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“They said to make sure the girl in the hospital got what she deserved.”
Rushing forward, I let my Reaper free and lowered my head, getting right into Jester’s face. “You will tell me every single detail you can remember or I will reach inside your chest, yank your beating heart free, and feast on your flesh while you’re still alive.”
Jester began freaking out and I heard something dripping inside the table, trickling down the wood and into the drain. The odor of ammonia filled the air and I knew this asshole just pissed his pants.
“Haven’t lost your touch, have you?”
My head snapped up and I found the dark crimson gaze of the only creature in this world who held more power than I did.
Lucifer fucking Morningstar.
I WAS DONE.
The booze and drugs. The endless whores who left my bed. Waking up with no memory of what I said or did because I chased the next high.
None of those things made a difference or helped.
My nightmares and flashbacks still persisted.
I kept trying to find a way to soothe the angry beast within and nothing worked. I was lost since I left Afghanistan. An empty shell of the man who enlisted a decade earlier. Plagued by guilt, loss, and the scars that ravaged my body, I was unable to move forward. Caught in some vicious limbo I saw no way out other than taking my own life.
Seemed logical. Easy.
Never gave it much thought as I swung one leg over my Harley and started the engine. I was on Hwy 95 and riding down the middle of the road fifteen minutes later, waiting for the first car to head my way.
Maybe I thought the way Jax Teller chose his own fate and ending was a little too poetic on the last episode of Sons of Anarchy. Didn’t give a shit.
I needed to leave this pain and rage behind and I saw no other solution.
The headlights of an approaching vehicle lit up the road and I welcomed the release and freedom the end would bring. My head lifted and I watched as the driver of the semi-trailer truck slammed on his brakes. The cab slid forward with the weight of the load he carried and I knew the collision was unavoidable.
A smile teased the corners of my lips and I leaned my head back, releasing my grip as I embraced freedom. The bike swerved beneath me and I lost control, allowing the inevitable crash to happen. My eyes closed and I welcomed the darkness.
It would all be over soon.
Except, it wasn’t.
I woke up about a half mile from Hwy 95 in the desert, propped up against the prickliest cactus I’d ever had the displeasure of finding. Tumbleweed rolled by my feet and flipped in the Nevada breeze as I squinted in the approaching light of dawn.
“You sure are a stupid son-of-a-bitch,” a deep voice observed as I scrambled to my feet, staring into the face of a man I never met. His features were carved from sold, smooth marble and the color of ivory. Onyx eyes rimmed in scarlet shimmered with humor but it was the perfect bow of his upper lip curling into a smile that proved his amusement. “I have my work cut out with you.”
Blinking, I opened my mouth to speak when he disappeared. Didn’t see him again until I met Grim and decided to patch in with the Royal Bastards. I could say with confidence that he intended to keep me dangling until that night. When I signed his contract and accepted the Reaper, I figured I had nothing to worry about. But the past was vicious and that night on Hwy 95 wasn’t the last time I rode off and planned to end it all.
The devil didn’t appreciate the fact that I didn’t want to live.
Grim found me the last time and I knew Lucifer would never allow my death. The entire club was pissed that I attempted to break the contract I signed. I promised they would never find me bleeding to death on the side of the highway again, especially after the same fate already claimed Keys, the previous president.
I was stuck with this life and the version of hell I was forced to endure. Sure, I’d been given the use of my Reaper but it still didn’t change the fact that Lucifer held all the good cards in a game of poker where the winner claimed all.
BLINKING, I REALIZED I was staring into the face of the bastard that started everything. The one who presented a contract I couldn’t resist. The same smug bastard that never let me forget I owed him and would never be free.
Lucifer winked. “You always were a little different than the rest. Didn’t need to wait for the Devil’s Ride to know you would become one of my Reapers.”
For some reason the devil liked to fuck with me. Didn’t have a clue why. Far as I knew he never visited anyone but the pres. Grim had his own reasons for keeping that info to himself but I’d caught that slick bastard Lucifer popping in from time to time.
Maybe I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Hell, he probably got off on fucking with every member of the club. Wouldn’t surprise me any. He knew every secret, hidden desire, and regret we all carried. Liked to keep it dangling over your head too if you had any notions about getting out of his contract.
I should know. I’d asked more than once.
