AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The only way I could deal with this bastard was to knock him out. I raised the gun.
“Nighty nighty, you son of a bitch.” I whacked him against the side of the skull and watched as he collapsed.
Tucking the gun in the back of my pants, I flexed my fingers. I had my work cut out for me and would need both hands free.
ChapterTwelve
Jagger
Ipaced the small room, my tennis shoes slapping against the cement floor. Glancing at my watch, I wondered if enough time had passed before I called the hospital. Anderson had taken Ariana to the emergency room then got the hell out of there. Before he left, I made him swear on his fucking life that he wouldn’t say a word to anyone about what had happened. I didn’t need the cops breathing down my neck when Peter suddenly went missing. Anderson had reminded me of the society brotherhood. I was about to test the hell out of that promise.
Peter had struck Ariana, and I suspected she had a concussion, which put my idea for her on the back burner until she felt better. Maybe old habits died hard, but something inside me needed to know she was okay.What if I’m wrong and it’s not Ari? After the hell I’d lived through, my instincts were spot-on mostly, but my emotions might cloud my judgment about who this Phoebe chick really was.
Anger flared to life as I mentally replayed Peter hurting her. Even though she was possibly a traitorous bitch, I had claimed her at the society, and it pissed me the fuck off the way he touched her—like he was familiar with her body.Son of a bitch. It’shisname on her body!
Hair rose on the back of my neck, and I bristled as the voice inside my head told me I had tiptoed on the edge of insanity for too long and Ariana wasn’t the love of my life.
Although that made sense to a part of my brain, I could spot Ari in a crowd of a thousand girls with blonde hair. I knew her. I knew the way she moved, the curve of her hips, and the way she threw her head back when she belly laughed.
“Fuck!” I scrubbed my face with my hands, searching for clarity and a shred of peace in my frantic thoughts. The memory of her soft kisses and innocence captured my heart all over again. If it was her, then . . . Goddammit.
A groan pulled my attention away from one of my problems.
“Where am I?”
I watched as Peter processed his surroundings. His expressions were almost comical. His brown eyes widened as his body shook against the table that I’d tied him to.
“Who are you?” he croaked.
Walking, I checked his ankle and wrist restraints. In a few minutes, he would tug on them as he screamed, and I needed to make sure he couldn’t break free. Imagining the pain I was about to inflict, I inwardly grinned . . . I couldn’t fucking wait. The son of a bitch had roughed Ariana up, and it was time for him to pay.
“Do you know who I am to Phoebe?” I wondered what she’d told him.
He nodded. “Jagger. Phoebe talked about you and showed me pictures of when you were younger. It’s hard to mistake the ice-blue eyes and black hair.”
Sweat covered his forehead, and I imagined he had one hell of a headache. Not my problem. A little voice in the back of my head nudged me. Even though I was positive it was Ari, I suspected Peter could shed some light on the situation. Regardless, before she was dealt with, I needed to confirm for a fact that she was indeed Theo’s daughter. My hands fisted. If Mom and Theo had lied to me, then there would be hell to pay. Granted, I’d only been in their lives briefly since the fire, but the truth should have come out at some point.
“What’s her father’s name?” There was no use beating around the bush.
“I don’t know. She just refers to him as Dad or Daddy.” His gaze darted across the room, panic settling over his expression. “Why am I here? I haven’t done anything to you.” Spittle flew from his mouth, and I wiped my arm, disgusted.
To me, the reason was simple. “You touched what was mine.”
His brows furrowed. “Yours?”
The stupid bastard had the audacity to laugh.
“You do realize you’re tied down on a table in the back of an abandon butcher shop, right?” I sneered at him. “There are a total of four drains in the floor of this room. You should take a guess why.” I loomed over him, enjoying the stages of denial then realization registering in his eyes. Maybe I had hit him harder than I thought if it took him that long to piece what I’d said together.
“You can’t do this!” He tugged against the restraints.
“But I can. And I will. Again, why are you here?”
“I don’t know, man!”
I made a buzzer sound. “Wrong! You dared to touch what is mine.” I tapped my chin, pondering. “Plus, you were rough with Phoebe. In fact, you practically dragged her to your car while she was kicking and screaming. When you knocked her out, that was just too far for me. That’s no way to treat a lady.” I smirked. Phoebe certainly wasn’t a “lady” at the society, but I had no problem with that.
“I’m sorry. I’ll never lay another hand on her again.” His chin trembled.
