcycle was nothing but twisted pieces of metal. I had a gun on the motorcycle. A little tiny ass handgun, but it would do the trick. It could easily take these two down.

Imagine the hero I’d be then?

I took a chance and propped myself up on my elbows and started to army crawl. Every time I moved I felt fire in my chest, back, and sides. I was able to move my right leg, but not my left. For a second I thought I had no left leg.

When I looked back to check on my leg I saw the two guys approaching me.

“Where the f*ck are you going?” one asked.

I got a good look at the other one - Glen. I studied his face. All his features. Anything that popped out against the darkness. There wasn’t much though.

“You really f*cked this up, Arnie,” Glen said.

“I thought you said no names!” Arnie squealed like a big lug.

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“No?”

Glen shoved Arnie in the shoulder. “I’ll be in the SUV. We have to move fast. You know what to do.”

“I do?” Arnie asked.

I kept crawling. I was feet away form the shattered remains of my motorcycle. My fingertips ached to find my gun and get revenge.

Glen walked up to me and put a foot to my back and pressed hard. He twisted the tip of his shoe to my ribs. I screamed in pain but that only made it hurt worse.

“You chose this,” Glen said.

Then his foot moved from me.

I had a split second chance to make a dash.

But it was quickly stolen.

“Now what?” Arnie asked.

“Kill him…”





chapter eleven


(jace)



NOW



I woke up from a shitty dream to the sound of someone pounding on my door, trying to get into my house. I grabbed my gun and made a line for the door. When I opened it, Ava jumped at me, her hands touching my bare chest. The look on her face was sheer f*cking terror.

“Well, good f*cking morning to me,” I said.

Ava jumped away from me before I could get my hand around her and pull her close.

“Someone was out there!” she yelled.

I walked out on the porch and looked left to right.

There wasn’t a person or a car in sight.

I went inside and shut the door.

Ava stood in the living room, biting on her nails.

“Who was out there?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on, Jace.”

“So let me ask the next obvious question,” I said.

“Why am I here?” she asked.

I grinned. “No. Do you want some coffee?”

That got a little smile out of her.

“Sure,” she said.

Yeah, I wanted to know why the f*ck she was at my house. I’d get those answers soon enough. The key right then was to keep her there and keep her as calm as I could.

My mind raced as I walked to the kitchen. I set up some coffee and then turned, leaning against the sink. Ava had helped herself to sitting on a barstool at the island.

She was looking around, assessing the place.