Page 42 of Ride Long
Chapter 14
Chaser
Gasketand I hauled Harley’s unconscious body to Marini’sdoor.
It wasn’t the ending to the night I was planning on and not the way I wanted to see Sloane again, but around here, I couldn’t choose my fate. It was all up to the roll of thedice.
Marini wasn’t pleased when he opened thedoor.
“What’s this?” he asked, looking down at Harley, who we’d dumped on the floor in thehall.
“He attacked Betty,” Gasket said, making a point of using her original name. Until now, he’d been calling herSloane.
I snorted. The many faces ofGasket.
Marini made the same sound and threw the door open as wide as it would go. “Get himinside.”
Gasket and I took an arm each, and we dragged him into the room, sitting his fat ass into one of the dining chairs as Rick appeared like the bad smell he was. On call twenty-four seven to mop up his boss’s victims’ bloodstains.
“Rick.” Marini crooked his finger, and the kid came running, eager to do his master’s bidding. “Get a bucket of cold water, and toss it onhim.”
Gasket glanced at me, and I shrugged. I didn’t think that worked, but stranger shit hadhappened.
“Explain,” Marini barked as Rick left to get abucket.
“After I spoke to you, I went to the roof,” I said. “It’s usually empty. No one goes upthere.”
“Why were you?” The president’s eyes werecold.
“To clear my head. Have to after ajob.”
He snorted. “And?”
“Harley had Sloane on her back, half hanging over the side of the roof, with his hands around her neck. Choking her.” I curled my lip, glancing at Harley, whose own head was lolling forward. “I would’ve thrown him off the edge myself, but I knew you’d want thehonors.”
Marini’s eyes sparkled, and I expected some sadistic torture was coming. “Where is Bettynow?”
“In my rooms,” Gasketreplied.
“She wanted to play,” he murmured. “She wanted to be part of Fortitude. Maybe it’s time for her to see what happens to those who crossme.”
I wanted to correct him and say ‘those who pissed him off,’ but I might’ve added myself to the hit list. I’d once seen him stab a fork through the hand of the previous shitkicker before Rick. Why? Simply because the kid had accidentally put too much pepper on his steak. That was the kind of man who dealt out the punishments aroundhere.
On cue, the door opened, and Rick came in carrying a full bucket of water. It sloshed, melting ice cubes rattling against theplastic.
“You used ice?” Marini asked, his facetwisting.
“The cold is supposed to shock him awake,” Rick replied. “Makes it moreconfusing.”
Marini shrugged and snatched the bucket. Aiming it toward Harley, he threw the entire contents at the biker’s face. Water splashed everywhere, but with the heat we’d been suffering for the past week, it was a welcome comfort to bedrenched.
It seemed to do the trick—thankfully, for Rick’s approval rating. Harley coughed and spluttered, his eyes flashing side to side as he regained consciousness. When his eyes unglazed and fixed on Marini, he looked like he was about to piss hispants.
The president smiled, taking out his executioner’s revolver, the gun Sloane had found so pretty, and waved it in Harley’sface.
“Wakey-wakey, sunshine,” Marini chortled. “Daddy’s got a surprise for you.” He reared his hand back and brought it down, smashing the butt of the revolver against the side of Harley’s head, snapping it to theside.
Harley blinked, fighting another wave of unconsciousness, and Marini slapped him awake again. Blood trickled down his face, mingling with the water and carving a deadly line across his pale cheeks before matting into his rattybeard.
