Unbeloved (Undeniable #4)(78)
Too bad for them, he always expected the unexpected.
“You’re stupid as f*ck, Dev,” one of the men called out, a deep voice ZZ didn’t recognize. “Prez finds out you brought along your bitch, he’s gonna be puttin’ you in the damn ground.”
“Shut up, *,” a female voice called out, and ZZ’s eyes zeroed in on the dark figure that moved to stand beside the quickly forming circle of men. Dressed in head-to-toe leather, showcasing a body built for sin, she reached up with small, feminine hands to remove her full-face helmet.
And ZZ’s heart stopped. It couldn’t be . . . but it was. The blonde hair, the killer body, the grin punctuated with dimples glinting under the parking lot lights. Danny looked just like he’d remembered her, as if she hadn’t aged a day since he’d last seen her.
“She stays in the parking lot,” another voice called out, this one ZZ recognized as his former brother, Bucket. As he turned to look the man over, he noticed the years hadn’t been kind to him. He looked worse than ever, grimy as f*ck, and older than ZZ knew he was.
“What’s the big f*ckin’ deal?” another man said, much younger than Bucket. Coming up to stand beside Danny, he swung his arm up and around her shoulders, and pulled her tightly to him.
ZZ blinked, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. It had been a while since he’d seen any of his former crew, but if he didn’t know any better, he’d have said that man was Cox. Only it wasn’t. Cox had been covered in tattoos, and this guy didn’t have any visible ink.
“It’s a f*ckin’ cash drop-off,” the young man continued. “Wham, bam, we’re back on the road.”
Bucket shook his head. “She stays in the parking lot.” This time his voice brooked no argument, and the younger man’s arm fell away from Danny.
“Yeah, man,” he muttered. “She stays in the parking lot. Fine.”
“Fuckers,” Danny bit out. “You’re all a bunch of no f*ckin’ fun.”
ZZ’s head was spinning. Wasn’t Danny married to Ripper, didn’t she have a kid with him? And here she was with another brother?
And then all at once, his confusion, his surprise, bled quickly to anger.
The Hell’s f*cking Horsemen were here, in his f*cking territory, and doing some sort of business, no less.
But even worse was . . . Danielle West was here. The reason his life had gone from damn near perfect to shit staining a motherf*cking gutter WAS HERE. And she was just as beautiful as ever, living a carefree f*cking life doing whatever the f*ck she pleased.
His anger spiking, he felt a cold tremor slither down his spine and his hands began to shake. And suddenly, he wanted more than he’d ever wanted anything to wrap his hands around her perfect f*cking neck and squeeze the life out of her.
As the group turned away, headed in the direction of the docks, ZZ could no longer be bothered with their reasons for being here. He was solely focused on Danny, who was headed back to the line of bikes.
Huffing loudly, she slammed her helmet down on the seat of the Harley she’d ridden in on the back of. Then turning away from him, she dug into her back pocket, revealing a brightly lit phone.
ZZ shuffled backward so he wouldn’t be seen as the men passed by him. Breathing shallowly, his heart racing, he counted under his breath as he waited, something he often did when he was preparing himself for the unknown.
Once he could no longer hear the booted footsteps echoing through the night, he shot up from his hiding place, and with careful, silent steps maneuvered through the vehicles in the lot. As he approached Danny, who was still facing away from him, entirely unaware of his presence, he raised his arm, lifting his gun.
But he wasn’t going to shoot her. No, he was going to make her pay for what she’d done to him.
“Danny,” he growled, feeling the muscles in his face begin to violently twitch. Rage long suppressed had been released, coursing angrily through his veins at a super speed he had absolutely no control over.
Startled, her phone clattering to the ground, Danny spun around. All that long blonde hair went flying, whipping around her as she turned to face him. As it settled away from her face, ZZ looked her up and down. Tight black leather jacket and pants, her lips painted a bright red, and eyes lined in black. This was not Danny. Forget that she was far too young, even younger than he’d previously thought. Now that he was standing directly in front of her, he could see the subtle differences between this woman and Danny. Her body wasn’t as slim, was more curvy than athletic; her bright blue eyes were bigger, almost too big for her face; and her lips were thicker, the bottom one curving in that sexy way that was very much reminiscent of . . .
Eva.
The young woman’s surprised gaze dropped to the gun in his hand and then back to his face. Just as she opened her mouth, a scream forming in her throat, he lunged forward . . .