Page 26 of Dark Biker Protector

"What the fuck...?" I muttered to myself, eyeing the scene in front of me. No way I could be seeing this right, no way...

Paint dripped from a fresh graffiti stain on my door. It could have just been a message from another club - fuck, if it had been anything other than this, maybe I could have believed it.

But I knew it wasn’t. I knew what this was. And I knew there was no way in hell I was going to let it slide.

It was her. A rough image, sure, but it was Abbey – the dark hair at that length, the green eyes, the small features. You might not clock it unless you knew her, but I did – and I wasn’t going to make the mistake of assuming it was anything other than a downright threat.

A dark red slash was sprayed across her throat in the image, the paint still wet and dribbling down the door to the compound. This was a message. This was a warning. Someone knew she had been here with me – and they had wanted to make damn sure that I knew I wasn’t going to get away with spending time with her without this kind of blowback.

I looked around, searching for someone, anyone, who might have been responsible for this. Abbey had told me what Franco looked like, but I had never actually seen him myself. Would I recognize him if I saw him fleeing the scene...?

But there was nobody around. Nothing. Just the heavy weight of silence pressing down around me. I ran a hand over my hair, a boiling rage rising up in me before I could stop myself.

No. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this shit. He didn’t get to level these threats against me, not a chance in hell.

I stormed into the compound and straight to the social space, where Jaxon and Lee were hanging out – Lee whipped his head around as soon as he heard me approaching, clearly sensing that there was something up.

"What’s going on?” he asked.

"Did you hear anyone?" I demanded. "See anyone in the last hour?"

Jaxon frowned.

"What do you mean-"

"There’s graffiti on the door," I replied, stabbing my finger back towards the entrance. "He was here. Franco. I’m sure of it."

"Shit," Lee muttered, and he rushed past me to get a look at the image that had been left for me – and, when he saw what was waiting for him, his jaw dropped.

"Oh, fuck," Jaxon breathed when he laid eyes on it. They knew as well as I did what this meant – what this was intended to warn us about. I gritted my teeth. We couldn’t let him walk free after this, we couldn’t let him just get away with it. He had been threatening Abbey for too long, and now? Now, he had brought it to the Dogs.

And we didn’t take well to people trying to scare us.

"You have your bikes?" I asked as I stepped behind the counter where we kept the booze. I popped open a lockbox and pulled out a revolver, stuffing it into my pants. In that blind rage I was feeling, I just wanted to plant it to Franco’s temple and pull the fucking trigger. Make him pay for everything he d done. Make him suffer.

"Yeah, why?” Lee replied.

"Get them now," I told him. "We’re going to turn this city over until we find him. Don’t stop at anything. I want him under my control by the end of the day. You hear me?"

Lee and Jaxon exchanged a look – but then, they both nodded. They knew better than to defy me when I had got something into my head like this, no matter how crazy it might have seemed. I wanted to ruin this man. I wanted to have his head on a fucking spike.

And I knew all these emotions rushing through me had as much to do with Anna as they did with Abbey, but I didn’t care. If that’s what it took for me to get to him, I would use everything I had in the process.

By the time the sun set tonight, Franco was going to be dealt with. Once and for all.

And he had no idea just what kind of hell was about to rain down on his shoulders.

Chapter Sixteen – Abbey

I hummed to myself as I fed Cinnamon, a lightness filling my chest. God, I had been so paranoid yesterday, but now, I was feeling so much better.

That’s what happened when you had the right kind of guy on your side, huh? Everything seemed a little easier. And Chuck had made it clear that he was willing to do anything it took to make sure I was doing okay. I had come to him in such a state yesterday, certain I was being watched, but after he had walked me home and kissed me goodnight, I had slept like a baby.

Maybe because he’d made sure I was well and truly exhausted, but still.

I was planning on heading out to a nearby coffee shop for something to eat this morning, just to get a change of scenery; I had plans to sift through some more news stories in the hopes of finding something I could work on. I still hadn’t figured out what I was going to focus on next, but I wanted to get back to something a little more normal, and work was a comfortable place for me. The more time I had to myself to think, the more likely I was to wind up lost in the midst of this overthinking that would have me running to Chuck every other second just for some comfort.

Anyway. That wasn’t what I was trying to focus on today, no way. I just wanted to relax. Cinnamon rubbed around my feet as I fed him, and I grinned and leaned down to drop a pet on his head. He was such a sweetheart; maybe I would get him a little buddy to hang out with one of these days. I knew it would double my chances of getting busted by the landlord, but I didn’t care...

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