“Where do you want him?” Onyx walks closer, wrapping the rope around his arm to form precise loops. He opens the passenger door to his SUV and tosses the rope next to the rest of his tools.
“Dump him in their territory. Near their headquarters if possible. He’s already dead, anyway. His liver is hemorrhaging.They will have some fun with trying to figure out why and what it means. By then he’s already dead.”
“It could be traced back to her.”
“I’ve already planted it so that he’s been buying drugs from them. The police will think it’s a drug deal gone wrong. They won’t connect it to her. Their lease is paid off. The money will be returned to her with a note of his apology. The apartment will be cleaned and disinfected.”
He nods and leans against the car with me. “This isn’t like you.”
“Isn’t it? I’m a killer, Onyx. We all are.”
He nods again. “True, but the deaths on our souls are not like him.”
“Whether it was for my country or my club, I do what needs to be done. He’s just as bad as the rest.”
“Because he fucked around on his girlfriend behind her back and stole his mother’s money? Small sins, Stone.”
“Not when it comes to her.”
I leave the statement there. I’m obsessed with Camryn Park, and the need to kill anything and everything that dares to hurt her is becoming a goal I never thought I’d have.
“You’re getting out of control. I’ve never seen you like this.”
“Maybe.” I feel his stare, and I can’t look at him because in all the years he’s known me, I’ve always had a goal: avenge my sister and niece’s death. Remove the Mestizos from the face of the earth, hunt down every last one of them like the rabid, diseased dogs they are. Now she’s become the nucleus, and I can’t pretend otherwise. My fixation is uncontrollable and yes, there are days when I want to starve the need and forget her, but other times I need to feed the monster that wants to lock her away for only my use, my viewing pleasure. “And when did you become a moral compass?”
When I look at him, I see the ravages of pain on his face. The man who witnessed the screams of his wife and daughter. Heard them being raped and murdered, and then found their almost burned bodies.
“Things change,” is his response, and I wonder what has changed. Onyx steps away from the trunk with a firm, “Be careful.” I step, Reed’s bloody hand a heavy weight in my pocket, and watch him get into the car and drive away with Reed Spencer in his trunk.
Chapter 11
November
“Let her go. Let her calm down.”
“I can’t. I love her,” Jace Park pleads with me, pushing against my hold on his chest. Turning, I watch from the landing as the woman dressed in metallic gold, calmly walks down the stairs towards the man, Ben.
My friend’s body practically vibrates, the muscles are bunched under his suit as he leans on the railing, his eyes trained on her retreating figure. “She won’t receive it now, Park. Give her time.”
“I can’t lose her.” He spins and hits the wall with the heel of his hand a few times. Studying the way he bows his head, I’m at a loss for what he’s feeling. He looks near tears. The same way Onyx looked when he found out that Ivory and his daughter had been taken by our rivals. “Fuck!” Jace shouts, gripping his hair.
When he walks away, entering another room before slamming the door, I let him go and walk down the wide, opulent staircase. I’d forgotten how mammoth his home is, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen, testifying to the man’s wealth.
When Jace casually mentioned the wedding and that there would be food. Onyx claimed he was going. The man doesn’t turn down food. New chef at the clubhouse that’s shit. Riggs is, of course, going because he’s distracted by Silas Kenzington’s secretary.
I came for one reason only.Her.
Any chance to see her, I’ll take because I want to be closer. As much as I love my voyeuristic needs to watch her, to lurk around her without her knowledge. I like being able to watch her and have her know it’s me studying her, like a predator watches its prey. And so far I’ve watched. I’ve gorged on her. Watching her every move. Even wearing a damn suit didn’t bother me. The last time I wore a suit was for Ivory and Angel’s funeral.
I really should have been at the club. The Mestizos are getting worse. Their leader is becoming increasingly greedy, including shipments that contain more children. I got only a few hours of sleep after Onyx and I disposed of the last body of the driver we pulled over. Returning to my house, I emptied my cooler, got my tools, and got to work. I’ll finish tomorrow when the sun is out to help with the drying. I always get a high after a hunt, and this one was especially satisfying. The girls in that van were as young as 10 years old. Fucking bastard.
When I first spotted her during Silas and Dru’s vows, she was sitting like a queen a few rows ahead of me while her friends got married. My fingers itched to trace her face, smooth the sharp curve of her jaw, and check if she had any additional freckles. A waterfall of inky black hair trailed down her naked back, and sick bastard that I am, I wanted to mark that virgin skin, maybe tattoo her first, and then use my knife, see if her blood would match the color of the sleek dress.
When Onyx interrupted my perusal of her, whispering in my ear that Jace’s fiancée showed up, I was surprised. The few times I’d been around him and Ms. Cruz, there was somethingthere between them. It was clear they were fucking. The man watched her like a hawk. Discovering that he was seeing two women didn’t align with what I knew about the man, but then again, secrets are a part of my world, some so dark that they can never see the light of day. But watching the gutting look on his face moments ago, he cares deeply about the woman who is not his supposed fiancée. But then again, what the fuck did I know about love? I came from a world where love was murky and dangerous. Couples didn’t always survive the lifestyle of being in a biker club, and sex didn’t mean commitment and passion. Often, it was used as currency or to curry favor and control.
I don’t know what it’s like to be beholden to one woman. I’ve never had to answer to a woman, not even my mother. As far back as I could remember, I’ve existed on my own, helping to take care of Ivory and myself while my mother was lost in her mind. Her mental health had always been tenuous. It was always my sister and me until she hooked up with the piece of garbage. At that point, she was even more lost to me as a mother.
Watching the rest of the guests mill around, furious whispers tingling the air, I look for the one woman who definitely has a hold on me. A woman I shouldn’t check for, seek out. The woman I shouldn’t be anywhere near her, but fuck if that matters since meeting her months ago. Months since the night I rode away from Jace’s mansion and followed her. Weeks since I premeditated the death of her boyfriend, whose discarded body was found last week, identified as a drug deal gone wrong. Hundreds of hours of stalking her. Thousands of minutes since I went home and fucked my fist for the first time in years. I don’t like masturbating because nothing feels as good as a wet pussy, a tight ass, or a warm mouth. I only come when I’m with a woman, period. The last time I fucked a woman was over a year ago. But that night, I couldn’t stop myself from taking my cock in hand, thinking about her wearing my cut, her calling my name, as sherode me. In the fantasy, she didn’t get squeamish when I told her how I wanted her to use my blade. She did exactly what she wanted, and I gave her what she deserved.
