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Byte laughed. “Yeah. She is.”
Rainbow looked around. “See you guys. Bye, Rocket.”
Rocket nodded at the girls before his gaze landed squarely on me. “I’ll be seein’ you around, Lemon.”
I snorted. “No. You won’t.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t bet on that if I were you. Because you will. When you do, you’ll be comin’ back here. With me.”
“Right.” I gave him a derisive sneer. “Only if you want your balls detached from your body.”
He grinned, shaking his head once as if he found my objection cute. “Challenge issued? Challenge fuckin’ accepted. You got a year, little girl. Best you get ready.”
“Guess I need to say the same fuckin’ thing to you. ‘Cause there’s no way in fuckin’ hell I’ll ever go anywhere willingly with you, motherfucker.”
Chapter Three
Lemon
Palm Beach, Florida
One year later…
“I can’t believe Dani let us come to Palm Beach by ourselves for Spring Break.” Apple slathered sunscreen over her pale skin. She had the biggest smile on her face and was practically vibrating with excitement. If she hadn’t been my sister, I’d have punched her in the tit. No one should be that fucking happy all the time. Not that I’d change any second of this for her. I just liked bitching about it.
“Right.” I had to consciously keep myself from rolling my eyes where Apple could see me. “We’re all alone in the big wide world with no one to watch over us. However will we manage?” I sighed, sounding bored as I put my sunglasses on and my hands behind my head. Apple might not have spotted the men from a local MC called Salvation’s Bane, and I wasn’t going to point them out to her. The last thing Wylde told me before we left was that if we needed anything while we were in Florida, I was to go to anyone at Salvation’s Bane. He’d even given me the phone number of Bane’s tech guy, a man called Ripper. So when I’d seen the cut the men wore, I knew they were there watching over us.
I’d never admit it to a fucking soul, but I liked that situation for more than one reason. First, I knew Wylde and the Tzars had our backs, because there was no way Salvation’s Bane had decided on their own to watch over a pair of random women. Second, Bane had our backs because they were helping out the Tzars. And lastly, it just felt good to know someone besides me was watching over my sister. And I would do anything to keep my sisters safe, but especially Apple. Wylde had Dani’s back. While I was sure he’d do his best to protect me and Apple, his first priority would always be Dani. At least, it better be. Otherwise I’d allowed him be with my sister for nothing. While I really liked Wylde, I would kill him if he didn’t.
“Bitch.” Despite her words, Apple laughed and threw a handful of wet sand at me. I was stretched out on a towel in a bikini, my skin hot and damp from sweat and lying under the noon-day sun. Bliss!
“Whore.” I threw a handful of sand back at her along with the word. It was our way.
This was the start of our third day in Florida. We’d come to this beach each morning at sunrise and hadn’t left until the sun set each night. Which I hated. At least, the morning part. But Apple was one of those people. You know. A morning person. It was hard to believe she was my sister, let alone my twin. Morning people sucked, and my sister did not suck. She was a far better person than I was, and I didn’t care to admit it.
But none of that was important. What was important was the fact that I’d seen the same guy on this beach the three days we’d been here. He’d watched the whole beach, studying everyone in the area. I’d seen his gaze briefly focusing on us more than once. The last time I’d caught his gaze and gave him what I hoped was a fucking death stare. Because if he had any thoughts of coming near my sister, I wanted him to know I’d make him wish I’d only killed him.
That had been Tuesday morning when I’d given him the stink eye. It was now Wednesday afternoon. I’d seen him a few more times since that day, but I didn’t think he saw me. He still studied the beach, but I’d noticed he seemed to be focusing on children. Girls in particular. At least, that’s what it looked and felt like to me. Had we been at a more crowded beach, I might have dismissed my concerns as me being a bitch who didn’t trust anybody. But this was a smaller section and in a spot that was more difficult to reach than other sections. So there were many fewer people. Following this guy’s gaze wasn’t difficult. And he always stopped on and watched young girls.
I was half listening to Apple going on about what a beautiful day it was and how free it felt to be outside under the sun, and blah, blah, blah, when I saw him again. This time, I saw him zero in on the same girl of about seven or eight, whom he’d been watching the past two days. She was by herself at a water fountain. I wasn’t sure who she was here with, but there wasn’t an adult in the area. Which is when the guy made his move.
“Apple.” I got to my feet and shoved my legs into my shorts.
“What’s wrong?” My sister could always tell when my mood had shifted the second it did.
“Behind us next to the food truck under the canopy are two guys in black MC vests. They’re from Salvation’s Bane. You go to them, then shoot an S.O.S. text to Wylde. Tell those men from Bane I’m following a man who took a little girl and for one of them to come after us. You stay with the other man and Bane until Wylde sends help.” I slipped on my flip flops.
“Where are you going?” Apple didn’t question me. She was already snagging her shorts and phone as she looked in the direction I’d indicated.
“To try to help that girl.”
Without waiting for Apple to fire off more questions, I ran through the sand across the beach as hard as I could go. I had the guy firmly in my sights, focused on him as he carried the screaming girl. He clamped a hand over her mouth as he continued to hurry off the beach and down an alleyway. I was glad I’d thought to slip on my flip-flops as I padded across the pavement. They weren’t much, but were better than my bare feet.
He made it halfway down the alley when the girl managed to wiggle out of his grasp. That gave me the precious moments I needed to get within striking distance before he got hold of her again. I saw him snake a zip tie around the girl’s wrists at the small of her back. He tossed her into the back of the van at the same time I leapt for him.
With a battle cry, I jumped onto his back, wrapping my arms and legs around him as tightly as I could. I had a choke hold on him, but couldn’t get the leverage I needed to make him hurt. I knew I didn’t need to hold on long before the member of Salvation’s Bane found us. I just had to hold out a couple of minutes at most.
The girl screamed shrilly, and I could hear her sobbing occasionally. When I heard the sound of someone smacking the child just before she stopped screaming, I realized we weren’t alone.
