Page 7 of Blackbeard
I gritted my teeth and rammed my knee upward, aiming for a groin.
But the intruder was too close, his hips pinned to mine. He twisted my arm to the side, putting a strain on my elbow that made a scream of agony well up in my throat.
“Behave yourself, princess.”
Blackbeard’s low, rumbling voice near my ear in the dark shouldn’t have been that sexy, given the circumstances. A rush of heat swept through my body, nipples tight, core throbbing, a knot of arousal burning in my lower belly.
“Make me,” I rasped.
He huffed a faint laugh, his warm breath fanning the curve of my neck. A moment later, I felt the sharp edge of his teeth against my skin, and the quick, teasing flick of his tongue.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Before I could reply, Blackbeard released his grip on my throat and reached into my jacket, plucking my pistol out of the hidden pocket.
My head swirled, and my eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the dark well enough to make out anything more than Blackbeard’s silhouette.
But I felt his body heat, his closeness, the weight of his bulk against me. And I smelled him—earthy leather, crisp pungent lime, with a hint of something sharp and clean, like bleach or antiseptic.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t put a bullet between your pretty eyes,” he murmured.
“You’d miss the best sex of your life,” I replied.
He growled—low, dark, and dangerous.
“Your daddy’s boys fucked up our garage, put a bullet in one of my brothers, and winged my shoulder. Sex isn’t exactly high on my list of priorities at the moment. Payback is, though, and I’ll make Popeyefucking bleedfor what he’s done. So that means hurting his sweet, innocent little girl—”
I scoffed.
“If you think I’m sweet or innocent, I hate to disappoint you.”
The cold bite of my pistol’s muzzle pressed beneath my chin. I didn’t flinch, staring at the dark shadow of Blackbeard’s face in the night. I wouldn’t beg or cry for mercy. Hell, I wasn’t even fighting as hard as I could have been.
“You can put an end to all this,” I whispered.
Blackbeard went so still that I couldn’t even hear him breathe.
“By killing me,” I went on. “You’re going to turn this town into a goddamn war zone. One injured brother will be the least of your worries. You’ll beswimmingin blood. We won’t stop until your whole fucking club is in the ground. Or…”
I trailed off, dangling the bait right in front of his nose.
“Or what?” he said through his teeth.
I grinned as he played into my hands.
“Or you can sit down with my father and hear what he has to say. You don’t even know what he’s proposing.”
“I can’t imagine it means good news for us,” Blackbeard countered.
“How would you feel if something happened to your darling nieces and nephews?” I pointed out. “I bet you’d change your mind real quick after that.”
It was a low blow, and I knew it. Going after harmless family members wasn’t something Dad advocated for. But at the same time, it wasn’t entirely off limits either. I just hoped it never came to that.
Blackbeard leaned in closer—so close that I could feel the heat radiating off him in waves. The pistol beneath my chin dug a little deeper, threatening to bruise.
“Don’t you dare drag kids into this fight, you little bitch.”
“You can back down at any time, sweetheart,” I cooed. “Then this whole thing comes to an end and no one has to get dragged into anything. Don’t pin this on me, when your boss is the one who won’t even consider a peace agreement.”
