Page 110 of One Night with the Biker

“JT’s dead,” she sobbed. “B-Bean went to relieve his father after he finished his gate duty.” Tears fell fast and furiously. “He went to the bathroom and…and…”

Roman Mac walked out of the house, followed by a tan motherfucker I didn’t know—Tio, I presumed. He wasn’t myconcern, though.Macwas. He should’ve been a fucking ghost. He wassupposedto be bug food, but there he was, recovered and as lethal as ever, judging by his leather duster, a prosthetic hook he wore in place of one hand, and a mechanical hand for the other.

He was once again a threat. I should’ve shot him on that principle, but his eyes were tormented. When he looked at me, it wasn’t the stare of a man examining an enemy, but one in need of help.

This wasn’t some sort of ploy or revenge plot, which let me know something was very, very wrong.

“I’ve been tracking Wizard,” he said hoarsely. “But I got there five minutes too late. Bean hid around the side of the building and saw that motherfucker come out of the store, shoot one of your guys in the fucking head and take my sister. I couldn’t fucking save her.”

The pain in his voice reflected how I felt. The only time I felt such anguish was during the immediate aftermath of my family’s death. Then, I’d been a grieving child, alone in the world and terrified of what the future held for me. I was an adult now, who’d been too cowardly to man up and stand by the side of the woman who carried my child, a woman I’d grown to care for deeply.

I might never get the chance to correct my mistake, and the crushing regret added to my torment.

“No,” I croaked, my head filled with horrific images of what she might go through at those fuckers’ hands.

They’d make her suffer before they killed her, that I was sure of. The Royal Bastards showed no mercy to enemies, and we were even more ruthless with those who betrayed us. Razor didn’t allow rapists among our ranks, but everything I knew of the Scorpions told me they didn’t have such rules. Violating someone so intimately was a surefire way to break them.

Combined with the beatings and torture they would inflict, the Ainsley I knew and cherished could forever be gone, even if we saved her. Mental scars were harder to heal than physical ones, and her brutal treatment might render her a shell of herself.

But, fuck, at least she’d be alive in that scenario.

“Where’d they take her?” I pushed out, trembling from the rage and fear coursing through me.

Ainsley’s only crime was expressing her autonomy and allowing me entry into her bed. She’d been too naïve to grasp what a grave offense that was to the Bloody Scorpions, one she might pay for with her life.

“If we knew that, why the fuck would we come here?” Tio asked, his bored tone pissing me off.

“Tio, shut the fuck up,” Easton ordered, looking between Roman and me. “One motherfucker can’t take on an entire club.”

Fucking try me. I didn’t care who or how many I had to kill to try and save Ainsley.

“Even if I stand with Roman,twoaren’t a match against those fuckheads either,” Easton continued.

“That’s why I’m here,” Roman said, the dejection in his tone nothing like the man I knew of. “I had a fucking plan to avenge Ainsley and punish the assholes who harmed her. Can’t do that with her gone. I don’t know where she is, and I can’t get her back on my own.”

“You won’t,” I vowed, my dislike of him lessening.

He wanted to save Ainsley, and right now, that was the only thing I gave a damn about.

Ainsley had been missing for two fucking days. In that time, I hadn’t eaten and had barely slept. Once Easton called the president of the American Scorpions and Bash explained the situation, Razor, Jester, and Warrior eased up and allowed Roman Mac on our property. They made him remove that fucking hook but let him keep one of his prosthetic hands because he still couldn’t shoot a gun.

We were all up in arms over JT and Chi Chi’s deaths, and Ainsley’s kidnapping. Louisiana divided his time between the main room and wherever the fuck he was holding Jinx.

Easton and Bash contributed to our planning. Roman sat ata corner table, alone. Not speaking. I didn’t think he’d eaten anything either. I damn sure knew he hadn’t slept. None of us knew what the fuck was going on in his head. It wasn’t good. I knewthat. I understood, too. If Ainsley was alive, they were probably torturing her. I would give my own life if it meant saving her.

All the times I could’ve gotten off my fucking ass, I’d ignored her. Ignored my own feelings. Now that she might be gone, I admitted to myself how much she meant to me. I’d lusted after her at first, then I’d spent time getting to know her, sleeping next to her, having her in my arms, and I loved everything about her.

I lovedher.

I just prayed I’d get the chance to prove to her how much.

“Roman!” Bash’s voice cut through my pain. “Come to this phone motherfucker.”

“I can hear perfectly well from where I’m at, so talk,” Roman said flatly.

Easton sat his phone on Roman’s table.

“I’m not there to shoot your ass off for your disrespect, but my boys are, so I suggest you tone it the fuck down.”

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