Page 119 of Depraved

That settled me a little. Ink was like a fucking pit bull when it came to Neon. Fucker even thought he had the balls to challenge me when I warned him about touching Alyx. Amazing what a woman could do to a man. Either they made your balls grow bigger, or they made you lose ’em.

“We should have gone back to the club to get them ourselves.” I flicked the cigarette onto the road, the coal still flickering for a few seconds before fading.

Dutch leaned against his Harley, arms crossed. “I told you we can’t risk it. It’s what the Pythons would expect. For all we know, this whole thing with Tanit was a way to lure us out.”

“He’s right,” Onyx chimed in from the side. “This entire thing reeks of a setup.”

I pulled the elastic from around my wrist and tied my hair. It was almost spring, the evenings still cold, yet my skin was clammy with unrest. The patches of clouds moving in front of the full moon seemed angry tonight, and that unsettled me more.

I glanced at my wristwatch. “They should have been here ten minutes ago.”

“Relax, would you?” Onyx pulled out a smoke. “They’ll be here. They took a little detour to make sure they weren’t followed.”

“How many Pythons did you kill?” Dutch’s question sliced through the atmosphere like hard fucking ice, but I played it down.

“No idea what you’re talking about, man.”

“Cut the crap, Granite. I know what you and Ink have been doing.”

I jerked my head to the side and snapped my gaze to Onyx.

Onyx shrugged innocently. “What? I didn’t tell him shit.”

“Your brother didn’t tell me. Ink did.”

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered under my breath. “That fucking guy does not know the meaning of ‘don’t tell anyone’!”

“You thought we wouldn’t agree?”

I shot him a sideways glance. “I thought you wouldn’t agree.”

“Got that right.” Dutch didn’t even try to deny it. “Because the last thing we need is to aggravate the beast right now, Granite.”

“Yeah, well, we aggravated it a fuck-load. And I’d do it again if I could.” I turned my attention back to the road in front of us. “And I’m still not done killing every one of those fuckers.”

“Here they come.” Onyx waved at the oncoming ape hangers. They slowed and pulled off the side of the road, a black minivan parking behind them.

Junkyard, a trusted member of the club took off his lid as I approached him. He had worn the Kings cut with pride for the last ten fucking years. With a wife and two kids, the man lived a double life, but so did a few other members.

“No one followed you here?”

He shook his head. “No. I’m sure of it. We took one huge fucking detour. And we had guys follow up from a distance to make sure we didn’t have tails.”

“Good.” I shook his hand, bumped shoulders, and slapped him on the back as I made my way to the minivan. “Hey, Texas,” I greeted the prospect behind the wheel. Poor fucker always seemed to pale whenever I looked his way.

“Hey, Granite.”

“Bring the girls here safe?” Just then, Trick and Tanit got out of the minivan.

“Safe and sound.”

I slapped him on the arm. “Good job.”

I walked straight to Tanit and took her chin in my hand, turning her face so I could scrutinize her bruises. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She didn’t look at me, so I made her, my fingers still clutching her jaw.

“That’s some shiner you got there.” The skin around her eye had already turned a purple blue. At least it wasn’t swollen much. I pulled at her bottom lip, looking at the cut on the side before letting go. “What were you doing out alone?”