Page 18 of Ryder's War

Staggering to her feet, Abigail tried to run to Devil. Darkness snapped out one arm, catching her in the chest. The woman bounced back and landed on her ass. Without looking back, Darkness growled, “Don’t try that again or I’ll put a bullet in your brain pan, bitch. You and me, we got business to discuss. After that, you can go crawling back into whatever hole you climbed out of.” Turning his attention back to the man, Darkness sighed. “Why’d you tag this building, Devil? You marking territory for your club?”

“Fuck no. I’m not interested in this little backwater town. We use the river. Don’t need your dumb fucks unloading lead on our boats as we speed by.”

“You could have phoned that shit in.”

“Yeah, my communication skills suck, but I’m bettin’ you ain’t gonna forget our little conversation tonight, now are you?”

“You’re fucking mental if you think we’re gonna roll over and play dead.”

“Didn’t think for a minute you would.” His cold eyes slid to Abigail.

Darkness spoke sourly. “That’s why you sent your bitch to snipe my ass?”

The other man shrugged, his dirty, worn leather cut shifting on his rail-thin body. “Putting a bullet in your head seemed like the shortest distance between two points. This was supposed to be the job that set little Abigail free.” Wheezing a humorless laugh, he snarled, “Looks like it turned out to be the job that got her a new master.”

Darkness froze, and Ryder could tell the little wheels in his head were turning. “Can you give me a terribly compelling reason not to blow your head off where you stand?”

“Killing me won’t change a thing. My old man’s out, and he’ll raze your little club to the ground for spilling one drop of Devil blood.”

Faster than any of them could blink, Darkness squeezed off a round, and Ryder pressed his lips together in a firm line as blood drizzled down the other man’s ear. Neither of them even flinched. Men like Devil and Darkness never flinched, much less backed down, even in the face of certain death. Ryder couldn’t shake the feeling that Abigail Fucking Andrews was at the center of the bitter discord between the two men.

Devil bit out harshly, “Blood for fucking blood it is then, you crazy motherfucker.”

Ryder watched the woman reach up and touch Darkness’ arm. His head jerked ever so slightly, and the other man melted back into the darkness. Ryder sensed several other sets of footsteps moving as well. Just when he was thinking of lowering his weapon, they heard a rifle click.

Ryder knew in an instant they were going to kill the girl. He aimed and shot in the direction of the sound, and Darkness turned and dove in front of his would-be sniper. Neither of the men turned out to be lucky. Ryder missed his shot, and Darkness caught a bullet to the back.

White-hot fury bloomed in Ryder’s chest. Stalking over, he knocked the woman out cold with his fist, so he could attend to his brother without her catching them unawares. There was some more movement in the direction of the shooter, then a rain of fire from the upper warehouse window. Dwaine could shoot better than he could talk, thank fuck, and after a moment, the roar of motorcycles told Ryder the Seven Devils had taken off.

Dwaine came running down with a first-aid kit. Coming to a skidding stop on his knees, he mumbled, “S…saw what ha…happened. Called…the…the…clubhouse.”

“Shit, shit, shit. This is bad. Are they bringing a doctor?” Ryder asked, thinking fast. Dwaineelbowed him aside and began working on Darkness. The man actually seemed as if he knew what he was doing. “You a medic?”

“A…army.”

Nice. “Fucking fantastic,” he praised, glad the man was there. “Is it as bad as it looks?”

“Y...yes.”

“Shit. Do your best, my friend.”

Dwaine shot him an annoyed look, and Ryder realized they weren’t exactly friends. They’d gone to school together in this small town and went their separate ways upon graduation. The thing was, Dwaine never stuttered before he left for the military. A man had to wonder what happened to trigger something like that.

Darkness groaned. Ryder dropped down on all fours to look him in the face.

“Everything’s gonna be okay, prez.”

Darkness opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, and Ryder watched helplessly as his eyes slowly drifted closed. War was coming—he could feel it in his bones, the same way he'd felt it before every major club conflict.

But this time felt different.

This wasn't about territory or business. This was personal, carved in flesh and sealed with blood. He could only hope that Dwaine really knew what he was doing, because the Blind Jacks were going to need every brother standing for what was coming.

~ Ryder ~

Walking down the hall beside the gurney, Ryder was reluctant to let Darkness out of his sight. Brotherhood meant standing guard when a brother fell, but watching his president—the man who'd seemed untouchable—being wheeled away made something twist in his gut.

Some bullets left scars deeper than flesh.

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