Page 29 of Merciless

“Nah. Not me. Runner.”

Well then. The club’s best tracker. But I ain’t fooled for long. “Not likely. He ain’t going in for no more dangerous missions. Made a promise to his family.”

Impatience flashes in Ax’s eyes. “Look, asshole, I keep tabs on your daughter. If I can pull that off, I can do the same to anybody.”

That brings a smile to my face. “She learned from the best.”

“Yeah, thanks so much for that major pain in the ass.”

“If she were easy, you wouldn’t want her. You like a fight.”

He nods, but then all humor evaporates in the next second, and he turns that steely resolve on me. “But not on this, Dealer. You don’t lean on help with this situation, you don’t try to fight, then I’ll make you.”

“I’ll give Maverick a shot. One chance. If I don’t like what I’m hearing then that’s that. We clear?”

He finally releases me and steps back. “Fine.”

“All right. I gotta make a call first.”

“To Kingmaker, huh?”

I start at that. “You know?”

He shrugs. “I’m President of Black Thorns. You remember the resources you had at your disposal when you held that title? I’ve expanded that a hell of a lot. With all the heavy threats that kept coming at us, I had no choice. So, yeah, I know Charlotte Brant is Kingmaker and, for you, she’s the one that got away. More than your wife, more than even Kim. All along, it’s been her.”

Goddammit!

The last thing I want is Ax hearing about Char. It complicates things in a big way, least of all being that his mom, Kim Barron, was one of my old lovers too. There might’ve been some overlap. I ain’t proud of that. It was all a whirlwind of dangerous, dumbass decisions back then. Living fast and dying young seemed like a thrill for the ages all those years ago. Now I see it for what it was. A long series of mistakes and hotheaded decisions that led to me losing my wife, losing Kim, being cut off from Char, my baby girl, and almost losing my life in the process too.

But he already knows about her now. Might as well put it out there all the way and clear the air at least. “Fine, yeah, she’s something to me, all right?”

He smiles, surprising me. “Good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, second chances are rare, especially in our world. Now you got one here, with her coming back into your life again.”

I shake my head. “Nah. This ain’t that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s… too much has happened. Too much distance.”

“But—”

I hold up my hand. “I appreciate what you’ve said, and I’ll take your advice, but we ain’t taking about her.”

I turn to go make the call, but he says, “This is your last shot. You and her? This is it now. Just keep that in mind, yeah?”

“I will.”

Like I haven’t already thought about that over and over since she came back into my life. But I ain’t Ax. I ain’t redeemable. And those of us beyond redemption don’t get happy endings. We have to settle for the ashes of what our sins have left behind.

Before I can even start to dial, my phone rings. I pull my cell out and see Sin’s name on the caller ID.

Figuring he’s calling to check in and confirm he’s got Char to the safehouse, it pulls me up short as I answer, and he’s barking down the line before I can even get a word out, “Bitch put me down! She’s gone, brother! Took off.”

I grit my teeth at him referring to her as a bitch. It bothers me more than I want, and I swallow it down. Gotta cut him some slack. It ain’t fun getting put down by her. Been there, done that.

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