Page 75 of Never Wed an Outlaw

The whole crew pointed their guns at the asshole's head, too close for comfort to Joker's. “Let him fuckin' go,” I growled.

“We're just here to talk!” Crawl yelled, pushing his thick black hair away from his eyes. “Just wanna give your boss a message.”

“Fuck you, Pistol cocksuckers. Why don't you tell him yourselves?” He yelled it, and the door we'd been swarming around opened a second later. “Anybody fuckin' shoots, this asshole's getting one right through his head.”

Dom and several more mean looking motherfuckers came out through the new door. I kept my eyes trained on the asshole shoving his gun into Joker's head. Veep looked at me, angry resignation all over his face, silently telling me not to take any shit.

Fuck him, too. He didn't get to be so reckless. The boy had a wife and kid to worry about, same as I did. Even if he was damned near ready to give up his life, I wasn't gonna let that happen.

“Gentleman, gentleman, why don't we all lower our weapons and talk this out like men?” Dominick Barone was shorter and slimier than I expected. The evil glint in his eye was familiar, though, something I'd snuffed out in evil bastards like him dozens of times.

Before the day ended, I'd be doing it once more.

He walked toward me, ignoring the gun I kept aimed at his heart. Stupid sonofabitch practically walked into it before I lowered it. He stood in front of me, too damned close for comfort, a sickly sweet fruit smell rolling out his mouth each time he exhaled.

“You know why I'm here,capo,”I said, his mafia rank bleeding sarcasm on my tongue. “Give me back my Veep, bring me my wife and kid, and maybe we can walk away from this alive. Ain't asking you again, motherfucker.”

“Funny,” he said, a sly smile curdling his lips. “I'm not hearing much room for negotiation, biker trash. And thisisa negotiation instead of a straight up shootout, correct?”

No, fuck face.I imagined ramming my nine into his jaw, knocking him on the ground, and burying a bullet deep in his brain. Too bad the people I loved would die if I went loose cannon.

“Name your price, and show me you ain't killing my Veep before we talk about anything.”

“Three million, and not a cent less,” he said coldly,before slowly turning to the man at his side, holding his gun to Joker's head. “Will, you know what to do.”

His chokehold on Joker came off. For a second, I thought the fuck was showing good faith. Fatal mistake, considering I always should have remembered animals like him had no honor.

No sooner than Joker got several paces, moving next to Firefly, the asshole who'd been holding him hostage fired.

Fuck!I watched my boy drop, blood coming thick.

Veep went down, screaming, falling into my Enforcer's arms while his leg gushed from the wound.

Everybody's guns were back up, primed, and half a fuckin' second from going off.

Goddamn, it'd feel good to finally pull the trigger on this bastard's skull, even if it was the last thing I ever did.

“Careful,” Dom said softly, not even flinching when I rammed my nine's barrel into his temple. “I'm taking insurance. Your man is merely wounded. We could've killed him if we'd wanted.”

“Asshole!” Joker screamed behind me, spitting through his teeth, while Firefly ripped through his jeans and bundled the denim tight, forming a crude tourniquet.

“Let's not have any hard feelings over this, Dust. This isn't about ego, whatever you think's happening between you and me. I want to talk.”

“So fuckin' do it,” I snarled, trying to keep my finger off the trigger. “No more violence. If one more bullet flies when it ain't meant to, I swear to Christ, I will kill you where you stand. Consequences be fucked.”

“You want your woman and your son, and I named my price. Bring everything here in the next forty-eight hours, or there's nothing left to discuss.”

Son?Fuck, my grip on the trigger weakened, temporarily taking my mind away from this psycho staring me in the face.

I had a son.

Four simple words that shocked me to hell and back, amping my consciousness to new heights when I got my shit straight, because now I had to live to meet my boy.

“We don't have that much, and I think you know it, asshole,” I said. My eyes shifted to Skin.

“He's telling you the truth. I'm the club's Treasurer.” Skinny boy stepped up, backing me up, neither of us knowing if we were digging ourselves deeper. “We might be worth three and a half or four with all our assets, but only half of that's liquid. It's taken all year to get back on our feet after our coffers ran dry.”

I nodded. “We'll give you a million cash, and make payments, you piece of shit. You can come to Tennessee yourself to collect if you think there'll be any hangups.”

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