Reaper's Legacy(105)

Something untraceable, with a small enough caliber to do slow, steady damage for a long, long time without ending the bastard’s life too quickly.

“Ruger, you need to stay back, too,” Horse said. Ruger glanced up at him and shook his head.

“Nope,” he said. “I’m going. Nonnegotiable. I don’t need to be lead, but I’ll be there.”

Horse and Duck exchanged looks.

“Okay, new plan,” Duck said. “I’ll be lead, you guys come along but keep back. We can’t let him f*ck with you—he gets you worked up, you do something stupid, he wins. Got me?”

“Got it,” Pic said. “Just so long as you remember—in the end, he’s mine.”

“Ours,” Ruger corrected. “Him and his friend.”

“And Toke?” Bam Bam asked. “Thoughts on him?”

“Let him answer to the brothers,” Ruger said. “We voted, we made a decision for the club. He ignored that. Fucker needs to pay.”

SOPHIE

“He’s going to go meet with Dad,” Em said, finally speaking.

Earlier Hunter had come and taken her away, only returning her about ten minutes ago. She’d been gone with him for what felt like an eternity. Realistically, it probably hadn’t been more than an hour. When she’d first come back she’d kept pretty quiet. Now she lay with me on the bed again, me cuffed by my right wrist and Em cuffed by her left.

“Why?” I asked.

“I think he’s trying to save the situation,” she said, her voice sounding a little mournful. “I think he actually cares about me, Soph.”

I widened my eyes.

“You can’t be serious,” I said. “He wants to screw you—I get that, he’s a guy and you’re hot. But a man who cares about a woman doesn’t kidnap her.”

“Ask Marie about that,” she said, sounding uncomfortable. “Horse totally kidnapped her. Now they’re getting married.”

That shut me up for a minute.

“Do I want to know the whole story?” I asked finally.

“It’s not going to make you feel any better.”

Motorcycle pipes roared outside the house and we heard the sound of someone riding away.

“That’s Hunter leaving,” she said. “If I get away and Dad finds out I’m safe, he’ll kill him for sure.”

“Don’t,” I said, looking over at her. She seemed downcast, thoughtful. Shit, we couldn’t afford this. “Don’t you dare have second thoughts. This guy is dangerous and we’re going to get seriously hurt if we stay here. We’re going to escape. In fact, we’re going to escape soon.”

“I know,” she said. “I just wish—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

We gave it an hour, or at least we thought it was about an hour. We wanted to be sure Hunter was far away before we tried our escape. Em opened the knife and popped out a tiny, thin flat-head screwdriver. Five minutes later we were out of the cuffs and taking turns peeking out the window. Hunter hadn’t lied. We appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by scruffy shrubs, open ground, and the occasional pine tree.

Only the van sat outside, no more bikes, which hopefully meant we’d only be dealing with Skid. Even so, there wasn’t a lot of ground cover.

“If he chases us we don’t have a chance,” I said, my voice grim.

“He won’t chase us,” she replied. “Here’s what we’ll do. We’re going to sneak downstairs. We’ll figure out where he is, then you go out one side of the house and I’ll go out the other. I can see a back door from here.”

“And if he sees us?”

“Whoever he sees has to slow him down long enough for the other one to get away and find help,” she told me. “No matter what it takes. And I’m going to be the one going closest to him.”

“Why?” I asked, startled. “Not that I want any extra risk, but—”

“Because you have a kid,” she said. “All other issues aside, Noah needs you and nobody needs me.”

“Your family, the whole club, they all need you,” I protested.

“You know I’m right,” she said. “Don’t even try to be noble here or something. If only one of us gets out, it’s you. Let’s not fight about it, okay?”