Page 5 of Slayin Villain
That made her dangerous.
I’d seen what this life did to women who had too much of that shit in their blood.Watched it bleed out of them in motel bathrooms and locked cells, one bad decision at a time.And Rachel?
She’d follow me into hell if I let her.
But I didn’t have it in me to ask her to.
Not when I couldn’t even tell her my real name.
Not when my brother still hadn’t forgiven me for what I left behind in Knoxville.
Not when every goddamn time I started to care, it blew up in my face.
I flicked ash into a tray shaped like a revolver.Kingpin gave it to me when I patched in.Said I had a good aim and a cold heart.I used to believe him.
But watching her sleep now, skin flushed, lips parted, hand curled around the edge of my pillow like she thought I’d disappear?
I felt warm.
Too warm.
Too close to something I couldn’t afford.
I crushed the cigarette and stood, running a hand down my face.
She stirred, murmured something soft.
My name.
Fuck.
I walked out before I could crawl back into bed like a simp.Walked the compound like I was one of the ghosts that haunted it.Talked to no one.Nodded at Thorn, ignored Sweet Tea, and kept walking.
Because if I stayed?
I might’ve told her I loved her.
And that was a death sentence in my world.
The next night, Rachel had to work.
I did too.
Sergeant-at-Arms for the Royal Bastards MC, soon to be the Bastard Sons MC.I ran security.I kept the peace.I broke bones when needed and kept a Glock under my pillow.That gun had a name.
Selene.
So did the men hunting me.
But no one here knew that part.
Our compound sat behind a ten-foot steel gate topped with razor wire, cameras on every corner, patched guards with guns on their hips and cigars in their mouths.Cousin and Gunn in particular.Out front, the flashing neon sign screamed ROYAL ROAD like it was some high-end strip club.Inside, it was all dirty deals, gun stashes, and power plays.
High rollers.Low lives.Country music stars who owed us favors.Dirty cops who took envelopes fat with hush money.They all came through our doors.
Nashville was a showgirl with too much makeup and blood on her heels.
And Royal Road was her damn stage.This was the Kingdom of Sin, and I was the prince they called Villain.
