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“Some guy who harassed her at school. Showed up here. I need to have some words with him.”
“Fuck yeah.” Jake cracks his knuckles.
“Jesus Christ,” Heidi mutters.
Jake elbows her. “No one messes with you, girl. You know that.”
“Apparently not,” I grumble.
“I’m going to go find Sully.” Jake holds his hand up to his ear. “You need me, call.”
I find Dex and give him a rundown of the situation, just not the part where Heidi kept all this from me. That’s between the two of us, not the club.
“You serious?” He glances at Heidi, who blushes and looks away.
“Let’s search the parking lot. See if he’s still here.”
I find Griff and signal to him that I’m headed outside.
The parking lot is a vast expanse of broken asphalt, gravel, and weeds. The commercial light poles scattered around the parking lot burned out years ago. Remy and Griff use a few high-power light towers like you’d find at a nighttime construction job to illuminate the area, but they only cover so much ground.
Dex takes the far right. Heidi and I go left.
“He always parks way in the back lot at school and takes up like three spots.”
“Of course he does.” I don’t want Heidi with me if I confront this kid, but I also want to get my hands on those photos and end this situation now.
Oh, and kill this kid.
A brief yellow glimmer in the woods behind the parking lot catches my attention.
The flick of a lighter.
An orange glow.
Pressing a finger to my lips, I take Heidi’s hand and we walk the tree line.
“Blake,” she whispers. “That’s his car back there.”
I follow where she’s pointing. As much as I want to kick this kid’s ass, the fact that he has photos of not only Heidi and me, but of my brothers, pushes this from a personal matter to club business. I take out my phone and send Dex a message with the location of the car. He responds immediately.
Dex: On my way.
We’re so close now, I don’t bother hiding in the shadows anymore.
The headlights of the BMW flick on, flooding the area with blinding white light.
The roar of an engine. Tires squeal. Burning rubber singes my nose as the car peels out. I yank Heidi hard to the left, and we narrowly miss getting hit.
“Son of a bitch.”
“What the fuck?” Dex yells, running up to us. “Was that him?”
“Yup.”
We both search the parking lot, but there’s no sign of the car.
“He didn’t make it out of here that fast,” Dex says. “Get her home. I’ll take care of him.”
“Griff’s inside, have him help you.”
Dex turns and jogs back to the Castle.
“Come on.” I take Heidi’s hand and lead her to my bike.
Half-hour home. Drop her off. Half-hour back.
Shit, I hate leaving and losing sight of this weasel.
“Blake!” Heidi screams. “Behind—”
She doesn’t even spit out the full warning before something slams into the back of my head.
I hit the dirt. Hard.
Grass, mud, and blood coat my mouth.
Pain sears my palms, but I press them into the ground, lifting myself out of the dirt and grass.
I cough and choke, rolling to the side. Something warm and wet trickles down my back.
One of the bikers we threw out of Zips stands over me with an aluminum bat in his hands.
That’s what hit me? A bat being wielded by this prick?
I should’ve fucked up this motherfucker the last time I had the chance.
He tosses the bat from one hand to the other, daring me to come at him.
Don’t worry, fucker. I’m down but not out.
I pull myself off the ground and lunge at him, tackling him at the knees. The bat goes flying, landing on the hard ground with a clang.
“Blake!” Heidi screams.
I turn. The batter wasn’t alone.
Just the man I’ve been looking for.
Bryce looms over Heidi.
I glance back at the batter who flashes an evil grin. Guess he and Bryce are a team.
Doesn’t matter. Both these motherfuckers are about to die.
I slam my fist into the batter’s face twice. He hits the ground, but he’s a strong fucker. He digs his fingers into the dirt, desperately trying to reach the bat. I need to disable this asshole and fast.
It’s time for Bryce to bleed.
Thirty-Seven
Heidi
Blake’s bleeding.
The couple of seconds when he hit the ground and didn’t move sent a spiral of fear through me unlike anything I’ve ever known.
Rage swelled up in me like a tidal wave.
Then I fell on my ass.
The guy who hit Murphy looked as surprised as I did. Bryce doesn’t seem to care one way or another. He’s too focused on me.
“Why’d you have to be such a bitch?” he says to me.
Not this again.
Blake groans.
Thank God.
Shaking off the hit, Blake lurches to his feet and tackles the guy who hit him. His movements are slow but still no match for the man who’s only strength was the element of surprise.
Bryce keeps coming at me, and I scramble backwards.
“You and Dawn really fucked me over,” he seethes. “I’ve got payback that’s a whole lot more interesting than some shitty blackmail photos for her.”
Instant terror for Dawn chills my blood. She and her son Jet live with Dawn’s elderly mother. Dawn will never be able to protect herself if Bryce takes his crazy revenge out on her next.
“You stay the hell away from her, asshole!” Something metal jabs into my back. I’m up against Blake’s bike.
“Dex!” I scream over my shoulder, hoping someone will hear me over all the ruckus. “Jake!”
“Shut up.”
From the corner of my eye, I catch a blur coming at me.
I jerk sideways.
Bryce grabs my sweatshirt and tries to yank me to my feet. The sweatshirt belongs to Blake, so it’s loose, and I slip out of it easily.
“Fine by me. Get naked, baby.” Bryce cackles. “Told you I liked your tits.”
Goosebumps spread over my exposed arms, but I don’t care. Frantically, I pull at the buckles on Blake’s saddle bag. Why didn’t I tuck my little green hammer into my pocket tonight?
Because who thought I’d need to use it again so soon?
One buckle loose.
Enough room to slip my hand inside.
I’m not sure if Blake has a gun on him tonight, but he always carries his trusty ball-peen hammer. Good self-defense weapon, yet nothing more than a simple tool if you’re ever stopped and questioned by the cops.
It’s in here somewhere.
Bryce’s fist closes around a chunk of my hair and yanks at the same time my fingertips graze the end of what I think is the smooth wooden handle of the hammer.
I throw all my weight forward, desperately wrapping my fingers around the handle and dragging it out of the bag.
No time to line up my target.
Without even thinking, I swing wildly. This hammer’s heavier and longer than my little one, but I have a good grip on it now.
Thwack!
The steel head smashes into the side of Bryce’s jaw with a crack that makes my stomach lurch.
Blood and white chips of teeth spray everywhere.
He plummets to the ground with a sickening thud.
Bile burns the back of my throat. My stomach heaves. I squeeze my eyes shut and will myself not to puke.
“Heidi,” Blake croaks.
My legs are shaking so bad, I can’t stand up. Instead, I dig my fingers into the ground and half crawl, half drag myself over to Blake. On the way, my knee lands on something hard.
A cell phone. Maybe Bryce’s. It?
?s too dark to tell. I swipe it off the ground and stick it in my back pocket.
“You okay?”
I’m shaking so bad my teeth are chattering.
“Where’s your sweatshirt?”
I glance down and realize I’m only wearing a thin tank top. “Bryce.”
Blake growls and lifts himself off the ground. He stands over Bryce and kicks him in the gut once.
Bryce groans.
Thank God, I didn’t kill him.
Blake swipes my sweatshirt off the ground, shakes off the dirt, and hands it to me.
Murphy
Griff, Remy, and Dex jog over to us. “What the fuck happened?” Dex asks.
Griff and Remy just stare at the carnage in front of them.
Sure has been a lot of blood spilled since we started hanging out with them. Might not make them feel all warm and fuzzy about being our support club.
