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Realization is starting to come to him. I can see. Eyes widening just a little, pupils widening a little more. The tic of the artery in his neck as his heart speeds up. The nervous wetting of his lips as it sinks in that we didn't bring him in here because we wanted anything from him.
Other than blood.
Riot draws Kane's attention back to him. "So… unfortunately, none of this is going to undo ten years of using Jessica as your personal punching bag, but I have to admit, I'm looking forward to this anyway. If you can't fix it, at least fuck shit up, right?"
Tex leans in and smirks cruelly. "In case you didn't figure it out, you're the shit."
"Don’t be stupid. There has to be something I can give you to make this go away. I'm filthy rich. I can give you just about anything." Desperation now that he fully understands. "Please, we don't have to do this."
Grabbing his collar with his huge fist, Riot hauls him up to his feet. I pull out one of my knives, and Kane finally fully panics.
"No! Please, no!"
"Relax. I'm just cutting you loose." Riot spins him around and presses his face against the wall so I can get at his wrists. Hishand is bandaged where his thumb used to be. Woulda hated to have him bleed out early. Then I slice through the rope, barely even nicking him. Maybe a little. I crouch, and cut his legs free, too, then put the knife away. "See? If you can get out of this room, you're free to go. How's that? I promise. And unlike you, I keep every single promise I make. Think you can do it?"
Kane eyes the door, briefly, but his gaze keeps flitting between the three of us, trying to watch us all at once. We all know he doesn't have a chance.
I'll give him this. He tries. Not very well, but he tries.
He pretends to lunge towards Tex, then jumps the other way, trying to dash past us to the door, his only chance of getting out.
Riot's fist in his gut stops him dead. Kane collapses, trying to catch the breath that's been knocked out of him. We give him time. We're not in a hurry. He abused Jessica for ten fucking years.
He tries again, even knowing that he doesn't have a chance. I punch him right in that fucking face of his, knocking him right off his feet and flat onto his back. He screams in pain as his head bounces off the hard floor. He tries to roll over, but he's dizzy already.
He tries to get up on all fours, but Tex kicks him hard in the side, dropping him right back to the floor.
"See, normally I'm not a fan of unfair fights," I say, happy to watch him squirm on the floor. "But then again, most people don't murder a girl's parents before keeping her around to beat on. She didn't have a fucking chance. You never gave her a fucking chance. So this feels appropriate. Right, you know?"
He grunts and spits out a mouthful of blood.
"So I'm gonna make you a second promise. You're not gonna leave this room alive."
He doesn't last nearly as long as he deserves, but when we haul his corpse out to the pier, tie a hunk of concrete around its neck and toss it into the water, it's still a sense of fucking closure. And now when she wakes up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare he gave her, we can honestly tell Jessica that he's never gonna fucking bother her again.
42
JESSICA
It's not oftenthat women and outsiders are welcome at Church, but this is a special occasion. I don't think this is the wedding that Mom ever envisioned for me, or that I ever did, for that matter, and I guess technically it's not even really a wedding, but Ghost, Riot and Tex are claiming me as their old lady, and that's good enough for me.
At least I'm wearing a dress today. Most days it's tight jeans and T-shirts, and after a decade in an ugly nanny uniform, I've grabbed the opportunity to find a new me with both hands. But today's special. Besides, the guys expressed a preference for me wearing a dress with nothing underneath so there was less to get in the way of the celebration afterwards.
Iamwearing something under, but I don't think they'll mind when they see.
My starts white at the tight, strapless corset, and then from the waist down, it spreads out in a wide, flowing, layered skirt of tulle that darken the lower and deeper you get, creating a color transition from pure white to almost pure black that stops right around my knees. Instead of dainty pumps, I'm wearing leatherboots that lace all the way up to mid-calf, and over my shoulders, I have a sheer black embroidered shawl that’s light over my shoulders, accenting to match the darker shades further down. My hair's up, a silver tiara perched on top. I feel like a biker princess. It’s awesome.
"You look so beautiful!" Anne beams at me, standing close to Bonnie.
With Victor gone, it turned out that Anne really wasn't in any official system. She'd been tutored at home, kept out of the public eye, and I doubt Victor filed a single official government form in his life. That left her adrift when Victor disappeared, and it was probably a sign of how absent of a father he'd been that she handled his death so easily. Not that she wasn't sad, but it’s more aspects of her old life she misses rather than Victor. And she's still got me.
But more importantly, she's got Bonnie, who—once we realized Anne didn't have any near relatives and was basically adrift—was quick to take her in, and now Anne's getting the closest thing to a normal life she’s ever had. She smiles up at Bonnie and takes a step closer for another hug. Is Bonnie perfect? No. Does Anne probably get a little too much coffee for her age? Yes. Is she learning way too many bad words way too early? Almost definitely. But Bonnie's been adrift too, after losing General, and with all the love she's got to give, I think Anne moving in was the perfect solution. More importantly, I think both of them do, too.
I've learned that Church is a pretty common term for meetings in MCs, but I love that the Outlaw Sons can have theirs in an actual church. It adds a whole new level of gravity to it. And it makes what we're about to do seem a little more… real, a little more legitimate, in a way. Not that it truly matters. I would dothis with the guys anywhere, and it would be just as real. But I like it. It makes me feel good.
"Here, you can hide in this," says Bonnie and hands me a long black cloak. "So you can see the rest of it, but the guys don't get to see how gorgeous you look for them before it's their turn. Good to keep an element of suspense, right?"
She grins as I take it from her and wrap it around myself. It's just a little bit longer than my dress. Perfect.
