Page 24 of Rogue’s Vow

Ari’s idea is the best but as much as I try these cuffs won’t loosen and there’s no way I can wiggle out of them and as the door opens to the basement from above, I fear time is running out. The babysitter and his greasy headed friend come downstairs. His eyes rake over me and then Ari as his deviant looking sidekick leer at us both.

They should have made these ankle chains way shorter than they did, because I have a lot of leverage. Ari isn’t patient. Something has changed in her demeanor since I saw her last, going from timid victim to a woman with fire in her heart ready to take these bastards down.

I suck in a deep breath as the asshole strokes a finger over her cheek and calls her a pretty little whore. “It’s a pity I haven’t gotten to get my dick wet yet. Prez didn’t say anything about keeping you pure,” he says, grabbing her tank in his fist, drawing her so close to his face that I almost puke. “Get away from her you bastard.”

The babysitter looks like he wants to backhand me, but he refrains, still worried about what the buyer is going to do to this fucker if he mars what he’s bought and paid for. “Do it,” I taunt. “I’d like to see what happens to you when my buyer finds you and has his men pay you a visit for messing with his property. Property that cost him a whole hell of a lot of money, asswipe.”

That does it. He spits on Rogue’s jacket. “You come into our club reeking of Royal Bastards, you little skank. He grabs the jacket with a fist, bunching it up before running a knife down the patch that distinguishes the RBMC for everyone to see. He takes his time, watching me, enjoying my fear, I can tell.

The asshole runs his knife under the patch, digging in, the pressure of the knife not cutting me through the jacket but he’s sure as hell intent on cutting that patch to pieces. When he’s separated it from the jacket, he cuts it in half and tosses the pieces on the ground. “The scorpions are going to take a shit on those tonight.”

“The Royal Bastards are going to take a shit on you, fucker.”

He grabs my tank and bra together in one hand and slices the material of both right down the center, pushing it aside and exposing my breasts to the cold damp air. Ari gasps as the asshole in front of her does the very same thing to her. She laughs; my sister laughs right in his fucking face, causing it to go beet red.

“What the fuck are you laughing for, whore?”

Ari bats her eyelashes. “Didn’t they tell you I’m not exactly the virginal sister. I like it rough and with two guys. Pity you aren’t my type though. See I like real men not yes men who can’t make decisions on their own.”

It takes everything I have, including biting down on my lip to keep from telling them she’s lying, yelling at them to stay away, but I know what Ari is doing and she’s giving us our only chance. The minute the babysitter turns away from me and pushes Ari’s tank from her shoulders, cupping her breasts, I use my core to lift my legs, settling the chains around his neck before crisscrossing and squeezing my ankles together like my life depends on it because both of ours do.

The fuckhead of a fiend manages to get his hands between my chains and his friend’s neck, giving him room to breathe while drawing the gun from the babysitter’s pants and pointing it at me.

26

ROGUE

Iwait for the text that tells me my guys have come in from behind and taken the Scorpion sentries out just like we planned. I give the all clear with one text to my entire team and then pound out a message to Bolt.

All I can think of is getting Angel back. I swear that woman has gotten under my skin so bad that not having her next to me and knowing she’s in danger is driving me fucking insane. I draw my sawed-off from my saddle bag, slide my bat into its loop on my pants, and check the rounds in my gun before making my way cautiously through the snake and scorpion infested desert to get close enough to the back door without being seen.

Bolt and his crew throw shots into the air up front while revving their engines and causing the two guards in back to hightail it up front while me and my boys get close enough to attack from the back.

We could have taken these bastards out ourselves if they didn’t bring more riders into town. Thank fuck we have Bolt and his crew running diversion and keeping them from escaping out the front door as I burst through the back door intent on saving my angel and blowing those fuckers to hell.

I fire off two shots that blow holes right through the first two men up from the floor while Hayze takes another out going for his piece. My Sgt at Arms takes three out with his semi-automatic, his weapon of choice, which is proving pretty fucking handy tonight. I grab one coked-out bum from the floor, kicking over the coffee table, blowing his nicely formed line of coke into the air. “Where is Angel?”

His eyes go wide. Yeah, maybe this fuck has enough brain cells left to know that he should be scared. “Downstairs.”

“On your fucking feet,” I snarl.

I grab him up by his hair and head downstairs, two of my men on my heels while the others deal with the rest of the crew, gunshot after gunshot letting me know those bastards got what was coming to them for taking what’s mine.

My chest pumps with unprecedented rage seeing Angel and presumably her sister’s torn clothing and exposure as we march downstairs with the drugged-out asshole in tow. My shotgun is on the ready and if I had a fucking shot, I’d take it but the fucking coward with them is standing behind my angel whose shirt has been ripped with a knife right down to her waist, leaving her completely exposed while this sick fuck who just sealed his fate by placing a blade at her throat leers at me like he has the upper hand. Think again motherfucker.

I swear I’ll annihilate any of these bastards who had a hand in Angel’s capture but first I just need a fucking shot, just one. The asshole in my grip decides to get smart and makes a play but Hayze puts him in his place, bringing him to his knees with his favorite sawed off shotgun pointed directly at his head. “You move and you’re dead.”

The coward standing behind Angel doesn’t have a play. I’m not sure what he thinks he’s going to do in terms of getting away, because he’s not. He so much as nicks her dainty throat with that fucking knife and so help me, I’ll skin the bastard alive. “That blade draws one speck of blood and you’re going to find yourself laid out in our warehouse, chained down, stripped like you did these women, and then I’m going to skin you alive personally, motherfucker. You think about that before you make a fucking play.”

His eyes show his fear. The son of a bitch has heard the rumors about that warehouse and every single word of them was true. You mess with what belongs to us, and you will pay the ultimate price to bastards too evil for this world. An eye for an eye, we will deliver a just retribution. “Let her go.”

He’s gauging his options. The moment I see his realization that it’s the end of the line for him, my blood courses, because now the fucker has an incentive to get us to take him out before taking him to the warehouse and now, maybe he’s thinking about making us kill him by slitting her throat.

My eyes meet Angel’s. I tilt my head slightly, and she doesn’t fucking hesitate to do the same at the exact moment I need her to, leaning right into that blade of steel that nicks her creamy neck. One bullet straight to the fucker’s head sends him straight to hell where the asshole belongs. I rush forward and wrap my bandanna around her neck. Just a nick, she’s going to be fine, thank fuck.

I zip my jacket covering Angel’s bared skin before rummaging in the dead man’s pockets for keys. The minute I have her unlocked I readjust my jacket around her small dainty frame, drawing her to my chest and handing Hayze the keys so he can set Ari free. He puts his jacket over her sister’s shoulders, keeping her covered as we guide them upstairs and into the protection of our crew.

So much carnage as we walk upstairs, some of their crew dead, shots blown straight through them, and others in pain with wounds that need addressing and who won’t ever see anyone to provide that care. The Scorpions messed with the wrong woman when they took my Angel the first time, and they sure as shit knew she was with me when they took her the second time, no matter that she came willingly, they disrespected her and took advantage of her for profit, and to make her pay for leaving them the first time. For that they paid the ultimate price.