Page 94 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
That was distinct.
I shot an urgent plea to Gina.
She slipped her gun from the holster and pointed it upward.
The floor was lifted from the hole.
Five bikers stared down at us.I didn’t recognize a single one, but I recognized the patches and colors of each.They were Destroyers.The oldest’s road name patch read, “Nonno.”
“What areyoudoing here?”Gina tucked her gun away and held up a hand to be lifted out.
Nonno, the one she addressed, stared down at me and Zoe.
“Seeing what the fuss was about before joining the shit show.”He held out his hand.I was loath to take it.“Come on.Let’s get a look at you.”
I was lifted out.Zoe followed without help, scrambling up the crude ladder fixed to the pit’s wall.
Nonno barely gave me a second glance once Zoe stood up.“Well.NowI see why that bastard is so pissed.”
He reached out to touch Zoe’s face.She recoiled and stepped behind me.Instinctively, I blocked Nonno’s hand and view of my daughter.“Don’t touch her.”
That got his attention.“Do you know who you’re talking to?”
I didn’t care.“Don’t touch my daughter.”I articulated my words slowly and added every ounce of vitriol I could into the icy tone.
His hand fell.
“She looks like Jackson.”
“No shit,” I said.
His expression morphed from a scowl to shock.“Got a mouth on you.”
I straightened to stand taller.
“And a bitch-ass attitude.No wonder those two are salivating like dogs.”He held out his hand.“My name’s Nonno.And since you don’t know whothe fuck I am, I’ll tell you.I lead the North American continent’s Destroyers.Every chapter in this hemisphere north of the Panama Canal answers to me.”
Lovely.I took his hand and shook once, then dropped it fast.“Kate.”
His lips curled.“Just Kate, not KateWeaver?”
“Just.Kate.”
His eyes dipped to my legs and back, measuring me, assessing my appearance, and performing the action quickly enough that it could be deemed harmless.But it wasn’t.The reminder that I was only a woman, no… worse, a woman in their manly world, pissed me off.
“Search her.”
When they came up empty, they searched Gina.She relinquished her gun and a knife she had in her boot.Zoe, still huddled behind me, clutched my shirt.“Are they going to…?”
“Absolutely not.If any of you touch my daughter, I swear to God you’ll die if it is the last thing I do.”
Nonno motioned his men off.“One condition—”
“No,” I replied before he could finish.
“Kate, this is for your own good.”
I’d heard that line before.Almost without fail, whatever someone else decided turned out terribly for me.“I’ll say this even more emphatically,no.”
