Page 71 of Hard Corps (Selected Sinners MC 7)

Without shifting my eyes away from him, I responded. “Just load everyone up and go around the block. Do it quick. I don’t need to be standing here with a gun any longer than I have to be.”

“I’ll stay here with A-Train, just roll around the block. Nobody needs to see this guy get his ass beat,” Ripp said.

“Just like you always say, Brother Ripp, I got this. Just go with them. Give me ten, alright?” I asked as I glared down at the would-be thief.

Reluctantly, they got in the SUV and backed out of the parking stall. As they pulled away, I lowered the pistol, shoved it into the waist of my jeans, and sighed.

As he stared up at me, his eyes filled with wonder, I planted the heel of my boot into his forehead, knocking him onto his back.

“That’s for pulling a gun on the father of my nephew,” I said. “If you move, I’ll break your fucking neck.”

I reached down and helped him to his knees. Blood trickled down along his face from the massive cut on his forehead. There was no doubt he was half delirious, but I didn’t have much time to make a decision, and I needed his undivided attention.

“You’re going to need to listen, and listen carefully,” I said.

He nodded his head eagerly. As with many people who terrorized others, he had obviously never been on the receiving end of a violent situation and it was apparent by the level of fear his eyes projected.

“As you might have suspected, I’m not new to this shit. I’ve killed motherfuckers like you and walked away without even giving it a second thought. But something tells me I don’t need to kill you. I’ve always said I give everyone a chance, and I guess this is yours. If you’ll give me your solemn word that you’ll never do something like this again, I’ll let you walk away. If you don’t, or if for some reason I don’t believe you, I’ll blow a hole in your head the size of a grapefruit. Now, you haven’t got much time, so I need an answer,” I said.

He fixed his eyes on mine, swallowed, and responded.

“Wuh wuh wuh won’t happen. Eh eh ever ah ah again,” he said.

Well, he maintained eye contact.

“Will you ever do anything like this again?” I asked, wanting to see where his eyes went when he responded.

He shook his head from side to side and maintained eye contact. “No.”

“Why?” I asked.

I didn’t care to hear his stuttering response, but I needed a little more reassurance.

“Buh buh because I’m guh guh giving my word,” he said, his eyes locked on mine the entire time.

It appeared he was being truthful.

“Stand up slowly and turn around with your fingers interlocked behind your head, just like you were getting arrested,” I said.

He slowly stood and complied with my request. After patting him down and finding not even a wallet, I pressed my hand against his right shoulder.

“Turn around,” I said.

He turned to face me. His eyes told it all. He was scared shitless.

“Go sit beside that truck, out of sight. Don’t move until you’re sure twenty minutes have passed. Not five, not ten, not even fifteen, but twenty, Understood?” I asked.

He nodded his head repeatedly.

“Go,” I said as I tilted my head toward a truck parked thirty feet away.

He stumbled to the truck, walked to the far side of it, and hunkered behind it, well out of sight.

I gazed down at my feet as I waited, realizing it was the first time in my life I had let such a man walk away. I was undoubtedly taking a risk, but my objective was to protect the people I loved, and I accomplished it without resorting to killing a man.

A tremendous improvement on my part, I felt proud knowing I was a more compassionate man than I had been in the past. I realized I would probably never know if my decision to let him go was a good one, but it was my decision nonetheless. As the SUV pulled up in front of me I knew one thing for sure.

At least he would never harm one of the people who were important to me.

Although I realized that particular fact wasn’t all that mattered, it was all that seemed to matter at the moment.

And I had lived one more day without taking a life.