Released (Devil's Blaze MC #3)(62)

It takes me three tries, but I get it. I open the door carefully, half expecting someone to jump out and attack me. It’s almost a disappointment when no one is there. I can hear voices. Yelling. I know one is Skull. The other makes my blood run cold.

It looks like I’ve found Colin. I hate the fear that courses through me… He’s the last devil I have to face.

I can do this. I have to.





I think I’m home free until I hear the gun click as someone cocks their revolver behind me. I freeze instantly, thinking what a stupid f*ck I just was.

“Well, well. Look what we have here.”

I know that voice. I’ve dreamed of ending that voice.

“Colin.”

“It’s good you know the voice of the man who’s going to kill you. No, don’t turn around. I’d prefer you not to know when the bullet’s going to end you. I find anticipation makes the game so much better.”

“Don’t worry. I have no plan on you being the last f*cking face I see. That’s more punishment than any one man deserves,” I tell him, trying to play the game while my brain is busy figuring out how to get out of this mess. I can’t give up, not now. I have too much to lose. Where in the f*ck is Torch and the others? Had Beth delivered the message to whoever the f*cking mole is?

“You’re being awfully brave, talking to me like that while I have a gun pointed at the back of your head. My thumb is already getting sweaty. If it slipped off the hammer of the gun…”

“You won’t end me that easily. You and Viper went to too much trouble for it to end that quickly.”

“Usually, yes, but just in case Viper’s connection failed to make sure your men won’t follow… I’m afraid time is of the essence, in this case. Don’t worry, I’ll take my time with Beth. I’ll make sure she agonizes for months before I send her to Hell to join you.”

My hands shake at his words as true fear grips me. I try to blot out the pictures his words bring to my mind. I can’t let that happen. I’ve let Beth down too damn much now. I can’t let her endure anymore.

Colin hasn’t taken my weapon yet. Maybe he thinks I’m stupid enough not to have one. Maybe he thinks he can shoot me before I reach for it. He probably could. I need a diversion…

“Bring him in here, Colin, before you end him.”

The voice is Viper’s, coming from the main room.

“You heard the man,” Colin says.

As I make it into the main room, I see Viper sitting at a booth with some naked chick on his lap. Viper’s got both his hands palming the chick’s tits.

“Glad you could join us, Skull. I was beginning to wonder if Teena was going to do her job.”

“Teena?” I ask, things starting to clear up in my head.

Beth had been right about her. And those feelings I had about her being too calm click into place, too.

“How do you like f*cking bitches my dick has already stretched open? Never would have figured you for the type to take my sloppy seconds, but you sure got all hot and bothered over Teena quickly, didn’t you? Fucking blind as a bat, too. She fed me info about your club for months before you started mooning over that Donahue bitch again.”

“She’s your mole?” I ask, knowing I should be relieved, but feeling like a stupid fool just the same.

“You made it too easy. All she had to do was pretend you wore her out. Then while she was ‘sleeping’, you talked so freely on the phone. Thanks for that, by the way. I was able to get the Ganler gun run easily from you and you never knew why. I’ve made a cool five hundred grand, thanks to Teena and your loose lips.”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks, but then, if you got a hard-on for my dick so much, I might give it to you. That way, you can see just how much of disappointment you were for Teena.”

“You went to all this trouble just to take money from my club? You’re as f*cked up as I always thought.”

“I didn’t do it just for that. Teena already caught your eye. It would’ve been an easy score. But then, imagine my surprise one night when she calls me and tells me that my sister is back from the dead and ready to give birth to your demon spawn. That kind of good luck just doesn’t happen without a divine purpose. I arranged for Pistol and Teena to break Beth’s spirit. That was an added bonus, by the way.”

“You f*cking pig.”

“Sticks and stones,” he says with a cocky grin. “Only problem is Katie. I think she might have a little more of my father’s blood. She’s not weak. She snuck Gabby and Beth out of the hospital early before I could get my hands on them. Took me forever to chase them down, and when I did, you still managed to get your filthy hands on them. It doesn’t matter, though. Soon you’ll be dead and I’ll get back to work, making sure my father’s bastard daughters hurt for all the pain they caused my mother. Then I’ll deliver their skins back to my father as a present.”

“I’ll kill you!” I yell, forgetting about Colin at my back and intent only on getting to Viper and ending him. By this time though, three men have come around me and are twisting my hands behind my back. I fight against it, especially after this f*cker tells me his plans for Beth. I break free, but only for a second before the hard butt-end of a gun cracks me hard at the base of my skull. My knees threaten to buckle. I fight it so I can remain standing and fight, but they pull me back and, as much as I try to kick and move, I can’t stop them.