Page 6 of Pope’s Purgatory

The only thought my mind latches on to is ‘thank fuck Birdie wore her riding leathers today’.

By the time weland in the brush on the side of the road, my only concern is checking on my woman.

She held tight to me the entire time, and I can feel her body trembling around mine.

“We need to move, little mama,” I groan when I hear the bikes shut off.

“Okay,” she whimpers, slowly uncurling from around me. “The guys are on the way.”

“Gonna need your help moving the bike. My shoulder is fucked.”

I roll my eyes over her, checking for any visible injuries. Thankfully, her leather and helmet protected her from most of the damage she would have sustained.

“You good?”

“A lot of fucking pain, beast, but I’m alive and breathing. Let’s do this before they get over here.”

The strain in her voice makes me wonder whether she’s lying to me, but I don’t have time to question it right now. If I don’t get this bike off us, we’re going to be too easy to pick off.

She snaps the gun she’s still holding back in my holster. “On three.”

I hear the Steel Slayers closing in on us, so I don’t even wait to count that shit. I start lifting, and adrenaline pulses through me as I raise the bike off us, mourning the damage to it as I do.

As soon as we’re free, I yank the gun from my holster again and shove Birdie behind me. Running my hand along my side, relief settles in when I feel the knife still there. I slide it out and pass it to her. “Need you to find a place to hide, little mama. Not gonna be able to do what I need if I’m worried about you. I trust you to hold steady until I get to you. Anyone but me or one of the brothers come at you, take them out. Understand?”

“I know what to do, Pope.” She yanks on my hair that’s come loose and pulls me around to her for a quick kiss. “Keep yourself safe.”

I watch as she takes off running to find a place to hide just as the Steel Slayers come crashing through the dense brush.

If this was any other time, I’d take the time to let them come at me first, but I don’t have that luxury with Birdie around. I put a bullet between the eyes of the middle one since he was the only one that had his weapon out.

Two down, three more to go.

The others stop in their tracks. They raise their hands, but it’s bullshit because there’s no way a fucking Steel Slayer surrenders. It puts me on fucking edge.

“You’ve got five seconds to turn the fuck back around and get out of here before you end up like your brothers,” I warn, my aim drifting between them.

“Clink wants your little birdie.”

I shrug nonchalantly. “Clink’s got a death wish. If he wants her so badly, he needs to grow a set of balls and come at me himself. It’s sad that he’s too pussy to do it and he’d rather risk y’all’s lives.” I tilt my head. “Tell me, does it feel good knowing yourPresident cares so little about you that he hides like a little bitch while you all do the dirty work?”

“Watch yourself,” one of the others growls.

“You gonna make me, little boy?” I taunt, keeping their attention on me and away from searching for my woman. “Or is your dick not big enough? We can whip them out and measure to see who has the bigger one. Guarantee I’ll win.”

His body trembles with anger, and he keeps glaring at the other Steel Slayer, which tells me who the leader of this small group is.

I cluck my tongue and aim at the one I was taunting. “Seems you won’t have anything I need,” I tell him before pulling the trigger.

The other two stand stoically, staring at me as if they can wait me out. The only thing that tells me is they probably have help on the way same as I do.

A noise from behind me has my body tightening because I know exactly who the hell it is and I’m going to tan her goddamn ass when we get home.

Both Steel Slayers grin, their eyes falling behind me.

Well . . . that just won’t do.

I shoot one in his stupid eye that doesn’t belong on my birdie, and the other guy just cackles about it.

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