Page 39 of Vengeance (Ruthless MC 4)
My heart constricts as I erase the note I made about O2 under special considerations. But even after the note’s gone, I have the feeling it’s going to haunt me for a long, long time.
Just like the three men I left behind in Nebraska.
CHAPTER 18
HYENA
After a successful but challenging negotiation with the Quevedo Cartel, we end up in some Texas border town party bar. And I know I’ve had too much to drink when I decide to see if we’re finally ready to put our dicks in someone else.
I start scouting women to take back to the hotel with us. “How about her?” I ask, pointing at a young blonde who looks like she’s already had a few surgeries. One to enhance her breasts, one to bubble her butt, and one to remove a couple of ribs to get that perfect Instagram hourglass figure.
She’s aggressively flawless. And more important than that, she checks our number-one box. Doesn’t remind us of Doc.
But Des-E immediately shakes his head. And Vampire barely spares Instagram Hottie a glance before saying, “Too plastic.”
The tall brunette I point out next gets a head shake and a “too skinny” from V.
And the curvy, brown-skinned Latina with natural everything just makes Des-E blow out a gust of air, like I’m bothering him, and Vampire say “No” in that final way of his.
Maybe I should have picked out someone who looks like Doc. The one occasion I tried it was the only time I’ve gotten a huge reaction from either of them. Des-E actually used his words to ask me what the hell I was thinking, and Vampire chewed me out. Loudly.
Yeah, I’ve definitely had too much to drink. Every scouting session has gone the exact same way for the last two and a half years. But tonight, I dare to say the thing I’m always thinking but know better than to speak out loud.
“This is fucking stupid. She’s done with her residency. Why don’t we just hunt her down and take her back home with us?”
Vampire would die for me. He more than proved that when we got ambushed on that recon mission. And there’s a bullet in his gun for anybody who tries to speak dirty on my name.
But maybe he’s had too much to drink too. “Why?" he asks, his eyes pained. "You weren’t humiliated enough the last time we tried with her? You’re just that much of an idiot, you want to go crawling back?”
I can’t blame him for asking me that. Or his bitter tone. The night of our Stranger Things binge, he pulled us aside after Des-E and me tucked her into bed to insist she was setting us up.
“A couple weeks ago, she wouldn’t even tell us her house had been taken over by some gang. And now she’s all in?” He shook his head and insisted, “This doesn’t smell right. She wouldn’t give in to us that easily. It’s a trap. We can’t all leave her alone unattended. I’ll stay behind.”
Des-E tilted his head, like he was considering V’s proposal.
But I defended her. “She’s giving in because we made her see what we saw. How good it could be with us. And you can’t skip this test. It’s just like you said, making sure she feels safe with us is the first step. Then in seven days, when the pill kicks in, all three of us will put it on her so good, she won’t think twice when we tell her we’re getting her residency placement moved up here to Nebraska.”
Des-E tilted his head the other way, like he saw my point.
And even more important than that, Vampire didn’t immediately shoot me down. Maybe he didn’t believe in her like I did, but I could tell he wanted to.
And we’re Vengeance. So we managed to come up with a compromise.
That night we re-rigged the small cams we sometimes use to scout targets for our retaliation missions. Each door that provided outside access got a security camera with a motion sensor placed on its jamb. That way, if she stepped even a foot outside, one of them would alert us.
The next morning, we kissed her good-bye like everything was good. Then we drove just a couple miles away and waited, watching the camera feed on V’s phone. Ten…fifteen…thirty minutes passed without a peep.
So we rode another half hour toward the closest town and pulled over to check again.
“See, I told you!” I said, slapping Vampire on the shoulder when we saw there had still been no activity after nearly an hour away.
Vampire wasn’t pissed off at all about me being right.
“Yeah, let’s go get these tests,” he said, grinning. “But forget waiting for the BC to kick in. I’m going to put on a condom and claim her wicked hard when we get back. Me waiting is done.”
